The Socialist Party is not a part of the "left." We are opposed to measures which tinker with
and attempt to reform capitalism. The left on the other hand have kept their
agenda well hidden, if it has a discernable revolutionary current, it isn't
obvious , indeed , even their active supporters appear afraid to engage with
any discussion about what socialism *is*.
However , it has been a " left " tactic in the past where they are
hypocritically asking workers to vote for a parliamentary party to get reforms
which you know you can't get, on a road which they don’t support , to socialism
,which is not defined except , that it is recognisable as another state
capitalism . The Socialist Party is opposed to such trickery of workers.
Simply, the "left" are not socialists and to argue it is then "yir
arse is oot the windae", as we say.
Even limited equality cannot be achieved, while retaining the profit
motive - It is economically impossible.
The Socialist on the
other hand are quite explicit that socialism is, "the common ownership and
democratic control of all the means and instruments for producing and
distributing wealth by and on behalf of the whole population ". In other
word a free access society. We stand for the original idea of socialism. Untrammelled
by statist failures, indeed we predicted all of these failures. The "left"
appear to want to administer capitalism. Far from splitting the " left
", we despise the "left " for its political cowardice, (being
unable or unwilling to describe socialism to workers and nail their true
colours to the socialist mast), of opportunism, (interference in workers
struggles and grass roots movements to subvert them to their cause), and for
its pretensions, (of assuming to know what socialism is, and presenting itself
as a leadership towards it.)
The Socialist Party urges workers to "Abolish the wages
system ". We insist that socialism as defined above is an immediate and
practical possibility, requiring only a majority of workers who know what it
is, who desire it and are willing to organise as equals, without a vanguard of
political leaders forming an elite and a cadre of misinformed workers, as their
expendable cannon fodder and irrelevant pawns , (our job is to inform , relay ,
and assist in this ) unlike the Leninist - Trotskyist , and former CP-er
Stalinist Left , we don’t , as Lenin said , regard workers, "left to their
own devices as being only capable of achieving trade union consciousness."
What exactly is the purpose of the SPGB standing in elections?
To put the case for socialism, as no others do this, made by workers seizing
control of their own destiny and working for socialism, without the leadership
of vanguardist organisations or any other leadership. The Socialist Party does
not look for support or supporters, rather we insist that on the contrary
workers learn what socialism is, and join us as equals to bring it about. We
don’t wish to lead them. They will not need leadership if they make themselves
socialist. We don’t lie to workers by pretending, that by voting for reforms,
or any other measure they are supporting socialism. We do not intervene in
workers struggles, except as workers in struggle. We are stand against *all*
the capitalist parties , this inevitably includes the “left” parties as they
support a reformed capitalism with them as the new bosses, retaining wage
labour capital, government control, and their platforms reflect this. The left
ARE the forces of capitalism. Simply put, we are the only revolutionary
alternative to capitalism. It is by insisting that left-wing reforms can
ameliorate the conditions of workers , and that this equates to a "socialist
" response , and who so mistrust the workers, that they can't describe the
socialist alternative to them, are indeed the real reactionary element, leaving
workers confusedly equating socialism with these tired and out-moded tried and
failed remedies of the last century. (The Labour Party, The Communist Party,
Social Democrat Parties of all stripes).
The Socialist Party has an honourable record since 1904 of
never selling socialism short, and insisting it is an immediate and practical
goal, requiring no other minimum demand, now that the vote has been won, that
it can only be brought into existence by the workers themselves, comprising a
majority, who know and understand what socialism is, a free access global society,
without nation states. We don’t pander to nationalist sentiments, following
slavishly Lenin's silly "Imperialism as the Highest Form of Capitalism"
dogma. Our demand is the world for the workers and not for some new
state-capitalist entity, or permissible level of wage slavery. In fact, many
left-wing platforms to-day are even less radical than the Old Labour ones,
where mistakenly they thought they were ushering in a new era, and piously
mouthed phrases such as "we are the masters now " and "socialism
will come like a thief in the night".
Wee Matt
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