Understanding Revolution

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE

There has never been a free people.  Human society has always consisted of masters and slaves, and the slaves have always been, as they are today, the foundation stones of the society. Wage-slavery is a fact. The capitalist parties may have all their moth-eaten issues entirely to themselves.  Our one issue in this election campaign is the overthrow of the capitalist system and the emancipation of the working class from wage-slavery.

 The struggle for political supremacy is not merely between political parties, as it appears upon the surface, but at bottom of it, is the life and death struggle between two hostile economic classes, the one - the capitalist, and the other - the working class. The capitalist class is represented by the Labour, Tory, Liberal and UKIP parties, all of which stand for private ownership of the means of production, and the triumph of any one of which will mean continued wage-slavery to the working class.

The Green Party and TUSC offer mistaken ideas and advance faulty, defective alternatives, despite their good intentions. Surely they see a contradiction in advocating palliative half-measures and at the same time stressing the necessity for revolutionary change.  Our campaign is to be a campaign for what our party works towards, a campaign of education for socialism, and it follows that we must show why every other party is wrong and cannot solve the problems of the working class. We must distinguish ourselves from those parties that claim to represent the interests of the working class as well as those parties that are openly against the idea of socialism.

The men and women and children of the working class are being represented by the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the uncompromising party of the working class. Our candidate for the Vassall ward, Danny Lambert, has but one purpose in this election and that is not to obtain political office, but to explain some home truths. The Socialist Party, the party of the workers, the party of emancipation, is made up of men and women who scorn any collaboration with their oppressors. We want no votes that can be bought by promises and no support gained by false pretense. Votes obtained by offering inducements are votes of those who will vote socialist today and then just as easily switch to some other party at the next election, when they are dangled tastier bait.  Socialism will not come into existence unless the majority of the people are willing to struggle for socialism and that means that they have some idea of what it is. If the people who vote for a socialist do not do so because he or she is a socialist but because they agree to some sort of programme of reforming capitalism, of what earthly use can that be for achieving the socialist goal? Socialism must depend upon the consciousness of the working  class and not upon their lack of knowledge. The idea that we should first be elected to office and then talk socialism to the people is utterly absurd.

We seek the opportunity to state our case for the electorate’s understanding. Only ignorance alone stand in the way of socialist success. The capitalist parties understand this and use all their resources to maintain the web of lies and misinformation, sowing division and confusion amongst workers. This election campaign affords us an opportunity to reach and teach thousands  of workers the meaning of socialism. From the point of view of achieving socialism, 60 votes, obtained conducting a campaign where socialist ideas are stressed, are worth ten times more than 600 votes polled in a campaign where the necessity for the struggle for socialism is not emphasised and where the Socialist Party’s case is relegated into the background. During an election voters are more likely to listen to a discussion on economics and politics than during any other period and our purpose in standing is to make the most of that receptiveness and show the voters the necessity for the abolition of capitalism.

Vote Danny Lambert of the Socialist Party (GB) in the Vassall ward bye-election for Lambeth council