Primum
Non Nocere - First
do no harm
Capitalism
has inflicted incalculable harm on the inhabitants of the earth.
Tragically, the future could be even worse for a simple reason:
capitalism’s destructive power, driven by its inner logic to
expand, is doing irreversible damage to life in all its forms all
around the planet. Rosa Luxemburg famously said that humanity had a
choice, “socialism or barbarism.” In these days of climate
change, her warning has even more meaning. Almost daily we hear of
species extinction, global warming, resource depletion,
deforestation, desertification, and on and on to the point where we
are nearly accustomed to this gathering catastrophe. Our planet
cannot indefinitely absorb the impact of profit-driven,
growth-without-limits capitalism. Unless we radically change our
methods of production and pattern of consumption, we will reach the
point where the harmful effects to the environment will become
irreversible. Even the most modest measures of environmental reform
are resisted by sections of the capitalist class. This makes the
establishment of a socialist society all the more imperative. We are
fighting for the planet. People may not care too much about a few
islands disappearing. But untold millions of people will face the
need to escape when global warming creates droughts and flooding and
farms begin to fail. Where will those millions of people go? How
will such deep economic disaster be managed by governments? Within
capitalism , the drive to accumulate profits and the needs of the
market outweigh the needs of the environment and no amount of
palliatives can effectively control this exploitation of our natural
wealth.
The
motivating force of the capitalist system is the never-ending quest
for profits and accumulation. It must continually expand. It impacts
on every aspect of people's lives. We can’t just reform the current
system. There can be no lasting solution to the world’s economic
and environmental crises as long as capitalism remains the social
system on this planet. Ecologists offer powerful tools for
understanding how nature functions as interrelated, integrated
ecosystems. They give us essential insights into humanity’s impact
on the environment, but they lack a serious political social
analysis. There exists a reformist fallacy that capitalists
foreseeing an environmental apocalyptic future would stop investing
their capital in unethical enterprises. However, capitalists are the
servants (“the functionaries” as Marx described them) of capital.
They cannot but accumulate more and more capital: that is their
function. Let us suppose that many capitalists do perceive that their
interests are facing an ecological threat. What good would it do them
to withdraw their capital? The capitalists are incapable of class
unity, and no sooner would one withdraw investment than another would
take his place as a new functionary of capital. The capitalist class
are men who have traded their soul for the accumulation of profit.
The world is not ruled by justice or morality, it is ruled by power.
Capitalists control presidents and parliaments. They disdain the
opinions of the common peoples of the world. They ridicule the
organisations that have been established to protect the Earth and
promote peace. Their end determines their actions; their laws
supersede all others. We need to recognise that we're fighting
capitalism.
Socialism
can make a sustainable and balanced world possible, and that is very
clearly impossible under capitalism. The needs of people and the
planet will be the driving forces of the socialist economy, rather
than profit. It will set about restoring ecosystems and
re-establishing agriculture and industry based on environmentally
sound principles. The only way we can change the world is to be
fighting for the goal of socialism today. The longer we take to get
started, the harder it will be.
Our
socialist perspective in no way means that we do not defend against
the immediate attacks today. On the contrary, it is absolutely
necessary, and socialists make good fighters for today’s struggle.
But in order to fight most effectively, people also have to
understand that there can be no lasting concessions from the
capitalist system. To achieve abundance for all, the working class
will have to organise and build a genuine socialist revolution. The
Socialist Party seek opportunities to win a hearing for our ideas.The
case for socialism is not a complicated doctrine, or shouldn't be,
yet it is not widely understood. What passes itself off as socialism,
isn't socialism and often totally alien to the Marxist vision.
Socialism
is a society in which human beings gain control over their economic
lives, are freed from the chains of blind economic laws. This
liberation of entire society from the blind economic laws is the
condition of emancipation of the individual and the restoration of
humanity. Socialism is the movement to restore mankind’s conscious
will, a movement for freeing human beings from economic necessity and
mental enslavement
We
want the world - and we want it now
1 comment:
Dear all l agree with the last statement but first we have to get our hands dirty and clean up the shit capitalist is churning out, l dont think you want to bother at the head office in london, if you dont tell working class people the the cons and tricks that are going on ,l dont think you will make any headway with our crusade, which saddens me very much.
take care Rod glover
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