Learn about Socialism with the SPGB

There is great confusion in the world today over the question of what is socialism. Our aim in the World Socialist Movement is to try to clarify this.

The capitalist class introduced various reforms which ameliorated the effects of some of the worst features of their economic system in the spheres of health, housing, education and family support to become known as the ‘Welfare State’ – but it wasn’t socialism. The essential feature of capitalism, that very thing which makes the system one of exploitation and robbery of the mass of wage workers by the ruling class of capitalists, namely the private ownership of the means of production and distribution, this remained untouched. Socialism comes not as a remedy for the evils of existing society, but as a programme of principles for a new society.

Socialism starts with the brotherhood and unity of humanity as a fact. We all in common depend upon the same common resources of nature. Until all of us together see to it that every person is equal with every other person in resource, opportunity, and liberty, we shall none of us see the fullness and freedom upon the earth. In this sense, self-interest and mutual interest are one and the same. There can be no individual liberty until resources belong to the people in common. There can be no social peace, no liberty, so long as a few own that upon which the rest depend. What was said against chattel slavery and serfdom can also be said against the private ownership of the means of production; for it is nothing less than ownership of human beings? No one is free so long as he or she is dependent upon another for the chance to earn a livelihood to survive. Who sells his or her labour-power for wages sells oneself. The wages system is merely a form of the slave system, no fit system for free men and women. The economic system rests upon this power of private capital to legally appropriate the fruits of the labour of society.

 It is beyond the power of kings or parliaments or politicians, to bring forth good effects from bad causes. It is not in the power of governments to make practicable what is elementally wrong. A house built upon foundations of sands cannot be made safe by political declarations. A civilisation builds upon fraud and force, lying, stealing and political deceit, capitalism and wage-slavery cannot stand forever. The World Socialist Movement builds on a sure foundation when we build a system that has for its end the commonwealth, the common freedom, the common abundance of all men and women. Nature offers resources enough for an abundance of life for countless billions of human beings, and we cannot ever consent that these resources should be appropriated by the few to exploit the many.

Some say that the World Socialist Movement is building a society fit only for saints and that we can never have working people of such virtue. It is a strange proposition that makes people regard what they know to be essentially good as dangerous in practice, and what they know to be wrong as good. Socialism strikes at the root of the chief cause of our anti-social conduct and will abolish that competition which turns all into brutes and liars. The whole of capitalism is to war against compassion and liberty. Socialism comes to remove the causes that prevent men and women from being in harmony with one another and to bring that equality and opportunity. Our appeal to you is not for strife or hostility, but for constructive purposes. The aim of socialism is the abolition of all classes and parties and the coming of but one class, the people and the cooperative commonwealth as a working model to achieve it for them.

Socialism depends on working people moving towards revolution. The working class must accept the responsibility which falls upon them.  It carries on its shoulders the responsibility for the very survival of humanity.  The Socialist Party is for the unity of the working class in the struggle against capitalists and their governments. Unity depends on understanding. The Socialist Party is very clear – there are but two classes. The class battles over the past decades have been a vindication of our recognition of this simple truth. Socialism presupposes the existence of an organised working class. Nobody can dictate socialism’s future. When the time comes it will sweep into power. It needs no leader. No leader can make socialism, and no would-be leader can unmake it. There may be men and women to influence the movement, but no leader can dictate its course. It is a party of the people, and not of a person. Socialism holds out a vision of a new society — a society of truly civilised men and women living in mutual aid and goodwill; a free, equal, and happy society of peace, abundance, and progress.

Our time is now

 

The goal of the Socialist Party is socialism, not reformed capitalism. Its tactics must be those that will bring about socialism.

Socialism is opposed to the reign of the capitalist system and its representatives, the present ruling class. Capitalism has no solution for the miseries of working people. Capitalism has no policy to solve crises. Capitalism can only prolong its life by throwing the burdens of the crisis onto the workers, by ever-renewed attacks upon the workers upon the workers’ standards. Wages are attacked on every side. Conditions of labour are intensified. 

Many workers have placed their hopes in the Labour Party to bring the solution. They have seen the need for basic social change; the Labour Party has spoken of basic social change, of socialism, and promised to realise it by easy peaceful means through Parliament. Since Labour governments have been installed, and swift disillusionment has followed. The condition of the workers has grown worse; there is no sign of the advance to socialism; the Labour Party Government has acted as a representative of capitalism against the workers. The Labour Party could not act and cannot act otherwise than it has acted, does act and will continue to act, as the representative of capitalism — because its basis is capitalism. The capitalists have not solved a single problem. They have opened the weeping sores.

At present the capitalist class rules, whatever the form of government. What is needed is that the working-class shall drive out the capitalists from possession. Marx raised a mighty banner of international Labour unity with his rousing slogan: “Workers of the world unite, would have nothing to lose but your chains, you have a world to win.” This is the message that we call upon you to support. We must become class conscious if we are to succeed in destroying capitalism and bringing about the socialist future of mankind.

The Socialist Party, unlike the other parties which seek simply to “reform” the present economic system, is unequivocally committed to the abolition of capitalist production and the substitution of the cooperative commonwealth. Industrial democracy will wrest the Earth from its exploiters and its vast and inexhaustible storehouse will yield abundance for all. The growth of socialism is the promise of freedom and fraternity. Private ownership is the foundation upon which the entire edifice of exploitation, oppression,  corruption,  criminality and warfare making up much-vaunted modern civilisation rests. Above all else, we must end private ownership.

It is working people who keep capitalism going, for the benefit of the capitalists. It is time the workers determined, by international socialist action, to refashion human society on a socialist foundation. No government can save the world. It is the task for the world working class and unless it is achieved the whole world faces chaos, misery and destruction. The productive power and the administrative ability are present for the making of a new world. Do not delay the decision to use them. The Socialist Party show you the way to working-class emancipation and the happiness and well-being of humanity.

To all subjugated workers we extend our sympathy in the sufferings which are their lot. We ask them, however, to recognise that their poverty is the result not of foreign rule — which is merely one of the many evil by-products of capitalism—but of the capitalist system itself.  

Independence will not solve any working-class problem.  The only sound policy for workers, the only policy in line with their class interests, is to keep clear of the nationalist movements and carry on steadily with the task of organising themselves on the economic field for the defence of their interests against their employers and organising on the political field for the ultimate achievement of socialism in co-operation with the rest of the world's workers. 

In all countries, the workers are exploited by the owners of the means of production and distribution. There are no differences between the conditions under which exploitation is carried on in the different countries sufficient to make it worth the workers' while supporting one against the other in order to defend their subjection to one national group of capitalists rather than to another. 

The leftists who parade the banner of “independence then socialism” around, to catch the attention of workers, are demagogues working to perpetuating falsehoods. National sovereignty is the bait to hook recruits.  Nationalists work on behalf of the capitalists for the good of all capitalists. What the World Socialist Movement want is real independence. What we want is freedom from capitalist exploitation and wage slavery. Supporting national independence in the name of socialism is a monumental hoax.

Only socialism can bring the solution. Only socialism can put an end to capitalist property rights and organise production to meet human needs. Once capitalism is overthrown, then and only then can production be organised in common for all, and every increase in production bring increasing abundance and leisure for all. This is the aim of the social revolution. We will not be a party of deception. We tell the workers the truth and organise with the aim of the destruction of this horrible system and the introduction of a socialist system of society. Socialism is the only cure to the evils and ills of capitalism. The Socialist Party moves with determination along the revolutionary path.

 

The Aim is Socialism

SYLVIA PANKHURST

The principles of socialism are fixed and immutable; the means to be adopted to give practical effect to those principles may change with time, and place, and circumstances but the object aimed at, the end to be attained, remains ever the same. Socialists have agreed our object is the social and economic freedom and equality for all, and the realisation of the highest individual development and liberty conceivable for all, through the common ownership and democratic control of all the means of production and distribution.

Political action is not to be disparaged nor is any other that will help to break down the domination of the master class and hasten the emancipation of the working people. There will be time enough to forswear political action when the capitalist class can no longer strive to retain their mastery of the political machine. Our primary function, however, is to organise a socialist political party, independent, class-conscious, and democratic. The role of industrial organisation lies with the trade unions. The object of a Socialist Party is the realisation of socialism. The purpose of a trade union is to make the best of existing conditions and amelioration of the workers’ conditions in the existing society. The road to prosperity, to peace for all, is the road to socialism. The society of human brotherhood, freedom, that is socialism, is our aim. Capitalist pettiness, narrowness and conflict sap mankind’s potential.

What is wrong with the way today’s society is organised? It is divided into rich and poor. It is a system of exploitation in which the means for producing the wealth (the land, the mines, factories, the machines, etc.) are privately owned. A tiny handful of people possess the means of production. The immense majority of the people own nothing (in the sense that they can live on what they own) but their power to work. By exploitation, we mean living off the labour of other people. The essence of exploitation under capitalism consists in this — that the workers, when set to work with raw materials and machinery, produce far more in values than what is paid out by the capitalists in wages. In short, they produce a surplus that is taken by the capitalists and for which they are not paid. Thus they are robbed of the values they produce. This is the source of capitalist profit. It is on this surplus, produced by the workers, that the capitalist lives in riches and luxury. Capitalism is a system in which the means for producing wealth are owned by a few who live by exploiting the workers, i.e. by robbing them of the values they produce over and above the value of their wages. This society places a premium on wealth. The vast majority of working people toil for the enrichment of the small minority of profiteers who own the bulk of the economy and through their wealth control the entire society.  Profit is the be-all and end-all of economic life; human needs come second — if at all.

The social revolution is no longer an aspiration of the future; it is a fact of reality and must determine our immediate policy and tactics. No dependence upon “leaders” and dealings with the representatives of the employers. The workers must act independently, free from any taint of compromise or opportunism with the capitalists. State capitalism is not socialism and never can become socialism. Capitalism is a system of waste and inefficiency. Socialists seek to change the economic laws governing society and human relations, by bringing order and plan into production.

The Socialist Party has reason and truth on its side. Freed from the clutches of the profit-gougers and their hangers-on, the major industries must be brought into common ownership and the economy must be planned by the people themselves in their own areas of work. The profit system cannot make use of automation for the benefit of society; socialism will. The future society that will be constructed under socialism will reduce work to an insignificant part of daily life and offer the individual the fullest possibilities to pursue his own abilities and interests.

The capitalist system is irreparable, and any programme that is based on any illusions on this score or has this in mind is bankrupt and will only lead to the demoralisation, disillusionment and betrayal of those who count on it. This society can neither guarantee them a secure future nor even promise there will be a future. Either the threat of nuclear war or environmental destruction casts a shadow over the lives of all of us.

The Socialist Party convinced internationalists as we are; recognise that there is no cause of quarrel between the workers of the world; that the worker has no country to fight for, and therefore no occasion to fight. Humanity is at present divided into different nationalities with conflicting interests. To us, with our deep conviction that the only thing that matters is the class war and our eagerness to fight that war to a finish, these divisions and conflicting interests. We say that the interests of the capitalist class and those of the working class are diametrically opposed to each other.

Socialist Standard No. 1403 July 2021

 

 JULY 2021 PDF

• Editorial: Neither London nor Dublin but World Socialism

• Pathfinders: Space Race 2.0

• Letter

• Cooking the Books 1

• We can feed the world

• Material World

• How do you like your News?

• A hundred years of Northern Ireland

• A Gender Item

• Carrying Capacity Carry-ons

• Book Reviews

• Cooking the Books 2

• Proper Gander

• Meetings

• 50 Years Ago

• Rear View

A future worth living for

 

Let us explain. Exchange is a social relation of private owners. Socialism abolishes exchange by free distribution. Socialists under socialism will ALL commonly OWN. Common ownership of the "means of exchange" means precisely "common ownership of private ownership." If by "workers' control" it is meant control of the ownership and distribution of the wealth the workers produce, it obviously cannot be under capitalism. Capitalism is a system based on private ownership; so long as capitalists own, they control.

Capitalism, the social system in which you live, is based upon the ownership and control of the means of production—land, factories, railways, and so on—by a privileged, property-owning class—the capitalist class—that lives out of the incomes from investments of capital. The means of production and distribution are operated by you, the working class, who are compelled to sell your power to work for wages or salaries in order to live. They can live without working but you must find employment in order to live. Your interests, that is the interests of the working class, are opposed to the interests of the capitalist class. The incomes of the capitalists come from what you produce above what it costs to enable you to live and raise a family. It is, therefore, in the interest of the capitalist to make you work as hard as possible for as low a real wage as possible, whilst it is to your interest to do the opposite. Hence their appeals to you to tighten your belts and accept wage freezing, and your tendency to rebel against this. The goods you produce must be sold by the capitalist before he can reap his surplus. Out of this fact comes the struggle for markets, the periodical crises, unemployment and wars.

The trade wars in the search for markets and sources of raw materials has brought about a division of labour within the world as a whole. A ship, a railway, a loaf of bread involves the use of materials from all over the world and the cooperative labour of workers doing different kinds of work. Capitalism has made the world into one vast whole, each section depending upon the others. The spread of modern conditions to all parts of the world is rapidly bringing the people of the world up to one level of development. Modern machines, modern methods and modern ideas are making headway everywhere. Yet the result of it all is the world in which you live with its antagonisms, its poverty problems, its insecurity and its barbarous wars. Problems for which there is no solution whilst the present system remains.

Socialism will abolish the antagonisms that are rooted in the class ownership of the means of production; it will dissolve the disharmony that hinders the enjoyment of the full fruitfulness of world unity and co-operative labour. Socialism is a system of society in which the means of production and distribution will be commonly owned and will be used to provide all mankind with the things necessary for a secure and comfortable life. There will be no privileged class. Each member of society will give according to capacities and take according to needs, If the productive capacity of today were used reasonably there would be no difficulty in meeting the reasonable needs of all. Once the majority of you understand this and work for it the problem of the future will be solved. The movement for socialism is directly in your interest and it is, therefore, you who must bring about this social change.

The policy of replacing capitalism with socialism is the only practical way to solve the problems of today. Leaving the world to race on to disaster is the opposite of practical. With socialism, the whole of the people of the world, in free association, will control the conditions of existence and the aim will be to make that existence as pleasant and satisfying as human ingenuity can contrive. Work will be done under the best conditions that can be devised and harmful occupations will be abolished; people will be prepared to do without those few things that can only be got at the cost of evil consequences to the producers. Educational facilities will be of the best, open to all, and not clouded by the necessity of learning what is necessary to find the elusive road to employment and social security. When all the evil influences that make working unpleasant today have been cleared away it will be possible to enjoy working. You enjoy working when you do what you like to do; what you dislike today is not work itself but the conditions under which you have to work. Just think for a moment of the evils that will disappear with the disappearance of capitalism. As there will be no buying or selling and therefore no production for profit money will no longer be needed and hence no one will sell his self-respect for it; when bread and other things are as free as the air we breathe no one can become a thief; when each takes part equally in arranging social affairs there will be no servility or dictatorship; when the avenues to happiness are open to everyone no one will gain by bribery or corruption. And so one could go through the evils that have a corrupting influence today and lead to social misery.

As you are the people who will organise and run socialism you must understand and want it before the change can take place. In order to bring it about you must, first of all, send delegates to Parliament mandated for this sole purpose. The powers of government are centred in Parliament and before you can take away from the capitalists their ownership of the means of production you must take away from them their control of the powers of government.

Glasgow Will Bake

 Nearly 2 million people living in the greater Glasgow area face severe disruption from climate heating unless billions of pounds are invested in protecting homes, businesses and transport links, a report says.

A study from Climate Ready Clyde, a coalition of 15 councils, universities, the NHS and infrastructure bodies on the impacts of climate change on the Clyde area estimates about 140,000 of its poorest residents will be the worst affected by increased heatwaves, flash floods and droughts, as they are the least equipped to cope.

It estimates there is already a funding shortfall of at least £184m a year to begin retrofitting homes and offices for heatwaves, defending roads and rail links against flooding and storms, and planting 18m trees to absorb higher temperatures and rainfall over coming decades.

James Curran, the coalition’s chair and a former chief executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, said, “Climate change exacerbates existing inequalities and if we don’t respond in a coherent and urgent way then the inequalities that already exist in society will be worsened.” He said, “Some of the people who can least afford it and are least culpable in creating climate change are the ones that are going to suffer more with poor housing; they will be suffering damp in the winter; they’ll be suffering excessive heat in the summer; public transport will be disrupted.”

Billions needed to protect Glasgow from climate effects, report says | Glasgow | The Guardian

All for One and One for All

 Capitalism creates many problems and inflicts upon people all kinds of pressures. There was certainly plenty to protest about — there always is. What is baffling is despite so much experience in protesting people still persist in trying to campaign on individual issues and in isolation. They make little attempt to relate either one problem to another or to relate all the problems to a common cause. It seems that for every inhumanity there is a group of people ready to mushroom into an organisation and start protesting. The Socialist Party does not oppose the idea of resistance and protest but what we wish to happen is to make them a more fruitful form of expression. The fact that the horrors of capitalism do result in opposition and demonstrations is more hopeful than an attitude of indifference. But nothing is gained going over the same ground over and over again. The basic weakness of protest movements is that they all share one common illusion — that capitalism can be made to work in such a way that its worst effects can be avoided. They wrongly assume that politicians can at will adopt policies that would remove the problems endangered by capitalism. By engaging in reforms to mitigate some particular evil within the framework of capitalism they inevitably get involved in helping to perpetuate the very conditions which give rise to the evils against which they protest. We want the workers of the world to equip themselves with socialist understanding and put an end to the system that robs them, by bringing about socialism, a wage-free, class-free world based on free access and common ownership.

Exploitation, poverty, hunger and war, can only be abolished when their cause is understood. It is of little use to tinker with effects whilst the cause remains untouched and unchanged due to the fact that those who tinker with the effects are ignorant of the cause. When, and only when, a majority of the world's workers understand that ownership by the world capitalist class of the means and instruments of producing and distributing wealth, means perpetual poverty, shortages and wars for those who have to humble themselves for wages, will they be able to replace class ownership with common ownership, produce goods for use instead of profit and see that people receive in accordance with their needs instead of the limited confines of their wages packets.

To turn our eyes away from a problem is no solution, for the problem still remains. Unless they see that their interests can only be served by unity on a basis of understanding they cannot put the solution socialism into practice.  Mankind must become objective and not dominated by immediate conditions. We must move on to socialism. A socialist society will organise itself on a democratic basis at every level. The social form will not, nor cannot be, tied to the past, but it will truly reflect the great contribution of the past in the form of the accumulated knowledge and social experience so painfully acquired which has made socialism possible. It should not be forgotten that the principal institutions of mankind have developed from a few germs of thought and a few simple cells of organisation. The natural form of humanity is that which equates the individual with all men and women, and that great equaliser is common ownership of the means whereby we live. The citizens of the Socialist community will work voluntarily because they are doing a job they love, for the benefit of society as a whole—i.e., in the long run, for themselves. All work in a socialist society will be essential and useful. There will be no need to try to stop people from doing wasteful and unessential things, like pouring luxuries into the lap of already overfed parasites.  It is incumbent upon the Socialist Party to explain that socialism must be based on voluntary labour—not force, compulsion, trickery, or deceit. 

Workers will never be able to take sound action until they possess the knowledge of socialism that it is our aim to provide. Until a sufficient number of workers are prepared to organise politically for the conscious purpose of ending capitalism, that system will stagger on indefinitely from one crisis to another.