Take the cure

Socialists have diagnosed what ails the world and have identified the disease as capitalism. It is capitalism which is the virus that infects the entire world. Socialists have also prescribed the cure: revolution to take control of the means of production by working people who make up the vast majority of society. The cure isn’t easy. There is only one remedy for working-class ills and that is to overthrow the present social system, based upon the private ownership of the means of living, and to set up in its stead a system based upon the common ownership of those things. Since this involves the abolition of the capitalist claes, they will certainly resist it to the utmost extremity of their power. 

The essential first step in the working-class revolt is for the toilers to get control of the armed forces of the nation. These armed forces, as we are continually pointing out, are controlled by Parliament. It is therefore necessary for the workers to organise in a political party for the capture through the ballot of the Parliament. When they have captured this capitalist stronghold they will have control of the machinery of government, and will be able to proceed to their emancipation secure in the control of the means of dealing with any capitalist rebellion. As socialists we hold that the franchise presents to the workers the way to their emancipation. Until the workers learn to use this instrument properly they are not fit or ready for socialism.

Democracy is a product of struggles and sacrifices of the working class. The campaigns for freedom, equality and justice and the social and political movements for livelihoods have helped to deepen democratic practices all over the world. But capitalist democracy has failed people with false promises of prosperity and empowerment. The vampire class are getting ready for another inevitable feast of blood sucked from the working class. All around us we see rising nationalism, populism and the conservative forces sapping the strength of democracy. Top-down bureaucratic decision-making normalise authoritarian tendencies. We are manipulated, we are governed, our minds are moulded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by a process we can never discern. The sociali controlm suppressng and repressing us is invisible, camoflaged by a complicit media. Capitalism directs and steers our hopes, fate and futures for the sake of its profit and to protect the interest of the ultra-rich.

There is no shortcut to progressive mass movements, which can change the course of history and fortify our democratic future. It can only be achieved through collective struggles based on our collective interests. Such a political organisation exists in the Socialist Party, founded upon sound principles, principles which have stood the searching test of years, and have proved sufficient to keep the organisation true to working-class interests. We invite every man and woman to study them in a critical, challenging spirit, and to reveal any flaw he or she may find in them. If they prove sound, the worker's duty is clear.