An Election Appeal - Vote for Real Change

MARX YOUR CROSS

Tomorrow, the 25th July, Adam Buick,  the Socialist Party (GB) candidate will be contesting the Tulse Hill ward, Lambeth.

The Socialist Party of Great Britain is the only party in this country that consistently works for  socialism. The only barrier to the immediate establishment of socialism is that most of you, our fellow workers, for various reasons, would not accept that it is really practical and prefer to keep capitalism in being in the vain hope that it can be made to serve human interests. Trying to reform capitalism has proved time and again to be futile. Other parties believe, and promise, that social problems can be solved by changes of government and legislation. The Socialist Party's case is that while capitalism remains, the problems which are its consequences will remain, too.

Even though the politicians and their parties share the responsibility for keeping capitalism in being, it is no use your blaming their failures on dishonesty or incompetence since it is capitalism itself that sets the limits to what they can do. The national and local governments you elect have to work to a set of priorities which lay down that profit must come before human need. If this world is to be improved it can only be by the actions of ordinary people like yourselves. When a majority of you are equipped with socialist understanding, you can use your votes to win control of political power so that the means of production belong to the community as a whole.

We want to see a society based on the fact that you know how to run your lives, know your needs and have the skills and capacity to organise with your fellows to satisfy them. You know yourselves and your lives better than a handful of bosses or bureaucrats ever can. With democratic control of production we can ensure that looking after our communities becomes a priority, rather than something we do in our spare time. We all share fundamental needs, for food, clothing, housing and culture, and we have the capacity to ensure access to these for all, without exception.

You may object, at this stage, that these are not issues in this election. The voter in a local council election has in mind not world problems but the everyday questions of housing, rent, schools and hospitals and the other public services. That is true, but the more important truth is that they are not local questions at all. They are, in fact, aspects of the position of the working class the world over: a position in which the only differences are the depth of want and the degree of insecurity.

You may ask,how the Socialist Party is going to effect all this. The answer is that it is not. YOU are going to. In our Declaration of Principles you will find one which says: "That this emancipation must be the work of the working class itself." The Socialist Party does not present itself as a would-be ruler or a new leader. Part of our case is that leaders will take working people nowhere good: in fact, that the world will not change for the working class until they themselves change it.

Thus, in this election we are promising nothing. What we are laying before you is the proposition briefly outlined here, and what we ask is that you consider it and see if you agree with it, we ask you to vote for the Socialist Party candidate who alone in this election stand for the interests of the working class. If you disagree, we ask you to keep on thinking about the issues - but not to vote for our candidate - nor our rivals.

Those of us who are convinced socialists and have already joined THE SOCIALIST PARTY (GB) will naturally be voting for our candidate. If you agree with us, we invite you to do the same.