Guilty of Socialism

We are at a crossroads for civilization, tottering on the brink of barbarism. A socialist world will be necessary to avoid the catastrophe of the collapse of society. A fundamental restructuring of the economic system is required. In fact, it has already begun. Many parts of Africa are in the throes of break-down, exemplified by extreme inequalities, wars, hunger and disease. Billions live in dire poverty amidst unimaginable wealth, and we are heading relentlessly towards environmental catastrophe.

The Socialist Party advocates a way of organising society based on the principle of 'from each according to ability, to each according to need', a society based on mutual aid, solidarity and fulfilling human needs - socialism. To do this we need to cooperate. There is no shortage of political groups claiming presenting their blueprints for a fairer society. However, socialism cannot be decreed into being by governments, only by workers ourselves. Instead of ownership or control of the means of production - land, factories, offices and so on - being in the hands of private individuals or the state, socialism is based on the common ownership and control of those means. And instead of production for exchange and profit, socialism means production to meet human needs. Socialism also means a money-free society where our activity - and its products - no longer take the form of things to be bought and sold.

It is us workers who produce everything and run all the services necessary for life yet there is ample evidence demonstrating that we do not need the threat of destitution or starvation, enforced by the wage system, hanging over us in order to engage in productive activity. For most of human history, we have not had money or wage labour, however necessary tasks still got done.

With no division between employers and workers, and rich and poor, there is no longer a need for a body of organised violence controlled by a small number of people, like the police, to protect the property of the rich and enforce poverty, wage labour and even starvation on everyone else. And with no need to accumulate capital or make profit there is no longer the need for armies to capture new markets and new resources.

There are encouraging signs that the boundless energy and enthusiasm of the working class will bring a socialist renaissance. Capitalism is on a slide downhill and the illusion of prosperity which had mesmerised all has dissipated. A large body of popular unrest and discontent and unrest has grown larger and is seen in the revival of the youth-led protest movements of recent years. The prospects for the radical re-vitalisation of the workers' movement are brighter now than before. Every socialist is now thinking and asking: How can it grow more? There are doubtless many sincere radicals outside the Socialist Party and it is the duty of these honest women and men to look round and consider their position. It is imperative that they re-examine their principles. The serious-minded working-class radicals still have only one hope and one rallying point — the Socialist Party.