International Day of Living Together in Peace

The UN General-Assembly has declared 16 May the International Day of Living Together in Peace, in order to promote a sustainable world of solidarity and harmony. Socialists say we must replace our narrow national loyalties by a loyalty to humanity as a whole. 

 The Socialist Party does not deny the sincerity of many peace campaigners. Often their courage cannot fail to impress. All across the globe people have always been striving for peace between nations. However, the preaching of peace does not necessarily further the cause of peace. Most people are against war. War is so terrible that only a small number of deviants or professional soldiers or completely ruthless financiers can support it. Even the practical politician  must pretend to themselves that they are against war. But we have seen that wars do not result from what people wish and believe; and that being against war does not prevent people from bringing war about.

The Socialist Party stands for the abolition of the profit system, the end of wars growing out of the profit system but most of, for peace and plenty for all. The Socialist Party is opposed to militarism. We are the world’s peace party. Socialism and militarism are necessarily opposed to each other. The Socialist Party is against any and every war undertaken by the capitalist state and is the implacable enemy of the capitalist state – the political representative of the class enemy – on every occasion. We support only one particular kind of war – the class war – since only through the class war can capitalism be overthrown and the causes of war thereby removed. The task of the Socialist Party is to direct anti-war into class-war.

Technology and science has given humanity the possibility of a comfortable decent life free from hunger and all the necessities for a good life guaranteed. The eradication of smallpox in 1979 was a triumph of medical science combined with international cooperation. Yet we live in a world in which roughly ten million children die each year from diseases related to poverty. As well as an enormous waste of young lives through malnutrition and preventable disease, there is a huge waste of opportunities through inadequate education. The total number of illiterates in the world is estimated to be 800 million. Meanwhile every 60 seconds the world spends roughly $2 million on armaments. The world spends almost two trillion dollars each year on armaments. It is madness.

Peace is possible. But it requires that the working class unite politically to outlaw private ownership of the tools of production at the ballot box.  Peace is possible -- but not until production for sale and private profit is supplanted by production for use.