Bring On The Revolution!

We each have our grievances and many of them are aired on a regular basis here on this blog. What can be added about the generally recognised injustices of the world, about the huge imbalances within and between societies on all continents? Let's take a look at some of the most pressing.

First there are the masses of workers recognised as overworked and underpaid. There is widespread knowledge of the levels of hunger worldwide, not through lack of available food but because of a lack of money to buy that food. Then there are the millions without work, seeking work but surplus to requirements and those without enough work to earn sufficient to pay the bills and live a halfway decent life.

Recurrent in the news are accounts of never-ending 'wars', usually invasions by massive powers intent on imposing their blueprint for democracy on foreign territories for control of compliant regimes and unopposed access to resources at the same time keeping the arms and war material manufacturers turning over ever-increasing profits while killing thousands of innocent civilians known as collateral damage.

As each new report on global warming is published evidence shows that conditions are worsening, and faster than previously thought but simultaneously we read reports of increased fossil fuel extraction targets. Governments and International agencies fiddling while the earth begins to burn.

Our commons shrinks daily: whether land grab, water grab, or mass privatisation of all utilities with virtually no democratic process. Public spaces become reduced to private shopping malls. Beaches are claimed by private hotels and acres of land turned over to private golf courses. Streets and squares are denied to groups motivated to demonstrate against their shrinking access to civic involvement in any kind of democratic decision-making process, denied by armed police or security forces following the orders of 'democratically' elected officials! US, UK, Spain, Greece, France, Thailand, Hong Kong, Egypt, Brazil, Turkey, Israel, Ukraine, Myanmar - there are examples on all continents.

The facts are there for anyone interested to discover.

The system we have been born into and continue to live in and that our offspring and their offspring will live in – unless we consciously make the decision to change it – is, contrary to to what many people declare, working just as it's meant to do. It works by accumulating profit for a small minority by exploiting a) the commons and b) the majority population who are the workers.

The only two inputs necessary to produce any commodity are raw materials and labour.

Access to what was previously the commons for resources or raw materials is almost totally closed to the general population worldwide and is almost exclusively now made available to private corporations for exploitation. It seems nothing is off-limits as there are example after example of forests, farmland, rivers, lakes, mountains and sea beds being handed over to corporations for extraction of minerals or growing industrial-sized crops for fuel, even when it's an area known to be housing and providing livelihoods to ongoing generations.

Any production in any of the acquired areas is solely to produce for profit. All of the production, from start to finish, is carried out by the wage slaves, by us. And in different areas of work, wherever we happen to live, similar events are occurring day in, day out, year in, year out. Who can say that that is not successful?

That is the capitalist system in a nutshell. Take the resources and turn them into profit for a few by exploiting the many.

The crux of the matter is that somehow we, the huge majority, have allowed this tiny minority to get away with this for far too long. To turn this situation on its head and for all the people of the world to share this common wealth, to own the resources naturally occurring around the world, we need to make the decision democratically and emphatically and implement the measures to make it happen. That is what a socialist revolution will be. A decision for us to own the world's resources in common, for the benefit of all and then to implement it by abolishing private ownership and wealth and taking all production and distribution into the public domain.

What will change is the overworked and underpaid syndrome as only useful work will continue to be undertaken and superfluous activities will come to a halt, thereby both increasing the 'work force' massively and decreasing individual work load and including all persons fit to play their part within the global arena. No one will be underpaid or unemployed as there will be no pay. Everyone will have access to the common wealth.

From each according to ability, to each according to need. 

JS