The international basis of Socialism

That Socialist society must, by its very nature, be of an international character, is a truism that the Socialist party has persistently stressed. This, not out of any pious sentiment, but through a recognition of the fact that production in the world to-day is based on a systematic division of labour which integrates and interlocks the whole world, or, at any rate, in wartime, large geographical sections of it. But, unfortunately, side by side with this international division of labour, or. more correctly, resting on it. there exists the capitalist system which rends society in twain by its class division, rendering impossible harmony and peace in the production and distribution of the necessities of life.

Let us take a look at the historical development in the technique of transport, which has played such a great role in the integration of world production as it is to-day.

For a long period of time man lived an essentially nomadic life, roaming the fields and forests in tribes and picking up what stray digestible food they were lucky to come across. But with the increase of population this form of life became too precarious, and he gradually settled down to produce his food. Of course, at first he did this only in those places which offered the most favourable conditions—e.g., fertility of the soil and natural protection from external marauders. He found this chiefly in four river valleys— i.e., the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus and the Ganges (India), and the Hwang-ho (China). From the point of view of transport, the chief effect of this was the development of river or water transport. This led, in the case of the Nile, to the venturing out into the enclosed sea-basin of the Mediterranean, and the consequent improvement in the types of ships and the development of the science of astronomy, which in turn made it possible to venture further afield. Marx said that the history of the human race was the history of development of the world market, and from the time when the reliable sea-going craft was firmly established. such it truly was. Subsequent history shows the development of trade in the Mediterranean and further afield out to India. Overland transport by way of caravan routes developed too, but intercommunication on land remained very limited for centuries till the recent advent of the railways. Seagoing trade saw the rise and fall of the Egyptian, Crete, Carthaginian, Persian, Greek and Roman dynasties, all of which rose and declined according to their relative military and economic strength, and their possession of vital trade routes and key geographical positions. With the decline of the Roman Empire trade moved northwards into the Baltic zone, this too being an area with enclosed sea. This stimulated the development of towns and industries in northern Germany and parts of Russia—e.g., the Republic of Novgorod. But this prosperity was to be short-lived, for with the discovery of the passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope by Vasco de Gama in 1498, and the discoveries of the Americas in the same period, a veritable revolution was wrought in the balance of power in Europe and the development of world trade. The “main street of commerce” was now the Atlantic, and remains so even to-day.

The history of the next three centuries consists of the titanic struggles between the countries bordering the west coast of Europe—i.e., England, the Netherlands, France, Portugal and Spain—for maritime supremacy, out of which the English came forth triumphant. By the middle of the nineteenth century large portions of the world had been discovered and annexed by the ruling powers. The suppression of the native peoples of these countries was effected in the most cruel and brutal manner conceivable to the human mind. At the bottom of all these developments lay, of course, the growing powers of production and the avaricious greed for riches and wealth on the part of the rulers of the time. This augmentation of wealth was what Marx termed “primitive accumulation,” and laid the foundations for modern industrial and financial capitalism.

The important factor to note at this stage is that up till the beginning of the nineteenth century the main bulk of commerce and trade was carried on by sea-going vessels. Consequently, the regions brought into closer inter-communication with each other were those which possessed strategical coast lines—e.g.. England, the south-west coastlines of Europe, the western colonies of America, India. and later on China and Japan. The reason for China’s late development as a world power, in spite of the existence of a fertile river valley, was that no enclosed sea existed nearby, as was the case in the Nile valley, and consequently the native people of China did not have the opportunity of developing their maritime skill and their ships. The inner regions of Europe, Russia, Asia, America and Africa remained backward and undeveloped. “The means of transport by land had changed hardly at all from the earliest Mediterranean days down to the end of the eighteenth century A.D. There was no essential difference between the chariot of the barbarians who poured into the Mediterranean world 3,000 years ago and the stage-coach which was the main vehicle of passenger conveyance in Europe little more than a century ago.” The advent of steam and the railways, however, brought in a new era of development and expansion. “Go West, young man,” was the catch-cry in America, and in truth everything did go west. Railways, industry, population developed at a tremendous pace, and America was transformed from a few agricultural colonies in the west into an industrialist continent. In Europe the same process took place. Germany developed into a powerful industrial power, and Russia, too, came into the picture.

However, these new powers of plenty, far from easing the yoke of perpetual poverty for the mass of mankind, only succeeded in subjecting the vast majority of workers to a new and worse form of slavery—wage slavedom. And this because the new means of production became concentrated into the hands of a small and continually contracting minority of the population, the capitalist class. The situation to-day is no different, except that the insoluble problems of capitalism have become more hideously manifest with the gigantic strides in the development of the productive forces. The most important factors in the closer welding of the world to-day. and the future, are undoubtedly air transport and radio. Both of these have succeeded in annihilating space (in the sense of time) to an unprecedented degree, and have brought the peoples of the world into closer contact with each other. To-day, of course, the contact is somewhat painful, but eventually it must play a great part in inculcating an international consciousness into the minds of the world’s workers and bring home to them their essentially common interests.

That our rulers do not fail to realise the international nature of capitalism is evidenced by the following from the Evening News (9.12.43): “Foreign affairs are no longer ‘foreign.’ They belong to hearth and home. They affect decisively every man, woman and child. They are charged with life and death.” The reader, however, must not deduce from this that the capitalists have suddenly become enamoured with Socialism. The capitalist class own the means of production and consequently appropriate the wealth which the workers produce with the aid of their masters’ machines, raw materials, etc. The worker receives back a relatively small amount of these goods in the shape of wages. A large surplus is left, which the capitalist endeavours to sell on the market, home or abroad. But the difference between what the workers receive and what they produce is constantly being expanded as a consequence of the unceasing development in the technique of production, and in spite of the development of new markets and the extension of the already existing ones, it becomes increasingly difficult to dispose of the surplus commodities. Hence the interest of the capitalist in international affairs. Hence, too, his desire to acquire the support of his enslaved workers for his imperialistic ambitions. But the Socialist vehemently denies any connection between the interests of the capitalist and the worker. So long as the worker remains propertyless and has as his sole means of livelihood (and a very poor one at that) his ability to work for a wage, so long will he be subject to all the hideous and demoralising effects of poverty and war. So likewise is it with his fellows abroad, be it German or Chinese, Negro or White, Jew or Gentile. Capitalism exists, and can only exist, internationally, that is to say, the motive of production in all the industrialised regions, and into all those areas where capitalist trade and commerce has spread with its tentacles, the motive of production and distribution is profit-taking. Large and enterprising combines, such as the Standard Oil Co., Anglo-Iranian, and the I.C.I., pay eloquent testimony to the capitalists’ recognition of the international nature of their system. It now remains for the workers to become internationally-minded, backed with a determination to eliminate the capitalist system.

It is the mighty task of abolishing the contradiction between private ownership and control and social production that the workers of the world have to accomplish. It is to this task that the Socialist Party is dedicated, and consequently it is its prime and honoured duty to state and restate continually its adherence to the international working-class and the stressing of the common interest—i.e., the achievement of. Socialist society, which must ultimately bind the workers, at home and abroad, together in its resoluteness and Socialist consciousness.

M. JUDD

(Socialist Standard, May 1944)