This Dishonest Election.
You are being asked to decide by your votes whether a Tory or a Labour Government is your best guarantee of "better times" to come. In fact you are being cajoled and bamboozled into taking part in a monstrous act of political pretence. Whichever of these parties gains a majority there will be no "better times" for you. When the fight is over and you return to the unrelieved cares and hardships of your life as workers you will look back on this election as one of the most dishonest of modern times. The Party leaders know that crises are ahead in which the Party that wins will again mock you with the call to tighten your belts. All that you are going to decide by your votes is whether you are to have hard times and the menace of war under Tory Government or hard times and the menace of war under Labour Government.
The Trick Exposed.
The real purpose of the election has been admitted by two journals with opposing political leanings, the Liberal "Manchester Guardian" and the financial journal the "Economist."
They both say that it matters little which of the two parties wins, provided one or the other has a substantial majority. The "Manchester Guardian" writes:—"But whether the next Government is a Labour or a Conservative one it is earnestly to be hoped that it will be one with a coherent working majority. That, even more than the complexion of the Government, is what is important. ("Manchester Guardian," 21st September, 1951).
The "Economist" echoes these sentiments:—
"Whether the Conservative or the Labour Party can provide the better political leadership for these times is by comparison a minor issue." (" Economist," 22nd September. 1951).
Why is it so important to these two spokesmen of capitalist interests that the next Government should be a strong one? They give their reason. In the crises that are looming up at home and internationally British capitalism needs a Government that can act decisively and impose measures that will be unpopular.
The ''Manchester Guardian '' says :—
"... the Government has not been wholly ineffective. Now, however, it is entering a much more difficult period when some bold decisions and some unpopular economic measures are called for, decisions and measures which a weak Government could not carry through except with Opposition support, and that under the circumstances would not be forthcoming."
The "Economist'' likewise :—
"The difficulties facing the British people are now growing harsher. The firm and effective Government is required to meet them can come only from a party firmly established in power and able to look beyond immediate popularity when the need is for measures that will show their good results in two years' time rather than next month."
A third journal, the "Daily Mirror," though it gives preference to the Labour Party, makes a protest against the manifestoes of both the Tory and the Labour Party. It does so on the ground that both manifestoes imply "that economic troubles will be solved by choosing the right one of the two parties." In fact, says the "Mirror" (2nd October, 1951) "The troubles will remain when the election is over, and whatever Government emerges will have to be tough."
Pretending There is Something to Fight About.
There are no big differences between the Tory and Labour leaders except that they both want power. "It will be an election fought between only two parties and without any issues." (" Economist," 29th September, 1951).
Of course they have to pretend that they stand for fundamentally different things, but look at the facts.
They agree on rearmament, and on foreign policy the Party leaders were already consulting together on the Persian crisis before the election was announced. Lord Halifax, former British ambassador to the United States, was stating the truth when he said at Wisconsin, U.S.A., on 28th September:— "No matter who wins the General Election, British foreign policy will remain the same." ("Evening Standard," 29th September, 1951). Both parties stand for the continuation of conscription though for years the Labour Party when in opposition denounced it.
At one time the Labour Party aimed at extensive nationalisation. Now it is soliciting votes by letting it be known that there is to be no new nationalisation scheme in the near future. Nationalisation is only state capitalism and has proved so unpopular with the workers that the Conservatives are hoping to get working class votes by promising to denationalise iron and steel and road transport.
On housing the Labour Party boasts of its achievement of 200,000 a year and sneers at the impracticability of the Tories' vague undertaking to aim at a" target" of 300,000. But neither figure will meet the real need for millions of houses and both Parties agree in placing housing second in importance to re-armament.
On wages and prices both Parties hold out promises of keeping the one up and the other down. Every Government in the past 100 years has promised the same, and every worker knows that all Governments and all employers resist wage increases when prices rise and try to force down wages when prices fall.
Both Parties claim to be responsible for the so-called "Welfare State" and "full employment." The "Welfare State" is nothing but a glorified system of State relief necessary because the social system leaves the workers too poor to satisfy from their own resources the minimum requirements of life. "Full employment " has been possible during recent years only because of the world demand for materials and products to make good the destruction caused by the last war and preparation for the next. If they were honest the leaders of both Parties would admit that when world capitalism lapses into its next crisis there is no Government policy that can keep up the demand from abroad for the products of the export trades in this country.
Both Parties claim to be in favour of curtailing "excessive" profit but neither Party has any intention of doing what is really needed, abolishing the profit system. While Mr. Morgan Phillips, General Secretary of the Labour Party, accuses the Tory Party of pleading for "good profits," his colleague, Mr. Jay, Financial Secretary to the Treasury in the Labour Government admits that his own Party has the same aim:—
"British Labour believes in a mixed economy, which means good profits for efficient firms in the sphere of private enterprise." ("Manchester Guardian," 22nd September, 1951).
Under Labour Government profits have mounted to record levels and both Parties call on you for still more of the "increased production" which has created these record profits.
Have no illusions about the sham fight between Tory and Labour. Both stand for the retention of capitalism.
Labour Party's Aim not Socialism.
The one vital issue that should concern the workers of Britain is the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of Socialism. This is not the aim of the Labour Party. State capitalism or nationalisation is not Socialism. The attempts to run capitalism under price controls and profit controls are not Socialism. In the Labour Party election manifesto of 1945 the false claim was made that the "Labour Party is a Socialist Party and proud of it." Even this lip service to Socialism has now been dropped and replaced by meaningless references to the "welfare State" and the building of a "just society."
It suits the Tories at election time to pretend that the Labour Government's policies of price control and profit control are Socialism, but at least one opponent of the Labour Party has seen through this pretence:—
' The Labour Party has exhausted its inspiration and has not even the semblance of a body of Socialist doctrine to guide it." ("Manchester Guardian," 21st September, 1951).
The test is a simple one. The basis of capitalism is the ownership of accumulated wealth by a minority of the population, the capitalist class. After six years of Labour Government the Labour Party's own election programme admits that "half of Britain's wealth is still owned by one per cent, of the population." ("Daily Herald," 1st October, 1951).
In 1918 the Labour Party election manifesto "Labour and the New Social Order," placed it on record that "one-tenth of the population . . . owns nine-tenths of the riches of the United Kingdom." Thirty-one years later Mr. Glenvil Hall, Financial Secretary of the Labour Government, admitted that this was still true:—
" Of the 555,000 people who die each year only 10% own more than £2,000, but these 10%
between them own 90% of the total property.(House of Commons, 18th May, 1949).
Nothing could more clearly show the futility of tinkering with the reform of capitalism. Labourism has failed. Toryism is no better. Socialism is the only way out.
Socialism the Only Remedy.
Capitalism whether run by a Labour Government, a Tory Government, a Liberal Government or (as in Russia) by a Communist Government cannot solve your problems. Capitalism means endless poverty and insecurity for the working class. In addition its inescapable international rivalries are the cause of war which no League of Nations or United Nations can prevent. The only way out is to establish Socialism. This requires the conversion of the means of production and distribution from their present function of producing profit, to common ownership by the whole of society. Goods and services would then be produced solely to satisfy human needs, and by ridding society of the waste of armaments and of all the financial and other operations inseparable from capitalism human society would for the first time be easily able to provide all the needs and comforts of life.
The achievement of this great purpose waits only on the recognition of its necessity by you, the working-class and on your understanding of the democratic political action necessary to carry it through.
Do not be deterred by the magnitude of the problem or by the timid argument that world-wide agreement to achieve it is impracticable. The workers of all other countries are harassed by the same capitalist evils that make your lives a burden. They are no less anxious than you to find the way out. They are as able as you are to grasp the great truth that humanity can be saved only by the co-operation of the workers of all countries. Like you they abhor capitalism's wars and long for real peace that only Socialism can provide.
This Election and Those That Will Follow.
At present the number of Socialists in this and other countries is too small to determine the results of elections. In recent Parliamentary elections the Socialist Party of Great Britain has put up one or two candidates and, as we knew would be the result, they received the votes of only the very small number of Socialists in the constituencies chosen. On this occasion no Socialist Party candidates are in the field, but in all constituencies, if you have finally turned your back on the parties that put forward different methods of trying to run capitalism you will be able to register your vote for Socialism by writing "Socialism" across the ballot paper; This will serve to advertise the number of those who have realised that the use of the vote to support any other candidate no matter how he describes himself, is a vote for capitalism.
Study Socialism. Become Socialists. Resolve that you will help to make the Socialist Party strong enough to be the decisive factor at future elections.
The Executive Committee,
Socialist Party of Great Britain.
52 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4.
October, 1951.
Friday, 30 June 2017
Sunday, 25 June 2017
2005
The Socialist Party is contesting this election as a part of our campaign to establish a new system of society:
One based on the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole community.
That is our sole object.
By common ownership we don't mean that everyone should have to share a toothbrush, but that in a society built upon our mutual effort, we should all benefit and have a say in how it is run.
We currently live in a system of society based on a tiny number of people owning the productive wealth of our world, organised and run by a handful of bosses for their benefit. Their profits come first, our needs come second.
In Vauxhall nearly half of all workers are employed in administering business as compared with only a quarter in social services and looking after ourselves (derived from 2001 Census).
Because of this we have endless problems of poverty, poor services and all the issues politicians love to spend time telling you they can solve, if only given the chance.
We don't believe any politician can solve these problems, as long as the flawed basis of our society remains intact. In fact, we believe only you and your fellow workers can solve these problems.
We believe that it will take a revolution in how we organise our lives, a fundamental change. We want to see a society based on the fact that you know how to run your lives, know your needs and have the skills and capacity to organise with your fellows to satisfy them.
You know yourselves and your lives better than a handful of bosses ever can.
With democratic control of production we can ensure that looking after our communities becomes a priority, rather than something we do in our spare time.
We all share fundamental needs, for food, clothing, housing and culture, and we have the capacity to ensure access to these for all, without exception.
If you agree with this aim, then we ask you to get in touch with us, get involved and join in our campaign to bring about this change in society.
Together, we have the capacity to run our world for ourselves. We need to build a movement to effect that change, by organising deliberately to take control
of the political offices which rule our lives, and bring them into our collective democratic control.
Our candidate makes no promises, offers no pat solutions, only to be the means by which you can remake society for the common good.
Danny Lambert
The Socialist Party candidate.
One based on the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole community.
That is our sole object.
By common ownership we don't mean that everyone should have to share a toothbrush, but that in a society built upon our mutual effort, we should all benefit and have a say in how it is run.
We currently live in a system of society based on a tiny number of people owning the productive wealth of our world, organised and run by a handful of bosses for their benefit. Their profits come first, our needs come second.
In Vauxhall nearly half of all workers are employed in administering business as compared with only a quarter in social services and looking after ourselves (derived from 2001 Census).
Because of this we have endless problems of poverty, poor services and all the issues politicians love to spend time telling you they can solve, if only given the chance.
We don't believe any politician can solve these problems, as long as the flawed basis of our society remains intact. In fact, we believe only you and your fellow workers can solve these problems.
We believe that it will take a revolution in how we organise our lives, a fundamental change. We want to see a society based on the fact that you know how to run your lives, know your needs and have the skills and capacity to organise with your fellows to satisfy them.
You know yourselves and your lives better than a handful of bosses ever can.
With democratic control of production we can ensure that looking after our communities becomes a priority, rather than something we do in our spare time.
We all share fundamental needs, for food, clothing, housing and culture, and we have the capacity to ensure access to these for all, without exception.
If you agree with this aim, then we ask you to get in touch with us, get involved and join in our campaign to bring about this change in society.
Together, we have the capacity to run our world for ourselves. We need to build a movement to effect that change, by organising deliberately to take control
of the political offices which rule our lives, and bring them into our collective democratic control.
Our candidate makes no promises, offers no pat solutions, only to be the means by which you can remake society for the common good.
Danny Lambert
The Socialist Party candidate.
BEYOND THE EMPTY PROMISES (1997)
BEYOND THE EMPTY PROMISES
OUR QUESTIONS - YOUR ANSWERS
All the politicians will tell you that they have the answers. But their answers fail to solve the problems which face society. After decades of politicians' clever answers the society we live in is still in a mess, with mass poverty, social insecurity and environmental destruction getting worse, not better.
Socialists say that if the politicians' answers are worthless, perhaps they are answering the wrong questions. Instead of leaving it up to the politicians, why not ask yourself a few questions?
Do you live in a society which puts your needs, and those of millions like you, before the profits of the few?
Are we living in a society where making money for big business is more important than making life decent for the vast majority of us?
What does capitalism value more, hospitals or banks?
Given a choice between providing a cleaner environment for people to live in and making a fast buck out of polluting the earth we inhabit, which do you think those with power will opt for?
Any political party seeking to run capitalism puts PROFIT BEFORE NEEDS. That's the only way to run this system.
Politicians tell us that they're running things for our benefit, but capitalism can only be run in the interest of the small minority who own and control the means of producing and distributing goods and services.
But what about us — how much power do we have under the profit system?
Ask yourself a few more questions:
If you decided to give up your job (assuming you have one) and live without selling yourself for a wage or salary, how long could you exist on your assets?
If you or a close relative needs urgent health treatment of the best quality, how long will you have to wait compared to an idle millionaire who can demand the best possible treatment instantly?
Who has more power to control their lives, an eighteen-year-old fresh out of public school who's just inherited a few million pounds or a hardworking nurse, farmworker, fire-fighter or factory or office worker?
Even if you have a few quid in the bank, your own car, a video machine and an annual holiday abroad, isn't it true that the life you lead is becoming increasingly pressurised, with dangerous streets, drug epidemics and a mind-numbing media destroying the quality of everyday life?
Capitalism can only be run by treating the working-class majority, who produce all the goods and services, as second-class citizens. And most people know that they are living in a class-divided society; when asked, 81% of respondents in November 1995 told a Gallup opinion poll that they thought there was a class struggle in this country.
The politicians are out to represent the small class (less than 5% of the people in this country) who own and control most of the marketable wealth. They are asking you to vote so that the owning minority can stay in power.
But can anything different work better?
Try some more questions:
Would you prefer to live in a society where production was solely for use and not for sale on the market to make a profit?
If you knew that everyone else was prepared to do their bit to run society, would you prefer to cooperate with them according to your abilities rather than be a wage slave? If the abundant resources of this planet were freed from the shackles of the market and used to satisfy everyone, would there be starving children in the midst of food mountains or homeless youngsters sleeping in shop doorways in the midst of brick stockpiles or hospital wards standing empty or millions forced out of work?
Socialists say that there is a real alternative.
It has never been tried.
The twentieth century has been the epoch of wrong answers from politicians who have never seen further than capitalism.
The alternative of production for use, common ownership, democratic control, and free access for all to the available store of social wealth has yet to be tried. So why not give it a try—why not support The Alternative?
Now for the biggest questions of all:
Will you help to wipe the smug smiles off the arrogant faces of the politicians who think that all they need to do at election time is offer you false and unrealisable policies fora system which ignores your real needs?
Will you consider the socialist alternative, we are putting in this Election, to the profit system?
Will you help us to build a real socialist alternative to the policies of callous Toryism and their mirror reflection, New Labour?
Are you prepared to find out more about what socialists stand for and what you might do to stand alongside us?
(1997 General Election)
OUR QUESTIONS - YOUR ANSWERS
All the politicians will tell you that they have the answers. But their answers fail to solve the problems which face society. After decades of politicians' clever answers the society we live in is still in a mess, with mass poverty, social insecurity and environmental destruction getting worse, not better.
Socialists say that if the politicians' answers are worthless, perhaps they are answering the wrong questions. Instead of leaving it up to the politicians, why not ask yourself a few questions?
Do you live in a society which puts your needs, and those of millions like you, before the profits of the few?
Are we living in a society where making money for big business is more important than making life decent for the vast majority of us?
What does capitalism value more, hospitals or banks?
Given a choice between providing a cleaner environment for people to live in and making a fast buck out of polluting the earth we inhabit, which do you think those with power will opt for?
Any political party seeking to run capitalism puts PROFIT BEFORE NEEDS. That's the only way to run this system.
Politicians tell us that they're running things for our benefit, but capitalism can only be run in the interest of the small minority who own and control the means of producing and distributing goods and services.
But what about us — how much power do we have under the profit system?
Ask yourself a few more questions:
If you decided to give up your job (assuming you have one) and live without selling yourself for a wage or salary, how long could you exist on your assets?
If you or a close relative needs urgent health treatment of the best quality, how long will you have to wait compared to an idle millionaire who can demand the best possible treatment instantly?
Who has more power to control their lives, an eighteen-year-old fresh out of public school who's just inherited a few million pounds or a hardworking nurse, farmworker, fire-fighter or factory or office worker?
Even if you have a few quid in the bank, your own car, a video machine and an annual holiday abroad, isn't it true that the life you lead is becoming increasingly pressurised, with dangerous streets, drug epidemics and a mind-numbing media destroying the quality of everyday life?
Capitalism can only be run by treating the working-class majority, who produce all the goods and services, as second-class citizens. And most people know that they are living in a class-divided society; when asked, 81% of respondents in November 1995 told a Gallup opinion poll that they thought there was a class struggle in this country.
The politicians are out to represent the small class (less than 5% of the people in this country) who own and control most of the marketable wealth. They are asking you to vote so that the owning minority can stay in power.
But can anything different work better?
Try some more questions:
Would you prefer to live in a society where production was solely for use and not for sale on the market to make a profit?
If you knew that everyone else was prepared to do their bit to run society, would you prefer to cooperate with them according to your abilities rather than be a wage slave? If the abundant resources of this planet were freed from the shackles of the market and used to satisfy everyone, would there be starving children in the midst of food mountains or homeless youngsters sleeping in shop doorways in the midst of brick stockpiles or hospital wards standing empty or millions forced out of work?
Socialists say that there is a real alternative.
It has never been tried.
The twentieth century has been the epoch of wrong answers from politicians who have never seen further than capitalism.
The alternative of production for use, common ownership, democratic control, and free access for all to the available store of social wealth has yet to be tried. So why not give it a try—why not support The Alternative?
Now for the biggest questions of all:
Will you help to wipe the smug smiles off the arrogant faces of the politicians who think that all they need to do at election time is offer you false and unrealisable policies fora system which ignores your real needs?
Will you consider the socialist alternative, we are putting in this Election, to the profit system?
Will you help us to build a real socialist alternative to the policies of callous Toryism and their mirror reflection, New Labour?
Are you prepared to find out more about what socialists stand for and what you might do to stand alongside us?
(1997 General Election)
Vote for yourself - for a change! (1992)
Vote for yourself - for a change!
Most people think that whichever government is elected it will make no real difference to their lives.
Most people are right.
Most people think that political leaders are dishonest timewasters.
Most people are right about that.
Most people think that the world is in a mess: millions unemployed, homelessness and house repossessions, kids on the streets, a collapsing healt
Yes, society is in a hell of a mess.
Most people think that little can be done to change it.
They're wrong.
Society does not have to be like this. We live under a system where:
Production is for profit, not primarily for need.
The richest 10 per cent own over half of all personal marketable wealth.
The richest one per cent own three times as much as the poorest 50 per cent added together.
The economy is run to make the rich stay rich at the expense of the poor.
The world market can never be run in the interest of the majority of us who produce the wealth but do not possess the major resources. No tinkering with the profit system by any government can ever make it comfortable, secure and happy for the majority of us.
All of the politicians in this election are asking you to vote for them so that they can run capitalism - continue the mess -carry on putting profit before needs - piling on the misery.
What we need is a new way of running society based on:
・ The common ownership of all resources by the whole community, not just a rich minority.
・ Democratic control of the community by everyone, without distinction of age, race or sex, instead of rule by unelected company directors or state bureaucrats.
・ Production purely for use, not profit.
・ Free and equal access to all goods and services - an end to the market and to money.
Only The Socialist Party stands for that alternative: GENUINE socialism.
A vote for the Socialist candidate means that:
・ You reject the policies of the profit system.
・ You understand and want the real socialist alternative.
・ You do not need leaders to do your thinking and run society for you.
・ You are going to vote for yourself - for a change.
(1992 Election Manifesto, Holborn & St Pancras).
Most people think that whichever government is elected it will make no real difference to their lives.
Most people are right.
Most people think that political leaders are dishonest timewasters.
Most people are right about that.
Most people think that the world is in a mess: millions unemployed, homelessness and house repossessions, kids on the streets, a collapsing healt
Yes, society is in a hell of a mess.
Most people think that little can be done to change it.
They're wrong.
Society does not have to be like this. We live under a system where:
Production is for profit, not primarily for need.
The richest 10 per cent own over half of all personal marketable wealth.
The richest one per cent own three times as much as the poorest 50 per cent added together.
The economy is run to make the rich stay rich at the expense of the poor.
The world market can never be run in the interest of the majority of us who produce the wealth but do not possess the major resources. No tinkering with the profit system by any government can ever make it comfortable, secure and happy for the majority of us.
All of the politicians in this election are asking you to vote for them so that they can run capitalism - continue the mess -carry on putting profit before needs - piling on the misery.
What we need is a new way of running society based on:
・ The common ownership of all resources by the whole community, not just a rich minority.
・ Democratic control of the community by everyone, without distinction of age, race or sex, instead of rule by unelected company directors or state bureaucrats.
・ Production purely for use, not profit.
・ Free and equal access to all goods and services - an end to the market and to money.
Only The Socialist Party stands for that alternative: GENUINE socialism.
A vote for the Socialist candidate means that:
・ You reject the policies of the profit system.
・ You understand and want the real socialist alternative.
・ You do not need leaders to do your thinking and run society for you.
・ You are going to vote for yourself - for a change.
(1992 Election Manifesto, Holborn & St Pancras).
Why We Are Contesting (1964)
Why We Are Contesting
Whenever there is an election the ordinary person, the man in the street—the working class voter—becomes suddenly very popular. Any number of political parties are anxious to please him and to make him all manner of tempting promises, if he in his turn will agree to vote for their candidate. Election time, in other words, is the time when there is an enormous hunt for Votes—for your vote.
The bait which is used in this hunt is largely made up by promises. All the other parties offer this bait, and the generosity of their promises is usually in inverse proportion to the likelihood of their getting power. The Labour and Conservative Parties cannot be too extravagant; the Liberals can be a little more wild; the Communists can promise almost anything. And so on.
Most of the promises in this election are about things like modernisation, housing, education, pensions, wages and prices, war and peace. To read the literature of the other parties, it seems that all that has to be done to solve overnight all the problems connected with these issues is to vote for their candidate. They will all, it seems, bring British industry up to date, replace all the slums with new houses, give everyone a fair chance of the best education, increase pensions, keep prices stable while wages increase, banish war from the earth.
These promises sound very fine and in one election after another millions of working people vote for them. And presumably, when they do so, they think that they are contributing to the solution of our problems.
But let us stop and think about it.
Firstly, it is obvious that election promises are not a new thing. Political parties have been making them for as long as anyone can remember—and always about the same sort of problems.
Now what has been the result of all this?
The housing problem remains with us; despite repeated promises to deal with it, slums are developing faster than new houses are being built. For the workers, who depend on their wage to live, housing is still an aspect of their general poverty.
The sort of education we get is governed by the financial standing of our parents. Even if a working class lad wins his way to university he is only studying to become a different type of worker—one with a degree behind him.
Millions of old age pensioners are living on the tightrope of destitution—and it only needs something like a severe winter for many of them to loosen their precarious hold on life.
Prices continue to rise, as they have done steadily since the war. No government has yet given a free rein to the level of wages—they have all tried to restrain them. And whatever the respective level of prices and wages, we always find that our wage packet only just covers our food, clothing, entertainment and whatever else goes to keep us ticking over.
War is just as much a universal problem as ever. At the moment there are only comparatively minor incidents, punctuated by more serious clashes such as Cuba and Berlin. But over it all hangs the threat of another world conflict, this time fought out with nuclear weapons.
It is not accidental that the politicians make so many promises and that they have so little effect upon the ailments they are supposed to cure. The world is full of chronic problems, but this is not because political parties have not thought up reforms which are supposed to deal with them nor because their leaders are not clever or knowledgeable enough.
The fact is that the problems persist whichever party is in power—and this suggests that their roots go deep into the very nature of modern society.
We live today in a social system which is called capitalism, The basis of this system is the ownership by a section of the population of the means of producing and distributing wealth —of factories, mines, steamships, and so on. It follows from this that all the wealth which we produce today is turned out with the intention of realising a profit for the owning class. It is from this basis that the problems of modern society spring.
The class which does not own the means of wealth production—the working class—are condemned to a life of impoverished dependence upon their wages. This poverty expresses itself in inferior housing, clothes, education, and the like. In the end, it expresses itself in the pathetic destitution of the old age pensioner—a fate which no old capitalist ever faces.
The basis of capitalism throws up the continual battle over wages and working conditions with attendant industrial disputes. It gives rise, with its international economic rivalries, to the wars which have disfigured man's recent history.
Every other party in this election stands for capitalism, whatever they may call themselves. And whatever their protestations, they stand for a world of poverty, hunger, unrest and war. They stand for a world in which no human being is secure.
The Socialist Party of Great Britain, alone, stands for Socialism. We stand for a world in which everything which goes to make and distribute wealth will be owned by the people of the world. Because Socialism is the direct opposite of capitalism, it follows that when it is established the basic problems of capitalism will disappear. There will be no more war, no more poverty. Man will live a full, abundant life; we shall be free.
But Socialism cannot be brought about by promises. It needs a knowledgeable working class who understand and desire it. They alone can establish the new world order.
That is why we have a candidate in this constituency. He does not make you any promises; he does not try to convince you that he will do anything for you; he does not even seek your vote. What he—and the party which he represents—are offering you is the case for a new social system. We are seeking to spread the knowledge of Socialism and to give as many people as possible the opportunity of voting for a world of abundance, peace and freedom.
Whenever there is an election the ordinary person, the man in the street—the working class voter—becomes suddenly very popular. Any number of political parties are anxious to please him and to make him all manner of tempting promises, if he in his turn will agree to vote for their candidate. Election time, in other words, is the time when there is an enormous hunt for Votes—for your vote.
The bait which is used in this hunt is largely made up by promises. All the other parties offer this bait, and the generosity of their promises is usually in inverse proportion to the likelihood of their getting power. The Labour and Conservative Parties cannot be too extravagant; the Liberals can be a little more wild; the Communists can promise almost anything. And so on.
Most of the promises in this election are about things like modernisation, housing, education, pensions, wages and prices, war and peace. To read the literature of the other parties, it seems that all that has to be done to solve overnight all the problems connected with these issues is to vote for their candidate. They will all, it seems, bring British industry up to date, replace all the slums with new houses, give everyone a fair chance of the best education, increase pensions, keep prices stable while wages increase, banish war from the earth.
These promises sound very fine and in one election after another millions of working people vote for them. And presumably, when they do so, they think that they are contributing to the solution of our problems.
But let us stop and think about it.
Firstly, it is obvious that election promises are not a new thing. Political parties have been making them for as long as anyone can remember—and always about the same sort of problems.
Now what has been the result of all this?
The housing problem remains with us; despite repeated promises to deal with it, slums are developing faster than new houses are being built. For the workers, who depend on their wage to live, housing is still an aspect of their general poverty.
The sort of education we get is governed by the financial standing of our parents. Even if a working class lad wins his way to university he is only studying to become a different type of worker—one with a degree behind him.
Millions of old age pensioners are living on the tightrope of destitution—and it only needs something like a severe winter for many of them to loosen their precarious hold on life.
Prices continue to rise, as they have done steadily since the war. No government has yet given a free rein to the level of wages—they have all tried to restrain them. And whatever the respective level of prices and wages, we always find that our wage packet only just covers our food, clothing, entertainment and whatever else goes to keep us ticking over.
War is just as much a universal problem as ever. At the moment there are only comparatively minor incidents, punctuated by more serious clashes such as Cuba and Berlin. But over it all hangs the threat of another world conflict, this time fought out with nuclear weapons.
It is not accidental that the politicians make so many promises and that they have so little effect upon the ailments they are supposed to cure. The world is full of chronic problems, but this is not because political parties have not thought up reforms which are supposed to deal with them nor because their leaders are not clever or knowledgeable enough.
The fact is that the problems persist whichever party is in power—and this suggests that their roots go deep into the very nature of modern society.
We live today in a social system which is called capitalism, The basis of this system is the ownership by a section of the population of the means of producing and distributing wealth —of factories, mines, steamships, and so on. It follows from this that all the wealth which we produce today is turned out with the intention of realising a profit for the owning class. It is from this basis that the problems of modern society spring.
The class which does not own the means of wealth production—the working class—are condemned to a life of impoverished dependence upon their wages. This poverty expresses itself in inferior housing, clothes, education, and the like. In the end, it expresses itself in the pathetic destitution of the old age pensioner—a fate which no old capitalist ever faces.
The basis of capitalism throws up the continual battle over wages and working conditions with attendant industrial disputes. It gives rise, with its international economic rivalries, to the wars which have disfigured man's recent history.
Every other party in this election stands for capitalism, whatever they may call themselves. And whatever their protestations, they stand for a world of poverty, hunger, unrest and war. They stand for a world in which no human being is secure.
The Socialist Party of Great Britain, alone, stands for Socialism. We stand for a world in which everything which goes to make and distribute wealth will be owned by the people of the world. Because Socialism is the direct opposite of capitalism, it follows that when it is established the basic problems of capitalism will disappear. There will be no more war, no more poverty. Man will live a full, abundant life; we shall be free.
But Socialism cannot be brought about by promises. It needs a knowledgeable working class who understand and desire it. They alone can establish the new world order.
That is why we have a candidate in this constituency. He does not make you any promises; he does not try to convince you that he will do anything for you; he does not even seek your vote. What he—and the party which he represents—are offering you is the case for a new social system. We are seeking to spread the knowledge of Socialism and to give as many people as possible the opportunity of voting for a world of abundance, peace and freedom.
WHY WE ARE CONTESTING THIS ELECTION (1950)
WHY WE ARE CONTESTING THIS ELECTION
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN IS PUTTING FORWARD CANDIDATES AT EAST HAM SOUTH AND PADDINGTON NORTH IN THIS GENERAL ELECTION. AN S.P.G.B. CANDIDATE CONTESTED PADDINGTON NORTH AT THE GENERAL ELECTION IN JULY 1945 AND AGAIN AT THE BY-ELECTION IN NOVEMBER, 1946. ON THOSE TWO OCCASIONS THE ELECTORS DEMONSTRATED THEIR UNREADINESS TO CONSIDER SOCIALISM AS A PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVE TO CAPITALISM; THEY GAVE THOUSANDS OF VOTES TO THE LABOUR AND TORY CANDIDATES AND REJECTED SOCIALISM WITH A FEW HUNDRED VOTES THEY CAST FOR THE SOCIALIST CANDIDATE.
Some of our opponents, not knowing the Socialist movement, expected that the results of the two contests at Paddington North would convince the S.P.G.B. that it is useless to carry on the struggle for Socialism. They thought we had misjudged the situation and would disappear from the political scene when the position was made clear.
THE FUTURE LIES IN SOCIALISM
We made no miscalculation and the result did not surprise us. It did not even add to our disappointment. We have had long years of propaganda experience to teach us that the number of convinced Socialists in this country is very small at present.
Strange as it may seem to those who belong to the large and wealthy Labour and Conservative parties we of the Socialist Party are supremely confident of our eventual triumph. The future does not belong to Labourism or to Conservatism but to Socialism.
Why are we so confident? It is because the Socialist movement has two strong forces ceaselessly at work on its side. One is the pressure of capitalism on the working class. The other is the thinking capacity of the workers who have to endure this pressure. Conscious that these forces are slowly working for us we cannot be dismayed by the magnitude of the present difficulties. Sooner or later the working class will understand that for the sake of their well-being and for the very existence of the human race they must join us to end capitalism and establish Socialism.
TORY, LABOUR, LIBERAL, COMMUNIST — AND SOCIALIST
You are asked in the election to choose between a number of parties and programmes but only the S.P.G.B. asks you to vote for Socialism and nothing but Socialism.
The CONSERVATIVE movement — though "movement" is perhaps hardly the word to describe that monument of inertia—would, if it could, leave capitalism unchanged. The wealthy men who are influential in that Party are quite satisfied with things as they are—but they need workers' votes and the working class are so dissatisfied that the Conservatives have to make a show of changing things. They pretend to believe in change but change is the last thing they really want.
The LABOUR PARTY does believe in change of a kind. It claims that you can change capitalism by cutting out the abuses and making it a more satisfactory scheme of things. It claims that you can have capitalism without war, capitalism without unemployment and capitalism without poverty. The Labour Party thus aims to achieve an impossibility, a sort of half-way house between Capitalism and Socialism. It was bound to fail disastrously.
They say they have done their best—and you can see the deplorable results.
The LIBERALS are a party of the past, they have no future and no claim to represent anything but capitalism. Their maximum hope is to provide a group of M.P.'s able to hold the balance between Labour and Conservative. They can be judged on their past record of Government. When in power for long years they never did anything to end the poverty and insecurity of working class life. Always—like the Conservatives—they sought to continue capitalism and to promote the interests of the capitalist class.
The COMMUNISTS are a group showing certain special but equally obnoxious features. They are not interested in Communism or Socialism any more than is the Labour Party. Their method of seeking influence among the workers is to outbid the Labour Party in the reforms of capitalism that they advocate. They take their cue always from Russia which they falsely represent as a country in which Socialism has been established. If they were to gain power they would seek to introduce here the same detestable system of State capitalism and dictatorship as exists in Russia.
"LABOUR" HAS FAILED — NOW FORWARD TO SOCIALISM
The Socialist movement really does seek change, the change from capitalism to Socialism. Capitalism must be abolished, for only by its abolition and its replacement by Socialism can the things that the working class need and desire become realities. Socialism versus Capitalism is the vital issue here and throughout the world.
Between Socialism and Capitalism there can be no compromise, no half-way house. Those who are not for Socialism are against it. The Socialist Party strikes a blow for a Socialist world. We are at the beginning of the fight. We shall 50 on till final victory.
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN IS PUTTING FORWARD CANDIDATES AT EAST HAM SOUTH AND PADDINGTON NORTH IN THIS GENERAL ELECTION. AN S.P.G.B. CANDIDATE CONTESTED PADDINGTON NORTH AT THE GENERAL ELECTION IN JULY 1945 AND AGAIN AT THE BY-ELECTION IN NOVEMBER, 1946. ON THOSE TWO OCCASIONS THE ELECTORS DEMONSTRATED THEIR UNREADINESS TO CONSIDER SOCIALISM AS A PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVE TO CAPITALISM; THEY GAVE THOUSANDS OF VOTES TO THE LABOUR AND TORY CANDIDATES AND REJECTED SOCIALISM WITH A FEW HUNDRED VOTES THEY CAST FOR THE SOCIALIST CANDIDATE.
Some of our opponents, not knowing the Socialist movement, expected that the results of the two contests at Paddington North would convince the S.P.G.B. that it is useless to carry on the struggle for Socialism. They thought we had misjudged the situation and would disappear from the political scene when the position was made clear.
THE FUTURE LIES IN SOCIALISM
We made no miscalculation and the result did not surprise us. It did not even add to our disappointment. We have had long years of propaganda experience to teach us that the number of convinced Socialists in this country is very small at present.
Strange as it may seem to those who belong to the large and wealthy Labour and Conservative parties we of the Socialist Party are supremely confident of our eventual triumph. The future does not belong to Labourism or to Conservatism but to Socialism.
Why are we so confident? It is because the Socialist movement has two strong forces ceaselessly at work on its side. One is the pressure of capitalism on the working class. The other is the thinking capacity of the workers who have to endure this pressure. Conscious that these forces are slowly working for us we cannot be dismayed by the magnitude of the present difficulties. Sooner or later the working class will understand that for the sake of their well-being and for the very existence of the human race they must join us to end capitalism and establish Socialism.
TORY, LABOUR, LIBERAL, COMMUNIST — AND SOCIALIST
You are asked in the election to choose between a number of parties and programmes but only the S.P.G.B. asks you to vote for Socialism and nothing but Socialism.
The CONSERVATIVE movement — though "movement" is perhaps hardly the word to describe that monument of inertia—would, if it could, leave capitalism unchanged. The wealthy men who are influential in that Party are quite satisfied with things as they are—but they need workers' votes and the working class are so dissatisfied that the Conservatives have to make a show of changing things. They pretend to believe in change but change is the last thing they really want.
The LABOUR PARTY does believe in change of a kind. It claims that you can change capitalism by cutting out the abuses and making it a more satisfactory scheme of things. It claims that you can have capitalism without war, capitalism without unemployment and capitalism without poverty. The Labour Party thus aims to achieve an impossibility, a sort of half-way house between Capitalism and Socialism. It was bound to fail disastrously.
They say they have done their best—and you can see the deplorable results.
The LIBERALS are a party of the past, they have no future and no claim to represent anything but capitalism. Their maximum hope is to provide a group of M.P.'s able to hold the balance between Labour and Conservative. They can be judged on their past record of Government. When in power for long years they never did anything to end the poverty and insecurity of working class life. Always—like the Conservatives—they sought to continue capitalism and to promote the interests of the capitalist class.
The COMMUNISTS are a group showing certain special but equally obnoxious features. They are not interested in Communism or Socialism any more than is the Labour Party. Their method of seeking influence among the workers is to outbid the Labour Party in the reforms of capitalism that they advocate. They take their cue always from Russia which they falsely represent as a country in which Socialism has been established. If they were to gain power they would seek to introduce here the same detestable system of State capitalism and dictatorship as exists in Russia.
"LABOUR" HAS FAILED — NOW FORWARD TO SOCIALISM
The Socialist movement really does seek change, the change from capitalism to Socialism. Capitalism must be abolished, for only by its abolition and its replacement by Socialism can the things that the working class need and desire become realities. Socialism versus Capitalism is the vital issue here and throughout the world.
Between Socialism and Capitalism there can be no compromise, no half-way house. Those who are not for Socialism are against it. The Socialist Party strikes a blow for a Socialist world. We are at the beginning of the fight. We shall 50 on till final victory.
DON'T BE A MUG – VOTE FOR YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE (1987)
DON'T BE A MUG – VOTE FOR YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE
Politicians Need Mugs
Somewhere in Islington there is a family of voters who believe everything the politicians say. When the Labour candidate says that he will make life better for the poor, Mr Mug agrees with every word, believing that people were never allowed to suffer poverty under the last eight Labour governments. When the Tories tell us to work harder, pull in our belts and be loyal little wage slaves, Mrs Mug nods approvingly, saying that the only way to become a millionaire is to work hard and do what you are told. When the Tories and the SDP say that we need bombs which can blow up the planet as the only way to achieve peace, young Johnny Mug is proud to vote for bombs which will wipe him out and everyone around him in defence of the nation which he neither owns or controls. Mr Mug supports the Labour policy of building up more and more "decent", old-fashioned conventional bombs like they used in the Falklands war.
The Mugs will all be voting for leaders on election day, because they believe that democracy means that the majority must obey MPs who sit in parliament dancing to the tune of the Stock Exchange.
The Mugs hope that the vast number of social problems facing and threatening us all - poverty, mass unemployment, homelessness, crime, war - will be solved if politicians pass the right laws.
The Mugs believe that the way we live now is the way we must always live. "There is no alternative: the rich and privileged are in permanent possession of the world; the wealth-producing majority can hope for no more than a few more crumbs from the cake which we have baked."
The Capitalist Madhouse
Socialists do not regard our fellow workers as mugs who are only fit to follow leaders. Most people are tempted to fall for the big lie that the present system of society can be run in the interest of the majority, but the hard fact is that, regardless of which government administers it, the profit system can only "run well" when the capitalists are getting rich at the expense of the workers who produce all the goods and services of society and live second-rate lives.
You do not need The Socialist Party to tell you that there is something badly wrong with the way society is organised at present.
WHY should tens of thousands of workers be homeless and poorly housed while there are thousands of empty houses and half a million unemployed building workers?
WHY are millions of workers thrown on to the scrapheap of the unemployed while so much useful work needs to be done?
WHY are thousands of pensioners left to die of the cold each winter while coal and electricity production are cut due to "lack of demand"?
WHY must vast numbers of workers suffer or even die waiting for hospital treatment while there is no shortage of resources being allocated to the armed forces which exists to kill not cure people?
WHY is food locked away in cold storage or dumped in the sea while around the world 40,000 children starve to death daily?
WHY do those who work hard doing useful jobs find it hard to make ends meet while millionaire gamblers on the Stock Exchange live in parasitical luxury?
WHY? Because we live under a capitalist system where profit for the few who own and control the means of wealth production and distribution is more important than the needs of the majority.
This crazy way of running society only carries on because the majority has been persuaded to vote for it - conned into believing that there is no other way, that capitalism run by leaders of the left, right and centre is the only option.
The present social madhouse will not last forever. Workers whose political support has upheld the system can be persuaded to withdraw that support.
What You Can Do
Unlike the pathetic promises being thrown at you by our political opponents, The Socialist Party promises that it will do absolutely nothing for you. If you want to change society you can do it yourselves.
The socialist alternative will only be achieved when a majority of workers bring it about by our own conscious and democratic action. But what is socialism? What they have in Russia or China? What Labour governments have done? Certainly not. Socialism is about people - all of us, regardless of age, race, gender or sexuality - owning and controlling the resources of society in common and producing goods and services solely for use, not profit. At last society will belong to the people who inhabit it, with all of us having free access to the abundant goods and services which society can produce.
If you think that the socialist objective is worth registering your support for, rather than casting another wasted vote for capitalism or not voting at all, then vote for Steve Dowsett, the genuine Socialist candidate in this election. Do not vote for Dowsett if you want a leader to put things right for you or simply because you can't stand the other candidates; The Socialist Party wants only socialist votes, and plenty of them so that we can show those who uphold this rotten system that there is a growing number of workers seeing through it.
More important than voting, The Socialist Party wants you to find out exactly what we stand for. Come along to our election rally; send off for a free pack of literature telling you about our principles and policy.
Don't just vote, think; don't just think, act.
(General Election, June 1987. Islington South & Finsbury)
Politicians Need Mugs
Somewhere in Islington there is a family of voters who believe everything the politicians say. When the Labour candidate says that he will make life better for the poor, Mr Mug agrees with every word, believing that people were never allowed to suffer poverty under the last eight Labour governments. When the Tories tell us to work harder, pull in our belts and be loyal little wage slaves, Mrs Mug nods approvingly, saying that the only way to become a millionaire is to work hard and do what you are told. When the Tories and the SDP say that we need bombs which can blow up the planet as the only way to achieve peace, young Johnny Mug is proud to vote for bombs which will wipe him out and everyone around him in defence of the nation which he neither owns or controls. Mr Mug supports the Labour policy of building up more and more "decent", old-fashioned conventional bombs like they used in the Falklands war.
The Mugs will all be voting for leaders on election day, because they believe that democracy means that the majority must obey MPs who sit in parliament dancing to the tune of the Stock Exchange.
The Mugs hope that the vast number of social problems facing and threatening us all - poverty, mass unemployment, homelessness, crime, war - will be solved if politicians pass the right laws.
The Mugs believe that the way we live now is the way we must always live. "There is no alternative: the rich and privileged are in permanent possession of the world; the wealth-producing majority can hope for no more than a few more crumbs from the cake which we have baked."
The Capitalist Madhouse
Socialists do not regard our fellow workers as mugs who are only fit to follow leaders. Most people are tempted to fall for the big lie that the present system of society can be run in the interest of the majority, but the hard fact is that, regardless of which government administers it, the profit system can only "run well" when the capitalists are getting rich at the expense of the workers who produce all the goods and services of society and live second-rate lives.
You do not need The Socialist Party to tell you that there is something badly wrong with the way society is organised at present.
WHY should tens of thousands of workers be homeless and poorly housed while there are thousands of empty houses and half a million unemployed building workers?
WHY are millions of workers thrown on to the scrapheap of the unemployed while so much useful work needs to be done?
WHY are thousands of pensioners left to die of the cold each winter while coal and electricity production are cut due to "lack of demand"?
WHY must vast numbers of workers suffer or even die waiting for hospital treatment while there is no shortage of resources being allocated to the armed forces which exists to kill not cure people?
WHY is food locked away in cold storage or dumped in the sea while around the world 40,000 children starve to death daily?
WHY do those who work hard doing useful jobs find it hard to make ends meet while millionaire gamblers on the Stock Exchange live in parasitical luxury?
WHY? Because we live under a capitalist system where profit for the few who own and control the means of wealth production and distribution is more important than the needs of the majority.
This crazy way of running society only carries on because the majority has been persuaded to vote for it - conned into believing that there is no other way, that capitalism run by leaders of the left, right and centre is the only option.
The present social madhouse will not last forever. Workers whose political support has upheld the system can be persuaded to withdraw that support.
What You Can Do
Unlike the pathetic promises being thrown at you by our political opponents, The Socialist Party promises that it will do absolutely nothing for you. If you want to change society you can do it yourselves.
The socialist alternative will only be achieved when a majority of workers bring it about by our own conscious and democratic action. But what is socialism? What they have in Russia or China? What Labour governments have done? Certainly not. Socialism is about people - all of us, regardless of age, race, gender or sexuality - owning and controlling the resources of society in common and producing goods and services solely for use, not profit. At last society will belong to the people who inhabit it, with all of us having free access to the abundant goods and services which society can produce.
If you think that the socialist objective is worth registering your support for, rather than casting another wasted vote for capitalism or not voting at all, then vote for Steve Dowsett, the genuine Socialist candidate in this election. Do not vote for Dowsett if you want a leader to put things right for you or simply because you can't stand the other candidates; The Socialist Party wants only socialist votes, and plenty of them so that we can show those who uphold this rotten system that there is a growing number of workers seeing through it.
More important than voting, The Socialist Party wants you to find out exactly what we stand for. Come along to our election rally; send off for a free pack of literature telling you about our principles and policy.
Don't just vote, think; don't just think, act.
(General Election, June 1987. Islington South & Finsbury)
YOUR VOTE MEANS POWER . . . DONT WASTE IT ON THE PROFIT SYSTEM (1979)
YOUR VOTE MEANS POWER . . . DONT WASTE IT ON THE PROFIT SYSTEM
WHAT THEY OFFER
FOR the past year a General Election has been expected and you, the voters, have been blasted from every direction by the crude sales tactics of the power-hungry political leaders. The Tories have directly conducted an estimated £1-1½ million campaign to sell their second-hand policies, while the Labour Party have enlisted trade union leaders and union funds to convince you, the voters, to accept policies that would be intolerable coming from the Tories. Now that the election is here the political leaders grovel for your vote.
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN'S election address is different for three reasons.
1. The Socialist Party does not ask you to vote for a would-be leader but to consider the merits of a serious idea. While the other parties consider the voters too stupid to do their own thinking, we recognise and depend upon, your ability to understand our case. In fact, the Socialist Party of Great Britain asks you not to vote for us unless you arc convinced by what we say.
2. THE Socialist Party does not speak the same language as our political opponents. They talk about "the balance of payments problem", "the nation", "the good of the economy", "law and order". Theirs is a system in which able workers are thrown on to the scrapheap when it periodically becomes unprofitable to employ them; in which houses stand empty while homeless families live in misery because they can't afford to pay for a home; in which food is destroyed while millions starve; in which Christian morality is preached while governments store up piles of arms to destroy the world in the quest for markets.
SOCIALISTS speak the language of class struggle; that there is a working class who produce the wealth of society in return for wages or salaries, and a capitalist class who reap the profits simply because they own and control the means of producing and distributing wealth. For Socialists, the important issue in this election is — Who is to own the means of life; the wealth producers or a minority of rich parasites?
THE Socialist Party does not offer you promises of "higher wages" or "more welfare facilities" or "greater security". The sad but indisputable fact is that as long as you go on supporting capitalism, its problems will be with you. A system which produces even the necessities of life for sale on the market at a profit causes poverty and insecurity for the majority alongside luxury and power for the few.
MANY workers will agree that everything we've said so far is only too true. Yes, the other political parties are opportunists; yes, there is class inequality; yes, the real problem is capitalism. But what's the alternative?
WHAT SOCIALISM IS
THE only alternative is Socialism. A society in which the whole community will own the means of production and distribution of wealth. Class divisions will cease to exist, because instead of the separation between owners and producers of wealth, everyone will own and produce in common. Authoritarian leadership will give way to genuine democracy in which people will really have a say, because no longer will a minority possess power and privilege. Production for profit will be replaced by production for human needs, whereby goods will be freely available for people to take according to their needs. Work will be carried out on the basis of free cooperation instead of the coercion of the wages system. The division of nations will give way to the unity of one world. Inequality based upon possessions, status, race or sex will vanish as human being create, for the first time ever, a sane society geared to the fulfilment of human needs.
Critics of Socialism claim that given free access, people will act irresponsibly. This we dispute. It is perfectly possible for people to act sociably when a Socialist majority puts an end to the rat-race.
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN is the only party in this election to stand unequivocally for Socialism — although there are others who pay lip service to the idea. Labour says that Nationalisation is Socialism, but state intervention is just another way of managing capitalism. The Communist Party says that Russia is Socialist, when it's simply a state-capitalist dictatorship of one party. There are even some trade union leaders who say that Socialism means "responsible wage restraint" when in fact it means the abolition of the wages system.
FOR the working class, the vast majority of the population, Socialism is the only alternative to the chaos of the profit system.
YOUR VOTE MEANS POWER... ARE YOU PREPARED TO GIVE IT ONCE AGAIN TO ONE OF THE PARTIES OF CAPITALISM ... OR WILL YOU JOIN US IN TRANSFORMING THE SOCIALIST IDEA INTO REALITY?
(General Election, 3 May 1979. Islington South & Finsbury).
WHAT THEY OFFER
FOR the past year a General Election has been expected and you, the voters, have been blasted from every direction by the crude sales tactics of the power-hungry political leaders. The Tories have directly conducted an estimated £1-1½ million campaign to sell their second-hand policies, while the Labour Party have enlisted trade union leaders and union funds to convince you, the voters, to accept policies that would be intolerable coming from the Tories. Now that the election is here the political leaders grovel for your vote.
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN'S election address is different for three reasons.
1. The Socialist Party does not ask you to vote for a would-be leader but to consider the merits of a serious idea. While the other parties consider the voters too stupid to do their own thinking, we recognise and depend upon, your ability to understand our case. In fact, the Socialist Party of Great Britain asks you not to vote for us unless you arc convinced by what we say.
2. THE Socialist Party does not speak the same language as our political opponents. They talk about "the balance of payments problem", "the nation", "the good of the economy", "law and order". Theirs is a system in which able workers are thrown on to the scrapheap when it periodically becomes unprofitable to employ them; in which houses stand empty while homeless families live in misery because they can't afford to pay for a home; in which food is destroyed while millions starve; in which Christian morality is preached while governments store up piles of arms to destroy the world in the quest for markets.
SOCIALISTS speak the language of class struggle; that there is a working class who produce the wealth of society in return for wages or salaries, and a capitalist class who reap the profits simply because they own and control the means of producing and distributing wealth. For Socialists, the important issue in this election is — Who is to own the means of life; the wealth producers or a minority of rich parasites?
THE Socialist Party does not offer you promises of "higher wages" or "more welfare facilities" or "greater security". The sad but indisputable fact is that as long as you go on supporting capitalism, its problems will be with you. A system which produces even the necessities of life for sale on the market at a profit causes poverty and insecurity for the majority alongside luxury and power for the few.
MANY workers will agree that everything we've said so far is only too true. Yes, the other political parties are opportunists; yes, there is class inequality; yes, the real problem is capitalism. But what's the alternative?
WHAT SOCIALISM IS
THE only alternative is Socialism. A society in which the whole community will own the means of production and distribution of wealth. Class divisions will cease to exist, because instead of the separation between owners and producers of wealth, everyone will own and produce in common. Authoritarian leadership will give way to genuine democracy in which people will really have a say, because no longer will a minority possess power and privilege. Production for profit will be replaced by production for human needs, whereby goods will be freely available for people to take according to their needs. Work will be carried out on the basis of free cooperation instead of the coercion of the wages system. The division of nations will give way to the unity of one world. Inequality based upon possessions, status, race or sex will vanish as human being create, for the first time ever, a sane society geared to the fulfilment of human needs.
Critics of Socialism claim that given free access, people will act irresponsibly. This we dispute. It is perfectly possible for people to act sociably when a Socialist majority puts an end to the rat-race.
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN is the only party in this election to stand unequivocally for Socialism — although there are others who pay lip service to the idea. Labour says that Nationalisation is Socialism, but state intervention is just another way of managing capitalism. The Communist Party says that Russia is Socialist, when it's simply a state-capitalist dictatorship of one party. There are even some trade union leaders who say that Socialism means "responsible wage restraint" when in fact it means the abolition of the wages system.
FOR the working class, the vast majority of the population, Socialism is the only alternative to the chaos of the profit system.
YOUR VOTE MEANS POWER... ARE YOU PREPARED TO GIVE IT ONCE AGAIN TO ONE OF THE PARTIES OF CAPITALISM ... OR WILL YOU JOIN US IN TRANSFORMING THE SOCIALIST IDEA INTO REALITY?
(General Election, 3 May 1979. Islington South & Finsbury).
THE SOCIALIST Manifesto (1974)
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN
General Election, 10th October, 1974
THE SOCIALIST Manifesto
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN do not have a candidate in this area — but read on. Your understanding of, and agreement with the Socialist case, could ensure you an opportunity of registering a vote for Socialism.
The Labour, Tory and Liberal parties are agreed that we are in a serious situation; all politicians are talking of the dangers of another slump, similar to that of the 'thirties; some of them talk of the collapse of parliamentary democracy. In contrast THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN gives hope of a better world — if you are prepared to take it.
You will be going to vote in the belief that your cross on the ballot paper will have some influence in improving our lives, or at least in protecting our living standards. This is understandable — but on what do you base your belief?
EMPTY PROMISES
The other parties are bidding for your vote with programmes which may seem to offer some hope of easing, or even abolishing, many of the problems of this country and of the world. Millions of people find these programmes attractive enough to vote for one or other of them. THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN argues that none of them stands up to examination.
For example, recent elections have been dominated by promises to deal with economic crises — balance of payment problems, inflation, unemployment and so on. Yet these crises keep bursting upon the scene and as fast as the promises are made they are discredited by events.
Yet again; every government comes into power pledged to abolish slums and to eliminate the housing problem. They seem to have it all worked out, with their declarations of intent and their statistics. The result, according to Shelter, is that "today's housing crisis is a disgrace to any civilised society."
All the other parties offer plans designed to make war a thing of the past. They ring the changes on appeasement, resistance, diplomatic initiatives. In spite of all these plans the world scrapes through a succession of wars — Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, the Middle East, Cyprus — with the threat of nuclear conflagration hanging over our heads.
It is true that at times some problems are alleviated or even suppressed, but this is only for others to take their place. For example; we are told that our lives have been improved by the development of productive techniques, but we are also faced with the fact that these very developments pollute our environment to such an extent that they may present a threat almost as great as a nuclear war.
THEY FAIL
Why do other political parties fail? Why are their promises so ineffective? What causes the problems of the world? THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN urge you to examine the social system we live under — capitalism.
This is a society based on the private ownership of the means of wealth production and distribution. Private ownership at once divides society into two classes — the owning, or capitalist class and the deprived, or working class. It is the working class who suffer poverty and all it means in terms of bad housing, inadequate medical services, sub-standard food and so on. Capitalism is a society of competition which splits the world into rival nations and power blocs and is the direct cause of modern war.
WHAT MUST BE DONE?
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN puts forward the alternative society. Socialism will be a society in which the whole of humanity, without distinction of race or sex, will own in common all we use to make and distribute wealth. Common ownership means a society without classes, without privileges, without different standards of consumption. In Socialist society everyone will have free access to the world's wealth and will stand equally in that respect.
Socialism will produce its wealth for human use instead of for sale. This will make it a society of co-operation instead of competition. There will be no frontiers to divide the world's people. Socialism will be one world, with one people working together for the common wealth.
Socialism will be an efficient world, in contrast to capitalism, where waste and shoddiness are profitable. For the first time, men and women in Socialism will realise their capabilities to the full. Socialism will produce an abundance and at only one standard — the best we are capable of.
IS IT ALL A DREAM?
HOW DO WE GET SOCIALISM?
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN is not another collection of leaders telling you to trust us and promising you almost anything. No leader can give you Socialism, no clever politician can pull you by the nose into the new society. Neither will it happen by accident.
Socialism must be your work; it needs a conscious political act by the mass of the people, opting for the new society in full knowledge of what it is. Your endeavours alone in building a strong Socialist movement in this area will serve notice on the politicians that their time is up, and that what you want is a revolutionary change.
We are a political party, hostile to all others, including those phoney revolutionaries of the Left — the Communist Party, International Marxist Group, International Socialists, Workers Revolutionary Party, etc. THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN is different — we are the political instrument to be used by the working class to transform the world from a chaos of deprivation and strife into an order of abundance and harmony.
General Election, 10th October, 1974
THE SOCIALIST Manifesto
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN do not have a candidate in this area — but read on. Your understanding of, and agreement with the Socialist case, could ensure you an opportunity of registering a vote for Socialism.
The Labour, Tory and Liberal parties are agreed that we are in a serious situation; all politicians are talking of the dangers of another slump, similar to that of the 'thirties; some of them talk of the collapse of parliamentary democracy. In contrast THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN gives hope of a better world — if you are prepared to take it.
You will be going to vote in the belief that your cross on the ballot paper will have some influence in improving our lives, or at least in protecting our living standards. This is understandable — but on what do you base your belief?
EMPTY PROMISES
The other parties are bidding for your vote with programmes which may seem to offer some hope of easing, or even abolishing, many of the problems of this country and of the world. Millions of people find these programmes attractive enough to vote for one or other of them. THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN argues that none of them stands up to examination.
For example, recent elections have been dominated by promises to deal with economic crises — balance of payment problems, inflation, unemployment and so on. Yet these crises keep bursting upon the scene and as fast as the promises are made they are discredited by events.
Yet again; every government comes into power pledged to abolish slums and to eliminate the housing problem. They seem to have it all worked out, with their declarations of intent and their statistics. The result, according to Shelter, is that "today's housing crisis is a disgrace to any civilised society."
All the other parties offer plans designed to make war a thing of the past. They ring the changes on appeasement, resistance, diplomatic initiatives. In spite of all these plans the world scrapes through a succession of wars — Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, the Middle East, Cyprus — with the threat of nuclear conflagration hanging over our heads.
It is true that at times some problems are alleviated or even suppressed, but this is only for others to take their place. For example; we are told that our lives have been improved by the development of productive techniques, but we are also faced with the fact that these very developments pollute our environment to such an extent that they may present a threat almost as great as a nuclear war.
THEY FAIL
Why do other political parties fail? Why are their promises so ineffective? What causes the problems of the world? THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN urge you to examine the social system we live under — capitalism.
This is a society based on the private ownership of the means of wealth production and distribution. Private ownership at once divides society into two classes — the owning, or capitalist class and the deprived, or working class. It is the working class who suffer poverty and all it means in terms of bad housing, inadequate medical services, sub-standard food and so on. Capitalism is a society of competition which splits the world into rival nations and power blocs and is the direct cause of modern war.
WHAT MUST BE DONE?
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN puts forward the alternative society. Socialism will be a society in which the whole of humanity, without distinction of race or sex, will own in common all we use to make and distribute wealth. Common ownership means a society without classes, without privileges, without different standards of consumption. In Socialist society everyone will have free access to the world's wealth and will stand equally in that respect.
Socialism will produce its wealth for human use instead of for sale. This will make it a society of co-operation instead of competition. There will be no frontiers to divide the world's people. Socialism will be one world, with one people working together for the common wealth.
Socialism will be an efficient world, in contrast to capitalism, where waste and shoddiness are profitable. For the first time, men and women in Socialism will realise their capabilities to the full. Socialism will produce an abundance and at only one standard — the best we are capable of.
IS IT ALL A DREAM?
HOW DO WE GET SOCIALISM?
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN is not another collection of leaders telling you to trust us and promising you almost anything. No leader can give you Socialism, no clever politician can pull you by the nose into the new society. Neither will it happen by accident.
Socialism must be your work; it needs a conscious political act by the mass of the people, opting for the new society in full knowledge of what it is. Your endeavours alone in building a strong Socialist movement in this area will serve notice on the politicians that their time is up, and that what you want is a revolutionary change.
We are a political party, hostile to all others, including those phoney revolutionaries of the Left — the Communist Party, International Marxist Group, International Socialists, Workers Revolutionary Party, etc. THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN is different — we are the political instrument to be used by the working class to transform the world from a chaos of deprivation and strife into an order of abundance and harmony.
Capitalism or Socialism (1970)
Capitalism or Socialism
We live under Capitalism. This is what it means...
・ A CLASS DIVIDED society where the means for producing wealth belong to a privileged few.
・ The rest of us WORKING FOR WAGES which are less than the value of what we alone produce.
・ CONFLICT over wages between us and our employers in which the government, whichever party is in power, always protects the employers' interests.
・ PRODUCTION FOR PROFIT so that even basic human needs are neglected if there is no profit to be made in satisfying them.
・ ECONOMIC RIVALRY between states leading to wasteful and terrifying preparations for war.
・
・ RACISM with workers using other workers as scapegoats for the restrictions capitalism imposes on them.
・
・ WORLD HUNGER while food is destroyed and the means to provide plenty for all lie unused.
・
All the other parties promise to run capitalism in your interest. They have always failed. They always will. This is not because they are dishonest or incompetent. It is because the capitalist system can only be run as a profit-making system in the interest of those who live off profits.
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN says: Trying to reform capitalism is futile. It can never be made to serve human interests. Abolish it and establish Socialism instead.
THE ALTERNATIVE - SOCIALISM means:
The world-wide COMMON OWNERSHIP of the means of production and their democratic control by the whole people.
PRODUCTION SOLELY FOR USE to satisfy human needs and to abolish hunger, slums, bad health, lack of education and all other aspects of poverty.
FREE ACCESS for all according to need to the common store of wealth. The abolition of buying and selling, money, prices and profits.
USEFUL WORK based on human need with only one quality—the best we are capable of. No more working for wages for an employer.
A WORLD WITHOUT FRONTIERS and the disbanding of all armed forces.
SOCIALISM has never existed anywhere. Certainly not in state capitalist Russia or China or under Labour governments in Britain.
This socialist world of peace and plenty can be ours just as soon as a majority of us want it and organise to get it.
But its establishment is not something we can leave to politicians and leaders. It must be the work of ordinary people like ourselves.
Edmund Grant, candidate of
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN
in Hornsey.
(18 June 1970 General Election)
We live under Capitalism. This is what it means...
・ A CLASS DIVIDED society where the means for producing wealth belong to a privileged few.
・ The rest of us WORKING FOR WAGES which are less than the value of what we alone produce.
・ CONFLICT over wages between us and our employers in which the government, whichever party is in power, always protects the employers' interests.
・ PRODUCTION FOR PROFIT so that even basic human needs are neglected if there is no profit to be made in satisfying them.
・ ECONOMIC RIVALRY between states leading to wasteful and terrifying preparations for war.
・
・ RACISM with workers using other workers as scapegoats for the restrictions capitalism imposes on them.
・
・ WORLD HUNGER while food is destroyed and the means to provide plenty for all lie unused.
・
All the other parties promise to run capitalism in your interest. They have always failed. They always will. This is not because they are dishonest or incompetent. It is because the capitalist system can only be run as a profit-making system in the interest of those who live off profits.
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN says: Trying to reform capitalism is futile. It can never be made to serve human interests. Abolish it and establish Socialism instead.
THE ALTERNATIVE - SOCIALISM means:
The world-wide COMMON OWNERSHIP of the means of production and their democratic control by the whole people.
PRODUCTION SOLELY FOR USE to satisfy human needs and to abolish hunger, slums, bad health, lack of education and all other aspects of poverty.
FREE ACCESS for all according to need to the common store of wealth. The abolition of buying and selling, money, prices and profits.
USEFUL WORK based on human need with only one quality—the best we are capable of. No more working for wages for an employer.
A WORLD WITHOUT FRONTIERS and the disbanding of all armed forces.
SOCIALISM has never existed anywhere. Certainly not in state capitalist Russia or China or under Labour governments in Britain.
This socialist world of peace and plenty can be ours just as soon as a majority of us want it and organise to get it.
But its establishment is not something we can leave to politicians and leaders. It must be the work of ordinary people like ourselves.
Edmund Grant, candidate of
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN
in Hornsey.
(18 June 1970 General Election)
General Election, 1955
General Election, 1955
MANIFESTO OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN
FELLOW WORKERS,
Once again you are asked to do the most important thing in your lives — Vote. All the candidates are supporters of Capitalism. It makes no odds which lot get in. They all do the same job for the same people, run the system which keeps you poor and your boss rich. Their Election addresses are not worth the paper they are written on. Petty details apart, there is no difference between them.
Actions speak louder than words. Judge from your own experience. What difference did the Labour Government make? Profits have been going up for several years. The Labour Party has ordered the Atomic and Hydrogen bombs, broken Strikes, increased the cost of living, and conscripted men into the Army. They now say that they have a 'Positive Peace Policy', and that Britain should stop Hydrogen bomb tests. Even if feasible this would not ensure peace. There can be no peace as long as Capitalism lasts. The cause of war is the fight for profits. Profit is the aim of Capitalists. A vote in this election is a vote for the Hydrogen bomb.
In spite of a post war boom, which should be the best time for workers, industrial wage rates have done little more than keep up with the cost of living index, and millions of clerical and other workers are worse off than before the war. Millions are working over-time to keep what they had before the war.
Dockers, Miners, and Railway men have found that Nationalisation has got them nowhere. They are back where their fathers were, striking to keep heads above water, but now against the strongest employer of all—the Government.
The same Daily Herald which announced the Loco men's strike for six shillings a week more, reported that "All profit records have been smashed by the £440 million Imperial Chemical Industries. The Chairman announces group profits of £47,684,602; an increase of £10,616,452 on last year, which was a record."
A vote in this election is a vote for low wages, high profits and high prices. The Tories running short of pie-crust have resurrected that hoary old vote catching gag "Clear the Slums"; they are going to "clear 200,000 people out of the slums every year". This is in 1955, not 1855, after Labour and Tory have been in for years.
One thing all their election manifestos show is that the same old problems are still with us, only larger. War, High Prices. Bad Housing, Low Pensions, Free spectacles, 'Helping the family', Fair shares. What is all this but another way of saying that most people are worried and exhausted by POVERTY. Britain has the finest Health Service in the world, but no one yet knows the results of Atomic bomb tests. Fewer babies die at birth, but more little children are killed on the roads. We work shorter hours but take longer to get home. Rickets and Scurvy are gone, but Polio and Cancer increase.
Workers must stop voting for the Guv'nor, or his office-boy the Labour Party, and start thinking how to vote for themselves. Why are the majority poor? Because they work for wages. The world is still run for the rich few. The workers CAN alter all this. They CAN organise to capture the Governmental power to establish a new system of Society — Socialism. In several countries now the workers are the majority, yet they still allow themselves to be fooled into supporting 'the least of two evils' which (after they support it) becomes the worst evil. The workers do not know their own strength at the polls. They could go straight out for Socialism, which would remove the CAUSE of their problems.
Socialism is not Nationalisation. The Tories know that the Labour Party is not Socialist. Socialism will be a society in which private property in machinery, factories and land will not exist. The wealth produced by labour will belong to
the whole community. This society will be based on the mutual confidence and sensible co-operation of all for the common good. It will do away with owners; the rich, hardship, inequality and frustration will be wiped out. This will give everybody a chance to do his best in a money-less, class-less world, where a man's work for society will be the sole test of his worth. People will work happily because useful labour is essential to a healthy life. They will NOT work for an employer's profit but directly for each other.
Some who read this will agree with everything said — and still vote for the Labour candidate. They do not see that this is useless. The number of Socialists is still small. This prevents us from contesting. Because Socialists are few they must stand clearly for the interest of the working class. Nothing but harm can come of attempts to get support by watering Socialism down into something else. A vote for a programme of reforms is a vote for Capitalism. All
the other parties will catch votes on the strength of promises which leaders make but never keep. Socialists reject this disastrous idea. Socialism can only be established by Democracy. Each one must know what he wants and instruct his representative to carry out his order. Even a small band of resolute workers can do much, by clear example, to show those who still waver, the alternative to Capitalism. Those workers who have seen through the Tweedle-dum sham of the Capitalist parties are forced to bide their time and vote indirectly by writing SOCIALISM on their ballot paper. Let none be inactive on this score.
To all working men and women who, sick and tired of the old gang, weary of the hypocrisy and corruption of professional politics, dominated by money, we say the future is not hopeless. The choice is YOURS. Vote SOCIALISM — or for your own destruction.
MANIFESTO OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN
FELLOW WORKERS,
Once again you are asked to do the most important thing in your lives — Vote. All the candidates are supporters of Capitalism. It makes no odds which lot get in. They all do the same job for the same people, run the system which keeps you poor and your boss rich. Their Election addresses are not worth the paper they are written on. Petty details apart, there is no difference between them.
Actions speak louder than words. Judge from your own experience. What difference did the Labour Government make? Profits have been going up for several years. The Labour Party has ordered the Atomic and Hydrogen bombs, broken Strikes, increased the cost of living, and conscripted men into the Army. They now say that they have a 'Positive Peace Policy', and that Britain should stop Hydrogen bomb tests. Even if feasible this would not ensure peace. There can be no peace as long as Capitalism lasts. The cause of war is the fight for profits. Profit is the aim of Capitalists. A vote in this election is a vote for the Hydrogen bomb.
In spite of a post war boom, which should be the best time for workers, industrial wage rates have done little more than keep up with the cost of living index, and millions of clerical and other workers are worse off than before the war. Millions are working over-time to keep what they had before the war.
Dockers, Miners, and Railway men have found that Nationalisation has got them nowhere. They are back where their fathers were, striking to keep heads above water, but now against the strongest employer of all—the Government.
The same Daily Herald which announced the Loco men's strike for six shillings a week more, reported that "All profit records have been smashed by the £440 million Imperial Chemical Industries. The Chairman announces group profits of £47,684,602; an increase of £10,616,452 on last year, which was a record."
A vote in this election is a vote for low wages, high profits and high prices. The Tories running short of pie-crust have resurrected that hoary old vote catching gag "Clear the Slums"; they are going to "clear 200,000 people out of the slums every year". This is in 1955, not 1855, after Labour and Tory have been in for years.
One thing all their election manifestos show is that the same old problems are still with us, only larger. War, High Prices. Bad Housing, Low Pensions, Free spectacles, 'Helping the family', Fair shares. What is all this but another way of saying that most people are worried and exhausted by POVERTY. Britain has the finest Health Service in the world, but no one yet knows the results of Atomic bomb tests. Fewer babies die at birth, but more little children are killed on the roads. We work shorter hours but take longer to get home. Rickets and Scurvy are gone, but Polio and Cancer increase.
Workers must stop voting for the Guv'nor, or his office-boy the Labour Party, and start thinking how to vote for themselves. Why are the majority poor? Because they work for wages. The world is still run for the rich few. The workers CAN alter all this. They CAN organise to capture the Governmental power to establish a new system of Society — Socialism. In several countries now the workers are the majority, yet they still allow themselves to be fooled into supporting 'the least of two evils' which (after they support it) becomes the worst evil. The workers do not know their own strength at the polls. They could go straight out for Socialism, which would remove the CAUSE of their problems.
Socialism is not Nationalisation. The Tories know that the Labour Party is not Socialist. Socialism will be a society in which private property in machinery, factories and land will not exist. The wealth produced by labour will belong to
the whole community. This society will be based on the mutual confidence and sensible co-operation of all for the common good. It will do away with owners; the rich, hardship, inequality and frustration will be wiped out. This will give everybody a chance to do his best in a money-less, class-less world, where a man's work for society will be the sole test of his worth. People will work happily because useful labour is essential to a healthy life. They will NOT work for an employer's profit but directly for each other.
Some who read this will agree with everything said — and still vote for the Labour candidate. They do not see that this is useless. The number of Socialists is still small. This prevents us from contesting. Because Socialists are few they must stand clearly for the interest of the working class. Nothing but harm can come of attempts to get support by watering Socialism down into something else. A vote for a programme of reforms is a vote for Capitalism. All
the other parties will catch votes on the strength of promises which leaders make but never keep. Socialists reject this disastrous idea. Socialism can only be established by Democracy. Each one must know what he wants and instruct his representative to carry out his order. Even a small band of resolute workers can do much, by clear example, to show those who still waver, the alternative to Capitalism. Those workers who have seen through the Tweedle-dum sham of the Capitalist parties are forced to bide their time and vote indirectly by writing SOCIALISM on their ballot paper. Let none be inactive on this score.
To all working men and women who, sick and tired of the old gang, weary of the hypocrisy and corruption of professional politics, dominated by money, we say the future is not hopeless. The choice is YOURS. Vote SOCIALISM — or for your own destruction.
Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Manifesto (1983)
From the June 1983 issue of the Socialist Standard
You are again faced with a bunch of politicians who can only be
distinguished from one another by the colour of their rosettes, but
there are thousands of people not prepared to support any of them. About
one in four did not vote for any of the candidates in the 1979 General
Flection. It is particularly to men and women who are not prepared to
follow leaders or to believe the bogus promises of Thatcher, Foot,
Jenkins and Steel that this manifesto is directed.
Most of you will not know much about the Socialist Party of Great
Britain — this may even be the first time you have heard of us.
Certainly, many people have heard the word “socialist" and imagine that
it has something to do with the nationalised industries or dictatorships
such as Russia and China. It is understandable that many people regard
“socialism" as just another political cliché, used to win votes for
Labour politicians, but having very little meaning.
The Socialist Party stands solely for socialism because we do not think
that the present social system — capitalism — can ever be made to work
in the interests of the majority of people. This is not the fault of
government policies, but of the present social system in which they are
operating. Capitalism always puts the needs of the minority who own and
control the factories, farms, offices, mines, media, the means of wealth
production and distribution, before those of the vast majority — we,
the working class — who produce the wealth, but own little more than our
ability to work, which we have to sell for wages or salaries.
It is a hard but undeniable fact that no political party — including the
Socialist Party — can legislate to humanise capitalism or make it run
in the interests of the wage slaves. That's why it’s time for you to
stop giving your votes to politicians who stand for the profit system.
None of them can solve unemployment, which has increased steadily under
both Labour and Conservative governments, despite their proclaimed
recipes for economic success. None of them will provide decent housing
for everyone. None of them will end hypothermia. None of them will
prevent thirty million people from starving to death each year. None of
them will end the threat of human annihilation as a result of war,
because militarism is inevitable within a system based upon the market,
trade and ferocious competition. Why waste your vote on parties that
cannot make any of these urgently needed changes? Why go on in the hope
that a miracle will happen and the insanity of the profit system will be
put right?
So what's the socialist alternative? We say that the resources of
society must be taken into the hands of the whole community — and by
that we don't mean the state, but all of us, organised together,
consciously and democratically.
In a socialist society we will produce for use, not profit. This means
producing food to feed the world's population, not to dump in the sea if
it cannot he sold profitably. Producing for use means ending the
colossal waste of resources on armies, armaments, trade, banking and
insurance, and all the other social features which are only necessary
within capitalism; it means devoting human energies and natural
resources to producing the best of what people really need and want. By
running society on the basis of common ownership, democratic control and
production for use we can all have free access to all goods and
services.
Two points will be clear to you by now. Firstly, this is no ordinary
manifesto. We have made no promises; we have not asked for your support.
Indeed, the Socialist Party does not want your support unless you are
convinced that the case for socialism is a sensible one and is in your
interest. Socialism can only be established when a majority of workers
understand and want it, so there is no point in seeking support on any
other basis. Secondly, you will have noticed that what we are advocating
is different — it has never been tried. That gang of political
has-beens, the SDP, have nothing new to offer. The Labour Party, if
elected, will continue its futile exercise of trying to reform
capitalism. The Tories, if given a chance, will pursue their vicious
policy of dancing to the tune of profitability while human needs are
ignored. Thatcher’s “Victorian values”, Jenkins’ “consensus politics"
and Foot’s “Keynesian” reformism have all been tried — they’ve failed.
This is the only manifesto to come through your letterbox which is
making a proposal to transform world society from the chaos and waste of
the market into the co-operative democracy of production for use.
This manifesto can be summarised. Do you agree with the following statements?
★ CAPITALISM puts profits for the few before the needs of the many.
★ LABOUR governments, “communist states”, and proposals to reform the profit system cannot establish socialism.
★ SOCIALISM means a society of common ownership and democratic control where production is solely for use — not profit.
★ WHEN
a majority of workers — including the quarter of the electorate who did
not vote last time, the disillusioned members of the old parties and
those who have turned to the SDP — understand and want socialism, the
new system can be established immediately.
If you think that the above statements are wrong, please take the
trouble to tell us why. If you agree with us, then why not take the next
step and contact the Socialist Party?
General Election: Manifesto of The Socialist Party (1910)
From the January 1910 issue of the Socialist Standard
FELLOW MEMBERS OF THE WORKING CLASS,
Unlike the usual election manifesto, this is addressed to those who have not a vote as well as to those who have. Its object is to gain, not your vote, but your understanding. You think, perhaps, that the choice now before you is only between the various candidates clamouring for your support. But there is, as we shall show, another alternative that follows logically and inevitably from the position of the working class. And since a knowledge of this position is essential to intelligent political action, we shall deal briefly with it first, and ask you in consequence to give it a moment’s attention.
WHAT IS YOUR POSITION?
It is your lot to toil for a master while you can, and to starve quietly when you cannot. When you are in work to-day, you toil harder, and produce enormously more than ever before, — yet your wage barely suffices for your maintenance. Unemployment, with all the misery it entails upon you and those dependent upon you, dogs your footsteps. Of the total produce of your labour an increasing portion goes to an idle class, while, though you make all the good things, you are forced to consume the cheapest rubbish. Why is this?
Are you poor because there is not abundance of the necessaries of life? Is it because the means of producing them are insufficient, or because there are not willing hands to labour? No. There are hosts of willing labourers. And the instruments of labour become every day more perfect and more productive. Surely, then, with marvellous labour-saving machines and huge waste-saving combines, there should be increased wealth and leisure for all. Why, then, is it that wealth and leisure are only for a class, while poverty and arduous toil are the lot of the producers ?
You have noticed that when a labour-saving machine is introduced into a factory to-day, men are thrown out of work to starve. The toil and insecurity of those who remain in employ are increased, while only the owner of that machine reaps the benefit. Clearly, however, if those who produce owned the machine, the result would be entirely different; there would be shorter hours of labour and higher remuneration for them. It is, consequently, not the machine that injures us, but the ownership of it by the non-producer. Because the workers do not own and control the land and industrial machinery they are the hirelings of those who do own these things, and must sell their bodily energy to them. Thus the propertyless are compelled to cede to the capitalist class the whole product of their labour over and above their maintenance. That is why, so long as class ownership continues, greater poverty for the working class will accompany the increasing wealth and productivity of society.
The abolition of unemployment and the brightening of the workers’ lives can. consequently, only come with the abolition of wage-slavery and of class ownership in the instruments of production. The means for producing wealth must be restored to the workers; and this, to-day, can only be done collectively. This collective ownership and democratic control of industry scientifically organised is SOCIALISM.
And while there is admittedly no other remedy for unemployment and poverty, there is also no way to Socialism except by means of the conquest of political power by a Socialist working class. Your rulers expend huge sums to retain their control of Government in order to maintain and extend their exploitation. And in advancing to the conquest of the political machinery, we shall, consequently, always find the capitalist class our implacable enemy. As in the past, each side will struggle for its interests as it understands them, and the interests of the working class being diametrically opposed to those of all the capitalists, no quarter can be expected or given. Any alliance or compromise with capitalists in the political struggle can only be a working class surrender. Hence the supreme importance of adhering consistently to the fundamental Socialist principle of the CLASS STRUGGLE. For it is only when the wealth-producers control political power— only when the workers are victorious — that the work of transforming the means of production from ruthless instruments of profit for a few into the means of healthy life for all, can begin.
In the light of these facts let us examine the political parties which are begging for your support during the present election, taking first
THE TORY PARTY.
Tariff Reform, say the Conservatives, is just what you need. It will relieve the admittedly terrible unemployed evil, will improve the lot of the worker and increase his wages. These and similar Tory statements can only be described as “frigid and calculated lies.’" The position of the worker as outlined above holds good of every capitalist country, whether it has Protection or Free Trade. Poverty and unemployment are rife, and tend to increase, despite temporary fluctuations, under both fiscal systems. In every country the wage of the worker has a direct relation to his cost of subsistence, but none whatever to the presence or absence of tariff walls. Tariffs, at most, benefit one set of capitalists at the expense of another, but the toilers are wage slaves exploited to the utmost all the time. The 'Tories, indeed, are frankly our enemies; they stand for the present system of robbery in all its ugliness. 'Their antagonism to working-class aims has been proclaimed from the house tops, and by supporting them the working man stultifies himself and sets a seal on his slavery. Let us now turn to
THE LIBERAL PARTY.
Equally with the Tories they stand for capitalism, and make no secret of their hostility to Socialism As Dr. Macnamara said, “Radicalism is irrevocably opposed to the principles on which Socialism is based.” [1] Mr. Asquith, Mr. Ure, and Mr. Churchill have been equally definite. Take the present Budget over which so much bother is being made. The increased expenditure is due, above all, to huge armaments for the protection of capitalist interests and property. It is a Budget of exploitation. Its disputed taxes have been advocated by Tories, and are in operation in other countries with no benefit to the workers. The only valid grounds for the Tory objections are the exigencies of party politics, and the possibility that the new sources of revenue may postpone the necessity for a tax on imports.
Mr. Lloyd George rightly summed up the overdone Tory opposition and showed what the Budget really is when he said [2]
When I come along and say to the landlord: “Here, the State wants money to protect you and your property —your land —your mansion —your rights —your privileges: we want money to protect you; you must pay ,£15 out of £150 —they say Robber!"
And do they intend to abolish the House of Lords? Mr. Asquith said: [3]
You will be told that the issue lies between government by two chambers and government by a single chamber. That is not the case. I myself, and I believe a large majority of the Liberal party are in favour of what is called a bi-cameral system.
Thus the Liberals do not intend, and, indeed, never have intended, to abolish the House of Lords. That institution is regarded by the capitalist class as a great bulwark of the “rights of property," and any reform of the Upper House, put forward by the Lords themselves, the Tories, or the Liberals, can only result in strengthening it against the people. The Liberal party would, moreover, be impossible without the Lords as a foil. It is their perpetual election cry and universal excuse for broken promises. Indeed, while pretending to protest against usurpation, the Liberals have deliberately canceled new privileges. After saying that to dissolve at the dictation of the Lords would be to capitulate, they have deliberately capitulated. Instead of making use of the undoubted rights of the Commons, or using the power which Lord Courtney [4] has shown that the Government possesses over the Lords, the Liberals have given the Upper House the powerful precedents and privileges of rejecting a Budget and compelling a dissolution; precedents which even the ultimate passing of the present finance bill will neither destroy nor weaken. Even the Church Times was moved to remark that “There is only one true description of the situation—ministers have capitulated to the House of Lords." [5] It is seemingly part of a great conspiracy to strengthen the Upper Chamber and humbug the people. There is every reason, therefore, why your attitude toward Liberal candidates should be one of uncompromising hostility.
But we have not quite finished with the Liberal party. There is still a section of it which claims our attention. We refer to
THE LABOUR PARTY.
(which includes the so-called Independent Labour Party). The Labour M.P.s cannot be completely separated from the Liberals in politics, for their political independence is non-existent. “My Budget," says Mr. Lloyd George. “My Budget," says Mr. Philip Snowden. [6] They are "whole heartedly" for the capitalists’ Budget. And it is amusing to find them trying to assure the murmuring rank and file that no understanding with the Liberals exists, in face of the withdrawal of “Labour" men in favour of Liberals, and of Liberals in favour of “Labour" men. One does not. of course, expect to find a written compact. It might become awkward evidence while, as the Times says. “With friends who understand each other so well it is unnecessary.” [7] Quite so. The compromise of the last General Election, in fact, is being repeated on a more complete scale.
The legislatively impotent “Labour” members claim as theirs measures passed by the Liberal majority, and are now engaged in booming the bogus agitation over the Lords and the Budget, and in rallying the workers once more to the support of the Liberal section of the exploiting class.
That there is no Socialism in the “Labour” group is proven by the welcome given them by the anti-Socialist Liberals. Mr. Churchill said: [8]
Don't let there be any division in our ranks at this juncture. I know that the Lords and their backers are counting on divisions between Liberal and Labour But I think they are likely to be a little bit mistaken.
Several of the newer candidates have been speaking plainly of the pressure brought to bear on them to force them to retire in favour of the Liberals. Mr. Vernon Hartshorn made a vigorous protest. He said : [9]
I would have gone on in spite of this, but I have been reluctantly compelled, from circumstances of a very personal kind, to conclude that the whole machinery of the Labour Party throughout the country is under the control of the Liberals, and as the latter did not approve of a fight in Mid-Glamorgan, the former are left with no option but to submit to their masters, and I am left with no option but to surrender.
Of such is the “Independence” of the “Labour” Party. The workers pay the piper and their misters call the tune!
There is, however, another organisation, which need not be given a distinct heading We refer to the SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY. This organisation talks of the Class Struggle, but denies it by its every political act. and does not otherwise differ from the “Labour” Party, which it jealously emulates. One of their number. Mr. Will Thorne, was elected in 1906 as a “Labour” member under the auspices of the Labour Party, and is a candidate now under similar conditions. In the present instance the political worthlessness of the S.D.P. may be gauged by the fact that in their official organ, while they denounce the campaign against the Lords as a mere "stage fight,” and assert that the “ Liberals do not wish to abolish the veto of the Lords,” on another page they publish as leading article “A Plea for Unity,” in which they say : [10]
We are inclined to accede to the claim of ministerial journals and politicians that in the present contest we should be content to waive every other consideration and make the question of the House of Lords the supreme issue, and therefore avoid on this occasion all division of the forces which might be arrayed against the House of Lords. We are all for showing an undivided front against them.
And they conclude this touching appeal by suggesting to the Liberals that they refrain from opposing their candidates and help to get them returned. If the S.D.P. has not “got on” it is not because it has any principles that stand in the way. It “waives every other consideration," including every vestige of Socialist principle, in order to get into Parliament, and offers to aid the Liberals in what it confesses to be a bogus agitation.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
It is evident that from your standpoint as wage-workers none of the foregoing parties is worthy of your support. Not by voting for any of them could you strike a blow for your class. Indeed, from the position laid down it is obvious that the only party you should support must be in direct contrast with these parties. Your party should be democratic. It should have Socialism as its programme and the Class Struggle as its guiding principle. Its candidates should be controlled by the rank and file. It should devote its energies to converting the workers to Socialism, and to organising them for the conquest of political power for its realisation. It should never compromise with capitalist parties, and should refuse to barter away the workers’ salvation for crumbs that profit not. 'That is the party that you should support, and for its candidates alone could you logically vote. Only one party answers to that description in this country—the SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN. But since the ground must be well tilled before the good harvest can be reaped, that party is putting no candidates forward during the present election. Even the poverty which impedes the activity of the working- class party is in itself only a reflex of the present unreadiness of the electorate. Therefore the principles of Socialism must be more widely propagated and the workers more fully organised, before candidates of the Socialist Party can usefully enter the Parliamentary arena. And if you agree that your position is as we have outlined it; if you realise that your policy must be distinct from and hostile to all capitalist politics, and that Socialism alone can help your class, then it is your duty to join the Socialist Party and take a democratic share in its work; thus advancing the day—not far distant—when it will place its own candidates— your candidates—in the Parliamentary field to wage uncompromisingly the fight for Socialism. But until you can thus vote for yourselves and strike a blow against exploitation, it is clearly your duty to ABSTAIN FROM VOTING.
To do otherwise would be to-stultify yourselves and to support the system that crushes you. Go to the ballot box by all means, but only to write Socialism across your voting paper; for if you cannot vote now for what you want, it is folly to vote for what you do not want. The vote, like the razor, is an instrument for a purpose. If you cannot for the moment use it to your advantage, it is madness to cut your throat. And by voting for your enemies, for traitors and charlatans, you are surely cutting your throat.
Above all, however, whether you have a vote or not, realise how much depends upon you and how much remains to be done. A vote, even for a candidate of the Socialist Party, is of no value unless it expresses a Socialist consciousness. Understanding must precede action, for Socialism is impossible until the workers become class-conscious Socialists. There is, therefore, work for you to do. There are outlets for your energy infinitely more profitable to your class than voting for the defenders of exploitation. The army of Socialism must be recruited, and your place is within the ranks of the organisation of your class, taking your part in the battle for the emancipation of your fellows from wage-slavery.
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN
NOTES
[1] Daily Chronicle, Oct. 21.
[2] Carnavon (italics are ours).
[3] Albert Hall, Dec. 10.
[4] House of Lords, Nov. 30.
[5] Quoted Daily Chronicle, Dec. 6.
[6] Portsmouth Dec. 3.
[7] Dec. 9.
[8] Crewe, Dec. 9.
[9] Quoted Daily Mail, Dec. 8.
[10] Justice, Dec. 11 (italics are ours).
YOUR LIFE, YOUR WORLD (2017)
YOUR LIFE, YOUR WORLD.
ARE YOU READY FOR AN UPGRADE?
Across
the world the market system, capitalism, holds centre stage. Its
cruelties and iniquities are too numerous to count, yet almost everybody
imagines it is here for good, and for our general good, and that it
represents the last stage in human development, in fact, that it is the
'end of history'. All one can do is to press for minor reforms, for no
major change is deemed possible or even desirable.
In
the wings, however, a new society is waiting. It is not supposed to
exist, but it is there just the same, the next stage of history, the one
that comes after capitalism. It stands impatiently in the shadows as
the world grinds on regardless. This society is different in one basic
respect from all that has gone before – it is based not on material
scarcity but on abundance.
Global abundance of
material resources is a new concept for most people, yet the practical
obstacles are disappearing fast, and have already disappeared in the
case of food, shelter, water and energy. In a world of abundance, why
bother to buy and sell? Why bother to have wars over buying and selling?
Why bother to have hierarchies of rich people making poor people's
lives a misery? Why bother with 'cheap' options like pollution? Why
bother with money, that carrot we wear ourselves out chasing? In an
abundance, the only issues need be: how to put our collective resources
to best use, and how to make the decisions fairly and in a way which
involves everyone.
This social upgrade – which we
call World Socialism – is a revolutionary advancement for the human
species which will make 21st century capitalism look like the Dark Ages,
yet the debate is not yet out in the open. Hardly anyone dares conceive
of a society after capitalism, so powerful is its hold on the
collective mind. But we dare.
The Socialist Party
is like no other political party in Britain. First, because it doesn't
want power for itself. In the new society we advocate, there will be no
power structures anyway and our organisation would cease to exist.
Second, because we have no leaders or followers and think instead that
collective decision-making – democracy – is the only suitable way to
operate a free society. Do you know of any other organisation that can
say this? We doubt it.
So what's the catch? The
catch is, we will not lead you and we can't do all the work for you. You
have to be your own leader, else democracy is meaningless. So if you're
prepared to stand up for yourself, don't wait for other people to do it
first - get in touch with us and help out. Capitalism is doing
everything it can to destroy the idea of World Socialism before it can
get off the ground. All that has to happen, for it to succeed, is for
you to do nothing.
To signal that you want this, vote for the SOCIALIST CANDIDATE, [BILL MARTIN/DANNY LAMBERT], and then come and join us, not to mend the current system but to build a movement strong enough to end it.
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