One more of our
general election statements. The 1983 general election gave the Conservatives
Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945. The Social
Democratic Party/Liberal Party alliance came within 700,000 votes to
out-polling Labour. Despite this, they won only 23 seats, whereas Labour won
209.
VOTE FOR YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE...
Did
you vote in the last General Election?
You are
again faced with a bunch of politicians who can only be distinguished from one
another by the colour of their rosettes, but there are thousands of people not
prepared to support any of them. About one in four did not vote for any of the
candidates in the 1979 General Election. It is particularly to men and women
who are not prepared to follow leaders or to believe the bogus promises of
Thatcher, Foot, Jenkins and Steele that this manifesto is directed.
Most of
you will not know much about the Socialist Party of Great Britain — this may even be the first time you have heard of
us. Certainly, many people have heard the word "socialist" and
imagine that it has something to do with the nationalised industries or
dictatorships such as Russia and China. It is understandable that many people
regard "socialism" as just another political cliché, used to win votes for Labour politicians, but
having very little meaning.
The
Socialist Party stands solely for socialism because we do not think that the
present social system —
capitalism — can ever be made to work in the interests of the
majority of people. This is not the fault of government policies, but of the
present social system in which they are operating. Capitalism always puts the
needs of the minority who own and control the factories, farms, offices, mines,
media, the means of wealth production and distribution, before those of the
vast majority — we, the working class — who produce the wealth, but own little more than
our ability to work, which we have to sell for wages or salaries.
It is a
hard but undeniable fact that no political party — including the Socialist Party — can legislate to humanise capitalism or make it
run in the interests of the wage slaves. That's why it's time for you to stop
giving your votes to politicians who stand for the profit system. None of them
can solve unemployment, which has increased steadily under both Labour and
Conservative governments, despite their proclaimed recipes for economic
success. None of them will provide decent housing for everyone. None of them
will end hypothermia. None of them will prevent thirty million people from
starving to death each year. None of them will end the threat of human
annihilation as a result of war, because militarism is inevitable within a
system based upon the market, trade and ferocious competition. Why waste your
vote on parties that cannot make any of these urgently needed changes? Why go
on in the hope that a miracle will happen and the insanity of the profit system
will be put right?
So what's
the socialist alternative? We say that the resources of society must be taken
into the hands of the whole community — and by that we don't mean the state, but all of
us, organised together, consciously and democratically.
In a
socialist society we will produce for use, not profit. This means producing
food to feed the world's population, not to dump in the sea if it cannot be
sold profitably. Producing for use means ending the colossal waste of resources
on armies, armaments, trade, banking and insurance, and all the other social
features which are only necessary within capitalism; it means devoting human
energies and natural resources to producing the best of what people really need
and want. By running society on the basis of common ownership, democratic
control and production for use we can all have free access to all goods and
services.
Two points
will be clear to you by now. Firstly, this is no ordinary manifesto. We have
made no promises; we have not asked for your support. Indeed, the Socialist
Party does not want your support unless you are convinced that the case for
socialism is a sensible one and is in your interest. Socialism can only be
established when a majority of workers understand and want it, so there is no
point in seeking support on any other basis. Secondly, you will have noticed
that what we are advocating is different — it has never been tried. That gang of political
has-beens, the SDP, have nothing new to offer. The Labour Party, if elected,
will continue its futile exercise of trying to reform capitalism. The Tories,
if given a chance, will pursue their vicious policy of dancing to the tune of
profitability while human needs are ignored. Thatcher's "Victorian
values", Jenkins' "consensus politics" and Foot's
"Keynesian" reformism have all been tried — they've failed. This is the only manifesto to
come through your letterbox which is making a proposal to transform world
society from the chaos and waste of the market into the co-operative democracy
of production for use.
This
manifesto can be summarised. Do you agree with the following statements?
• CAPITALISM puts
profits for the few before the needs of the many.
LABOUR
governments, "communist states", and proposals to reform the profit
system cannot establish socialism.
SOCIALISM
means a society of common ownership and democratic control where production is
solely for use — not profit.
WHEN a
majority of workers — including the quarter of the electorate who did
not vote last time, the disillusioned members of the old parties and those who
have turned to the SDP —
understand and want socialism, the new system can be established immediately.
If you
think that the above statements are wrong, please take the trouble to tell us
why. If you agree with us, then why not take the next step and contact the
Socialist Party?
June
1983 General Election
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