The Worker, Vol. 35, Number 10
Contents:
I. The Way Out of the Crisis and the Political Program of the Workers Party
II. Letter to the Editor
I. The Way Out of the Crisis and the Political Program of the Workers Party
II. Letter to the Editor
The Way Out of the Crisis and the Program of the Workers Party
None of the basic problems facing the American people can be resolved without the masses themselves coming out in their millions and tens of millions. Led by the working class, the people must come out as an independent political force with their own demands and program for resolving the crisis of our society. Today it is the working class which is the consistent fighter for democracy, for peace, for social progress; the working class strives to build a society without exploitation and oppression.
Under the capitalist system, the working class is an exploited, oppressed and enslaved class. Deprived of all private property in the means of production – disenfranchised from the tools of society – the workers can only secure a livelihood by selling their labor-power day in and day out to the capitalist exploiters. The workers exist solely in order to create surplus-value, profit, for the capitalists. As the crisis of capitalism deepens, the capitalists try to intensify the exploitation of the workers to the maximum, driving the workers deeper and deeper into poverty, misery and ruin. Not only in the factories and at the point of production, but in all aspects of life, the workers' very lives and aspirations are crushed by the capitalist exploiters; the workers suffer from all the decay and crisis of the capitalist system. It is the sons and daughters of the workers who are sent to die in imperialist wars launched by the government. It is the workers who suffer the whip of racial discrimination and national oppression. It is the workers who are poisoned by toxins on the job and in their homes, etc., etc.
But this is only one side of the existence of the workers. The working class is not solely an exploited and oppressed class – it is a fighting class, a revolutionary class. It is the labor of the working class – its muscles and brains – which produces all the material wealth of society. The working class is a revolutionary class because the very conditions of capitalist wage-slavery force the workers to struggle against exploitation and oppression. The working class is a revolutionary class because its very conditions of existence embody in embryo the new socialist relations which represent the future of society and humanity. It is the cooperative labor of the working class which is the source of all the material wealth of society. The social being of the worker is characterized by his solidarity and unity with all of oppressed mankind.
The fundamental contradiction of capitalist society – the contradiction between the social character, of the productive forces and the relations of private capitalist ownership – makes itself manifest as a class struggle between the workers and the capitalists. This fundamental contradiction, and this class struggle, grows daily and continuously from every pore of our society. Everywhere the workers face the same conditions, the same problems and inevitably the workers band together and come out as a united force to find common solutions to these problems. No force on earth can prevent the process of the working class uniting its ranks and coming out in struggle against capitalist exploitation and oppression.
The class struggle between the workers and the capitalists takes place along extremely broad and varied fronts, is waged over all significant problems concerning the life of the people, the character of society.
The workers are forced to wage innumerable partial struggles to defend their rights, to ameliorate to some extent the degree of exploitation, forced to struggle just to maintain their existence. In the economic struggle, for example, the workers in particular factories or industries fight against pay cuts and to improve their economic conditions. Similar partial struggles are waged continuously against police brutality, discrimination, the poisoning and destruction of the working class communities by the corporate polluters, etc., etc.
At the same time, since the general conditions of the workers in every factory and every community are the same, these partial struggles give rise to broader struggles, to political struggles through which the workers, as a class, strive to enforce a general improvement of their conditions. It has been through such nation-wide political struggles that the workers won the right to unionize, that the system of open segregation was destroyed and the black masses gained certain democratic rights, etc.
The general aim of the working class movement is to emancipate itself altogether from the chains of capitalist wage-slavery by creating a genuine socialist system, a system without the exploitation of man by man. To achieve this goal, the working class must win political power. Then and only then, will our society be run according to the needs and will of the overwhelming majority of the population, the laboring masses. In the course of the all-sided class struggle, the workers gain experience, learn the laws and features of the class struggle, recognize their opposition to the entire system of capitalist wage-slavery and become conscious of the conditions which must be created to win emancipation.
In the course of these struggles the workers also build up the organizations necessary to weld them together into an invincible force. Without their own independent organizations, organizations devoted solely to the interests of the working class and built by the people themselves, the workers cannot sustain and win their struggles. Thus, the working class needs and builds many types of organizations – it must build up fighting trade unions and other economic defense organizations which base themselves on struggle against the capitalist exploiters; the working class must build up organizations to fight against national oppression and in defense of the people's democratic rights, anti-war and anti-imperialist organizations, etc. The highest expression of the independent organization of the workers is the political party of the working class.
The Workers Party is the political party of the working class.
The Workers Party participates in and strives to push forward all the partial struggles of the workers in defense of their economic and political rights. The Workers Party lends consciousness and organization to these struggles, exposing the conditions imposed on the people, helping to formulate the demands of the workers, and building up the organizations necessary to sustain and win the struggle. In the course of these partial struggles, the Workers Party also takes care of the future of the movement, exposing the capitalist system as the source of the exploitation and suffering of the workers, underlining the necessity for the workers to come out as an independent political force in order to win the struggle for their general and fundamental interests. In this way, the Workers Party seeks to develop all the struggles of the working class and broad masses as part of a conscious and systematic movement towards the winning of political power by the workers.
The minimum program of the Workers Party fights for the economic rights of the workers and broad masses of people. We demand full-time jobs or income (at a level which guarantees a decent, stable standard of living) for everyone. We struggle to force the capitalists and the government to meet all the basic economic needs of the people: we fight for free, universal and comprehensive health care; we demand that the best education – at all levels – be free for everyone; we demand that every worker be guaranteed a full pension at the time of retirement; etc. All these economic rights can be won by making the rich pay for the crisis of their capitalist system. We say that the government budget can readily guarantee the social services and economic needs of the masses even while drastically lowering the taxes imposed on the working people. All that needs to be done is to tax the rich and the monopoly corporations.
The Workers Party combats the growing fascism and government repression; we fight to defend and win full and genuine democratic rights for the masses. We propose that the governmental system be re-organized so as to break the monopoly of the two big capitalist parties, so that the government officials are accountable to the masses and paid no more than the workers themselves. We defend the right of the workers to strike and employ any and all means of struggle and organization that the workers themselves deem necessary. We fight for complete equality for the oppressed nationalities and women and demand the vigorous prosecution and suppression of racist and fascist elements.
The Workers Party fights against the cancer of militarism, against the aggressive foreign policy of the U.S. government, against the imperialist wars waged on behalf of the multi-national corporations. We raise the slogan: Not One Cent, Not One Life for Imperialist War. The Workers Party fights to achieve in practice the age-old aspiration of the peoples to live in peace and harmony with each other, to oppose imperialist intervention, national antagonisms and wars. We support the struggles of the working class and oppressed nations throughout the world, struggles which aim at guaranteeing the independence and sovereignty of all nations, at securing the freedom and emancipation of the peoples.
The strategic and long-range program of the Workers Party is to win the battle for political power, to raise the working class up to the position of the ruling class in society. Only when the working class runs the government can it insure that the economy and the entire social system is geared first and foremost to meeting the needs of the people, not increasing the profit margins of the capitalists. Only when the working class becomes the ruling class can it guarantee equal rights and genuine democracy for all the laboring masses.
Once the workers have won the political power, the program of the Workers Party calls for the building of a genuine socialist society and proceeding along this path to communism.
Under socialism the means of production – the tools of society – will be the collective property of all the laboring people. Socialism abolishes the system of exploitation of man by man and replaces it with a system whereby each is paid only according to the quality and quantity of work done. Socialism will guarantee all the basic economic needs of the people – guaranteeing employment, medical care, education, pensions, etc. for everybody. The socialist economy will eliminate the anarchy and crises characteristic of capitalism and through planned economic development ceaselessly enhance the productivity of the country and the well-being of the masses. The planned economy will take full account of the need to protect the environment and maintain a harmony between man and nature.
Under socialism, the political system will be based on genuine democracy for the working people. Democratic freedoms will be guaranteed not only on paper but the workers themselves will sit in the seats of government, the masses will have direct and continuous access to their representatives as well as the right to recall officials at any time. The masses will have direct control over and access to the mass media and other means of communication so as to insure in practice such rights as freedom of speech, freedom of association, etc. The state will be charged with guaranteeing complete equality for the oppressed nationalities and women and with the vigorous suppression of any and every manifestation of discrimination, national oppression, etc.
Under the capitalist system, the working class is an exploited, oppressed and enslaved class. Deprived of all private property in the means of production – disenfranchised from the tools of society – the workers can only secure a livelihood by selling their labor-power day in and day out to the capitalist exploiters. The workers exist solely in order to create surplus-value, profit, for the capitalists. As the crisis of capitalism deepens, the capitalists try to intensify the exploitation of the workers to the maximum, driving the workers deeper and deeper into poverty, misery and ruin. Not only in the factories and at the point of production, but in all aspects of life, the workers' very lives and aspirations are crushed by the capitalist exploiters; the workers suffer from all the decay and crisis of the capitalist system. It is the sons and daughters of the workers who are sent to die in imperialist wars launched by the government. It is the workers who suffer the whip of racial discrimination and national oppression. It is the workers who are poisoned by toxins on the job and in their homes, etc., etc.
But this is only one side of the existence of the workers. The working class is not solely an exploited and oppressed class – it is a fighting class, a revolutionary class. It is the labor of the working class – its muscles and brains – which produces all the material wealth of society. The working class is a revolutionary class because the very conditions of capitalist wage-slavery force the workers to struggle against exploitation and oppression. The working class is a revolutionary class because its very conditions of existence embody in embryo the new socialist relations which represent the future of society and humanity. It is the cooperative labor of the working class which is the source of all the material wealth of society. The social being of the worker is characterized by his solidarity and unity with all of oppressed mankind.
The fundamental contradiction of capitalist society – the contradiction between the social character, of the productive forces and the relations of private capitalist ownership – makes itself manifest as a class struggle between the workers and the capitalists. This fundamental contradiction, and this class struggle, grows daily and continuously from every pore of our society. Everywhere the workers face the same conditions, the same problems and inevitably the workers band together and come out as a united force to find common solutions to these problems. No force on earth can prevent the process of the working class uniting its ranks and coming out in struggle against capitalist exploitation and oppression.
The class struggle between the workers and the capitalists takes place along extremely broad and varied fronts, is waged over all significant problems concerning the life of the people, the character of society.
The workers are forced to wage innumerable partial struggles to defend their rights, to ameliorate to some extent the degree of exploitation, forced to struggle just to maintain their existence. In the economic struggle, for example, the workers in particular factories or industries fight against pay cuts and to improve their economic conditions. Similar partial struggles are waged continuously against police brutality, discrimination, the poisoning and destruction of the working class communities by the corporate polluters, etc., etc.
At the same time, since the general conditions of the workers in every factory and every community are the same, these partial struggles give rise to broader struggles, to political struggles through which the workers, as a class, strive to enforce a general improvement of their conditions. It has been through such nation-wide political struggles that the workers won the right to unionize, that the system of open segregation was destroyed and the black masses gained certain democratic rights, etc.
The general aim of the working class movement is to emancipate itself altogether from the chains of capitalist wage-slavery by creating a genuine socialist system, a system without the exploitation of man by man. To achieve this goal, the working class must win political power. Then and only then, will our society be run according to the needs and will of the overwhelming majority of the population, the laboring masses. In the course of the all-sided class struggle, the workers gain experience, learn the laws and features of the class struggle, recognize their opposition to the entire system of capitalist wage-slavery and become conscious of the conditions which must be created to win emancipation.
In the course of these struggles the workers also build up the organizations necessary to weld them together into an invincible force. Without their own independent organizations, organizations devoted solely to the interests of the working class and built by the people themselves, the workers cannot sustain and win their struggles. Thus, the working class needs and builds many types of organizations – it must build up fighting trade unions and other economic defense organizations which base themselves on struggle against the capitalist exploiters; the working class must build up organizations to fight against national oppression and in defense of the people's democratic rights, anti-war and anti-imperialist organizations, etc. The highest expression of the independent organization of the workers is the political party of the working class.
The Workers Party is the political party of the working class.
The Workers Party participates in and strives to push forward all the partial struggles of the workers in defense of their economic and political rights. The Workers Party lends consciousness and organization to these struggles, exposing the conditions imposed on the people, helping to formulate the demands of the workers, and building up the organizations necessary to sustain and win the struggle. In the course of these partial struggles, the Workers Party also takes care of the future of the movement, exposing the capitalist system as the source of the exploitation and suffering of the workers, underlining the necessity for the workers to come out as an independent political force in order to win the struggle for their general and fundamental interests. In this way, the Workers Party seeks to develop all the struggles of the working class and broad masses as part of a conscious and systematic movement towards the winning of political power by the workers.
The minimum program of the Workers Party fights for the economic rights of the workers and broad masses of people. We demand full-time jobs or income (at a level which guarantees a decent, stable standard of living) for everyone. We struggle to force the capitalists and the government to meet all the basic economic needs of the people: we fight for free, universal and comprehensive health care; we demand that the best education – at all levels – be free for everyone; we demand that every worker be guaranteed a full pension at the time of retirement; etc. All these economic rights can be won by making the rich pay for the crisis of their capitalist system. We say that the government budget can readily guarantee the social services and economic needs of the masses even while drastically lowering the taxes imposed on the working people. All that needs to be done is to tax the rich and the monopoly corporations.
The Workers Party combats the growing fascism and government repression; we fight to defend and win full and genuine democratic rights for the masses. We propose that the governmental system be re-organized so as to break the monopoly of the two big capitalist parties, so that the government officials are accountable to the masses and paid no more than the workers themselves. We defend the right of the workers to strike and employ any and all means of struggle and organization that the workers themselves deem necessary. We fight for complete equality for the oppressed nationalities and women and demand the vigorous prosecution and suppression of racist and fascist elements.
The Workers Party fights against the cancer of militarism, against the aggressive foreign policy of the U.S. government, against the imperialist wars waged on behalf of the multi-national corporations. We raise the slogan: Not One Cent, Not One Life for Imperialist War. The Workers Party fights to achieve in practice the age-old aspiration of the peoples to live in peace and harmony with each other, to oppose imperialist intervention, national antagonisms and wars. We support the struggles of the working class and oppressed nations throughout the world, struggles which aim at guaranteeing the independence and sovereignty of all nations, at securing the freedom and emancipation of the peoples.
The strategic and long-range program of the Workers Party is to win the battle for political power, to raise the working class up to the position of the ruling class in society. Only when the working class runs the government can it insure that the economy and the entire social system is geared first and foremost to meeting the needs of the people, not increasing the profit margins of the capitalists. Only when the working class becomes the ruling class can it guarantee equal rights and genuine democracy for all the laboring masses.
Once the workers have won the political power, the program of the Workers Party calls for the building of a genuine socialist society and proceeding along this path to communism.
Under socialism the means of production – the tools of society – will be the collective property of all the laboring people. Socialism abolishes the system of exploitation of man by man and replaces it with a system whereby each is paid only according to the quality and quantity of work done. Socialism will guarantee all the basic economic needs of the people – guaranteeing employment, medical care, education, pensions, etc. for everybody. The socialist economy will eliminate the anarchy and crises characteristic of capitalism and through planned economic development ceaselessly enhance the productivity of the country and the well-being of the masses. The planned economy will take full account of the need to protect the environment and maintain a harmony between man and nature.
Under socialism, the political system will be based on genuine democracy for the working people. Democratic freedoms will be guaranteed not only on paper but the workers themselves will sit in the seats of government, the masses will have direct and continuous access to their representatives as well as the right to recall officials at any time. The masses will have direct control over and access to the mass media and other means of communication so as to insure in practice such rights as freedom of speech, freedom of association, etc. The state will be charged with guaranteeing complete equality for the oppressed nationalities and women and with the vigorous suppression of any and every manifestation of discrimination, national oppression, etc.
Letter to the Editor
I am a regular reader of "The Worker". I wanted to share that prior to reading "The Worker" I knew that there is a basic problem in our society. It did not make sense to me that we have all the wealth and technology in our country, yet there are millions of people that can't find jobs, or that we had people that can go homeless or people that can go sick and can't afford basic medical assistance.
I came to learn through reading "The Worker" that the issue is rooted in the fact that we have a small percentage of the population that lives on the wealth that is created by all the workers and people in our society. No one talks about the fact that we live in a class society where we are divided between capitalists and workers.
Today, I share "The Worker" with my friends and I tell them that we all need to speak out against the exploitation that is waged against all of us by the capitalist class. And, I tell them that we all need to speak with one voice and speak the reality that our society is divided to a "capitalist class" and a "working class". I do believe that speaking this truth will help unite the ranks of the people to defeat the agenda of the capitalist class.
Thank you to "The Worker" for providing the analysis and theory to help create a new space for political discussion.
I came to learn through reading "The Worker" that the issue is rooted in the fact that we have a small percentage of the population that lives on the wealth that is created by all the workers and people in our society. No one talks about the fact that we live in a class society where we are divided between capitalists and workers.
Today, I share "The Worker" with my friends and I tell them that we all need to speak out against the exploitation that is waged against all of us by the capitalist class. And, I tell them that we all need to speak with one voice and speak the reality that our society is divided to a "capitalist class" and a "working class". I do believe that speaking this truth will help unite the ranks of the people to defeat the agenda of the capitalist class.
Thank you to "The Worker" for providing the analysis and theory to help create a new space for political discussion.