Capitalism V Socialism

 

We live in a society of misconceived priorities. How do we attach values to the alternative demands of the environment? The profit system puts all at risk because the treatment of one issue must be made at the priority cost of profit. Even if we deal with carbon emissions dioxide it is probable that methane will be a greater danger and. in any event the faster-growing problem. This will be the next debate for the vacillators. In the meantime the waste remains and kills.

We are socialists, disbelievers in private property and advocates of the equal claims of each man and woman to work for the community as seen fitting to him or her - calling no man master. We look for the socialisation of wealth.

The ruling classes know pretty well what they will do. Their policy is agreed which is to maintain by every possible means their possession of power and the instruments of production. Therefore, they will try first to halt and hinder the spread of socialist views. They try to take control of the workers; movement, and to steer it a direction less threatening to their privileges. 

Socialism becomes a loose word.  Every reformer body calls him or herself  a socialist. A revolution is not a mere change of government, because a government cannot overthrow institutions by mere decreeing some new regulations. The many social ills inflicting working peoiple cannot be solved by laws.  What is asked for is  for a complete reorganization of production, denying the capitalist the right of pocketing the benefits of production solely because the State recognizes him as proprietor of the soil, the field, the house, the colliery, or the machinery, without the use of which the millions can do no useful work at all. What is required is a more equitable organization of distribution. The reorganisation of production according to the new principles, cannot be solved by any kind of government. It must be a natural growth resulting from the combined efforts of all and it cannot be something schemed by a few men and ordered from above. The abolition of private ownership of land, mines, machinery will be the distinctive feature of any movement worthy of the name of socialist; and moreover, that no parliament, no government can do this. The expropriation can be carried out only by popular initiative, bymass action, by being not only written on paper, but accomplished de facto. It is not enough to proclaim, "These factories are ours.” There is only one effective remedy for the suffering, to substitute for the wage-system free and self-organised cooperation among the workers, for the direct supply of the needs of all.

 We charge  the prevailing social system that the workers are robbed of the wealth which they produce. Socialists agree  that the wants of all must be the first guiding consideration of any new society. To leave nobody without food, shelter and good health, is the first and imperative duty of a popular movement inspired by socialist ideas. The only rule to guide us must be the wants of each family.

The myth that war is instinctive and that mankind is evil by nature makes it easier for states to pursue a militaristic policy, because it can be suggested to their peoples that militarism is a natural phenomenon. However, the Socialist Party points to the real, the economic and political causes of war. The present Ukrainain war is not fought for principles but politico-economic advantag e to increase or protect spheres of influence and markets.

Capitalism is easily summed up. There are rich and poor, and that the rich are rich because they rob the poor. Even in the unlikely event of capitalism being so reformed the fact that this economic system is founded on the successive accumulation of capital still the system would fail to meet the needs of the majority. The rich would still rob the poor. The only solution is to replace this wage labour/capital relationship with social co-operation to meet needs. And the flexibility of human behaviour makes that prospect as workable as it is compelling.

Our view was that we can not expect people who were, for the most part, hearing a completely new and different idea for the first time to immediately take it in, fully agree with it and go out and vote for it. To expect them to do all this in one fell swoop would have been quite unrealistic. What is not perhaps unrealistic, however, is for us to think that socialist ideas can begin to filter through. Society will one day change from production for profit to production for need and we are not going to waste a moment's time or withhold any energy to hasten that revolution. 

What is socialism?

 

The media against socialism attempt to imprint on it the stigma of all possible folly and foolishness in order to scare people away.  They smera and slander the advocates  of socialism to the best of their ability. We call ourselves socialists  because socialism is the ideal to which mankind will aspire as mutual solidarity and an abundance of production, will free them from the fear of hunger. Socialism is the description of a social order which is founded upon the common ownership of the means of production. Socialism proposes that the usufruct of instruments of production and  land should be free to all workers.

For every one rich person, there are a great many poor. The wealth of the rich is made up entirely of surplus values produced by the poor. All profits, rents, interest, dividends, etc., are produced by the working people. They all come from the surplus over and above their own food and shelter, which workers also produce. The whole point is that socialism would not just divide up the wealth, but would increase the production in order to divide up the things that are produced.

 Capitalism is a system of production and exchange. It is a system under which individual capitalists own the means of production. The great majority of the people operate them. The capitalist runs the factory, not to provide the world with shoes and socks, but to provide himself with profits. Socialism is entirely different. The workers produce useful things instead of profits. They are no longer bought and sold.

 The way in which the goods are produced, the technique, the use of the means of production (i.e. the raw material, tools, auxiliary material) and finally the destination, for whom it is being produced, and how the goods get into the hands of the consumers, has to change.

The principal reason for the exploitation of nature, and of the miseries of the workers is the right to property which confers on the owners of the land, the raw materials and of all the means of production, the possibility to exploit the labour of others, and to organise production not for the well-being of all, but in order to guarantee a maximum profit for the owners of property. It is necessary therefore to abolish property. The means of production have become capital and their owners capitalists. Hence the powerful class divisions in the world. The class of wage earners, who to maintain their poverty-stricken existence have to produce, day in and day out, for the capitalist class, the owners of the means of production, who with the growth of the productive powers of human labour accumulate ever greater wealth.

In socialism, the means of production, land and soil, quarries and mines, raw materials, tools, machines, transport, will be transferred to the common ownership of society. They shall no longer serve individuals as a means of living of the labour of others, no longer be the means of the economic enslavement of the propertyless. Thus the commodity production of independent private producers is changed into a planned social production by the people and for the people.  Socialism will bring about the greatest possible good for all members of society,

The Socialist Party is the party of wage earners, organised for the overthrow of the wage system. It is OF, BY and FOR the working class alone and it ceases to be socialist  the very moment it pretends to represent the members of any other class. It is not at all interested in benefiting the capitalist class. This is why we are revolutionists. The capitalist class has already helped itself by appropriating the product of our brawn and brains.

Social storms cannot be forecast with the same accuracy as hurricanes and typhoons. But still, there are signs permitting us to predict the approach of those great disturbances which periodically visit humanity to redress wrongs accumulated by past centuries, to blow away prejudices. Centuries of injustice, oppression and misery has brought the winds of change.

Across the world crises becomes worse and worse. Millions driven away from the country to the ever-growing cities, are wandering about without work. In the mega-cities unheard-of misery grows up alongside all the wealth of the world being spent in an unhealthy luxury, amid the rags and destitution of the poor. Every day increases the longing for equality. The wealth they produce, the higher enjoyments of science and art which now they guarantee to the privileged few - they wish to enjoy these for themselves. They wish no longer want to be slaves  to machines,  robots themselves. A spirit of revolt spreads. Hopes of getting rid of capitalist oppression, of abolishing the rule of man by man, are agining in strength and power.

The ABC of Socialism

 

World socialism will put an end to the recurring destruction and waste of resources and production and distribution will be redirected to socially useful purposes. Buying and selling will disappear. Money will be dispensed with altogether. 

The Socialist Party does not seek to make poor those who today are affluent, in order to put the poor in the place where the rich now are. Our desire is not to displace the present rulers and to replace them with other rulers. We wish to abolish poverty and provide abundance for all. Socialism is not a philosophy of poverty but of abundance. A society built on abundance for all will remain a dream, so long as there are antagonistic classes, that is employers and employees, masters and slaves. The material and technical resources for such a society, unquestionably exist in the world today. No competent study can doubt that everybody could have a comfortable home, nutritious food, good healthcare and decent education, offering security against accident, sickness, and old age; and providing dignity and self-respect that goes with these things. What socialism proposes is the good things in life for everybody. What we actually have, however, is widespread poverty. We suffer want in the midst of plenty.

Our planet has vast areas of the richest and most fertile soil, mineral resources in almost inexhaustible supply, the most productive technology, and millions of educated workers ready to apply their skills to that technology to produce in abundance for every man, woman, and child. It is due entirely to the current social system under which we live that ought to be abolished. We have the possibility of immense abundance and fruitful and creative life for all the people of the world. Instead, we are menaced by capitalism’s capacity to destroy mankind.

Socialism will end immediately private ownership and control over natural resources and over the production, distribution and communication. Ownership and control would be vested in society. They say all this is a dream. Yet it is an immediate possibility. By means of the vast technology of this modern world, we can produce enough for all. There is no question at all about this. The only reason it has not happened is that a few people own the technology to make a profit for themselves. The only thing that lies between us and the proverbial promised land of milk and honey is the private ownership of the means of producing and distributing wealth. Therefore, what socialism proposes to do, in order to share the wealth for all, is to take possession of the factories, the farms, and the transport and run them for the use of all.

We advocate that people shall come together in a political party and vote the parasites out of power. How are we ever going to get the working people together is a natural question to ask, because we see the workers divided by creed, colour, nationality and gender. And the worst of it is that we don’t seem to see any great changes taking place from day to day. Working people keep repeating the bosses talking points presented by the media and we don’t appear to be getting any smarter. Sometimes a person thinks he or she is not getting much brighter as time goes on. And sometimes wonders how to understand the theory of socialism. Marx and Engels seem like geniuses out of this world. And you can’t even understand their words without a dictionary. At least that’s the way it looks at first. Sometimes a fellow thinks he’s not getting much brighter as time goes on. And sometimes he wonders how he’s ever going to get smart enough to understand the theory of socialism. Karl Marx and Engels seem like geniuses of this world. And you can’t even understand their words without a dictionary. At least that’s the way it looks at first. Some find themselves thinking, “Well, this socialism stuff is all right for college professors.   I only work for a living struggle over a tabloid newspaper.” When the class struggle reaches flashpoint, you’re going to find out you weren’t as dumb as you thought.

We all know that employers own all the factories, the mines, and everything we work at. We just own our brawn and our brains and, of course, our debts. We have to give the bosses our muscles so we can pay our debts and feed ourselves now and then.

 

The whole idea of socialism is we wouldn’t be producing for profit – for sale on the market. That’s the main thing to always bear in mind. What they sell is the product of our labour. And that’s where the bosses get the money to hire more workers, to build more factories. That’s where they get the money to live in mansions. All they return to the employee is enough to scrape along on, a jump ahead of the debt collectors.

 

The chains of wage-slavery are worse than real chains in a way. You work faster for the boss when iron shackles are not in the way. Only NEED chains us all. Only poverty.

 

We could manage industry ourselves. When we take over the industries, our class, THE WORKING CLASS, will have real democracy. Working people will be running things in our own interests. When working people take over production, they’ll have some real rights for the first time in history. The first thing to do is to make enough and more than enough goods for all. Work will be easier by using the many inventions that capitalists never implement. And we’ll encourage far more inventions from people who can hold up their heads for the first time and look their machine and the whole factory over from top to bottom. Instead of us all being one regimented by the power of Capital, we’ll BE individuals. The capitalists, and their apologists, may think we’ll get lazy with so much prosperity. They may think that when we can eat as much as we want, we’ll just keep on eating like pigs. And that without any owners over us, we’ll lose all sense of responsibility. In other words, they judge US by THEMSELVES. There’s only one thing we can do. Organise our forces to overthrow the whole rotten system.