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Editorial
Recent months have seen power contested across the world. Brutal
suppression of fledgling democratic demands in Burma were followed by
blatant abuse of elections in Kenya.
At the same time the various factions of Russian capitalism have been
brazenly playing out in public their private chess game: to control the
state for their own economic ends.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, hope for "democracy" apparently dies with the
assassination of an unelected political leader at the head of a feudal
political dynasty. And while all this happens, in parts of the
USA, voters get an early chance to pick the leader of the "free world".
A choice, that is, between the $100 million presidential
candidate and the $90 million candidate (with every likelihood of two
dynasties being in power in USA for some 25 consecutive years).
Closer to home, in a "mature" democracy such as the UK's, all the major
parties have been pimping up their policies for drooling millionaires
to purchase by means of ever-more creative accountancy
over donations.
In contrast to this shabby and sleazy reality of democracy in this
society, workers are continually spun the convenient tale that
democracy and capitalism are intertwined. It is a reassuring thought
for some: that the obscene inequalities of the capitalist economic
system are justified by the political freedoms the market supposedly
enables.
But it's a myth, of course. Around the world the profit system can be
found bedding down very nicely with all sorts of political systems.
From fascistic religious dictatorships to liberal democracies, from
national liberation movements to supra-economic geo-political blocs,
they all end up having to accommodate themselves to capital and
its unquenchable thirst for profit .
World socialists applaud those workers around the world who fight
at massive risk to themselves for basic civil liberties and trade
union rights, for the freedom to hold meetings and participate in
free elections.
The fight for a measure of democracy world-wide is an essential part of
the struggle for world socialism. After all, if workers are not able to
fight for something as basic as the vote, they are unlikely to
be able to work for the transformation of society from one based on
production for profit to one based on production for human need.
The World Socialist Movement does not intend playing into the hands of
the global ruling class and their political mouthpieces, whether
dictatorial or democratic. We don't intend making it easy for
them to treat world socialism as an "undemocratic" threat.
But neither are we under any illusion about the nature of democracy
inside capitalism. We confront the myth that capitalismand democracy
are interdependent. We oppose the practices of so many
so-called revolutionary organisations down the years who expect to
bring democracy to the masses while unwilling to practise
it internally.
We challenge the notion that revolution cannot at the same time be
democratic and planned, cannot be participative and structured.
Where it is available to workers we take the viewpoint that capitalist
democracy can and should be used. But not in order to chase the ever
diminishing returns of reforming capitalism. Instead we see
democracy as a (indeed arguably the only)
critically-importantinstrument available to class-conscious workers for
making a genuine
and democratic revolution.
And in the process of making a revolution the really interesting work
can start of course: that of reinventing a democracy fit for society on
a human scale. A democracy that is free from the patronage, the
power games and the profit motive that currently, from Moscow to
Rangoon, Nairobi to Washington, abuses it.
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Introducing
the
Socialist Party
The Socialist Party is like no other political party in Britain.
It is made up of people who have joined together because we want to get
rid of the profit system and establish real socialism.
Our aim is to persuade others to become socialist and act for
themselves, organising democratically and without leaders, to bring
about the kind of society that we are advocating in this
journal.
We are solely concerned with building a movement of socialists
for socialism.
We are not a reformist party with a programme of
policies to patch up capitalism.
We use every possible opportunity to make new socialists. We publish
pamphlets and books, as well as CDs, DVDs and various other informative
material.
We also give talks and take part in debates; attend rallies, meetings
and demos; run educational conferences;
host internet discussion forums, make films presenting our ideas, and
contest elections when practical. Socialist literature is available in
Arabic, Bengali, Dutch,
Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish and
Turkish as well as
English.
The more of you who join the Socialist Party the more we will be able
to get our ideas across, the more experiences we will be able to draw
on and greater will be the new ideas for building
the movement which you will be able to bring us.
The Socialist Party is an organisation of equals. There is no leader
and there are no followers.
So, if you are going to join we want you to be sure that you agree
fully with what we stand for and that we are satisfied that you
understand the case for
socialism. |
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