But in the way ahead stands vested interest and fear. The menacing threat of climate change and the fierce “cut the costs” austerity attacks are driving home to many the utter incapacity of capitalism to provide solutions. This situation means that increasing numbers will be more receptive to and will be looking for, a real alternative economic system. This does not mean that all that the Socialist Party has to do is sit back and wait for the people to come to them. It means that the Socialist Party in a position to make gains to win fellow-workers to the class struggle and the socialist objective. The first requirement for the workers in all countries of the world is to break from the political parties of the capitalist class with the aim of taking the power out of the hands of the capitalist class and into their own hands. The Socialist Party does not promote conciliation and co-existence with capitalism, but class struggle against it. The struggle between the classes helps mankind forward to a higher stage of social evolution.
We are living under a system which is more and more clearly revealed as the enemy of humanity. It has vast productive potential, but only means poverty for most people. It brings deprivation to working people. It imposes draconian cuts in living standards on the already poor, simply in the interest of still greater profits for the capitalist class. Capitalism is responsible for the thoughtless destruction of the environment. It cynically profits from a series of wars of unparalleled destructiveness. The root cause of all this is capitalism’s guiding principle, the quest for profit takes precedence over any human interest. Capitalism threatens the future of humanity. Today the destructive threat of capitalism is so acute that humanity cannot afford the luxury of any lengthy detours on the road to socialism. The profit motive is incompatible with safeguarding the world’s resources. So long as it is profitable, environmental destruction is perfectly ’logical’ under capitalism. Humanity’s problem is not limited resources but the waste of resources which is an essential part of the process of capital accumulation. Only with socialism can we realistically plan to build a society in tune with the land and nature. It is more and more apparent that profit is an absurd principle by which to organise the world’s resources.
Capitalism cannot be reformed. It has undergone many changes in its history, but these have simply meant finding new ways to exploit. The only solution is to destroy it and build a new social system. With socialism the people will for the first time be our own masters. Socialism will provide the opportunity for a society planned for the majority rather than for profit. Our vision of a socialist party is one that brings together all the constructive initiatives which exist in society and builds them into a coherent whole. We are under no illusion about the difficulty of overthrowing capitalism. The Socialist Party believes a worldwide upsurge of socialism is bound to come. The socialist society of the future will draw its strength from the new organisational forms thrown up in this mass movement. The new society of the future can only be realised by pooling the ideas and concrete experiences of socialists the world over. A particularly urgent task in the coming period is to build links between forces committed to socialism, to share experience and support one another, to lay the foundations for a new society.
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