The
Socialist Party has never claimed that 'the revolution' will start in
parliament without first starting in the minds (and therefore
actions) of Because of the global warming crisis people are actually
questioning capitalism, because they’re being forced to. Capitalist
"truths" are being delegitimatised by experience on the
ground. People are talking, reading, and thinking. But if they are
not become part of the solution, they become part of the problem,
people need to use that education intelligently. The protesters may
be asking some of the right questions, but have they discovered the
right answers? Many activists are still wedded to capitalist
economics and propose to reforms it rather than do away it entirely.
Fridays
for Climate school strikers and Extinction Rebellion should be
commended for making time to discuss seriously the hope of finding a
solution. There was immense pressure for them adopt a program. The
Socialist Party applaud people taking action which is essentially
democratic and anti-capitalist. However, it is foolish to think that
a socialist party is the source of revolutionary consciousness. It is
equally foolish to think that climate change camps will
automatically lead to an upsurge in socialist understanding. We can't
just hope that socialist ideas will prevail. Socialist ideas have to
compete with others. Many people understand that we have reached a
critical turning point that demands radical change in how and why we
produce the means of supporting life. People demanding change are not
united in focusing on the political economics at the root of most
global problems but they are moving in that direction. This shows
that many can understand the situation. We want as many people as
possible discussing and debating ideas of a post-capitalist future so
we can establish this society. We need to articulate a different
future. Many doubt a socialist society is either feasible or even
desirable. Socialism doesn't have to be a utopia. It's a concrete
answer to concrete problems, however. Without such an ideal, the real
world will be ever harder to change.
The
Socialist Party is an advocacy party with an intimate acquaintance
with the various struggles in history since its foundation. Our
purpose is to promote socialism, and advance the necessary
pre-requisites for a movement to achieve it while at the same time,
identifying and criticising trends that obstruct our goal, which is
mainly but not entirely siren-call of reforms. Our job is to provide
the ideological tools, (the ideas, the theory and the evidence) for
those in in the environmentalist protest movement to maintain an
effective anti-capitalism. It is not to lead workers to socialism but
to push them by discussion, argument and debate into reaching the
inescapable conclusion that for society to go forward, socialism is
the only solution. We have to have a physical presence within those
working class struggles which seek alternative answers to their
problems. It means possessing a confidence in our politics and
recognising ourselves as part of the working class and a legitimate
expression of it. The more socialism is discussed and debated, the
more likely that protests escalate and intensify into a decisive mass
movement against capitalism and its failure as a system to satisfy
and fulfil real human needs and wants. We need to relate socialism to
the present and demonstrate its practicability. We need to connect
struggles such as those of the climate justice movements with the
attainment of socialism. Unlike others who present themselves as
revolutionaries we do not project socialism as a remote ideal system
of the future but something to aspire for to-day. Our educational
efforts alone will not suffice since, as often explained, the power
of the prevailing ideology through dominance of the capitalist media
handicaps our class in the battle of ideas. But what we write and say
still remains vital to give expression to people's actions and to
validate their own experiences. We, as socialists, are simply
presenting choices to the working class, for them to reject or
accept, that is all we can do but without a choice being offered,
there is no choice. The Socialist Party is not so presumptuous as to
think that the whole future of the world depends on us. What we do
say is that people will come to a realisation that capitalism needs
to be replaced by socialism quicker if there's already an organised
group arguing for this.
The
late historian Howard Zinn said, it is important to
“organize ourselves in
such a way that means correspond to the ends, and to organize
ourselves in such a way as to create the kind of human relationship
that should exist in future society.”
The
Socialist Party exists in order to assist in the self-emancipation of
workers. Since its foundation it has asserted what it believes should
be the democratic norms of social movements. All policy and
activity should be democratic and decided by the majority and that
positions of responsibility should be elected. The world-wide
environment movement raises awareness about climate change yet they
follow the same old tried, tested and failed reformist formulae.
Nevertheless, every once in a while, peoples' ideas experience a
massive breakthrough, an evolutionary leap, in how the world around
us is defined. Climate change has done that. Our challenge within the
Socialist Party is to use the fertile ground to foster further
progress.
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