Common sense

The problems of the present day are not new. The socialist demand that all should have enough to eat on a planet that grows enough food, that deprivation amongst plenty is not tolerated, that people do not die from preventable disease, or that we put the natural laws of the biosphere above economic “laws”,  is presented as unrealistic, as idealistic and utopian fantasies of those who are too naive to the “complexity” of the world’s problems. If people created to-day's world how is it absurd to believe we might actually re-create a better world. Subordinating every aspect of life to the “rules of the market” (i.e. the accumulation of profit  ) — has become today’s “common sense.”  We live in a world where nearly one billion people go hungry while we dump half of all food produced. Where is the common sense in that?

Many no longer believe that a better world, much less in a better life, is possible. Yet a yearning remains. Alhough many have an understanding of capitalism’s failings, there is a resignation towards its inevitability. Socialists must expose the taken-for-granted assumptions that make capitalism “common sense,” and widen the horizons of possibility.

 The case for socialism is simple. Anyone can understand it. Today you must work for a capitalist to get the money to buy your food, clothe yourself and provide yourself with a safe place to live. In socialism you will have access to everything you need without paying for it. Work will all be voluntary. There will be no money. Things will never be made for profit, but always for people to enjoy. Socialism is plain and straightforward.

The Socialist Party sets about making revolutionaries, not to make The Revolution - that is the task of the working class.