This is
the first time that members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain have stood
for election in East London. The candidates' names are unimportant; you will
not see them on placards or in front windows, because it is not the Socialist
Party's practice to cry up individuals or promote slogans. What we have to put
before you is a simple but reasoned case about the world in which we all live -
the case for Socialism.
Perhaps
first, however, you will want to know something about the Socialist Party. It
was founded in 1904; its Object and the Declaration of Principles on which it
took its stand then, and still takes it now, are printed at the end of this
Manifesto. The Socialist Party looks at the world from one viewpoint only—the
viewpoint of working-class men and women, and what may best serve their
interests.
Do not
confuse the Socialist Party with the Labour Party. The Socialist aim is a
revolutionary change in society. The world we know is the capitalist world, in
which the means of life are owned by a minority and the motive of sale and
profit dominates all other things. From this basis—the capitalist organization
of society—arise all the problems of to-day: wars, crises, insecurity, want and
unhappiness in a hundred forms.
Other
parties believe, and promise, that those problems can be solved by changes of
government and legislation. The Socialist Party's case is that while capitalism
remains, the problems which are its consequences will remain, too. Indeed, it
should hardly need the Socialist Party to point this out. Any man's lifetime
to-day has seen several changes of government, allied with spectacular
scientific progress; how much nearer, however, is the solution of any of those
problems?
You may
object, at this stage, that these are not issues in this election. The voter in
the L.C.C. Election has in mind not world problems but the everyday questions
of housing, schools, rent and roadways and public health services. That is
true, but the more important truth is that they are not local questions at all.
They are, in fact, aspects of the position of the working class the world over:
a position in which the only differences are the depth of want and the degree
of insecurity.
The
housing problem, which will be spoken of a good deal in this election, has been
with us for more than a hundred years. All efforts to solve it have been
unsuccessful simply because it is a part of the working-class poverty problem.
London's forests of flats and prefabs are the attempts of administrators to do
the impossible—to house generation after generation of working people who
cannot afford to house themselves.
A great
deal of the illness and much of the crime and "vice" that are
problems in every city in the world are direct consequences of people's
poverty. And what are the problems of education but the problems of how
children shall be taught to be clerks, factory workers, mechanics and
labourers—that is, education for future poverty? The Socialist case is that
within capitalism there can be no cure, and the whole history of modern times
bears us out.
Ours is
not a gloomy message, however. On the contrary, through our fifty-four years'
existence we have steadily pointed to the obvious real remedy. If it is true
that all these problems are the inevitable consequences of the capitalist
organization of society, then we must end it and replace it with something
better. That is what the Socialist Party of Great Britain stands for: the
abolition of capitalism and the establishment in its place of Socialism.
Socialism
does not mean a different kind of government, or State administration of
industry (nor has it anything to do with what goes on in Russia). It means a
completely different social system, based on the ownership of all the means of
life by everybody. On that basis, there could be no wars or crises, because
those are results of trade and competition between capitalists. Nor could there
be poverty and all its consequent problems, because all the resources of
society would be directed not towards profit but to satisfying the needs of
all.
You may
ask, as most people do, how the Socialist Party is going to effect all this.
The answer is that it is not. YOU are going to. In our Declaration of
Principles you will find one which says: "That this emancipation must be
the work of the working class itself." The Socialist Party does not
present itself as a would-be ruler or a new leader. Another of our claims is
that leaders will take working people nowhere good: in fact, that the world
will not change for the working class until they themselves change it.
Thus, in
this election we are promising nothing. What we are laying before you is the
proposition briefly outlined here, and what we ask is that you consider it and
see if it does not fit the world as you know it. If you agree with it, you will
not need to be asked to vote for the Socialist candidates who alone in this
election stand for the interests of the working class. If you disagree, we ask
you to go on thinking about it—but not to vote for our candidates.
Your
final question may be that even though you listen favourably to what we have to
say, you see no purpose in voting for a little group of candidates who, if
elected, could change nothing. That is true, of course; three Socialists in the
London County Council would be in a position only to state the Socialist case
on every opportunity, and little more. Have you thought, however, that those
who support the candidates of the majority parties are also electing
administrators who can do nothing to improve the position of the working class?
And, of
course, there is a far more important aspect. The change to Socialism can only
be brought about by a Socialist working class sending its representatives to
take the powers of government, national and local, to make the all-important
change in ownership. Somewhere a start has to be made. The presence of three
Socialist Candidates in this election is a lengthening, slight though it may
be, of the shadow over the reign of capitalism. Every fresh person who hears us
and decides that he or she is with us adds substance to that shadow.
During
the weeks leading up to this election, Socialists will be everywhere where they
can find the opportunity to talk to you. Our speakers will be on the streets
and in the halls as often as possible, and our canvassers will come to as many
doors as they can—not to tout for your vote, but to talk to you about
Socialism. The Socialist future is not so far away. Your understanding and
wanting it will
SPEED THE
DAY!
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