SOYMB expresses solidarity

The Socialism Or Your Money Back blog applauds with sympathy and admiration the courageous stand of the Libyan protesters.

Intellectual development cannot be where there exists suppression of free expression of opinion. And where intellectual forces are stifled, real social material well-being is impossible of attainment. There must be no mistake that we in the Socialist Party hate Gadhaffi in a manner beyond question. His regime stands out to us calling aloud for destruction. For ourselves, we, as socialists, would render the Libyan people any service which would assist in their accomplishing the overthrow of their despotic ruler gang, if only to gain for them the immediate means of being able to give expression to their social and political aspirations without fear of being murdered or placed in prison. Until the Libyan people or anywhere else can gain the means of emerging from underground into the daylight, their chances of finally freeing themselves from capitalism through socialism are well-nigh hopeless. It has always been recognised by socialists that it is necessary for the workers to gain the vote, so that they may be able to place themselves democratically in control of the machinery of government. Socialists are on the side of the exploited in their struggles against the landed and monied classes. This is true whether the workers concerned are socialist or not. Having defied Gadhaffi the next step which the Libyan workers must take is to organise a class conscious, democratic political party, to aim for the common ownership and democratic control of the means of wealth production and distribution. To this end, the Socialist Party of Great Britain offers its support to our fellow workers in Libya.

Despite the intimidation, workers in many Arab countries took courage into their hands, came onto the streets and openly defied their oppressors. What has been impressive has been the sophistication of the ways in which these workers have conducted themselves. By their nature these events could not be well planned in advance, the movements had little structure of organisation behind them, yet despite these disadvantages in every case except Libya (which was not the fault of the workers) they managed to conduct themselves without too great amount of bloodshed in a dignified and self-controlled manner. When we see these oppressive structures collapsing, what is being demonstrated is the power and force of popular consciousness. So, when we say that a majority of socialists will be able to take over the state and establish a system of cooperation and direct production for human needs on the basis of common ownership, the worker's ability to carry this through has been demonstrated in Tunisia and Egypt over the past few weeks. Socialists can be greatly encouraged by recent events throughout the Middle East. Having seen these vile and despotic structures continue intact decade after decade, we might have been excused for thinking that they were so firmly in place that they would last for ever. In fact, they were so fundamentally weak that they collapsed overnight. Having seen world capitalism stagger on decade after decade, similarly we could get the impression that it is so firmly entrenched that it will remain for ever. In fact, confronted by a socialist majority, the lesson is that it will prove so fundamentally weak that its abolition will be a mere formality causing it to dissolve into history. We say that in recognition of their common interests throughout the world, workers can cooperate and act simultaneously in each country; that a socialist majority will be able to organise this great revolutionary change through a series of fast-moving events in a level-headed and self-controlled manner, the ability to achieve all these things has also been demonstrated now by the working class in many Arab countries.