The Alternative to Capitalism

When you get involved in leftist politics, all to often you are confronted with the horrors of Capitalism. Even before that, for many of us, exposure to these horrors has forced us into disillusionment, distain, anger at the world around us. We talk frequently as the enlightened - not to sound too big in ourselves. Pointing out the barbarism, the contradictions and so forth. However what of the alternative?

For so many, an alternative is never seen. For many, an alternative seems too far away to grasp. So the purpose of this addition to this blog is to talk about Socialism - the only viable, though by no means permanent, alternative to Capitalism.

I'm not going to talk about Social Democratic policy, or a Reformist road to achieve Socialism. I'm going to be talking about what I consider the only viable method to achieve Socialism - The emancipation of the working class - and thereby, all of humanity.

The Capitalist system, in all its contradictions, all its horrors, creates its own grave, and grave digger. The Working Class. Where there may have been many classes before, Capitalism concentrated all persons into two Classes - Those that exploit - The Capitalist Class, and those that are exploited - The Working class. The Capitalist class rely almost entirely on the Working Class to use their capital. As through this relation, through this mode of production, exchange value is created. Never the less, the Capitalist Class must always try to maximise profit, to increase unendingly its own Capital. One of the most fundamental ways of doing this, is to pay its working class less for its commodity - Labour power/time.

If you use your imagination, and a little intellectualism, we can easily see the conflicting interests, objectively, between both classes. And it is this objective factor that creates what is called Class Struggle.

Socialism, to be created in its entirety, requires maturity of this struggle. It requires the working class, and the capitalist class, to be at war with each other. It sounds pretty dire, I know.

By War, I do not mean open warfare where the classes form armies and go head to head. I mean the working class attacking the fundamental core of the Capitalist system through their maturing struggle. Challenging the economic strength of the Capitalist - by withholding their Labour Power. Challenging the political strength of the Capitalist, by assembling in defiance of their will, and Challenging the ideology which justifies the Capitalist Class's existence, by destroying the prejudices and contradictory ideas in the heat of struggle - in the objective push toward a unified, coherent working class movement.

Though this mature struggle, a working class revolution can form. And with appropriate leadership - as there was in the 1917 Russian Revolution, and in the leadership of the Paris Commune of the 19th century, the working class can progress to the point of complete dissatisfaction with the Capitalist society formerly controlling them. They denounce the ideology, no longer recognise their society, and create the foundations for society anew.

But what is Socialist Society? What does the alternative look like? In the simplest terms, Democratic. There is but one fundamental, concrete factor we can all be sure of when it comes to what a Socialist Society looks like, true democracy. Where every person has a say, where elected representatives are no more powerful than the workers around them, and are held accountable for every move they make. Where workers democratically organise themselves, and produce for the needs of their fellow human beings, instead of for exploitative personal gain. This is the transitional product of working class movements coming to fruition under circumstances honed and tempered to their emancipation.

From this, it is clear we can see, that what Lenin, Trotsky, Marx and Engels, Luxemburg, etc fought and died for was not the Totalitarian dictatorships of Maoist China, or Stalinist Russia.

From this we see Socialism is not a government above the rest. Rather that it is united, free and equal, working class power. Where the majority rule, and the formerly ruling class minority become no more powerful than the people they once forced into subservience.

Beyond this, we cannot say what Socialist Society will look like. To speculate above and beyond democratic decision would be to remove ourselves from that ideal of true democracy, that democracy of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The point is that this is an alternative, that is achievable. It may be vague, and we may only have one sure thing to count on - provided our cards play out right, and we make it, but it already becomes better than the society of the Capitalist. And what's better, is that we would decide how it is run, what it entails. We would decide based on what we needed and wanted. What was just, and right by all humanity.

The Socialist alternative is democracy. Freedom. Equality.

We work for all, we feed all.