A lot needs changing to our world if we are all to enjoy decent secure lives. It was clear well before the COVID-19 pandemic that humanity required to learn to share, to cooperate and to create a world free from conflict, and we had to help the planet to heal from the harm done to it. Mankind is one family, although a species large and diverse, consisting of unique individuals with a variety of qualities, yet all sharing the same inherent nature, suffering from the same fears and having similar hopes and longings.
Capitalism has led to a ‘dog eat dog’ mentality, and the false belief that people innately selfish, greedy and driven by aggression. Capitalism has successfully polarised large sections of the world's population through sexism, racism and nationalism, and that is just a few of the ways. Generations have been conditioned into believing that this is the way to live, that we are separate and must compete with one another to survive and it is that what makes us human beings, and there is no alternative. Such ideas are fundamentally misguided.
Socialists have always called for a shift in this way of thinking and demanded a change in mode of production and style of living. The world socialist movement has urged collective action for tolerance and and cooperation. To survive and prosper, to fulfil our potential, socialists say we must reject divisions and that it is possible to build a new society of social justice. Out of chaos of the old we can create a future civilisation in which humanity can live in peace and compassion. As the humanitarian responses to this pandemic is showing, in times of crises , people are expressing solidarity with one another. It demonstrates one more that mankind is good and humanity is social.
When this pandemic is eventually contained and abates we cannot return to normal, because normal was the problem. This as an opportunity to restart society for a better future. We can rebuild our society in an egalitarian way, in an environmental conscious way. We can banish the politics of hate. There are endless possibilities that a post-COVID-19 future can offer us to change our world. Our present capitalist system is unsustainable, and it works for the interests of a few very rich people.
For the sake of the future, we must build a sustainable, steady-state economic system, an economic system which ends inequality. Nature may have be involved in the birth of this coronavirus strain but the number of deaths depend on human action and how we organise our society’s economic structure. Much of government policies and the lack of medical infrastructure and resources has proven that global capitalist system is incompetent. The world face an almost unprecedented crisis due to the spread of COVID-19. We’re all in this together, and we will only get out of it together. That means a paradigm shift in working together. Open our eyes and start learning that we need to have a different political, economic and healthcare systems from this present one.
The Socialist Party is in favour of the common ownership of all the means of production and distribution: namely, the land, mines, mills, factories, and productive machinery, for the purpose of operating industry in the interest of the whole people. The Socialist Party proposes to establish economic democracy. The earliest known system of society, of which there exist examples today in certain spots of the earth. Men and women lived together in groups known as gens or clans. These were units of a larger group called the tribe. This type of organisation is built up on kinship or blood relationship. There was no private property, and hence no classes. The land was owned and shared in common.
State and municipal ownership of energy, transport, etc., are palliatives and meagre ones too. Those who talk about these as “socialism” in any sense at best confuse workers on what really constitutes socialism – namely, the social ownership and control of the means of production and distribution by the people and the ending of the profit system.
The Socialist Party in the present grave health crisis solemnly reaffirms its allegiance to the principle of internationalism and global solidarity. The time is now to kick-start the future of humanity. Never before has there been such demand for compassionate political action. Let us be clear. Right now we can prevent a crisis turning into a catastrophe. Fighting for a few and not for all is not an option. COVID-19 threatens us all. It affects us all. COVID-19 is preying on the vulnerable. It is exploiting the inequality that divides our world.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the glaring structural economic inequities in capitalist society. Capitalism’s distorted priorities are on full display. Rarely has the capitalist principle that profits come before people been made this explicit. Those who seek to make their country “open for business” will worsen the coronavirus pandemic and demonstrate even more brazenly that their policies are consistent with the capitalist class’s well-established pattern of sacrificing human and environmental well-being at the altar of the market,
We need to act together. We must cooperate from our local communities to a global scale. In the land of CEOs, shareholders, and spreadsheets, there are no people, only human resources, a work-force not individuals.
The time socialist revolution is now.
The Socialist Party stands opposed to the system of exploitation and class rule which is upheld and strengthened by nationalism and patriotism. In every country, the working people are oppressed and exploited. They produced enormous wealth but the bulk of it has been withheld from them by the owners of the industries. It is the logical outcome of the competitive capitalist system.
The Socialist Party emphatically rejects the proposal that the workers should suspend their struggle for better conditions. On the contrary, the acute situation created by the pandemic calls for an even more vigorous prosecution of the class struggle. Those who want to see socialism thrive work for socialism. Let all others get out of the way.
Capitalism has led to a ‘dog eat dog’ mentality, and the false belief that people innately selfish, greedy and driven by aggression. Capitalism has successfully polarised large sections of the world's population through sexism, racism and nationalism, and that is just a few of the ways. Generations have been conditioned into believing that this is the way to live, that we are separate and must compete with one another to survive and it is that what makes us human beings, and there is no alternative. Such ideas are fundamentally misguided.
Socialists have always called for a shift in this way of thinking and demanded a change in mode of production and style of living. The world socialist movement has urged collective action for tolerance and and cooperation. To survive and prosper, to fulfil our potential, socialists say we must reject divisions and that it is possible to build a new society of social justice. Out of chaos of the old we can create a future civilisation in which humanity can live in peace and compassion. As the humanitarian responses to this pandemic is showing, in times of crises , people are expressing solidarity with one another. It demonstrates one more that mankind is good and humanity is social.
When this pandemic is eventually contained and abates we cannot return to normal, because normal was the problem. This as an opportunity to restart society for a better future. We can rebuild our society in an egalitarian way, in an environmental conscious way. We can banish the politics of hate. There are endless possibilities that a post-COVID-19 future can offer us to change our world. Our present capitalist system is unsustainable, and it works for the interests of a few very rich people.
For the sake of the future, we must build a sustainable, steady-state economic system, an economic system which ends inequality. Nature may have be involved in the birth of this coronavirus strain but the number of deaths depend on human action and how we organise our society’s economic structure. Much of government policies and the lack of medical infrastructure and resources has proven that global capitalist system is incompetent. The world face an almost unprecedented crisis due to the spread of COVID-19. We’re all in this together, and we will only get out of it together. That means a paradigm shift in working together. Open our eyes and start learning that we need to have a different political, economic and healthcare systems from this present one.
The Socialist Party is in favour of the common ownership of all the means of production and distribution: namely, the land, mines, mills, factories, and productive machinery, for the purpose of operating industry in the interest of the whole people. The Socialist Party proposes to establish economic democracy. The earliest known system of society, of which there exist examples today in certain spots of the earth. Men and women lived together in groups known as gens or clans. These were units of a larger group called the tribe. This type of organisation is built up on kinship or blood relationship. There was no private property, and hence no classes. The land was owned and shared in common.
State and municipal ownership of energy, transport, etc., are palliatives and meagre ones too. Those who talk about these as “socialism” in any sense at best confuse workers on what really constitutes socialism – namely, the social ownership and control of the means of production and distribution by the people and the ending of the profit system.
The Socialist Party in the present grave health crisis solemnly reaffirms its allegiance to the principle of internationalism and global solidarity. The time is now to kick-start the future of humanity. Never before has there been such demand for compassionate political action. Let us be clear. Right now we can prevent a crisis turning into a catastrophe. Fighting for a few and not for all is not an option. COVID-19 threatens us all. It affects us all. COVID-19 is preying on the vulnerable. It is exploiting the inequality that divides our world.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the glaring structural economic inequities in capitalist society. Capitalism’s distorted priorities are on full display. Rarely has the capitalist principle that profits come before people been made this explicit. Those who seek to make their country “open for business” will worsen the coronavirus pandemic and demonstrate even more brazenly that their policies are consistent with the capitalist class’s well-established pattern of sacrificing human and environmental well-being at the altar of the market,
We need to act together. We must cooperate from our local communities to a global scale. In the land of CEOs, shareholders, and spreadsheets, there are no people, only human resources, a work-force not individuals.
The time socialist revolution is now.
The Socialist Party stands opposed to the system of exploitation and class rule which is upheld and strengthened by nationalism and patriotism. In every country, the working people are oppressed and exploited. They produced enormous wealth but the bulk of it has been withheld from them by the owners of the industries. It is the logical outcome of the competitive capitalist system.
The Socialist Party emphatically rejects the proposal that the workers should suspend their struggle for better conditions. On the contrary, the acute situation created by the pandemic calls for an even more vigorous prosecution of the class struggle. Those who want to see socialism thrive work for socialism. Let all others get out of the way.
The Covid-19 pandemic challenging our planet is simply the latest crisis and certainly will not be the last, even if we do create a socialist world.
In 2008 capitalism teetered on the brink of the abyss, its structural flaws exposed for anyone who cared to look. The 2008 crash almost broke the global financial system. It was saved and the bankers were saved from their incompetence through bail-outs by a mystifying something called “quantitative easing”, a “magic money tree” reserved solely for the banks and the large corporations. Its fruits were not shared our in the ensuiung austerity and spending cuts.
Now, the plan is for another “magic money tree”, needed to deal with the disastrous economic toll wrought by the virus. This time some of it will be offered to working people. Not because capitalism suddenly cares about the homeless and those reliant on food banks.
Capitalism is an amoral economic system driven by the accumulation of profit for the owners of capital. Governments will try to conceal for a little longer the fact that capitalism will try to buy our continuing deference to a system that cannot cope with the coronavirus. The government will dip into the wealth that has been extracted from us over the many past decades. It won’t work to shore up the capitalist system indefinitely. The ray of hope that can be gleaned is the willingness of so many people to stand vigilant against wrongdoings and misinformation.
Our current patchwork of social service coverage leaves people to gamble with the outcomes of their health and their economic future. It should now be obvious that it is in our own self-interest to want everyone in our communities to be healthy and secure if only to protect ourselves. What is called for is a systemic change. The status quo is no longer acceptable. We must understand the interconnectedness of all on our planet. Unless we acknowledge this kinship we all share, our future is in doubt. We must wake up to the reality that we are one human family. That we are all Jock Tamson’s bairns. The world socialist movement is about us, ALL of us.
Response to the pandemic and economic collapse are already showing change is possible. Our fragmented, unequal and for-profit system is being seen as the problem. When this crisis subsides we need to demand that we do not go backward. It has demonstrated that we completely transforms our healthcare, economic, and environmental systems and much more.
There is a cure for the COVID-19 virus, as for all the other disasters that the disease of capitalism has brought into this world and which it is still producing but, even worse, that it will produce in the future.
The cure is not immediate and definitive, that is clear, but it is a cure that fixes the minimum conditions for facing the environmental, human and social emergencies that capitalism will bequeath to the society that will replace it.
Socialism is the cure for this pestilence. We can guarantee our cure will work because it implies a radical change in mindset as well as in economic and social relations, exactly what this planet and this humanity so dramatically stricken with capitalism needs today.”
The cure is not immediate and definitive, that is clear, but it is a cure that fixes the minimum conditions for facing the environmental, human and social emergencies that capitalism will bequeath to the society that will replace it.
Socialism is the cure for this pestilence. We can guarantee our cure will work because it implies a radical change in mindset as well as in economic and social relations, exactly what this planet and this humanity so dramatically stricken with capitalism needs today.”
The idea of socialism and creating abundance is far more powerful, inspiring and empowering than the idea of eradicating poverty. Central to the meaning of socialism is common ownership. This means the resources of the world being owned in common by the entire global population.
But does it really make sense for everybody to own everything in common? Of course, some goods tend to be for personal consumption, rather than to share—clothes, for example. People ‘owning’ certain personal possessions does not contradict the principle of a society based upon common ownership
In Socialism, gangsters’ cliques will lose their socio-economic breeding grounds. Their anti-social and anti-natural survivalist tricks – “the most violent, mean and malignant passions of the human breast, the Furies of private interest” (Karl Marx) will fall into oblivion.
Competition for possessions will give way to cooperation for life.
Humanity will regain their lost original nature once again by demolishing their “fear of freedom” in a knowledgeable coherent relationship among themselves and with their surrounding nature, moving on to a higher phase of social progress, reaffirming equality, freedom, peace and happiness in unison, in harmony.
“The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism” (Karl Marx).
According to him, with the dissolution of the power of money, private exchange and private property will cease to exist; “then you can exchange love only for love, trust for trust, etc...” (Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844).
Marx and Engels held genuine socialism to be "Communismus, Socialismus, Humanismus" (German Ideology Chapter 4),
Engels clearly set out the progression: “State interference in social relations becomes, in one domain after another, superfluous and then dies of itself. The government of persons is replaced by the administration of things, and by the conduct of the processes of production. The state is not “abolished”, it withers away.” (Frederick Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific)
World socialist society will do away with classes and will be organized on a three-tier system of local, regional and global councils to deal with the administration of all their respective specific responsibilities relating to life, things, relations and problems. Money will go to the museums beside bronze axes. Private property and all its paraphernalia relating to money, wages, profits, private, joint-stock, state, multi-national, transnational and corporate et al. ownerships, and all selfish private interests as against social well-being will be things of the past. Under such a global arrangement of things and affairs of life, the crimes of today will also be a thing of the past. In the event of any rarely occurring aberrations on the part of an individual member of society, the response will be educative and social correctional and compassionate counselling. Humans will have elevated themselves to a higher stage in history as a new-born humane species, leaving behind their prehistory of competition and conflict.
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