Friday, December 25, 2015

We don’t want to be a kill-joys but….Bah, humbug

Merry Xmas. In this season of good-will when people wronged and abused by the world, make an attempt to be merry, and to offer a message and a greeting of good cheer to their fellow men, our gift to the ruling class is our hatred.

At this season of the year when the air fills with prayers, songs and speeches about “Peace on Earth” and “Good-will to men,” it is fitting to ask in all seriousness whether the system of capitalism, which dominates the earth, can bring about that peace and good-will so ardently desired.

The charitably minded will attempt to lighten the woes of the down-trodden with philanthropic gestures but it is not an indication of the goodness of man, but it is an arraignment of the capitalist system by those of us who recognize the indignity that a small minority has the wherewithal to be charitable.  

Christmas is jolly enough, a day that brings kindliness enough, but you must be able to pay for it. While happiness cannot be bought on the open market, there are many things which, unless they are bought, will cause misery. The position of the working class, now more than ever before, is one in which suffering must result. Gloss over the matter as the apologists can, there still remains the fact that this charity is the outcome of a most deplorable condition.

For many the usual Christmas festivity and pomp is somewhat stifled because of the “spectre” of austerity. For a privileged few, a lavish abandon to luxurious feasting, without limit or restraint; and for many more others, the meagre essentials for keeping body and soul together. Capitalists have no sympathy with the workers’ poverty and misery. Capitalism, in fact, requires such deprivations, in order that the employing class may have their lavish Christmas dinners.

Our position is clear. Down with capitalism and class exploitation. Away with palliatives of any sort, and forward with the revolution. Christmas is the symbol of new birth. Let it symbolise the birth of the working-class consciousness. The yearning of the peoples of the world for lasting peace on earth and good will among men can be fulfilled only through a social system based on human needs. That is world socialism, the goal of humanity. It is the only way to have peace and security. Socialism is everybody sharing. A system based on human need, not human exploitation.

Christmas after Christmas goes by, and still the workers forget to learn the lesson of standing by one another, and demanding with one voice that the capitalist system should cease, and should be succeeded by a system in which the wealth of the country should be made “commonwealth,” and should be produced, distributed and managed for the common weal.

Christmas Greetings for the Revolution.






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