Principles of socialism
Socialism is a world-wide social system in which the means of
production will belong in common to mankind and will be
controlled by them for their own benefit. Production will be
carried on solely to satisfy human needs. The wages system,
buying and selling and money will disappear. In their place
the principle “from each is best, to each his need” will
operate.
Socialism can only be achieved by political means. At present
the capitalists are able to keep their privileged position
because they control political power. To free themselves from
wage-slavery workers must therefore organise into a political
party whose aim is to win political power and to use it to
replace capitalism by Socialism.
Socialism can only be achieved by the working class. Until
workers want and understand Socialism, it is impossible. Thus
only conscious, majority, political action can achieve
Socialism. Minority action, whether on the industrial or
political fields, cannot. The way to political power lies
through the ballot box. A socialist working class can use the
vote to win power just as today they use it to hand over power
to capitalists. A Socialist party can have only one aim:
Socialism. For a socialist party to seek support on the basis
of a reform programme can only lead to compromise with
capitalism.
To free themselves from wage-slavery workers need no leaders.
Leaders only flourish on the ignorance of their followers.
Once workers understand their interests and know that they
want Socialism they require no leaders. All they require is
political organisation.
Trade unions arise out of the class struggle that goes on
under capitalism between workers and capitalists. They will be
necessary and useful as long as capitalism lasts. However
trade unions have their limitations. They cannot be used to
overthrow capitalism. Only conscious political action can do
this.
There is no Socialism in Russia or China. In these countries
the workers are still exploited by a privileged minority
through the wages system. Workers there have no trade union or
political rights The system in Russia and China is state
capitalism, not socialism. Government ownership of industries
is not socialism either. It too is state capitalism.
Socialists are opposed to all wars. Workers have no interest
in fighting in wars since all wars are fought over the
markets, trade routes and sources of raw materials of rival
capitalist groups.
Socialists are opposed to nationalism. Workers have no country
save on paper. Workers all over the world have a common
interest in achieving Socialism. Nationalism is a device used
to get workers to support their masters in peace and war.
Socialists are materialists and are opposed to religion which
has always been a prop to class society.
REPRINTED PROM THE SOCIALIST STANDARD.
A letter from England
The other evening having very little money and plenty of time
to reflect, I switched on the telivision (B.B.C.) and to my
surprise i was just in time to see a film and hear commentary
of the mutiny and rioting that took place in Trinidad. The
documentary was very enlightening, it showed what real Black
Power was in the hands of black politicans who were quite
prepared to shoot down any agitator or worker who threaten
their position of privilege, and luxury. At the same time the
white American, and British bosses have their own ships, and
troops ready to step in, if the local capitalist failed to
contain the rebellious workers, giving ample proof of the
willingness of the Capitalist Class to unite when it comes to
a showdown. Black workers, take notice, when it is a question
of exploitation you are in the same position as your white
brothers. Colour is no safeguard. Black Capitalists are just
as brutal as White ones.
Workers in Trinidad should learn from this episode that the
ways of direct action leading to violence are of no avail in
modern capitalist society. All the workers will get from this
method of action, will be to say the least broken heads, and a
spell in jail. I appreciate how frustrating it is for workers
in Trinidad, when they can see no end to their poverty, but
unless they take political action and unite on a Socialist
understanding their lot will remain the same. I.E. EXPLOITED
WAGE SLAVES. No leader sincere or otherwise, can emancipate
them, only by understanding Capitalism and its manifestations,
and applying Socialist knowledge and uniting together in a
conscious Socialist organisation will the workers of Trinidad
put an end to their poverty and misery.
Jamaican workers take heed, those same conditions (as in
Trinidad) apply to you. Your Bosses both Black, and White are
quite prepared to use the same methods as used in Trinidad.
Dont be misled by your own bunch of leaders, your salvation is
Socialism, nothing else will do. Workers in Trinidad, Jamaica,
unite for Socialism you have nothing to lose but your fetters,
you have your freedom to win.
George. S.P.G.B.
Objective: A world where all wealth is held in common and
production and distribution are democratically controlled by
the whole community.
Where in the world are you going?
One of the relieving factors for the ruling class in Jamaica,
is that the majority of the people have never fully accepted
that it is their right to a job here. More people have been
made upset by immigration restrictions in Britain and America,
while giving very little thought to the yearly growth of
unemployment. To go abroad to seek work is the chief ambition
for many Jamaicans. The ruling class and their spokesmen have
not been indifferent in keeping this idea alive. How many
times have you heard on the radio, or seen on television
someone saying how wicked the British government is for
restricting us from going there? They usually go on to say
that because of so many previous years of exploitation, the
British Government now owe us a living.
Since the early sixties when restriction was first imposed in
Britain, America have become the chief attraction for
Jamaicans. Thousands do get through every year. Most go by the
vacation route, when they are there they hide and work, and
spend the alloted time seeking ways to remain permanently. One
of the cost frequent ways of doing this is to “buy a wedding”.
They simply pay an American citizen, to get married,(the fee
range from $500 up) to get married, when they have achieved
their permanent stay they get a divorce. Many ignore the
divorce and just go away and pick up their life.
There are now signs that the track to America will slow down.
Whether its the hundreds of people who vanish with a three
months visa, or the worsening condition in the slum areas,
much more people are being turned down by the Consul. The
British voters have made it clear that they want a complete
halt of coloured immigrants. The Conservative Government is
well aware, although they may not admit it publicly, how much
their return to power was helped by Enoch Powell. Powell
played on the fear that is ever present in Capitalist society.
If he did not do it someone else would. It is not Powell that
you should hate, but the system that make what he did
possible.
It is this same system that make the world of travel limited
to only a few. Everywhere the shutters go down, as governments
are forced to respond to popular prejudice if they wish to
keep power. The jumbo jet age is here, but relatively few
people will enjoy it. Even in the developed countries
thousands are too poor to travel, and a slight depression can
cause many more to abandon any travel plans for years. Do you
ever consider the way mankind could live now, with our ever
expanding knowledge, and the way we are forced to endure? This
is the heart of the Socialist message. To update man’s life in
relation to his present ability. To make this ability count
for something in everyone’s life.
The climate of the West Indies is the envy of most visitors.
Yet men and women from here will work and pay to stay in a
freezing and for them unhealthy climate, simple because the
need a job. Its time you examine the nature of a system, that
give rise to such acts. Then you could give thought to the
socialist alternative, of creating a moneyless, classless,
world. All national boundaries would be abolished, the dislike
for workers of one country for another would cease. Travel
would become available to all, and would be done exclusively
for pleasure. It is not the Capitalist Class that is the
greatest obstacle to Socialism. That distinction is held by
the working class themselves. The inability of workers to take
the blinkers off their mind, and start visualising a new
social order.
Cuba and the Caribbean
The Cuban Revolution is now eleven years old. Far from being
the shining light in the Caribbean, and the Americas it more
likely has become the way not to follow. The recent failure,
to harvest the target of 10 Million tons of cane have made
Castro confess of the growing difficulties. In his recent
speech he spoke of the “failure of the revolution”, and seem
to have thrown away the line that America is the cause of the
ills in Cuba. All this must be very embarresing to those who
hailed the revolution, and look up to Cuba as the model state.
Beliefs not based on factual evidence generally die the
hardest. Many people still maintain that some kind of
socialism exist in Cuba. The fact that the evidence from Cuba,
and all the other so call communist countries tell a different
story is largely ignored. THERE IS NO SOCIALISM IN CUBA OR
ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. What masquerade as socialism, is
really State Capitalism. Instead of having individuals and
companies running businesses the government does it
themselves. This in no way changes the status of the worker,
he is still only a wage earner. In some ways he is worst off,
for instance, trade union representation is considerable
weakened. It is not because the workers are happy, why they do
not strike. There have been some improvement in the standard
of living for some, and significant inroads have been made
into the illiteracy problem. Most countries in the region can
in fact boast of similar improvements, so this could have
happened without Castro.
One job that Castro expressed his desire to do, is to inspire
other revolutions within the region. This have been very
disheartening work, and the Cuban leader has shown signs of
abandoning this task. Recently the Venezuelan guerrilla leader
Douglas Bravo issued a manifesto accusing Castro of scaleing
down his assistance to “Latin American Revolutionaries”. The
Cuban ruling class are now more occupied in conserving their
own position, and giving less effort to “spreading the
revolution”. How many expected this trend? Workers in Cuba are
again being called on to make sacrifices, and work harder,
with the promise of better days to come. They will find out
like other workers have that these better days never come.
Socialism cannot be established in one country. It cannot be
achieved by violence or the act of a minority. It must be the
conscious act of the majority of people throughout the world,
through the ballot box. The Socialist Movement have been right
about Cuba from the start, nothing that have happened there is
worth emulating. Cuban workers are just as in need of
liberation, as workers in any other country. They will be
given every opportunity to realise that the revolution is not
theirs as they were led to believe. The idea of a better world
through leadership has been made obsolete by history.
Socialism is the only thing that can upgrade human life to its
proper dimension.
White sugar and “Black dignity”
Guyana, aa a sugar producing member of the Caribbean
commonwealth, reached a total of 360,000 tons of sugar
production for 1969 and some 2 million sugar workers of the
Caribbean countries of ,Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad,
Martinique etc. are now organised into Trade Unions affiliated
to the Caribbean Congress of Labor (C.C.L.)
According to the Guyana “Labor Advoate” (official organ of the
“Man Power Citizen’s Association”) .(M.P.C.A.). the C.C.L. is
to
“Continue to struggle for Black Dignity and economic power”.
But by this it must not be supposed they in any way subscribe
to the “Black Power” Concept of Stokely Carmichael, whose
ideas they oppose and do not wish to see take root in the
Caribbean area. Rather does Mr. Richard Ishmael, Editor of
“Labor Advocate” and also President of C.C.L,explain the Trade
Union concept of “Black Power” as being
“To ensure the dignity of the black man and when we speak of
“black man” we mean all non-whites and not just people from
Africa”.
That is certainly a broader view than Stokely Carmichael’s.
However, what can “Black Dignity” mean to the wage enslaved
sugar workers of the Caribbean ? Possibly as much as it may
mean to the thousands of colored inmigrants in Britain,
integrated into the native white working class of that island.
A SUBJECT class, “held to ransom” by the wages system . The
Class is the leveller , not the color.
So, if there is any “black dignity” floating around the sugar
canes of the Caribbean, it is more likely to alight on those
who own the sugar;than on their employees!
Furthermore, the function of the C.C.L. is to negotiate wage
rates and working conditions with the S.P.A. (Sugar Producer’s
Association) owners of the sugar cane Estates and the sugar
thousands of tons of it, produced by the aforesaid 2,000,000
organised sugar workers, who are selling their labour power at
trade union rates whilst their Employers sell the sugar,
containing the surplus value donated by the workers, because
they, the workers and Unions have accepted the swindle of “A
fair day’s work, for a fair day’s pay” concealing as it does,
the exploitation of the working class all over the world.
This is something which our fellow workers of the Caribbean
would do well to ponder, instead of identifying their interest
with those who exploit them!
In conclusion, human dignity can only accrue to a class less,
wages less citizenry of the world; freed from the necessity of
selling their abilities for “high” or “low” wages, which , far
from being “dignified” , is downright degrading!
So, our message to the working class of the Caribbean is
organise with us for THE ABOLITION OF THE WAGES SYSTEM!
Because, if you desire dignity, you desire Socialism and WE
desire your help to achieve just that!
G.R.Russell (International Secretary, S.P.G.B.)
(Kingston, 1970)