As trade unionists and left-wingers gather today for the Peoples Assembly it may be well to spell out once again the Socialist Party's case against reformism and urge the participants to consider real change when they discuss their policies and alternatives.
Reformism is the graveyard for hope. Reformism requires a pact with the devil. By definition, capitalism can only function in the interest of the capitalists, no palliatives can (nor ever will be able to) subordinate capitalist private property-relations to the general interest. So long as class exists, any gains will be partial and fleeting, subject to the on-going struggle. The Socialist Party of Great Britain opposes the whole culture of reformism, the idea that capitalism can be tamed and made palatable with the right reforms.
Over decades, millions of workers have invested their hopes in so-called "practical" and "possibilist" organisations and policies, hoping against hope that they would be able to neuter the market economy when, in reality, the market economy has successfully neutered them. They turned out to be the real "impossibilists". Demanding the unattainable humanised capitalism is one of the greatest tragedies of the last century and it is made all the greater because it was all so predictable. Yet still many hold the idea that capitalism can be reformed into something kindly and user-friendly and at the Peoples Assembly a host of reforms will be proposed.
Socialists understand only too well the urge to do something now, to make a change. That makes us all the more determined, however, to get the message across, to clear away the barrier of the wages system, so that we can begin to build a truly human society. Why waste time fighting for half measures? We would better spend our time, energies, and resources educating people to establish socialism rather than waste time in the false belief that our present system can be made to work in everyone’s interest.
Only the threat of a socialist movement setting down as the only realistic and immediate aim the establishment of social property of society’s means of existence so as to ensure their management by and in the interest of the whole community, would be able to force the capitalists to concede reforms favourable to the workers for fear of losing the whole cake. Yet more reason to advance the maximum programme of socialism.
We do not claim “capitalist reforms” stand in the way of achieving socialism. If we did we'd logically have to oppose them; which we don't. We encourage workers to fight back against employers and, although we don't propose or advocate reforms, we don't oppose them if they genuinely do improve workers' lives under capitalism. What we say is not that they are obstacles to socialism but merely that they are irrelevant to socialism and that a socialist party should not advocate reforms. Socialists make a choice. We choose to use our time and limited funds to work to eliminate the cause of the problems.
If you are convinced, however, that groups or parties promising reforms deserve your support, we would urge you to consider the following points.
1) The campaign, whether directed at right-wing or left-wing governments, will often only succeed if it can be reconciled with the profit-making needs of the system. In other words, the reform will often be turned to the benefit of the capitalist class at the expense of any working class gain.
2) Any reform can be reversed and eroded later if a government finds it necessary. We witness that only too obviously in to-day’s recession austerity cuts to the Welfare State
3) Reforms rarely actually solve the problem they were intended to solve. One can pick any single problem and find that improvements have taken place, usually only after a very long period of agitation. But seldom has the problem actually disappeared, and usually other related problems have arisen to fill the vacuum of left by the "solution".
If the view remains that the struggle for reforms is worthwhile then imagine just how many palliatives and ameliorations will be offered and conceded by a besieged capitalist class in a desperate attempt to retain ownership rights if the working class were demanding the maximum programme of full and complete appropriation and nothing less. To stem the socialist tide the capitalist parties will sink their differences and draw closer together, much as religions do today in the face of the world avalanche of atheism. Reforms now derided as utopian will be two-a-penny - in an attempt to fob off the workers. Perhaps, for example, capitalism will provide a batch of free services, on the understanding that this is "the beginning" of a free society, but socialists will not be fooled and taken in by this blatant bribery.
If a pipe bursts and the water is flooding the house, one can start bailing the water out while it continues to flow in, or one can turn the water off, and then start bailing it out. It may take a while to find the tap, but unless the water is turned off, the water will continue to rise and bailing is pretty much pointless. Socialists are not immune to the human tragedies which occur daily, by the millions, and which generate thousands of social activist groups trying to stem the flow. Socialists suffer those tragedies as severely as anyone else, but we strive work to encourage people to find the tap and turn it off, rather than supply buckets.
Reformism is the graveyard for hope. Reformism requires a pact with the devil. By definition, capitalism can only function in the interest of the capitalists, no palliatives can (nor ever will be able to) subordinate capitalist private property-relations to the general interest. So long as class exists, any gains will be partial and fleeting, subject to the on-going struggle. The Socialist Party of Great Britain opposes the whole culture of reformism, the idea that capitalism can be tamed and made palatable with the right reforms.
Over decades, millions of workers have invested their hopes in so-called "practical" and "possibilist" organisations and policies, hoping against hope that they would be able to neuter the market economy when, in reality, the market economy has successfully neutered them. They turned out to be the real "impossibilists". Demanding the unattainable humanised capitalism is one of the greatest tragedies of the last century and it is made all the greater because it was all so predictable. Yet still many hold the idea that capitalism can be reformed into something kindly and user-friendly and at the Peoples Assembly a host of reforms will be proposed.
Socialists understand only too well the urge to do something now, to make a change. That makes us all the more determined, however, to get the message across, to clear away the barrier of the wages system, so that we can begin to build a truly human society. Why waste time fighting for half measures? We would better spend our time, energies, and resources educating people to establish socialism rather than waste time in the false belief that our present system can be made to work in everyone’s interest.
Only the threat of a socialist movement setting down as the only realistic and immediate aim the establishment of social property of society’s means of existence so as to ensure their management by and in the interest of the whole community, would be able to force the capitalists to concede reforms favourable to the workers for fear of losing the whole cake. Yet more reason to advance the maximum programme of socialism.
We do not claim “capitalist reforms” stand in the way of achieving socialism. If we did we'd logically have to oppose them; which we don't. We encourage workers to fight back against employers and, although we don't propose or advocate reforms, we don't oppose them if they genuinely do improve workers' lives under capitalism. What we say is not that they are obstacles to socialism but merely that they are irrelevant to socialism and that a socialist party should not advocate reforms. Socialists make a choice. We choose to use our time and limited funds to work to eliminate the cause of the problems.
If you are convinced, however, that groups or parties promising reforms deserve your support, we would urge you to consider the following points.
1) The campaign, whether directed at right-wing or left-wing governments, will often only succeed if it can be reconciled with the profit-making needs of the system. In other words, the reform will often be turned to the benefit of the capitalist class at the expense of any working class gain.
2) Any reform can be reversed and eroded later if a government finds it necessary. We witness that only too obviously in to-day’s recession austerity cuts to the Welfare State
3) Reforms rarely actually solve the problem they were intended to solve. One can pick any single problem and find that improvements have taken place, usually only after a very long period of agitation. But seldom has the problem actually disappeared, and usually other related problems have arisen to fill the vacuum of left by the "solution".
If the view remains that the struggle for reforms is worthwhile then imagine just how many palliatives and ameliorations will be offered and conceded by a besieged capitalist class in a desperate attempt to retain ownership rights if the working class were demanding the maximum programme of full and complete appropriation and nothing less. To stem the socialist tide the capitalist parties will sink their differences and draw closer together, much as religions do today in the face of the world avalanche of atheism. Reforms now derided as utopian will be two-a-penny - in an attempt to fob off the workers. Perhaps, for example, capitalism will provide a batch of free services, on the understanding that this is "the beginning" of a free society, but socialists will not be fooled and taken in by this blatant bribery.
If a pipe bursts and the water is flooding the house, one can start bailing the water out while it continues to flow in, or one can turn the water off, and then start bailing it out. It may take a while to find the tap, but unless the water is turned off, the water will continue to rise and bailing is pretty much pointless. Socialists are not immune to the human tragedies which occur daily, by the millions, and which generate thousands of social activist groups trying to stem the flow. Socialists suffer those tragedies as severely as anyone else, but we strive work to encourage people to find the tap and turn it off, rather than supply buckets.
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