Object and Declaration of Principles
Including explanations of what the Object and each Principle
mean to us.
This Object and Declaration of Principles was written in 1904.
The language may seem outdated, but the concepts are not.
Object
The establishment of a system of society based upon the
common ownership and democratic control of the means and
instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the
interest of society as a whole.
What is meant by "a system of society"?
The world is a "global village". Each region may have its own
particular and distinct customs, but they are part of a greater
system of society that is world-wide. This system of society is
capitalism and every region and nation operates within this system
of society in one way or another. Socialism is not a cooperative
island in the middle of capitalism, but a global system of society
that will replace capitalism.
"The means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth"?
This includes the forests, mines, and oceans from which natural
wealth is extracted, the factories in which this natural wealth is
processed, and the distribution of that wealth via transportation
networks (such as roads and truck lines) and distribution centres
(such as grocery and department stores). It does not include your
personal belongings such as your toothbrush or clothing, or the
family heirloom.
"Common Ownership"?
Common ownership means that society as a whole owns the means and
instruments for distributing wealth. It also implies the democratic
control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing
wealth, for if everyone owns, then everyone must have equal right to
control the means and instruments for producing and distributing
wealth.
Common ownership is not state ownership. State ownership is merely
the ownership by the capitalist class as a whole, instead of by
individual capitalists, and the government then runs the state
enterprises to serve the capitalist class. In the self-proclaimed
"communist" states the state enterprises serve those who control the
party/state apparatus. The working class does not own or control. It
produces for a privileged minority.
Declaration of Principles
The Socialist Party of Canada holds
- That society as at present constituted is based upon
the ownership of the means of living (i.e., land, factories,
railways, etc.) by the capitalist or master class, and the
consequent enslavement of the working class, by whose labour
alone wealth is produced.
How are decisions about the operation of society made? What
principles govern what goods will be produced in what quantity
and quality, or what social programs and laws will exist?
If decisions were made based upon the needs of humanity then the
food that is regularly destroyed by the truckload would instead
feed the starving.
Decisions are made based upon the expectation of making a
profit. The ecology of the world is being devastated, even
though this devastation may wipe out the human race, because of
profit. Poor quality goods are produced, not because people want
to have junk, but because it is profitable to produce junk. The
rich can get the best, the rest of us often have little choice.
Anyone can think of dozens of examples of how decision making
puts profit-making before the satisfaction of human needs.
The owners of the production and distribution facilities are
responsible to no-one but themselves. Governments pass laws that
maintain profits for the owners as a group. Sometimes one owner
or one sub-group of owners loses a bit, but overall, the class
of owners always benefits in the long run. By focussing on the
worst excesses, and legalizing the rest, their profits are
protected from demands for significant changes.
While Canadians have generally seen the benefits of increased
production in terms of material wealth, the decisions are made
not to improve our lives, but to improve the lives of those who
own the means of production. The gap between the very rich and
the rest of us continues to grow.
- That in society, therefore, there is an antagonism of
interests, manifesting itself as a class struggle between
those who possess but do not produce and those who produce but
do not possess.
There are many different divisions in society. Divisions of
hatred by sex, skin colour, national origin, religion or the
amount of money that a person makes, among others. The
insecurity of capitalism breeds these hatreds. We must eliminate
their breeding ground, before they infect our children.
Socialists see a division of society based upon the means of
acquiring wealth. If you must work for a living then you are
working class, if your main income is derived from the work of
others then you are a capitalist. This distinction clearly
exists. Even though some of us own shares, workers do not have
the luxury to quit their jobs and live off investment income.
When you analyze society using this class division, many
problems that otherwise defy understanding have obvious
solutions. Profit is derived by owning. Wages or salary are
derived by labouring, by expending our physical or mental energy
working for those who own the means of production and
distribution.
The owner of a particular factory may not even know that they
own it. It may be just a part of an immense holding company that
is administered by someone else. The workers in the factory,
however, are directly connected to the production. It is the
labour of these workers (including the plant management) that
creates the profits that keep the capitalists rich. It is vital
that the capitalists pay their workers less than the value that
their labour produces. It is this difference between the value
of what workers are paid and the value of what they produce that
is the source of profit.
- That this antagonism can be abolished only by the
emancipation of the working class from the domination of the
master class, by the conversion into the common property of
society of the means of production and distribution, and their
democratic control by the whole people.
As long as the ownership of the means of production and
distribution rests with the minority capitalist class, this
antagonism will continue to exist. The antagonism is caused by
the necessarily differing interests of the classes. No matter
how nice capitalists may be on a personal level, they will
always have different interests than the working class. It is
not a matter of good and evil or anything like that, it is
inherent in any class system. Therefore the only way to
eliminate the antagonism is to eliminate the class system and
establish a system of common ownership where the previous
antagonism has no basis.
- That as in the order of social evolution the working
class is the last class to achieve its freedom, the
emancipation of the working class will involve the
emancipation of all mankind, without distinction of race or
sex.
The hate and distrust that exists in society today is a direct
result of the nature of societies past and present. A society in
which we must compete to survive, in which our jobs are
threatened by other workers, in which we do not feel secure, is
fertile breeding ground for racism, sexism, nationalism and all
the other hatreds that abound.
Even today, while this hatred is sometimes used to pit one
worker against another, it appears that overall, these hatreds
are being rooted out and made socially unacceptable. This is
particularly noticeable in countries like South Africa where
there is a shortage of white workers, and black workers must be
brought into previously "white" workplaces without the major
disruption that is caused by overt racism.
No society can meet our human needs as long as there are
different classes of people. Every person has abilities that
differentiate them from others, but we are all equal in our
humanity. We all have strengths and weaknesses. What we need is
a society that allows us to use our strengths, and that accepts
and accommodates our weaknesses.
Socialism will be a society geared to meeting human needs, and
the need to be accepted for what we are is probably the most
basic of human needs. When the breeding ground for these hatreds
has disappeared, people will naturally be able to eradicate them
with all the other negative leftovers of capitalism.
- That this emancipation must be the work of the working
class itself.
- That as the machinery of government, including the
armed forces of the nation, exists only to conserve the
monopoly by the capitalist class of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class must organize consciously and
politically for the conquest of the powers of government, in
order that this machinery, including these forces, may be
converted from an instrument of oppression into an agent of
emancipation and the overthrow of plutocratic privilege.
It would be foolish to expect the capitalist class to
voluntarily give up its privileged position in society.
Governments exist solely to administer the society as it exists,
in the interests of the ruling (capitalist) class, so
governments will not end the privilege. Capitalism will continue
as long as the working class accepts it. The working class will
have to force the capitalist class to give up its position of
privilege.
Socialism will be the result of workers democratically choosing
a new, classless society based upon the satisfaction of human
needs. And since capitalism is a global system of society, it
must be replaced globally.
It is dangerous and futile to follow those who support violence
by workers against the armed force of the state. Violent
revolution has sometimes meant different faces in the capitalist
class, always meant dead workers, and never meant the liberation
of the working class. Unless workers organize consciously and
politically and take control over the state machinery, including
its armed forces, the state will be ensured a bloody victory.
Political democracy is the greatest tool (next to its
labour-power) that the working class has at its disposal. When
the majority of workers support socialism, so-called
"revolutionary" war will not be required. The real revolution is
for workers to stop following leaders, to start understanding
why society functions as it does and to start thinking for
themselves.
- That as political parties are but the expression of
class interests, and as the interest of the working class is
diametrically opposed to the interest of all sections of the
master class, the party seeking working class emancipation
must be hostile to every other party.
Political parties of the left, right and centre, claim to be
working for the betterment of society. Because society functions
in the interests of the capitalist class, it is clear that these
parties are then supporting the interests of the capitalist
class. History shows us that no matter what these parties say,
when elected they administer capitalism in the only way it can
be administered - in the interests of the capitalist class.
Each of them has their own idea of how to run capitalism, often
stealing the ideas of their supposed political opposites. The
reforms that they implement must reflect economic reality. If
they do not, they will not get re-elected - until the next party
fails to reflect that reality. There is no way that capitalism
can meet the needs of the majority, but all of these parties
pretend it can if only they find the right plan. None of them
have any really new ideas, only rehashed reforms that have
failed in the past. Voting for any of these parties is voting
for capitalism, forever.
Socialists are therefore hostile, not in the sense of committing
violent acts against other parties or their members, but to the
ideas of those parties which support capitalism.
- The Socialist Party of Canada, therefore, enters the
field of political action determined to wage war against all
other political parties, whether alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the members of the working class of
this country to support these principles to the end that a
termination may be brought to the system which deprives them
of the fruits of their labour, and that poverty may give place
to comfort, privilege to equality, and slavery to freedom.
The Socialist Party is part of a global socialist movement that
believes capitalism cannot meet the needs of the majority of the
people in the world. It does not today, and it never can.
In order to meet these needs capitalism must be replaced by
socialism.
The only way to achieve socialism is for the working class to
recognize this and consciously and politically work to replace
capitalism with socialism. The Socialist Party of Canada does
not support the idea of reforming capitalism and therefore does
not work for reforms. There are plenty of other organizations
that do and yet the problems remain. By relegating socialism to
the future, it is relegated to never. Only a party dedicated
only to socialism can promote socialism in any real, honest
manner.
Among all the political parties in Canada, only the Socialist
Party is dedicated to socialism as an immediate goal. It is this
objective that makes the Socialist Party revolutionary - our
dedication to peaceful, democratic and immediate change.
The Socialist Party is, therefore, engaged in a war of ideas
against all other parties. Those other parties, no matter what
they claim, are supporting the capitalist system and opposing
the immediate establishment of socialism.
Only the conscious support of the working class will create
socialism, and to this end the Socialist Party seeks to increase
understanding of, and mobilize support for, socialism.
The Socialist Party calls upon every worker to support these
efforts in any way that they can.