We need you to join us

In the political and economic world we are expected never to "do it ourselves" but instead we are advised to let the experts do it. Professional politicians are paid to do our thinking for us. The Socialist Party almost alone have warned of the dangers of dependence on leaders. The working class today creates all wealth for the private owners of industry in return for a fraction of that wealth, called wages. With socialism, the same producers will create the wealth for all of society to enjoy. With those now unemployed, or senselessly occupied, put to useful endeavour, and with all the ingenious labour-saving inventions put to use, the hours of the working day will be shortened tremendously. Automation will cease to be a threat to job security, it will bring the blessing of greater abundance and more leisure time to enjoy that abundance. Instead of workers being divided into hostile groups competing for jobs that will pay enough to keep a family until next payday, we will work in harmony, cooperating to produce most efficiently the best possible products, since we will all directly benefit from each improvement in quality and quantity of the goods and services we have made available. Socialism is not a paternalistic society in which the good things are handed down to you. It is a society of economic equality, which is to say, equality of economic opportunity. You will have full voice and vote in the industrial democracy.  What a relief from strain and worry self-directed socialism will bring.  Increased leisure and general well-being made possible for all of us to lead decent lives. All will enjoy better health. The modern scourge of mental illness will be largely eliminated in a society freed from the causes of anxieties and tensions that now plague mankind.  The leisure which our shorter hours of work will give us will mean a great enrichment of our lives. Travel, the development of cultural appreciation, the best of entertainment -- all these will be ours.

At this point, you might be thinking, "Sounds like a heaven on earth. But we have to contend with human nature” Would you be opposed to helping create a "heaven on earth"? Do you really prefer voting for politicians who are pledged to maintain the present social system which is the exact opposite of that "heaven on earth" we have described? Is it your nature to desire peace or war? Are other humans different from you? Is it your nature to prefer the insecurity of employment and the exploitation under capitalism, or does your whole being yearn for economic freedom and security for yourself and your family? Are you proud of the fear-instilling and intimidating measures to curtail freedom of thought, or does your whole nature rebel at capitalism's encroachment upon your liberties? The Socialist Party maintains that the best in human nature will only be brought out by the best in social and economic conditions.

We are not prophets and we must restrict ourselves to depicting in only the broadest brush-strokes the picture of a future socialist society. The Socialist Party is committed to inspiring a vision of an alternative way of living where all the world's resources are owned in common and democratically controlled by communities on an ecologically sustainable and socially harmonious basis. We believe such a society will no longer require money, markets, or states, and can only be established democratically from the bottom up without the intervention of politicians or leaders. We are a principled movement for radical change seeking a society of cooperation and solidarity. The members of the Socialist Party share a vision of the future society as a worldwide, class-free, state-free and market-free cooperative commonwealth, based on the common ownership and democratic control of productive resources in the interests of the whole community, with production directly for use. The Socialist Party seeks to establish a free society, which will render impossible the growth of a privileged class and the exploitation of man by man. The Socialist Party therefore, advocates common ownership of the land, industry and all means of production and distribution on the basis of voluntary co-operation. In such a society, the wage system, finance, and money shall be abolished and goods produced and distributed not for profit, but according to human needs. The State in all its forms, embodying the ruling class, is the enemy of the workers and cannot exist in a free, classless society.

The Socialist Party calls upon this majority to vote for the change from private ownership and the political State to common ownership. You can "Do It Yourselves" at the ballot box. You are now carrying on all production in industry. You have only to take over and continue the operation of these same industries, producing for the use of all instead of the profit of the few. Having thus carried out your decision registered at the ballot box, you can then form new structure and networks to administer the new world you have created for yourselves.  This is the only way socialism may be attained - by "Doing It Yourselves."