{"id":296,"date":"2019-01-16T22:02:46","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T22:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsm.prolerat.org\/?page_id=296"},"modified":"2026-03-09T21:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T21:26:14","slug":"object-and-declaration-of-principles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/object-and-declaration-of-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"Object and Declaration of Principles"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

This declaration is the basis of our organization and, because it is also an important historical document dating from the formation of the first Socialist Party in 1904, its original language has been retained. An annotated version of the Object and Declaration of Principles<\/a>, including explanations of what the Object and each Principle means to us, is also available.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Object<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The establishment of a system of society based upon the common\r\nownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for\r\nproducing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole\r\ncommunity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Declaration of Principles<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Companion Parties of the World Socialist Movement hold<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

  1. That society as at present constituted is based upon the ownership\r\nof the means of living (i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) by the\r\ncapitalist or master class, and the consequent enslavement of the\r\nworking class, by whose labor alone wealth is produced.<\/li>
  2. That in society, therefore, there is an antagonism of interests,\r\nmanifesting itself as a class struggle between those who possess but\r\ndo not produce and those who produce but do not possess.<\/li>
  3. That this antagonism can be abolished only by the emancipation of\r\nthe working class from the domination of the master class, by the\r\nconversion into the common property of society of the means of\r\nproduction and distribution, and their democratic control by the whole\r\npeople.<\/li>
  4. That as in the order of social evolution the working class is the\r\nlast class to achieve its freedom, the emancipation of the working\r\nclass will involve the emancipation of all mankind, without\r\ndistinction of race or sex.<\/li>
  5. That this emancipation must be the work of the working class\r\nitself.<\/li>
  6. That as the machinery of government, including the armed forces of\r\nthe nation, exists only to conserve the monopoly by the capitalist\r\nclass of the wealth taken from the workers, the working class must\r\norganize consciously and politically for the conquest of the powers of\r\ngovernment, national and local, in order that this machinery,\r\nincluding these forces, may be converted from an instrument of\r\noppression into the agent of emancipation and the overthrow of\r\nprivilege, aristocratic and plutocratic.<\/li>
  7. That as all political parties are but the expression of class\r\ninterests, and as the interest of the working class is diametrically\r\nopposed to the interests of all sections of the the master class, the\r\nparty seeking working class emancipation must be hostile to every\r\nother party.<\/li>
  8. The Companion Parties of the World Socialist Movement, therefore,\r\nenter the field of political action determined to wage war against\r\nall other political parties, whether alleged labor or avowedly\r\ncapitalist, and call upon the members of the working class of each\r\ncountry to muster under its banner to the end that a speedy\r\ntermination may be wrought to the system which deprives them of the\r\nfruits of their labor, and that poverty may give place to comfort,\r\nprivilege to equality, and slavery to freedom.<\/li><\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Back to Introductory Articles<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This declaration is the basis of our organization and, because it is also an important historical document dating from the formation of the first Socialist Party in 1904, its original language has been retained. An annotated version of the Object and Declaration of Principles, including explanations of what the Object and each Principle means to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2030,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-296","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5709,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296\/revisions\/5709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}