In America where a mere 400 people own more wealth than the bottom 180 million together, should we be really surprised that according to Merriam Webster dictionaries that the two most looked-up words in 2012 on their website were "socialism" and "capitalism." Or surprised that two recent Rasmussen surveys discovered that Americans younger than 30 are almost equally divided as to whether capitalism or socialism is preferable. Another Pew survey found those aged 18 to 29 have a more favorable reaction to the term "socialism" by a margin of 49 to 43 percent.
Perhaps we should exercise caution of those statistics since what is meant by socialism varies.Yet clearly it shows that some people are getting serious about a different vision for the future and a new direction for society. People have come to an understanding that those who own wealth - and the corporations that operate it - have far more power to control any system than those who don't. They now seek some form of “democratic” ownership of factories and work-places, the “means of production” or "capital" as Marxists would describe them.
Everything you use, everything you eat or wear, your car, your house — you didn’t make any of these things. We don’t produce these things as individuals. We produce socially. But, even though we produce socially, through co-operation, we don’t own the means of production socially. And this affects all the basic decisions made in this society about what we produce. These decisions are not made on the basis of what people need, but on the basis of what makes a profit.
Take the question of hunger. There are people going hungry all over the world. Farmers don’t make their decisions by saying: “We need a lot of corn in the US, so I’m going to plant a lot of corn.” They never say that. They say: “How much money am I going to make if I plant corn?” Did you know that if decisions were not made on this basis, then the US alone would have the potential to feed the whole world?
Socialists have been accused for many years of wanting to overthrow the government by force and violence. When they accuse us of this, what they are really trying to do is to imply that we want to abolish capitalism with a minority, that we want to force the will of the minority on the majority. The opposite is the truth. We believe we can win a majority of the people to support a change in the system
It is time to discuss carefully and thoughtfully the possibilities and potential for socialism. We have a receptive audience, now is the time to try and reach it and share the desire to create different ways of living, to help create a future without exploitation, meaningless work, class inequality and hierarchy and strive to live free of coercion. In this society of the future, personal freedom and the well-being of all without exception will, for the first time in history, become realities, and the individual will, at the same time, be able to develop fully his or her personal aptitudes and capacities.
There is only one working class to defeat the capitalist class. Whatever its faults, it is this working class alone that can take power and establish the co-operative commonwealth. It must, of course, possess the necessary ardour before it can achieve this object; and a study of the working-class movement reveals a slow but steady progress in the revolutionary ideas that arise as the result of labour’s subservience to capital.
The progress of socialism is governed by the advance of socialist thought among the workers. The socialist movement of to-day cannot bring socialism. The co-operative commonwealth can only be inaugurated by the majority action of the workers. Steadily the workers move along the road to-wards socialism. Circumstances compel them to take that road. Economic laws operate whether they are known or not, but if we understand their operation we can bend them to our purpose and assist society along the course it tends to travel. As a Socialist Party we must bring this knowledge to our fellow workers.
Perhaps we should exercise caution of those statistics since what is meant by socialism varies.Yet clearly it shows that some people are getting serious about a different vision for the future and a new direction for society. People have come to an understanding that those who own wealth - and the corporations that operate it - have far more power to control any system than those who don't. They now seek some form of “democratic” ownership of factories and work-places, the “means of production” or "capital" as Marxists would describe them.
Everything you use, everything you eat or wear, your car, your house — you didn’t make any of these things. We don’t produce these things as individuals. We produce socially. But, even though we produce socially, through co-operation, we don’t own the means of production socially. And this affects all the basic decisions made in this society about what we produce. These decisions are not made on the basis of what people need, but on the basis of what makes a profit.
Take the question of hunger. There are people going hungry all over the world. Farmers don’t make their decisions by saying: “We need a lot of corn in the US, so I’m going to plant a lot of corn.” They never say that. They say: “How much money am I going to make if I plant corn?” Did you know that if decisions were not made on this basis, then the US alone would have the potential to feed the whole world?
Socialists have been accused for many years of wanting to overthrow the government by force and violence. When they accuse us of this, what they are really trying to do is to imply that we want to abolish capitalism with a minority, that we want to force the will of the minority on the majority. The opposite is the truth. We believe we can win a majority of the people to support a change in the system
It is time to discuss carefully and thoughtfully the possibilities and potential for socialism. We have a receptive audience, now is the time to try and reach it and share the desire to create different ways of living, to help create a future without exploitation, meaningless work, class inequality and hierarchy and strive to live free of coercion. In this society of the future, personal freedom and the well-being of all without exception will, for the first time in history, become realities, and the individual will, at the same time, be able to develop fully his or her personal aptitudes and capacities.
There is only one working class to defeat the capitalist class. Whatever its faults, it is this working class alone that can take power and establish the co-operative commonwealth. It must, of course, possess the necessary ardour before it can achieve this object; and a study of the working-class movement reveals a slow but steady progress in the revolutionary ideas that arise as the result of labour’s subservience to capital.
The progress of socialism is governed by the advance of socialist thought among the workers. The socialist movement of to-day cannot bring socialism. The co-operative commonwealth can only be inaugurated by the majority action of the workers. Steadily the workers move along the road to-wards socialism. Circumstances compel them to take that road. Economic laws operate whether they are known or not, but if we understand their operation we can bend them to our purpose and assist society along the course it tends to travel. As a Socialist Party we must bring this knowledge to our fellow workers.
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