Abundance for All Means Freedom for All

The Socialist Party is the consistent enemy of the capitalist class. Our aim to replace capitalism by socialism because it is absolutely necessary for the progress of our species and the future development of society. Many are convinced that if capitalism is allowed to continue, we will be plunged into barbarism. If humanity is to advance it must move on to socialism which is the common ownership of the means of production and their democratic organisation and management by all the people in a society free of classes, class divisions and class rule. Socialism is the democratic organisation of production for use, of production for abundance, of plenty for all, without the exploitation of man by man. Socialism is the 'union of the whole world into an worldwide associations of free and equal peoples, disposing in common of the natural resources and wealth of our earth. Production is organised for use, not for profit. Production is carried on in a planned, coordinated democratically-controlled way, not on the basis of whether or not the private capitalist can make a profit on the market. The technology, the raw materials, the workforce with the skills required to produce abundance for all, is already available. It is only necessary to free them from the paralysing hand of capitalism and production-for- profit. Where there is abundance for all, the nightmare of a precarious existence disappears. There is security for all no longer dependent on whether or not the employer makes a fat profit out of your labour. There is not only a high standard of living, but every scientific advance is followed by a rising standard of living and a declining working-day. Where there is abundance for all, and where no one has the economic power to exploit and oppress others, the basis of classes, class division and class conflict vanishes. The basis of a ruling state, of a government by coercion, with its prisons and police and army, withers away. Police and thieves, prisons and violence are inevitable where there is economic inequality, or abundance for the few and scarcity for the many. They disappear when there is plenty for all, therefore economic equality, therefore social equality. Where there is abundance for all, and where all have equal access to the fruits of the soil and the wealth of industry, the mad conflicts and wars between nations and peoples vanish. Where men and women are free of economic exploitation, of economic servitude, of economic bondage, they are free for the first time to develop as a human being among other human beings, free to contribute to a new culture and a new humanity.

Socialism, and only socialism, will create a true world without national barriers, without international rivalries, without masters and slaves. Its primary duty and sole criterion would be fulfilling and satisfying the needs of the people. Socialism will end the root evil of modern society, i.e., the private ownership of the means of production, the factories, mines, mills, machinery and land, which produce the necessities of life. In socialism, these instruments of production will become the property of society, owned in common, producing for use, for the general welfare of the people as a whole. With the abolition of the private ownership of the means of life and with it the factor of profit as the prime mover of production, the sharp divisions of society between nations and classes will disappear. Then, and only then, will society be in a position to become a social order of abundance and plenty for all, for socialism will create a new world of genuine cooperation and collaboration between the peoples of the earth. In abolishing classes in society, socialism will change the way we are governed today. Governments will become administrative bodies regulating production and consumption. They will not be the weapons of the capitalist class whose main reason for existence is to guarantee the political as well as the economic rule of big business, their profits, their private ownership of the instruments of production, and the conduct of war in the economic and political interests of this class. In abolishing classes, class government and war, socialism will at the same time destroy all forms of dictatorship, political as well as economic. The socialist world state will be the freest, most democratic society the world has ever known, with the world council truly representing the majority of the population and subject to its recall. A citizen of a socialist society will look back upon the capitalist era with its wars, destruction and bloody and cruel dictatorships as we now look back upon the brutality of the robber barons in medieval times.

The preoccupation of socialism will be to assist in the elevation of society, to improve continually the living standards of the people, to extend their leisure time and thus make it possible to heighten the cultural level of the whole world. Socialism will guarantee peace, security and freedom and prevent the destruction of mankind.

The socialist world federation will assess the industrial potential of the world, determine its resources, the needs of the people and plan production with the aim of increasing the standards of living of a free people, creating abundance, increasing leisure and opportunity for cultural enjoyment. Socialism will not concern itself with profits and war, but with providing decent housing for all the people. Socialism will provide for a multitude of schools for all the people. Socialism cease to regard schools primarily as institutions to produce skilled labour to help operate the profit economy. Socialism will create a system of health-care in which the needs of the people and the improvement of the well-being human race would be the paramount consideration. Above all, socialism will provide worthwhile jobs for all without exploitation. For the aim of socialism is not the increased exploitation and intensification of labour, but the application of technology, science and invention to diminish toil, to create free-time in which to permit all the people to enjoy the benefits of social progress. Today's modern world contains all the pre-conditions necessary for socialism. All around us are enormous enterprises containing technology which could produce the goods of life in abundance. Mankind has developed robots and automated machinery, discovered renewable and sustainable energy which has not only made it more possible for mankind to control natural and social environment to create a fruitful life of abundance, but has made it imperative. Socialism will place at the disposal of science and the scientists all the material means to help create an ever-improving social life for mankind. Only socialism can place science where it properly belongs: in the service of the people.