Society cannot exist without the working-class. It is the working-class which puts into operation the world’s formidable know-how and technology. Yet the riches collectively produced are appropriated by individual capitalists. Socialism is not a reform, it is a revolution. We are not reformers — we are revolutionaries.We mean by revolutionary the capture of political power by the working class as opposed to it belonging in the hands of the capitalist class. This is the essence of revolutionary socialism. The struggle is not confined to one nation but covers the whole of civilisation. Humanity cannot by any possibility remain in its present chaotic condition. The object of the World Socialist Movement (WSM) is to hasten the transferring from private ownership to common ownership, all the agencies of wealth production and distribution, to control these agencies on a co-operative basis in the interests of all alike, and to aim constantly at securing for all citizens the highest standard of social well-being. The object of the various World Socialist Parties is to secure economic freedom for the whole community, that all men and all women shall have equal opportunities of sharing in wealth production and consumption. To ensure equality there must be free access. The current system of conducting manufacturing and trade primarily for the purposes of capitalist remuneration instead of producing for the use must disappear. Industries must be organised and operated in the interests of the people not profit. The future of the world is to be a co-operative commonwealth, and not competitive nation-states. No more bombastic patriotic jingoism which arrays people against people and nation against nation. The World Socialist Movement is the sworn enemy of all wars. Our common purpose is the union of the toilers of all countries. We have no use whatever for capitalist tyranny and oppression the world over. Only one blood runs through our veins, that of the human family. We remain true to liberty, fraternity and equality, justice and peace for everyone
‘Reforming capitalism’ is an oxymoron. The goal of socialism is to put an end to exploitation, hunger and war, capitalist domination paid for by the sweat and blood of wage-slavery. The wholly undemocratic system of capitalism only works in the interests of the capitalist class and is diametrically opposed to the interests of the vast majority of humanity and the health of the planet. The economic assault on working people by the world’s capitalists is designed to transform the “salt of the Earth” into the “scum of the Earth,” and make them solely responsible for their own condition. This is nothing new to capitalism. Capitalists don’t create that wealth — workers do! Yet workers don’t get a say about what share of that wealth they should get unless they organise in solidarity and fight hard to get even a tiny fraction of it. And when that struggle stops — those concessions are lost. Our objective is to target the enemy, capitalism, and eradicate it. That doesn’t mean eradicating the capitalists themselves — they are welcome to share the planet along with us — but we do need to eradicate the system of capitalism, the root of all evil, the private ownership of the means of production that enslaves us all. This will require a world socialist revolution. And the world socialist revolution needs a powerful, independent, and democratically organised movement of worker’s solidarity.
Left-wing liberals do not offer real solutions to the crucial questions of our time: how to end war, poverty, homelessness and hunger; and how to save Earth’s environment from the ravages of capitalist anarchy in production. It is not enough to protest the evils of capitalist society and still serve the corporate masters — the owners of wealth in this society. Progressives seem to think that capitalism can be reformed into being less warlike, kinder to the poor and more friendly to the environment. Capitalism cannot be reformed out of existence. That is very clear. The WSM cannot support a political party whose programme, stated or implied, is that capitalism can be reformed. There’s a pervasive, building anger amongst workers because of the oppressive capitalist austerity policies.
Production is collective. It is necessary that all benefit and share it in common. Working people have at their disposal many means of organising administration, control and distribution of products – Workers councils, factory committees, trade unions, co-operatives, whatever is fitting to the conditions and circumstances. There is no obstacle that cannot be overcome in a society that is based on labour and not on profit. The future alone can tell what will be the precise forms and methods of organisation and allocation. As we approach nearer towards the reality of socialism we will have a clearer picture of the direction to proceed upon. The technology is all there. All what is needed is that we set it in motion for the benefit of all. This is the reason why the parties of the WSM demand common ownership of the means of production – the land, factories, transport, etc. What is collectively produced should be collective owned. Automation and Artificial Intelligence will cease to be a rival to the working person and will become a help, an aid, an ally to assure increased leisure and the full development of people’s skills and talents. From being a wage-slave, a living appendage to a machine, we will become fully human and abolish forever the exploitation of man by man.
In capitalist society the world is divided into states with opposed interests. The world is split up, divided by frontiers impassable without passports and visas. Each day, dark storm-clouds of conflict are gathering. Socialism will make of the earth one land, single and indivisible, united in free co-operation for the common progress and happiness. Socialism stands for the end of racism, nationalism and warfare. Socialism can put an end to the struggle for the re-division of the world, for national possessions, which takes place between the different continents, nations and peoples. Only world socialism can put an end to war and the innumerable injustices which are an everyday feature of our lives. A world commonwealth will replace the struggle between nations. Socialism advocates solidarity and its slogan is “Workers of the World, Unite!”
World Socialism and World Peace are synonymous.
