Just six months after the first edition of
Socialism in the 21st century was published two million people took to the
streets of Britain on 15 February 2003 to oppose the impending war on
Iraq. It was probably the biggest single demonstration in Britain’s
history and it formed part of what was certainly the biggest ever
simultaneous global movement.
This magnificent movement shook governments to
their foundations and graphically showed the internationalism and
willingness to struggle of millions of ordinary people; yet it did not
prevent the war in Iraq.
In the minds of millions this raised the
question: are we – the working class, the poor, the oppressed – powerless
to change things in the face of massive, seemingly all-powerful,
corporations and the governments that do their bidding?
The answer is an unequivocal no. The world’s poor
and oppressed have enormous power if we unite together and rise from our
knees. While it would have taken more action to stop the war machine,
particularly mass workplace stoppages – the potential for which was
glimpsed in the heroic school student strikes that took place – the
anti-war movement nonetheless terrified the ruling classes worldwide. In
Britain Blair clung to power by a thread. It was not for nothing that the
New York Times declared on 17 February 2003 that there were now, "two
superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion.
"
And while the Iraq war can be said to have
strengthened a potential superpower – mass action - it also enormously
weakened and undermined the other superpower – US imperialism. George Bush
and his entourage imagined that invading Iraq would strengthen the power
and prestige of US imperialism. Instead it has revealed all of its
weaknesses on the international stage and increasingly at home. Around 60%
of the US population now say that the war was wrong and only 40% support
George Bush.
It is not only against the war that the ‘new
superpower’ has flexed its muscles. Struggle on other issues has also
increased. More and more people are fighting back -from the Nigerian
workers who over the last five years have taken part in seven general
strikes and mass protests against fuel price hikes, to the Bolivian
working class and oppressed struggling for nationalisation of their oil
and gas industries, to the New York transport workers, and the French and
Dutch workers who defied their governments to vote ‘no’ to continued
privatisation and cuts in the referendums on the European constitution.
And when we rise from our knees we can win
victories. In Britain, the mere threat of 1.5 million workers taking
strike action forced the government to partially retreat over plans to
increase the retirement age for public sector workers. There are other
examples of workers in Britain – like the nursery nurses in Scotland and
the bus drivers in Stoke – who have been able to win victories as a result
of strike action. In Ireland, with assistance of the Socialist Party,
Turkish immigrant workers – employed by the construction company Gama –
who had had the bulk of their wages illegally withheld, were recently able
to win thousands of euros in back pay, at the same time as revealing to
the world a cesspit of similar scandals. In the aftermath of the Gama
strike the Irish Ferries dispute erupted, with 100,000 workers taking part
in demonstrations during a national half-day strike demanding decent pay
for immigrant workers on Irish Ferries.
Worldwide there are a very many more examples of
the oppressed defeating their oppressors. But there are not enough. The
most common story is still of the privateers, asset strippers and thieves
getting away with riding roughshod over the rest of humanity. And even
when we do win victories they are never permanent. Capitalism’s
remorseless drive to maximise profits equals a relentless ‘race to the
bottom’ in terms of working-class peoples conditions of life and work,
which can only be resisted by determined struggle.
If further evidence were needed that capitalism
is incapable of taking society forward; the last four years have provided
it. Not only the ongoing nightmare of the occupation of Iraq – which has
led to the death of many tens of thousands of Iraqis and over 2,000
‘coalition’ soldiers – but also the inability of capitalism to take any
effective action to prevent the decimation of our environment. In some
ways, the most graphic illustration of capitalism’s crisis is its
inability to cope with natural disasters - whether the tsunami at the end
of 2004, or the South Asian earthquake or Hurricane Katrina last year. The
countless thousands who died unnecessarily, and those still homeless
-including in the US, the richest nation on the planet - stand as a
complete condemnation of the profit system.
By contrast, the preparedness of ordinary people
worldwide to give to assist the victims of disaster, repeatedly putting
the puny efforts of governments to shame, stand as a testament to the
strength of human solidarity.
It is therefore no surprise that the years since
the first edition of Socialism in the 21st Century was written have seen
an increased interest in anti-capitalist ideas in general, and
specifically in a socialist alternative. The anti-war movement, in
particular, radicalised a generation, and has led some of them to actively
seek out socialist ideas.
At this stage, it is still a minority who have
become conscious socialists, but it is a growing minority. Socialism in
the 21st Century was written with the aim of assisting workers and young
people who were interested in socialist ideas to find out more. There is
no doubt that this second edition has a potentially broader audience than
the first.
Today, in Britain, around 150 companies
completely dominate the lives of 60 million people. Worldwide, the richest
356 people enjoy a combined wealth that is greater than the annual income
of 40% of the human race. This book gives an outline of how a
democratically planned socialist economy could harness the vast wealth of
capitalism to meet the needs of humanity instead of lining the pockets of
a few. At the same time, it raises some of the most important tasks that
face socialists in this period – such as the need to lead struggles to
defend workers’ living conditions against the rapacious greed of the
multinationals and the need to build new mass workers’ parties which
represent the interests of working-class people. It links these tasks to
the struggle for ‘socialism in the 21st century’.
Hannah Sell
January 2006
Continued...
Introduction to first edition
Hannah Sell, national secretary of the Socialist Party, presents an explanation of the policy, programme,
beliefs and philosophy of the Socialist Party.
