Contents

Why you should join the Socialist Party

Introduction

At the start of 2016, 62 people – barely more than a bus full – owned as much wealth as half the people on the planet. Never before has inequality reached these gargantuan levels. Prolonged economic crisis has meant growing impoverishment for the majority but it has not halted the enrichment of a few at the top, either globally or in Britain, where the richest five families own more wealth than the poorest 20% of the population. Meanwhile average pay in Britain has fallen by 10.4% since 2007, second only to Greece in the economically developed economies.

In Britain, hopes that economic crisis was an aberration and that life would soon return to ‘normal’ have faded as austerity has become the ‘new normal’. A temporary and weak economic recovery barely registered for most workers, many of whose wages continue to fall. Now a renewed economic crisis is on the horizon, not caused by Brexit but the underlying failures of capitalism. This will be a nightmare for the millions in Britain who are already struggling with debt and doing low-paid, insecure work – with no prospect of ever having somewhere decent and permanent to live.

A profound anger is developing at the meagre future that British capitalism is offering. For a long time that anger had no outlet and so remained hidden beneath the surface of society. As the Socialist Party predicted, however, it was inevitable it would start to find an expression. In different ways the majority in society, the working class, along with many young and middle-class people, have been able to shake the establishment by collectively voicing their anger.

The clearest example of this was the EU referendum. At base, notwithstanding the right-wing racist campaign run by the official exit campaigns, the vote to leave the EU was a working-class revolt against everything we have suffered: cuts in public services, low pay, insecure work, expensive housing and more. Many workers voted Leave in defiance of a gigantic ‘project fear’ campaign, and by doing so struck a blow against the establishment and ended the careers of Tory politicians from both sides of the referendum debate, including the hated Cameron and Osborne. Of course, many of those who voted Remain were also angry about austerity. But, particularly in the absence of a mass left campaign for exit – despite the best efforts of the Socialist Party – voted remain for positive reasons: internationalism and opposition to racism.

The growing revolt against the existing order also found a different expression in the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader and the subsequent campaign to defend him against the Blairite pro-capitalist wing of the Labour Party. Prior to Corbyn’s election Labour had become a party that could be relied onto act in the interests of the capitalist class, the 1%. It was not for nothing that Maggie Thatcher claimed New Labour as her greatest achievement. Corbyn’s election put Thatcher’s triumph into danger and has resulted in a ferocious campaign to attempt to reclaim Labour for the capitalist establishment. Hundreds of thousands of people have responded, however, by rallying to Corbyn’s defence.

In response to these events the political representatives of capitalism have been forced to pay lip service to standing up for the majority. Theresa May, the new Tory prime minister, has insisted she will stand up for the working class. No Tory prime minister has ever done anything of the kind, and she will be no different, but the language she uses reflects the growing anger from below. Meanwhile Owen Smith, the candidate of the right in the Labour leadership election, started talking about supporting “socialist revolution”. Whatever he said before, make no mistake, if he was somehow to win the contest he would attempt to preside over a counter-revolution in the Labour Party, marginalising and driving out anti-austerity policies and the new generation that has been enthused by them.

Both of these examples – the Brexit vote and Corbyn’s election – show the growing anger against the existing order, and the ability of ordinary people to change things when we act together collectively. In different ways, however, they also show the limits of what we can achieve if we are not organised with a clear goal. This pamphlet puts the case for being organised in a democratic and cohesive party that is fighting for a completely different kind of society. The last decade has demonstrated beyond doubt to millions that capitalism means crisis and misery. Here we put the case for socialism.

Protest outside Irish embassy, London, 23.3.17, photo Cedric

Protest outside Irish embassy, London, 23.3.17, photo Cedric   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

The Socialist Party’s demands include:

Public services

  • No to ALL cuts in jobs, pay, public services and benefits. Defend our pensions.
  • No to privatisation and the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Renationalise all privatised utilities and services, with compensation paid only on the basis of proven need.
  • Fully fund all services and run them under accountable, democratic committees that include elected representatives of service workers and users.
  • Free, publicly run, good quality education, available to all at any age. Abolish university tuition fees now and introduce a living grant. Write off student debt. No to academies and ‘free schools’!
  • A socialist NHS to provide for everyone’s health needs – free at the point of use and publicly owned under democratic control. Kick out private contractors!
  • Keep council housing publicly owned. For a massive building programme of publicly owned housing, on an environmentally sustainable basis, to provide good quality homes with low rents. Introduce rent controls so private landlords can only charge a fair rent.
Fujitsu strike, Manchester, 24.3.17, photo Becci Heagney

Fujitsu strike, Manchester, 24.3.17, photo Becci Heagney   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Work and income

  • Trade union struggle to increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour without exemptions as an immediate step towards a real living wage. For an annual increase in the minimum wage linked to average earnings. Scrap zero-hour contracts.
  • All workers, including part-timers, temps, casual and migrant workers, to have trade union rates of pay, employment protection, and sickness and holiday rights from day one of employment.
  • An immediate 50% increase in the state retirement pension, as a step towards a living pension.
  • For the right to decent benefits, education, training, or a job, without compulsion – scrap all benefit sanctions.
  • Scrap the anti-trade union laws! For fighting trade unions, democratically controlled by their members. Full-time union officials to be regularly elected and receive no more than a worker’s wage. Support the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN).
  • A maximum 35-hour week with no loss of pay.

Environment

  • Major research and investment into replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and into ending the problems of early obsolescence and unrecycled waste.
  • Public ownership of the energy-generating industries. No to nuclear power. No to the Trident nuclear missile system.
  • A democratically planned, low-fare, publicly owned transport system, as part of an overall plan against environmental pollution.
Protest outside Irish embassy, London, 23.3.17, photo Cedric

Protest outside Irish embassy, London, 23.3.17, photo Cedric   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Rights

  • Oppose discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, disability, sexuality, age, and all other forms of prejudice.
  • Repeal all laws that trample over civil liberties. For the right to protest! End police harassment and surveillance. For democratic community control of policing.
  • Defend abortion rights. For a woman’s right to choose when and whether to have children.
  • For the right to asylum. No to racist immigration laws.

New workers’ party

  • For a mass workers’ party drawing together workers, young people and activists from workplace, community, environmental and anti-war campaigns, to provide a fighting, political alternative to the pro-big business parties.

Socialism and internationalism

  • No to imperialist wars and occupations.
  • Tax the super-rich! For a socialist government to take into public ownership the top 150 companies and banks that dominate the British economy, and run them under democratic working-class control and management. Compensation to be paid only on the basis of proven need.
  • A democratic socialist plan of production based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people, implemented in a way that safeguards the environment.
  • No to the bosses’ neo-liberal European Union! For a socialist Europe and a socialist world!
Continued…