The
first debate featuring the Democratic Party nominees for president
has taken place and they are resorting to all kinds of tactics and
attention-getting gimmicks intended to demonstrate to the electorate
that they are thoroughly honest and free of improper influence.
Proclaiming that they paid their income taxes in full, they go so far
as to state publicly how much they paid. They decline corporate
campaign donations to show their "independence” from big-money
interests. Many words have been uttered and written on the need to
eliminate corruption from the election process, on the need to assure
the people "a choice." Problems of poverty, crime,
unemployment, air and water pollution, and many more—have been with
us for a very long time. These problems are not peculiar to America.
They exist in every nation in the world.
Every
politician who has run for office for has promised to do something to
alleviate or eliminate these social ills. Despite the promises these
problems have defied cures. Recall the past promises made and ask
yourself—
Has the general quality of life improved?
Is the air we breathe less polluted?
Has the general quality of life improved?
Is the air we breathe less polluted?
Are
our jobs more secure?
Has
poverty diminished?
Has
racism been eliminated?
On the contrary, hasn't every one of those grown worse?
On the contrary, hasn't every one of those grown worse?
Workers,
whatever their race or ethnic origin, are being subjected to more
discomfort, more crowding, more inconvenience, more exploitation,
greater insecurity and physical danger than ever before. Who, or
what, is responsible? Politicians blame each other. The truth is that
these issues have been present and worsening for years and years. In
fact, administration after administration, Democratic and Republican,
has promised to do something. Reform after reform has been enacted in
efforts to alleviate them. But conditions have gone right on getting
worse. All of which demonstrates that even with the best of
intentions no politician or set of politicians could prevent
conditions for workers from worsening. WHY?
The
reason is simple. Politicians persist in dealing with effects and
ignoring the cause. The basic cause of our problems is the capitalist
system under which we live. Capitalism today is an outmoded social
system. It has been so for a long time, and the history of past years
fully justifies this conclusion. Consequently, the solution to our
problems is not to be found in politicians, but in a whole new
concept of society—a society for which the material basis exists
right now.
Technological development clearly dictates the course that must be taken. Modern industry is thoroughly socialised in its organisation and operation. It has outgrown private ownership of industry and production for sale and the profit of the owning few. We are now at a point where we can produce an abundance for everyone. By establishing a new society we can prevent worsening crises and ultimate catastrophe toward which our present society is taking us. What we are saying is that we can and must establish a socialist society. Let us explain briefly what socialism is and the kind of life we can have under it.
Technological development clearly dictates the course that must be taken. Modern industry is thoroughly socialised in its organisation and operation. It has outgrown private ownership of industry and production for sale and the profit of the owning few. We are now at a point where we can produce an abundance for everyone. By establishing a new society we can prevent worsening crises and ultimate catastrophe toward which our present society is taking us. What we are saying is that we can and must establish a socialist society. Let us explain briefly what socialism is and the kind of life we can have under it.
In
a socialist society there will be no private ownership of the land
and the industries. When we say this, we are not talking about your
personal belongings. We are talking about the factories, the mills,
the mines, transport —in short, the socially operated instruments
used in the production and distribution of the necessities of life.
We say that these must belong to society as a whole. In socialist
society there will be no wage system in which the workers receive in
wages only a fraction of the value of the goods they produce.
Instead, with shall produce for use rather than for sale with a view
to profit for private capitalists. We shall produce the things we
want and need rather than the things for which a market exists in
which the goods produced are sold for the profit of private owners.
We, the producers, shall manage and direct all social production,
and exercise all authority.
Socialist administration will be
concerned with practical considerations; considerations such as
determining the quantities and kinds of useful things needed to
insure an uninterrupted flow of the good things of life to satisfy
our needs and desires. The people elected to serve at all levels will
require a knowledge and understanding of the processes of production
and distribution. They will have to have the ability to coordinate
and direct these processes. No doubt there will be times when
mistakes will be made. But they can, and will, be rectified quickly,
efficiently and democratically. Administrators and representatives
who fall short of the mark may be recalled from office as easily as
they were elected to office.
When
private and state ownership have been eliminated, there will be no
way for social parasites, capitalistic or bureaucratic, to exist. In
the nature of things, it will be impossible for any individual or
group to acquire economic power and use it to exploit or suppress
another human being. Nor will those elected to the socialist
administrative bodies possess, or be able to acquire, economic power.
There will be no material basis on which a bureaucracy could
establish and perpetuate itself. No one will be able to hand out
offices or appoint lackeys. All who will serve in government, in
whatever capacity, will be elected and subject at all times to
control. In short, we, the workers, shall be in complete control of
the source of all power, the economic resources of the land. We have
all the material requirements for producing an abundance. It is
common knowledge that we have developed the most productive machine
in the world. Once this machine is socially owned, controlled and
administered, there will not be, there cannot be, conflicting
material interests. We shall all be useful producers, each
contributing his or her fair share to the total product. In return,
each of us will receive directly and indirectly all that we produce.
We say “indirectly” because we shall get part of our product back
through social services—public health, education, recreation, etc.
In socialist society there can be no poverty or involuntary
unemployment. The more producers, the better for all. Technological
improvements will be a further blessing. The greater the number of
workers, the better the tools, the more modern the methods, the
greater and more varied will be the wealth we can produce, and the
shorter the hours each of us will have to work. So great is our
capacity to produce abundance that we can easily insure that our
youth will be educated, the aged provided for, and the sick given the
finest care possible. All this will be done without depriving anyone
of a fair and more than adequate share. It will not be charity but
the rightful share of every human being in the affluent socialist
society.
In the socialist climate of abundance and cooperation, we shall achieve the highest standards of mental health and physical well-being. We shall enjoy great material well-being individually and collectively, but it will not be at anyone else’s expense. We shall be secure, healthy, happy human beings living in peace, harmony and freedom, in marked contrast to the capitalist jungle of strife, misery and insecurity in which we live today.
In the socialist climate of abundance and cooperation, we shall achieve the highest standards of mental health and physical well-being. We shall enjoy great material well-being individually and collectively, but it will not be at anyone else’s expense. We shall be secure, healthy, happy human beings living in peace, harmony and freedom, in marked contrast to the capitalist jungle of strife, misery and insecurity in which we live today.
How
can we get such a society? The answer is easy. It is within the power
of the workers to establish such a society as soon as they recognise
the need for it and organise to establish it. The Socialist Party
points the way. First, to win the struggle for socialist freedom
requires building a political party of socialism to contest the power
of the capitalist class on the political field, and to educate the
majority of workers about the need for socialism. The working class
must organise its might to back up its demand for the end of
capitalism and the establishment of socialism.
Study
the Socialist Party principles and prepare to assist in bringing
about a society of peace, plenty and universal freedom.
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