Capitalism has no Cure

 People recognise the virtues of socialism in as much as the general welfare is concerned. They oppose it under the pretext of it not being feasible or practicable.  Reformers, particularly among the possessing classes, have been trying to prevent the downfall of the capitalist system of private property and to thwart revolution with their perpetual tinkering to remove this or that ill effect or at least of softening its edge, without touching private property itself. Cures have been recommended and tried, all sorts of panaceas by social quacks to heal the old social ills quickly, without pain and without the expense, but often upon closer inspection, these are a revival of old policies, all of which have been tried before and found worthless.

In their defence, they demand of the Socialist Party that we draw a picture of the commonwealth which we strive for.  The Socialist Party declines to lay before the public a blueprint of the future commonwealth. The tendencies of the capitalist system of production are today well known. Nevertheless, no one would venture to foretell what forms it will take in a couple of decades, and those who call themselves futurologists couch their predictions with many caveats. And yet our critics demand of the Socialist Party to provide a detailed description of the social relationships that are to come into existence when the present system of production ends. Propositions for the shaping of the forms of social conditions can be made only where the field is fully under control and well understood. For this reason, the Socialist Party can make positive propositions only for the existing social order. Socialism postulates special historical conditions, which render it possible and necessary. Suggestions that go beyond that cannot deal with facts but must proceed from suppositions, they are, accordingly, speculations that will be a waste of time and energy. So many false notions about the socialist commonwealth have been inherited from the Utopians or invented by intellectuals, that this course would have the appearance of an evasion.

The Socialist Party is the political expression of what is known as “the class struggle.” With the whole power of the state - the military and law enforcement - in possession of the working class by virtue of its victory at the polls, the death knell of capitalist private property and wage slavery is sounded.

This does not mean, however, that the workers will wrest control of the government from the capitalist class simply for the purpose of continuing the class struggle on a new level, as has been the case in all previous political revolutions when one class has superseded another in the control of the government. It does not mean that the workers and capitalists will merely change places. It means the inauguration of an entirely new system of industry, in which the exploitation of man by man will have no place. It means the establishment of a new economic motive for production and distribution. Instead of profit being the ruling motive of industry, as at present, all production and distribution will be for use. As a consequence, the class struggle and economic class antagonisms as we now know them will entirely disappear.

 There is only one way to destroy the wage system, and that is the determination of the workers never to sell their labour for wages. They need but to concentrate their energies on the abolition of the wage system. Social peace will reign, for, with the capitalist class and State bureaucracy being abolished, there can be no antagonism of classes or accumulation of dissatisfaction. And these two facts combined will give the producers freedom at work and at leisure, freedom for self-expression in their work, and instead of the deadening drudgery of the wage-slave for the benefit of the capitalist, there will be the creation of beautiful things by free men and women for the use of the whole community. 

Working people cannot emancipate themselves without emancipating all society from the tyrannies, superstitions and prejudices of class, race, nationality caste, creed and sex, which keep society divided and enslaved. The victory of socialism means the political supremacy of the working masses and the abolition of every form of exploitation 

Advance the ideas of socialism

 

When the Socialist Party puts forward its plea for the common ownership of the means of wealth production it is sometimes greeted with the statement that if all the wealth produced was divided among the whole of the people, the workers would receive little more than they do at present owing to the small number of those who are very wealthy and the multitude of those who are poor. Economic “authorities” assert that if the wealth of the rich, or the total income of the whole of the people were “divided up” the result would only amount to an extra pound or two each. The insignificance of the amount is then paraded as a demonstration of the impractical and delusive nature of the Socialist Party’s proposals.

 “Dividing up” has no place in the Socialist Party’s philosophy, and our case, from the point of view of wealth, is built upon modern productive capacity rather than the actual amount of wealth at present produced. The ideal aimed at by industry is a future when one person can, by pressing a button, set in motion the machinery that will automatically perform all the functions necessary to produce what will meet the needs of the whole world without the help of another labourer. The greater the productivity of machinery and the economy of labour the nearer industry approaches to this ideal. That is to say, fewer and fewer workers are required to attend to the needs of the world.

 Given the capitalist method of production, under which the means of production and the products are owned by the employers, it is surely obvious that, after a certain limit has been passed, the greater the productivity of machinery the more workers will be thrown out of work whose labour has been “saved.” How will they stand in the division of wealth? As they will not be receiving any wages they will have no means with which to buy—unless it is the unemployment dole.  So that the future of the industry would appear to present a picture of growing prosperity in which wage earners tend to decline and dole receivers tend to increase.

Modern capitalist society depends upon the individual and collective effort of the workers. The sum total of all these efforts results in the production and distribution of all those things which provide the comforts and wants of modern civilisation. 

The millions of unemployed workers throughout the world are perfectly conscious of a desire to use their energies, their abilities, to this end, but they are unable to find a suitable opportunity. It is obvious that, in order to live, mankind is forced to make such efforts as will wrest from mother earth those things which will satisfy his needs. The earth is ready to hand—but the unemployed worker finds oneself obstructed by a code of laws and regulations which says, in effect, that the land belongs to various individuals—a distinct and separate class in society. It is the nature of this legal code, this property right in the private ownership and control of the source of the means of life which the workers have to enquire into. It comes to this, society can be divided, in the main, into two classes:

1. The class who possess but do not produce—the property-owning master class, and

2. Those who produce but do not possess—the propertyless working class.

 

The socialist, therefore, may be said to vary from the rest of the members of his class, as a result of a consciousness of this division of society into classes. Let us now examine in what way such variation makes for the ultimate survival of himself and his class.

The socialist, being class-conscious, recognises that there is a constant struggle going on between the two classes referred to. We probe into the nature of this struggle, and as a result of the study of the economic conditions and the political history of capitalism, is forced to the conclusion that it is through their control of the political machinery of the state that the master class—the owners of the means of life—are able to subject the working class to their wage-slavery position.

The long history of the struggle which has taken place between these two classes is admirably expressed in the life-long labours of Karl Marx, in whose writings is revealed the nature of the struggle and the historical mission which confronts the working class, so far as the future reorganisation of society is concerned.

Inherent in the capitalist system is an antagonism, a conflict of interests—the class struggle. Leaving aside for the moment periods of trade depression, when such conflicts of interests between the workers and the masters are glaring and need a little illustration, let us examine the conditions when so-called peace prevails. Even then the struggle still goes on; the struggle on the part of the worker to obtain as much by the sale of his labour-power as he can get, and the struggle on the part of the master to buy that labour-power at the lowest possible rate. Employers of labour compete for the world’s markets. To do this successfully, up-to-date machinery, the very latest equipment and industrial organisation, efficient workers, are essential for this success.

Further, the workers also compete with one another for jobs. Non-unionised all tend to keep the workers’ wages, in the aggregate, down to the bare cost of subsistence. The fundamental principle of socialism is based on the recognition of the class struggle. The workers will prove their fitness to survive by associating themselves with the work of the Socialist Party. That work consists in resolutely organising for the dethronement of capitalism and the establishment of socialism. Naturally, this work falls upon those who will benefit i.e., the working class.

Help to prove the fitness of your class to survive.

 

Marxist and Internationalist

 

“With us it cannot be a mere matter of a change in the form of private property, but of destroying it as an institution; not in hushing up class antagonisms but in abolishing all classes; not in the improvement of present-day society but in the foundation of a new society.” Karl Marx (The Address of the Communist League.)

We make no secret about it. The Socialist Party is Marxist and its members are revolutionaries. Our goal is socialism. We will not go just a part of the way – or even half of the way – we are going all of the way and we are going to build the party to do it. Our sights are set on social revolution. Meantime, we will stand in solidarity with all workers in struggle. The working class is a revolutionary class and is capable of overthrowing the capitalist system and establishing socialism.

There is a capitalist system. There are workers and masters. Between them, a struggle is raging. So far there are no signs whatever of socialism. Socialism has not even been thought of anywhere when the workers were already waging their struggle.  Yes, the workers are fighting. But they are fighting separately against their masters; here they go out on strike, there they hold protests and demonstrations. Some talk about the political struggle, others about the economic struggle, and so forth. But that does not mean that the workers possess socialist consciousness; it does not mean that their aim is to overthrow the capitalist system and of the establishment of the socialist system.

Much of the media believe the working-class unrest is the result of troublemakers and it would be a good thing to bring to people to their senses with the stick. Others believe that it is the duty of the rich to throw use the carrot with various reforms. It is the socialists who hold that the capitalist system is by no means eternal, that it is just as transient as feudalism was, and that it must inevitably be superseded by the socialist system, which can be established only by means of a social revolution. What is the working-class resistance without socialism?—A  movement without a compass.

At elections where there have been no Socialist Party candidates our policy has been one of spoiling the ballot and abstention, It believes that alliances with other political parties are in every way harmful to the socialist cause. It prefers to build up an organisation of workers and genuine adherents in the necessity for socialism and to wait till it can win elections with candidates whose socialism is beyond dispute, rather than drop any essential principle for the sake of an apparent temporary gain.

Socialists are not internationalists for sentimental reasons, just because they think that the workers of one country must love the workers of another country. We are internationalists, as Marx explained because the whole essence and function of capitalism has drawn up the whole world into one single interdependent unit where every country is an inter-related economic unit. It is this which gives us the essence of the internationalism of the working class. Events that occur in one country affect the workers of other countries.

 The Socialist Party ever upholds the solidarity of all workers, regardless of race or nationality. It rejoices in their successes and shares with them their sorrows. It looks forward with confident hope to the worldwide organisation of workers and echoes the cry, whose realisation means the complete downfall of capitalism, and the final triumph of social democracy— WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!

WARS WITHOUT END

 

In regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as socialists, we place on record our abhorrence of this latest manifestation of the callous, sordid, and mercenary nature of the international capitalist system, while hoping that the fighting, the killing and the destruction stop immediately and unconditionally. The wars of capitalism solve no problem simply because they aim only to readjust the balance between clashing interests. To abolish war we must go for its roots, not tinker with the superficialities of those interests. We must strike at the basis of capitalism. But to do that means to abolish the system and to replace it with socialism. The way to end war is by tackling the root cause of war, that is by the ending of the capitalist system itself. There can be no escape from the spectacle of bloodshed and horror while capitalism lasts. There is at least one war going on every single day. Ceaselessly, throughout the world, the scientists and the factories are hard at work turning out armaments the cost of which is beyond our imagination and men and women are being made frighteningly proficient in the business of killing. Putin has learned that the rules of capitalism mean that a country can only prosper if it is aggressive in defence of its economic interests.

As with all wars, and threats of war, the conflict is about the squalid interests of the owning class in our society. The World Socialist Movement again reminds our fellow workers that we members of the working class own no productive resources except our ability to work. Ukraine and Russia, like all other nations, belong to the world capitalist class and, when one nation makes war on another, it is about the ownership and control of wealth; it is about resources, markets or areas of strategic importance – in a word, about things that concern us only in that our masters order us to kill and die for them. Until the hold of nationalist and racist poison on the minds of the world’s workers is destroyed, it will not be possible to live the full and satisfying life of socialism. Stand up for yourself as a human being and fight for the only worthwhile end — the achievement of free humanity.

Few, if any, lessons have been learned about the fundamental flaws of a society that continues to be run by a few to the detriment of the many. For as long as the abundant resources of our planet are exploited for profit rather than produced for need, wars will continue. Just as the Socialist Party has been pointing out for nearly a hundred and twenty years. We will keep on doing so until common-sense prevails.

A road of blood and tears must be followed by humankind until the working class of the world, for the opportunity to exploit whom all modern wars are fought, determine to find their emancipation in socialism. In the name of suffering humanity, we call you to our banner. We say to our fellow workers in all other lands, we have no quarrel with you. On the contrary, we appeal to workers in all lands to refuse to slaughter one another for and at the behest of, our capitalist masters. We appeal to you to unite with us in the struggle to overthrow the system of capitalism which not only causes war but all the other social problems which our class endures throughout the world.

 Let those workers who urge their fellows into uniform smell the corpses and the cordite, feel the fear of men and women, share the terror of a civilian population under bombardment. And let them see at first hand, the pompous cynicism of the generals and the statesmen.

World Citizens

 

The Socialist Party’s politics is not the same as the shabby dishonesty and opportunism of capitalist politicians but strives to raise the political awareness of our fellow workers.

Dangerous and deceptive is the resort to “patriotism.” Statements about loyalty to the nation, have to be ignored. The notion that the country is “our” country – i.e. everybody’s alike, that there is such a thing as nation or community, a mystic something to which we belong and which protects us, is cultivated by the ruling class for the purpose of hiding the fact of class cleavage, of exploitation for the purpose of making the worker think that when he goes to war he is fighting for “his” country, instead of against himself and for the capitalists. 

In a time when patriotism is the dominant emotion upon which capitalism calls in order to fasten the chains of reaction and terrorism upon the masses, we must not fall into the trap of arousing sentiments upon which the demagogues can, in any case, play much more effectively than revolutionists can, and which in the end can only be used to destroy the revolutionary movement. The hold of capitalist,  nationalistic symbols upon the workers must, however, be broken, not confirmed.

 

The revolutionary movement must, therefore, have its own. They must be such as to bring forward the idea and strengthen the emotion of class – the working class against the capitalist – and consequently the idea of labour internationalism against nationalism. To break the hold of false ideas is difficult enough at best. We should be foolish Indeed to make the task still more difficult by using symbols that might confuse the workers, which do not clearly and uncompromisingly suggest loyalty to class, loyalty to the worldwide brotherhood of labour, and not to any lesser cause.

 

While we, as humanity, remain divided by rival capitalist states, it is impossible to organise our use of the world in careful and sensitive ways that would be in the mutual interests of all people. Instead, we have economic exploitation, waste, war and destruction. Although we mostly think of the market system in terms of private corporations or state enterprises, it is also true that each nation is a "national business." A national economy must do its budgeting and keep its accounts as an autonomous trading nation. 

Governments must maintain national security. This is the protection and enforcement of national interests both within the state and between states. Externally, national security involves diplomacy, negotiated agreements and the formation of alliances which in turn can be backed up by networks of spies and where necessary the threat or use of armed force. The strategic aim is the ability to trade at the best advantage. As caretakers of national economic strategy, governments aim to promote national advantage whilst reducing vulnerability. 

If the people of the world are to stave off the global catastrophes that now loom before us, they are going to have to cast aside their lingering nationalism and patriotism, recognise their common humanity, and begin working for the good of all, promoting the cooperative commonwealth.

WHAT CAUSES WAR

Every government, every political organisation proclaims itself for peace, against war. We hear no more that war is glorious. It is no longer possible wholly to hide the terrible, suffering caused by the nature of war. So our masters have changed their propaganda tactics: we learn that our rulers strive ceaselessly for peace, but it is the aggressive rulers of some other country who threaten us. In certain circumstances war is a necessary evil—we are struggling for freedom, human dignity—in fact, we make war for peace: war can only be abolished through war. Our position is: We are against every war, and both sides of every war. Wars are struggles between capitalist interests; no army fights for the interests of any working class. Only in a truly socialist worldwide society will war disappear, because while the capitalist world social order lasts, the roots of war remain. So the only way to lasting peace is through a new society. It is absurd to waste time and energy in an endeavour to convince the capitalists that wars are superfluous and a curse under capitalism.

Let the workers learn their position in society and unite to obtain control of the machinery of government, including the armed forces. Such action will make it possible for them to take possession of the means of production and use them for the benefit of all. In that way alone will they be able to usher in a system of society wherein universal unity of interests will abolish all war, be it between classes or nations. Workers should throw their weight against war. What does this mean in practice? As the working class have not yet placed themselves in control of the machinery of government, but continue at each election to place the capitalists in control, the latter is in a position to decide when, where and why the armed forces shall be set in motion, and also the amount and nature of the armed forces.  If the working class, or any large body of them, are hostile to the war the capitalists have to consider how to overcome that hostility and what will be the result if they should fail to do so. To the extent that the workers in any country are alive to their interests and opposed to war the capitalists will be inclined to make some concession to the enemy government, rather than face war. A majority of workers will, however, never be in favour of peace against capitalist wishes while they (the workers) are prepared to support capitalist government because they will always be ready to accept capitalist reasons for waging a particular war. The answer to capitalist intrigue and power-politics is not to be found in supporting one capitalist group against another. We can say of a particular war that nothing can come out of it for Socialism or democracy, or for the workers, justifying the suffering and other consequences of war. we cannot envisage circumstances arising which would justify socialist support for war.

Threatened by the greed of rival exploiters in foreign countries the capitalist class will drown the world in four years of blood and slaughter. They will destroy human lives by the millions, rather than give up their property, their right to exploit the workers, to the capitalists of a rival power. In short, as far as the capitalists are concerned, they have something to lose which is of the utmost value. They will go to the utmost limit to keep what they have. What of the workers? They have almost nothing to lose, except their lives, their homes and their health, and these they lose in war: not in the outcome of war, but in war itself, whatever the outcome. 

Anything which in the slightest way encourages the workers to retain the blighting and poisoning belief in nationalism and so-called national interests perpetuates the dangerous illusion of class harmony and plays always into the hands of the capitalist class. Only class-conscious socialists can speak across the frontiers of the capitalist nations to the working class of the world and they can do so only because they are entirely free from the taint of so-called national interests which can be none other than capitalist interests. The Socialist Party will continue on its way loyal to world socialism in the sure knowledge that it is the duty of all who seek socialism to oppose war. Whatever strength we can muster to influence the issue of war and peace will be thrown against war, no matter what the circumstances of the particular conflict may be.  Don’t tell us that that will take a long time. How long it takes depends on you. You can hasten it or delay it There can be no doubt that it will come. We need it, the working class of the world needs it. Join us and help bring it about.

 

Message from Marx and Lenin

 Messages from Marx and Lenin

Marx

https://twitter.com/i/status/1500787231950213121

Lenin

https://twitter.com/i/status/1502265756821696513

WHY WAR?

 

The Socialist Party's attitude to capitalist wars is simple. We seek the abolition of capitalism, of the wages system. In Ukraine and Russia, the workers are wage slaves. They will be wage-slaves in victory and in defeat. Capitalist nations go to war because capitalist interests are at stake. The workers stand to gain nothing, and they risk losing life and limb. There is no interest at stake justifying the sacrifice of a single worker’s life. The Socialist Party’s attitude on the subject of wars is clear and definite. Those who do not own the country cannot have it taken from them, and even a complete victory by one capitalist power over another, resulting in the complete subjugation of the vanquished state, would not benefit the workers of the victorious country, and would only mean a change of masters for the workers in the defeated country. The Socialist Party alone points to the truth concerning the issues at stake and affirmed the unity of interests of the workers throughout the world and their antagonism of interests with the capitalists throughout the world.

Capitalism requires an armed force at its disposal for two reasons: to use against rival powers, and to use against the working class if they attempt to lay their hands on their masters’ property. All governments rely ultimately on armed might. The idea that wars are caused by particular statesmen is entirely erroneous. No matter how much disposed towards peace a government maybe, when the conditions are ripe for war the government is forced to take action in accordance with the interests of the ruling class, no matter what that government is labelled. Let us urge you not to waste your time with futile anti-war movements, but to join with us in working for the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of socialism, confident that the ending of the system will end the danger of war.

The only way in which humankind can bring about social change and build a fraternal society, free of war, is to establish socialism. This will not come about as an expression of non-violence but as the conscious act of a socialist working-class. The attitude of pacifism can be and has been, adopted by people of all manner of opinions—for example, by Christians and so on—all of whom support the capitalist social system which produces violence and which therefore makes pacifism an empty dream.  Any organisation which accepts the continuance of capitalism, the cause of war in the modem world, is standing in the way of socialists who seek to end capitalism and with it war. Many pacifists have proved their sincerity and courage, but this does not alter the fact that their views are out of touch with reality. The only way in which war and social violence can be removed from our lives is to remove capitalism. This is not, as pacifists argue, a question of propagating ideas of non-violence. It requires that a socialist working-class democratically gain control of the machinery of government for the purpose of abolishing capitalism and establishing socialism.

The job of socialists is to work for the spread of socialist understanding among the working class. This is not done by suggesting that “defensive” wars should be supported by workers, nor by confusing the interests of the working class and bourgeoisie.  All wars were now purely capitalist, disputes between rival imperialist powers. The task of socialists was quite clear: to struggle uncompromisingly and consistently for the establishment of socialism throughout the world.

The Socialist Party has long pointed out that the wars of civilised countries, since the birth of the capitalist system, have been caused through the struggles between sections of the world’s capitalist class for the trade routes, raw materials, markets, and the like. As long as there is commodity production, buying and selling, with the consequent competition among buyers and sellers and the enslavement of the producing class, wars are of the very essence of things. Lasting peace can only arrive when the private ownership of the means of living has been abolished and common ownership has emerged from the ruins—in other words, wars and all the other evils that are a consequence of capitalism can only disappear when capitalism gives place to socialism.

Socialism will abolish war because it will bring a community of interests; it will be a society without frontiers, without nations, without classes, without conflict.