Experiences in the day-to-day struggles do lead some people to become
revolutionaries. Upsurges in class struggle and periods of crisis in
capitalism provide a potential revolutionary springboard. The
contradictions, class relationships and miseries inherent to capitalism
inevitably lead the workers to confront capital and when this happens
there is, of course the potential for revolutionary consciousness to
grow through the realisation of class position and the nature of
capitalism.
As long as capitalism continues, squeezing and stamping on the working
class ever more relentlessly, alongside the growing realisation of the
failure of all forms of running the system; then there is a potential
for the escalation of struggle towards the overthrow of the system.
However, how many times has the potential been there in past moments of
escalated struggle and capitalist crisis only to disappear or to be
channelled into reformist, pro-capitalist directions? Why?
At the moment, however, even for those taking part in strikes, socialist
ideas are still incredibly marginalised, to the point of being
unthinkable. What holds things back is the general climate of political
ideas. Things would be different if socialist ideas were generalised
throughout the working class. The more widely known, discussed, accepted
the socialist case is, then surely the more likely it is that
"day-to-day" class conflict will escalate into a decisive mass struggle
against the money system itself. This is where "education" (or promoting
the socialist case) rears its head. The biggest job is getting the
socialist case across as widely and loudly as possible. Capitalism will
continue to throw up situations where an escalation of class struggle
towards socialism is possible, but the more workers there are who are
conscious socialists or are aware of the alternative to capitalism, then
the greater the likelihood there is of getting rid of the system. Also,
upsurges of class struggle which don't have a widespread socialist
political consciousness will always run the risk of being hijacked by
the Left and the rest of the leadership brigade.
Political consciousness implies political action, but what sort?
Representative "democracy" is a farce and voting for any group that
seeks to administer capitalism or lead us is like loading the gun for
your own executioner. Likewise there would be no difference if all state
and commercial posts were directly elected as they will always act on
behalf of the ruling class and against us. Elected police chiefs (as the
SWP plan to have in their "Workers State"!!) would still be
thugs-in-chief as much as elected politicians act in the same
anti-working class way as unelected ones do. But this is not a reason to
damn democracy full stop.
What is wrong with democracy in the sense of organisation and discussion
as equals, the making of decisions by voting, the election of mandated,
recallable delegates to relevant bodies etc.? This is, after all the way
a free society would surely work. Democracy is a sham under capitalism
because people are anything but equals and the capitalist notion of
democracy is used to cover this up. Once most workers have come to see
socialism as the alternative to capitalism surely they can use
parliament as part of the revolution as it wouldn't be used as an
instrument of government, but as a means of demonstrating and carrying
out the working class majority's wish to abolish the state for good.
Also, bearing in mind that "...the proletarian movement is the movement
of the immense majority in the interests of the immense majority", the
vote would be used as a way of ensuring that the socialist revolution is
carried out by the immense majority of our class, and not by a minority
that would leave the majority passive and open to manipulation by
pro-capitalist or leadership elements. By voting, at least we could know
exactly where we were. And it would be on our terms, as capitalism would
already be in final retreat (hopefully) by this stage.
revolutionaries. Upsurges in class struggle and periods of crisis in
capitalism provide a potential revolutionary springboard. The
contradictions, class relationships and miseries inherent to capitalism
inevitably lead the workers to confront capital and when this happens
there is, of course the potential for revolutionary consciousness to
grow through the realisation of class position and the nature of
capitalism.
As long as capitalism continues, squeezing and stamping on the working
class ever more relentlessly, alongside the growing realisation of the
failure of all forms of running the system; then there is a potential
for the escalation of struggle towards the overthrow of the system.
However, how many times has the potential been there in past moments of
escalated struggle and capitalist crisis only to disappear or to be
channelled into reformist, pro-capitalist directions? Why?
At the moment, however, even for those taking part in strikes, socialist
ideas are still incredibly marginalised, to the point of being
unthinkable. What holds things back is the general climate of political
ideas. Things would be different if socialist ideas were generalised
throughout the working class. The more widely known, discussed, accepted
the socialist case is, then surely the more likely it is that
"day-to-day" class conflict will escalate into a decisive mass struggle
against the money system itself. This is where "education" (or promoting
the socialist case) rears its head. The biggest job is getting the
socialist case across as widely and loudly as possible. Capitalism will
continue to throw up situations where an escalation of class struggle
towards socialism is possible, but the more workers there are who are
conscious socialists or are aware of the alternative to capitalism, then
the greater the likelihood there is of getting rid of the system. Also,
upsurges of class struggle which don't have a widespread socialist
political consciousness will always run the risk of being hijacked by
the Left and the rest of the leadership brigade.
Political consciousness implies political action, but what sort?
Representative "democracy" is a farce and voting for any group that
seeks to administer capitalism or lead us is like loading the gun for
your own executioner. Likewise there would be no difference if all state
and commercial posts were directly elected as they will always act on
behalf of the ruling class and against us. Elected police chiefs (as the
SWP plan to have in their "Workers State"!!) would still be
thugs-in-chief as much as elected politicians act in the same
anti-working class way as unelected ones do. But this is not a reason to
damn democracy full stop.
What is wrong with democracy in the sense of organisation and discussion
as equals, the making of decisions by voting, the election of mandated,
recallable delegates to relevant bodies etc.? This is, after all the way
a free society would surely work. Democracy is a sham under capitalism
because people are anything but equals and the capitalist notion of
democracy is used to cover this up. Once most workers have come to see
socialism as the alternative to capitalism surely they can use
parliament as part of the revolution as it wouldn't be used as an
instrument of government, but as a means of demonstrating and carrying
out the working class majority's wish to abolish the state for good.
Also, bearing in mind that "...the proletarian movement is the movement
of the immense majority in the interests of the immense majority", the
vote would be used as a way of ensuring that the socialist revolution is
carried out by the immense majority of our class, and not by a minority
that would leave the majority passive and open to manipulation by
pro-capitalist or leadership elements. By voting, at least we could know
exactly where we were. And it would be on our terms, as capitalism would
already be in final retreat (hopefully) by this stage.
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