Socialist Standard October 2017 1 socialist standard Contents October 2017 Features Regulars 10 Was Russia ever socialist? 10 4 Pathfi nders What others later wrote with hindsight, we 5 Le ers wrote at the me with foresight 6 Russia 1917 14 What would a real socialist 9 Material World revolu on look like? 18 Cooking the Books People are some mes put off by the word 19 Proper Gander ‘revolu on’, but there’s no need to be 20 Reviews 16 Ideology & Revolu on 22 50 Years Ago Start of a 3-parter on historical changes, who carried them out and why 22 Ac on Replay 23 Mee ngs 24 Rear View 16 24 Free Lunch

9 19

Introducing the Socialist Party

The Socialist Party is like no other poli cal capitalism. The more of you who join the Socialist party in Britain. It is made up of people We use every possible opportunity Party the more we will be able to get our who have joined together because we to make new socialists. We publish ideas across, the more experiences we want to get rid of the profi t pamphlets and books, as well as will be able to draw on and greater will be system and establish real CDs, DVDs and various other the new ideas for building the movement socialism. Our aim is to informa ve material. We which you will be able to bring us. persuade others to also give talks and take The Socialist Party is an organisa on of become socialist and part in debates; a end equals. There is no leader and there are act for themselves, rallies, mee ngs and no followers. So, if you are going to join organising demos; run educa onal we want you to be sure that you agree democra cally and conferences; host fully with what we stand for and that we without leaders, to internet discussion are sa sfi ed that you understand the case bring about the kind forums, make fi lms for socialism. of society that we presen ng our ideas, and are advoca ng in this contest elec ons when journal. We are solely prac cal. Socialist literature concerned with building is available in Arabic, Bengali, a movement of socialists for Dutch, Esperanto, French, German, socialism. We are not a reformist party Italian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish and All original material is available under the Crea ve Commons A ribu on-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales with a programme of policies to patch up Turkish as well as English. (CC BY-ND 2.0 UK) licence.

2 Socialist Standard October 2017 Editorial What socialism is really about

PRIOR TO the Bolshevik Revolu on ‘Communist’ par es were formed dictatorship, its economy was falling in Russia, there was an understanding worldwide and had become mouthpieces behind those of the Western countries among many workers, that socialism was of the new regime and were infl uen al in too, and the living standards of its a society of common ownership of the the trade unions and had some electoral workers were low in comparison to means of living where the state, money success in countries such as France Western workers. When the USSR and na onal fron ers would be rendered and Italy. This allowed governments fi nally collapsed, supporters of private- obsolete, and that it could be established and employers to claim that the enterprise capitalism were not slow in peacefully and democra cally. ‘Communists’ were behind many strikes proclaiming that not only had socialism That all changed a er the Bolsheviks and other manifesta ons of working class been oppressive and economically seized power. The Bolshevik leaders discontent. One example was that during ineffi cient, but that it no longer worked understood that socialism could only the 1966 seamen’s strike, Harold Wilson, and that there was no alterna ve to the be achieved worldwide and hoped that the Labour Prime Minister, alleged that free market. Unfortunately, this tenet the revolu on would spread to the the la er had been taken over by the has defi ned global poli cs for at least the West. Lenin admi ed that what existed ‘Communists’. Trotskyist and Maoist last quarter of a century. Many workers in the new Soviet state was really state groups, although cri cal of the Soviet who looked for radical change became capitalism. A er the failure of similar regime, s ll defended state capitalism in disillusioned and either dropped out of uprisings in Europe, their hopes were the guise of ‘socialism’ and the tac c of a poli cs altogether or se led for more dashed. Stalin, as the new Soviet leader, vanguard party leading the working class mainstream reformist par es. came to terms with this reality by to revolu on. Needless to say, this has all made it promulga ng the theory of ‘Socialism in However, events like the violent rather more diffi cult for the Socialist Party One Country’ to describe the regime. suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion in to get our message across. However, Therefore, the prevailing view of 1921, the Stalinist purges in the 1930s, capitalism always throws up social socialism was no longer a world society the crushing of the Hungarian uprising in problems for the working class, and of human coopera on and freedom, but 1956, the invasion of Czechoslovakia in therefore it draws workers into poli cal a state capitalist dictatorship imposed on 1968 and the existence of prison camps in ac on. We are confi dent that more its popula on. It would not be brought Siberia exposed the oppressive nature of workers will come to see through the about by a socialist, conscious working the Soviet regime, where workers lacked fi c on that the USSR was ever a ‘socialist class but by a vanguard party leading the trade union and other rights. state’ and come to understand what working class through a violent uprising. Not only was the USSR a poli cal socialism is really about.

Socialist Standard October 2017 3 pot. This makes it simpler for them, and Paying real cash would come to be seen Subscrip on-based works for the debtors too. as weird and unnatural. And perhaps in capitalism Suppose, on the same principle, a new order to cut admin costs ever further, cloud-based super-Pla orm service arises the Hub would start to make some cheap EVERYONE KNOWS that cu ng costs which off ers to consolidate ALL your living things actually free, the way supermarkets means boos ng or at least safeguarding expenses including rent, food budget, off er free taxi phones and trains off er free profi ts, and some elements in the fuel, educa on, entertainment, holidays, newspapers. Over me, the expecta on capitalist class are now fi guring out that even savings, into one monthly sub, may be one of increasing levels of service they can cut their administra on costs which amounts to most or perhaps even and free elements, versus stable or by doing away with individual purchase the whole of your wage. So your wage lowering subscrip on rates. transac ons and moving towards a doesn’t go to you, it goes to the Hub, and The subjec ve experience of such a subscrip on-based business model. you don’t need to think about money subscrip on-based world would be a life We’re familiar with subscrip ons with at all unless you want to buy something without paying for things, without cash or things like unions, clubs, poli cal par es, that’s not in the budget. This might then card transac ons, where money becomes rail travel, telephone lines and mobiles be automa cally nego ated as an overall invisible and, in prac ce, non-existent. and newspapers. You could add the BBC rearrangement in your Hub payment, with All that would remain is the single TV licence fee, the NHS and any kind of less going to savings, holidays etc. You subscrip on, the Life Bond. insurance policy too. One can think of wouldn’t have to worry about whether Could all this help socialist ideas to a subscrip on as another form of rent you could pay back a debt because you prosper, if we don’t get a revolu on in the for something you use but don’t own. wouldn’t be allowed to accrue any debts. mean me through other means? What it The advantage to you is simplicity. The The only thing you’d need to worry about could do is reduce the conceptual gap. Life advantage to the provider is low admin is not losing your job and being unable as it is presently experienced in capitalism costs, locked-in customers or ‘members’, to pay your monthly life subscrip on. If is a ma er of being caught fast in a giant and reliable, predictable income, an you underspend carefully, you’ll be in web of debts and fi nancial obliga ons. especially bankable asset for any business. credit and more goes into your savings. It’s hard to see how you can sever all So now we have Ne lix subscrip ons, If you overspend, then once your savings the bonds that hold you to capitalism, in and Spo fy and iTunes. So ware houses and holiday funds are gone you will not fact it seems impossible. But one single like Microso and Adobe, red of having be able to buy anything as the Hub will connec on is a diff erent ma er. Then to market every update and sell it all over not allow it, but will instead place you ‘in the task becomes conceptually easier. again to customers who don’t need it, administra on’. What this might involve is Instead of hacking your way out of a have moved over to subscrip on-based anybody’s guess. The experience could be limitless fi nancial mesh, you are invited models. You can’t buy the so ware, you like being strangled by your own dog lead. to cut just one cord, the golden leash that can only rent it, but the updates are all Well, so what, you might ask. Maybe binds you. For the rest, you are already free. capitalism will go down this road, maybe it accustomed to free access, so instead of Perhaps no surprise that the founder of won’t. How does this change anything? being some frightening leap in the dark, Ne lix now wants to do the same thing Well that’s the interes ng ques on, socialism represents a world of familiarity with cinemas (BBC Online, 8 September, from a socialist point of view. What a and con nuity, something you almost had h p:// nyurl.com/yabwqfd4). subscrip on does is decouple the act of anyway but not quite, and not for real. The subscrip on model was always consump on from the act of transac on. Thus, Day One of socialism could mean, for prac cal for retail areas that were steady To an outsider who does not see the many people, con nuing largely as they and largely unchanging. What’s new is that monthly, digital payment that takes place did before, the only material diff erence the model can now be applied to areas behind the scenes, normal everyday being that they would not be required to of fl uctua ng demand and usage, thanks consump on would look as if it was free. worry about subscrip ons, or the means to to sophis cated real- me transac on You get a train cket: no charge. You get service them, ever again. monitoring within a fully-connected and breakfast on the train: no charge. You go PJS automated banking system. Just how far to the movies, buy a dress, have a couple can this model go? What if it goes all the of G&Ts in a way? wine-bar, take Recently technology has facilitated the a taxi home, rise of the so-called Pla orm service, an order a takeout: aggrega on of small or sole traders onto no charge. one centralised commercial hub which In other gives them access for a fee to a level of words, it would marke ng, market reach and fi nancial look like a administra on that would be beyond society of free them as individuals. Think Uber, and access, and the ubiquitous Just Eat, now appearing subscribers on every high street. Think eBay, and would grow Airbnb, and Facebook and Google, accustomed to all matchmaking buyer to seller and a culture and streamlining the transac onal process. an expecta on People who have mul ple debts and at of free access. least some hope of being able to pay them Even though already know that they can consolidate it isn’t free, it would look and these disparate debts, with their varying Free access - at a price rates and payment terms, into one central feel that way.

4 Socialist Standard October 2017 Le ers

State benefi ts prac cally non-existent— Is Marx’s analysis of certainly diminishing rapidly, and bills Reply: for food, rent, clothing and childcare and capitalism relevant leisure etc., etc., keep rising and more So you like the dialec c but not the much and more we work longer and longer simpler theory of surplus value! today? hours and many in more than one job. Certainly experience has shown more The global capitalist economy has created than any book that capitalism can’t Dear Editors too many workers needing to earn a work in the interest of the majority class living—and increasing that number by of wage and salary workers and their The ar cle ‘Analysing an economic system’ hundreds of thousands if not millions daily dependants. And you are right that in (Socialist Standard, September) closes and capitalists cannot meet that need for the end, as long as people realise this, with the words: [today] Marx’s Capital employment and on wages adequate for they don’t really need to know exactly remains valid and relevant. Well sure as everyday bills never mind decent living. why – though having some idea why his analysis is valid—correct, and Wall Life is no fun for capitalists themselves, would avoid the risk of being misled by Street spivs confi rm this, but as a poli cal they cannot in general make an acceptable radical-sounding reformists. As you say, weapon for workers…well, increasing profi t (acceptable to them) hence more understanding this is the basis of the less so. The irony is that perhaps Marx’s and more tax dodging (legal, illegal and case for socialism. The deduc on from Capital is more relevant to ‘city types’ with permission), calls for set-up and ‘capitalism can’t be reformed to work for than to workers. Marx’s illumina ons to maintenance grants, thus they can no the majority’ is that the majority needs to workers (and ‘city types’) on capitalism: its longer aff ord to maintain their States, thus consider what diff erent system of society exploita on, surplus value, its transitory cuts (or austerity) in health, educa on would work in their interest. Which is existence, its contradic ons—and your and council spending and no way can where socialists come in. Experience does point on behalf of Marx, that it’s iron-clad any of these trends be halted never mind not automa cally lead to understanding; rules (economic laws) have not changed reversed. Two cases in point: UK trains refl ec on has to intervene whether this over me…etc., etc., are interes ng and main energy supplier corpora ons involves talking to others or reading. to academics and economists, but for for their size, customer base and capital Marx’s analysis – whether in his own workers today—h’mmm? input cannot make acceptable profi ts for words or in popularisa ons – is a key Has Marx’s analysis in Capital, as a value dividend expecta ons and this with UK weapon in the socialist arsenal in the to workers for change, been surpassed by government subsidies for infrastructure ba le of ideas against capitalism. Agreed, the actual prac cal workers experience maintenance and upgrades. Even the we also need to present the alterna ve, of capitalism today in that today there is mighty Apple Corpora on is fast losing which the second ar cle in the same issue, increasingly developing an impossibilist ground to Samsung and Huawei and up- ‘A World Without Commodi es’, did. The situa on reality for most workers in and-coming others. discussion forum you call for already exists the West that cannot be turned around With the present state of technological and can be found at: worldsocialism.org/ or alleviated by social reformers or by development maximised by capitalists spgb/forum. capitalists themselves wishing to preserve this perilous state of Western workers will Capitalism, at least in the West, is in their society in a Keynes moment? This soon befall those in China and India, and a bad state compared to in some earlier to be quickly followed by others in China thus well over half the globe’s workers periods, but whether we can conclude and India and emerging Africa and is this will be aff ected and feel threatened and that ‘wages are shrinking never to come a development which Marx himself would angry—out of a job and their only source up again’ or that unemployment is to have relished? Prac cal experience over of income. go on growing and growing is another theory and idea. Endless talk about Marx and his ma er. Of course, even if wages do go So who cares how it works, knowing illumina ons are not going to get the job up again and unemployment goes down that it doesn’t work and it cannot be made done. the case against capitalism remains to work by ‘roman c fi xers’ is knowing Of course Marx and his dialec cal valid. Capitalism will s ll be based on the enough, the experienced reality that it method is invaluable for moving forward exploita on of wage-labour for surplus does not work is by far the be er educator and we should be applying this method value (as Marx explained in detail) and it for workers. Therefore, should SPGB and to everyday problems facing the globe as will s ll be impossible to make it work in World Socialist Movement workers and examples. Brush-up here: the interests of the majority – Editors. Trade Unionists etc., etc., speak less of www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/books/ Marx and more point out the fact that it index.php cannot be made to work and what it might WILLIAM DUNN, Glasgow be replaced with? To highlight how we might do things diff erently post capitalism is not to become the li le cook in his/ her cookshop churning out blueprints for some far-off future—the future is here and now. It’s me to start cooking! Let us all set out our vision of Socialist Society— free society and let us set in mo on an on-line discussion and the World Socialist Movement set up another website for this very purpose; you don’t have to insist on party membership to par cipate—being a member of the working class ought to be suffi cient. In the West jobs are disappearing to Far East workers and technology and never to come back, wages are sinking never to come up, pensions are a pi ance and

Socialist Standard October 2017 5 Russia 1917 - as we saw it

It was not un l August 1918 that the Socialist Standard off ered a considered opinion, and only on the basis of the incomplete informa on then available, on the Bolshevik seizure of power in a 3,500 word ar cle en tled ‘The Revolu on in Russia. Where it Fails’. Even if it represented a worker’s takeover like the 1871 Paris Commune it was not and could not have been a socialist revolu on.

What jus fi ca on is there, then, for terming the upheaval in Russia a Socialist Revolu on? None whatever beyond the fact that the leaders in the November movement claim to be Marxian Socialists. M. Litvinoff prac cally admits this when he says (p.37): “In seizing the reigns of power the Bolsheviks were obviously playing a game with high stake. Petrograd had shown itself en rely on their side. To what extent would the masses of the proletariat and the peasant army in the rest of the country support them?” This is a clear confession that the Bolsheviks themselves did not know the views of the mass when they took control. (...) From the various accounts and of the capitalist Press (and, as stated above, M. Litvinoff does not supply us with any other informa on) it seems the Bolsheviks form the driving force, and perhaps even the majority, of the new Government, some mes called the Soviet Government and some mes the “Council of Peoples’ ‘Why the Russian Revolu on Wasn’t a Socialist Commissaries”. The Soviet Government Revolu on’ certainly appears to have been accepted, or at least acquiesced in, by the bulk of A reprint of the Menshevik Julius Martov’s cri cal views on the nature the Russian workers. The grounds for of the Bolshevik revolu on of 1917 and the poli cs of Leninism from a this acceptance are fairly clear. First the Marxist perspec ve. It includes an introduc on by the Socialist Party, on the Soviet Government promised peace; occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the Bolshevik revolu on in secondly they promised a se lement Russia. of the land ques on; thirdly they announced a solu on of the industrial Copies from the Socialist Party, 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 for workers grievances. (...) That this mixed £2.00 including P & P. Cheques to ‘The Socialist Party of Great Britain’.

6 Socialist Standard October 2017 Government should have been tacitly Refl ec ons on elec ons going on somewhere, punctuated by more accepted by the Russian workers is no Refl ec ons on elec ons serious clashes such as North Korea and cause for surprise. Quite the contrary. Syria. Over it all hangs the threat of a war They (the Soviet Government) appear fought out with nuclear weapons. to have done all that was possible in henever there is an elec on, It is not accidental that the poli cians the circumstances to carry their peace like last year or currently in make so many promises and that they proposals. (...) WGermany, the person in the have so li le eff ect upon the ailments they As is admi ed by the various sec ons street — the so-called ordinary voter are supposed to cure. The world is full of of the capitalist Press, the Soviet — suddenly becomes very popular. Any chronic problems, but this is not because representa ves at the Brest-Litovsk number of poli cal par es are anxious to poli cal par es have not thought up Conference stood fi rm on their original please them and make them all manner reforms which are supposed to deal with proposals to the last moment. That they of temp ng promises, if they in their them nor because their leaders are not had to accept hard terms in the end turn will agree to vote for their party’s clever or knowledgeable enough. is no way any discredit to them, but it candidate. Elec on me, in other words, is The fact is that the problems persist was a result of condi ons quite beyond the me when there is an enormous hunt whichever party is in power — and this their control. If they had done no more for Votes. suggests that their roots go deep into the than this, if they had been compelled to The bait which is used in this hunt very nature of modern society. give up offi ce on their return, the fact is largely made up by promises. All We live today in a social system which that they had nego ated a stoppage of other par es off er this bait, and the is called capitalism. The basis of this the slaughter and maiming of millions generosity of their promises is usually system is the ownership by a sec on of of the working class would have been in inverse propor on to the likelihood the popula on of the means of producing a monument to their honour, and of their ge ng power. The Labour and and distribu ng wealth — of factories, cons tuted an undeniable claim to the Conserva ve Par es cannot be too transport, communica ons and so on. It highest approba on of the workers the extravagant; the Liberals can be a li le follows from this that all the wealth which world over. (...) more wild; the Greens and the far Le can we produce today is turned out with With the mass of the Russian people promise almost anything. And so on. the inten on of realising a profi t for the s ll lacking the knowledge necessary Most of the promises in an elec on are owning class. It is from this basis that the for the establishment of socialism, with about things like modernisa on, housing, problems of modern society spring. both groups of belligerents sending educa on, pensions, wages and prices, The class which does not own the armed forces into the country, with the war and peace. To read the literature of means of wealth produc on – the working possible combina on of those groups these other par es, it seems that all that class – are condemned to a life of ra oned for the purpose of restoring capitalist has to be done to solve overnight all the dependence upon their wage or salary. rule, even if not a monarchy, in Russia, problems connected with these issues is This expresses itself in inferior housing, ma ers look gloomy for the people there. to vote for their candidate. They will all, it clothes, educa on, and the like. If the capitalist class in the belligerent seems, bring Bri sh industry up to date, The basis of capitalism throws up the countries succeed in this plan, the Soviet build aff ordable housing, give everyone con nual ba le over wages and working Government and its supporters may expect a fair chance of the best educa on, keep condi ons with a endant employment as li le mercy as—nay, less than—the prices stable while wages increase, protect disputes. It gives rise, with its interna onal Khirgiz Tartars received. It may be another the environment, banish war from the economic rivalries, to the wars which have Paris Commune on an immensely larger earth. disfi gured recent history. scale. These promises sound very fi ne and Every other party stands for capitalism, Every worker who understands his class in one elec on a er another millions whatever they may call themselves. And posi on will hope that some way will be of working people vote for them. And whatever their protesta ons, they stand found out of the threatened evil. Should presumably, when they do so, they think for a world of poverty, hunger, unrest and that hope be unrealised, should further that they are contribu ng to the solu on war. They stand for a world in which no vic ms be fated to fall to the greed and of our problems. human being is secure. hatred of the capitalist class, it will remain But stop and think about it. The way out is a world in which on record that when members of the Firstly, it is obvious that elec on everything which goes to make and working class took control of aff airs in promises are not a new thing. Poli cal distribute wealth is owned by the people Russia, they conducted themselves with par es have been making them for as long of the world. Because socialism is the vastly greater humanity, managed social as anyone can remember – and always direct opposite of capitalism, it follows and economic ma ers with greater ability about the same sorts of problems. that when it is established the basic and success and with largely reduced pain Now what has been the result of all problems of capitalism will disappear. and suff ering, than any sec on of the this? There will be no more war, no more cunning, cowardly, ignorant capitalist class The housing problem remains with poverty. People will live a full, abundant were able to do, with all the numerous us despite repeated promises to deal life; we shall be free. advantages they possessed. with it. The sort of educa on we get is But socialism cannot be brought about governed by the fi nancial standing of our by promises. It needs a knowledgeable parents. There are s ll millions of old working class who understand and desire (Socialist Standard, August 1918. Full age pensioners living on the ghtrope of it. They alone can establish the new world ar cle: www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/ des tu on — and it only needs something system we need. socialist-standard/1910s/1918/no-168- like a severe winter for many of them to When we contest elec ons our august-1918/revolu on-russia-where-it- loosen their precarious hold on life. candidates from the Socialist Party do not fails). Prices are rising. Wages are s ll make any promises; they do not try to stagna ng. Whatever the respec ve level convince voters that they will do anything of prices and wages, we always fi nd that for them. What they off er is the case for our wage packet only just covers our food, a new social system. We are seeking to clothing, entertainment and whatever else spread knowledge and understanding of goes to keep us cking over. socialism and to give as many people as War is just as much a universal problem possible the opportunity of vo ng for a as ever. There are always minor wars world of abundance, peace and freedom.

Socialist Standard October 2017 7 Contact details website: www.worldsocialism.org/spgb email: [email protected]

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8 Socialist Standard October 2017 The road from Burma

THE PLIGHT and persecu on of the Rohingya have featured in the columns of Material World previously. Like so many problems thrown up by capitalism, the topic slips out of the headlines only to return later with greater tragedy. Tens of thousands are fl eeing Myanmar as best they can, driven from their homes by the violence of Myanmar government troops and accompanying vigilante Burmese mobs infl ic ng massacres and atroci es, in what now appears customary prac ce in ethnic cleansing opera ons. Yet the Rohingya in search of sanctuary fi nd it thwarted by Bangladesh and India border guards, The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, the unoffi cial leader of Myanmar, congratulates her army and condemns the Rohingya for exaggera ng their suff ering. She accuses the interna onal aid organisa ons of complicity in giving the Rohingya ‘terrorists’ support and succour. Fellow Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai has cri cised Aung San Suu Kyi for turning a blind eye to the arson and murder. Myanmar has blocked humanitarian aid agencies from delivering vital supplies of food, water and medicine to the desperate civilians. Each day seems to bring new trained by private individuals in Pakistan Chinese Shan to support the Rohingya. brutali es and expulsion of Rohingya and Saudi Arabia who have campaigned As soon as you choose to struggle with families. to enhance ARSA’s religious legi macy violence you’re choosing to fi ght against The violence has dras cally escalated further by obtaining fatwas from senior opponents who are on their own terrain the sectarian strife. The Myanmar clerics in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and and in possession of the best weapons. army, the Tatmadaw, who had never elsewhere. The stated aim of ARSA is The state’s police and army are be er really yielded their power to the civilian to secure the rights of the Rohingya as trained in using those weapons. And they government, engaged in the brutal ci zens within Burma, however its choice control the infrastructure that allows them repression of dissent, pushing some of violent resistance may well have set to deploy their might. To fi ght dictators Rohingya to call for an armed uprising to back that cause. It has fuelled the regime’s with violence is to cede to them the stop the oppression. claims that the Rohingya are not peaceful, choice of ba leground and tac cs. Using The problem, therefore, became and that they are foreign interlopers, not violence against experts is the quickest exacerbated by the arrival on the scene truly deserving of na onal recogni on and way to defeat. of armed groups such as the Arakan must be expelled. Socialists are always spontaneously Rohingya Salv (ARSA) – who launched What is to be feared by authoritarian on the side of the oppressed against the violent a acks against Burma’s military. states most is non-violent protest. Non- oppressors. As world socialists, we are In October 2016, hundreds of fi ghters violence is neither passive nor a way of repelled by the needless and mindless a acked border posts which prompted avoiding confl ict. A non-violent movement violence going on in the Rakhine state. We a massive army crackdown, with troops that challenges a well-entrenched sympathise with our fellow-workers, the accused of rape and indiscriminate dictatorship must be prepared for a long Rohingya. We condemn and denounce the killings. In August 2017 a acks on police struggle and numerous casual es. A er senseless killing. But let us be frank, as posts across the north of the state killed all, only one side is commi ed to non- we presently stand, there is li le that can 12 members of the security forces and violence. However, the alterna ve entails be done by the world socialist movement the fully to be expected backlash was even larger casual es and holds fewer except our constant campaigning for swi . ARSA naturally style themselves as prospects of success. Peaceful resistance socialism – as the hope of humanity in ‘freedom fi ghters’ yet some analysts such does not mean no resistance. It does not ending just another one in a series of as the Interna onal Crisis Group describe mean non-ac on. It may invite the other slaughters taking place within capitalism. them as jihadists fi nanced, recruited and minori es such as the Chris an Karen and ALJO

Socialist Standard October 2017 9 he apparent triumph of the Bolsheviks in the backward Russia of 1917 sent the Marxist movement into turmoil. Moreover, previously Timpotent political organisations across Europe and North America showed themselves to be more impressed by the sudden and unexpected success of revolutionaries in the midst of bloody world war, than concerned for the event’s potential impact on core elements of Marxist theory as they had always previously been understood. Contrary to legend, the Socialist Party was initially affected by this feeling like other radical parties, praising the Bolshevik’s successful attempts to remove Russia from the bloodbath that was the First World War. As for what was happening in Russia at a deeper level, the Socialist Party was more sceptical. Indeed, what focused our attention above all were the lavish claims made on the Bolsheviks’ behalf by their supporters in Britain about ‘Red October’ (early November in the Western calendar). The irst detailed analysis of the Russian situation, written by Jack Fitzgerald,

We examine the Socialist Party’s reac on to the Bolshevik coup d’état and recall the analysis of Soviet Russia the Party pioneered.

appeared in the August 1918 Socialist Standard under the heading ‘The Revolution in Russia – Where It Fails’. It tackled the claims of the (then) Socialist Labour Party in Britain by outlining why the Bolshevik takeover could not really lead to the establishment of socialism in Russia. The article asked: ‘Is this huge mass of people, numbering about 160,000,000 and spread over eight and a half millions of square miles, ready for socialism? Are the hunters of the North, the struggling peasant proprietors of the South, the agricultural wage-slaves of the Central Provinces, and the industrial wage-slaves of the towns convinced of the necessity, and equipped with the knowledge requisite, for the establishment of the social ownership of the means of life? Unless a mental revolution such as the world has never seen before has taken place, or an economic change has occurred immensely more rapidly than history has ever recorded, the answer is ‘No!’ … What justiication is there, then, in terming the upheaval in Russia a Socialist Revolution? None whatever beyond the fact that the leaders in the November movement claim to be Marxian Socialists.’ In fact, over time the Socialist Party went on to identify as many as ive key reasons why the establishment of socialism in Russia by the Bolsheviks was impossible: • First, as indicated by Fitzgerald, the mass socialist consciousness needed before a successful socialist revolution could take place was noticeably absent in Russia, as elsewhere. Fitzgerald seized on a remark by Litvinoff which suggested that the Bolsheviks did not really know the views of the entire working class when they seized control, only some sections of it such as the factory workers of Petrograd. • Second, it was not even the case that the working class was in a

10 Socialist Standard October 2017 numerical majority in Russia, a society dominated by its of the whole people’. peasant economy. How could a majority socialist revolution More than twenty years after the Bolshevik seizure of be carried out when the workers were still in a minority power, we remained unconvinced that state capitalism and when the largest social class were the largely illiterate was really socialism even if presided over by those who peasantry? While illiteracy did not entirely preclude the proclaimed themselves socialist: spread of socialist understanding, it certainly made it ‘… the chief characteristics of Capitalism [in Russia] have more dificult. In any event, the peasants had long shown not disappeared and are not in the process of disappearing. themselves more interested in ridding themselves of the heavy Goods are not produced for use but for sale to those who tax burden on land, and increasing the size of their plots, than have the money to buy, as in other countries. The workers in demanding common ownership. are not members of a social system in which the means of • Third, socialism could not exist in an economically wealth production are socially owned and controlled, but backward country where the means of production was are wage-earners in the employ of the State or of semi- not suficiently developed to support a socialist system of State concerns, etc. The Russian State concerns are no more distribution. ‘socially owned’ than is the British Post Ofice or the Central • Fourth, and crucially, it was not possible to construct Electricity Board, or any private company… The Bolshevik socialism in one country alone, given the nature of capitalism attempt to usher in Socialism by ‘legal enactments’ and as a world system with a world-wide division of labour. by ‘bold leaps’ before the economic conditions were ripe, Isolated ‘socialism in one country’ would be doomed to and before the mass of the population desired Socialism, failure, no matter how honourable the intentions of the has been a total failure. In course of time that failure will revolutionaries involved. become obvious to the workers inside and outside Russia’ • The ifth reason advanced for the non-socialist nature (Questions of the Day, 1942). of Bolshevik Russia went to the very root of our political Capitalism, based on the separation of the producers differences with Bolshevism: socialism could not be achieved from the means of production had not been abolished, nor by following leaders (enlightened or otherwise). could it have been. Production still took place as a system of exchange involving the circulation of capital. Capital State capitalism expanded consequent on the exploitation of wage labour, In the absence of world socialist revolution, there could and articles of wealth were still being produced for sale on realistically only be one road forward for semi-feudal Russia the market with a view to the realisation of surplus value. – the capitalist road. With the virtual elimination of the Indeed, much of the Party’s early analysis of the economic small Russian bourgeoisie, it would be necessary for the basis of the Soviet system relected a desire to demonstrate Bolsheviks to develop industry through the state ownership the similarities between Russian state capitalism and the of enterprises and the forced accumulation of capital. In The British private enterprise-based capitalism the Party was Impending Catastrophe and How to Combat It , written before most familiar with. the revolution, Lenin had envisaged just such an approach to the Russian crisis. According to this document, Lenin saw Who are the capitalist class? that immediate measures required included nationalisation Over time, while it was clear that state capitalism in Russia of the existing banks and the formation of a single state (and then its satellites) retained all the essential features bank, together with the nationalisation of all insurance of capitalism, there were some apparent differences, even companies, the nationalisation of the monopolies and all if supericial. One related to who the capitalist class were other key industrial concerns. The Socialist Standard took in Russia, as the system’s supporters often claimed that the opportunity to again cast doubt on the supposed general capitalism could not really exist in Russia as there was no applicability of Bolshevik actions in Russia – in this instance, capitalist class in the traditional sense. But in fact, there the development of ‘state capitalism’ as a precondition for the was a capitalist class of this nature, as the 1940s pamphlet establishment of socialism: Soviet Millionaires by Reg Bishop showed, and always a ‘If we are to copy Bolshevik policy in other countries we private sector running in parallel to the major state-owned should have to demand State Capitalism, which is not a step institutions and corporations – though it was peripheral. towards Socialism in advanced capitalist countries. The fact Nevertheless, it was clear that real power and control remains, as Lenin is driven to confess, that we do not have to – including economic decision-making – rested with a learn from Russia, but Russia has to learn from lands where powerful group of leading bureaucrats who had privileged large scale production is dominant’ (‘A Socialist View of lifestyles and high incomes as a result of their position at Bolshevist Policy’, July 1920). the top of the Soviet hierarchy. As we took great pains to point out to our pro-Bolshevik This controlling class could not merely be equated with opponents, Lenin admitted that the social formation in the supervisors and managers within capitalism referred Soviet Russia was essentially state-capitalist, albeit under the to by Marx who received a wage based on the amount guidance and control of a so-called ‘proletarian state’ guided needed to produce and reproduce their labour power. On by a vanguard party of professional revolutionaries. For Lenin, the contrary, this class of bureaucrats in Russia was using the nature of the revolutionary polity in such circumstances its position of control to perform the functions carried out was the crucial determinant of the type of social system by individual capitalists in earlier phases of capitalism’s in existence. Without what Lenin termed ‘revolutionary development and to command a privileged income derived democracy’, state capitalist monopoly would remain state from surplus value. Though it did not have legal title to capitalism. With workers’ control of production and control the means of production, and was not able to bequeath of the proletarian state by the vanguard party of the working property, it was clearly a possessing class of the type class, however, socialism would be a reality. According to The mentioned in our Declaration of Principles, exercising a Impending Catastrophe and How To Combat It , socialism was ‘monopoly… of the wealth taken from the workers’. This merely ‘state-capitalist monopoly made to serve the interests state capitalist class, like the privately owning capitalist

Socialist Standard October 2017 11 class in the West, was privileged in consumption, receiving industrial centres of Russia. Later, the KAPD became critical bloated ‘salaries’ that were not the price of labour power but of the Soviet system with the inal crushing of the soviets and a portion of the total surplus value created by the working the introduction of the New Economic Policy, which it thought class. They were also privileged because of the multitude heralded a ‘reversion to capitalism’. of beneits and perks open to them, including access to exclusive consumption outlets such as expensive shops and restaurants from which the working class was physically denied access. The prevailing view in the Socialist Party was that the nature of a class could not be determined simply by legal forms or even by methods of recruitment (the Soviet possessing class was not recruited via inheritance but by other, more meritocratic, methods that have not been entirely unusual for possessing classes in history). So the Party ultimately concluded that although the state capitalist class did not have legal property titles to the means of production, it nonetheless constituted a capitalist class exercising a collective ownership of the means of production and distribution. What was judged to be of prime importance, therefore, was the social reality of capitalism rather than a particular legal form; the opponents of the theory of state capitalism had never been able to see beyond the latter. The theory of state capitalism The Socialist Party of Great Britain was the irst political group in Britain, and quite possibly the world, to identify the state capitalist direction taken by Russia under the Communist Party dictatorship, though many others came to the same conclusion over time, if not always for the same reasons. Unlike us, most of these groups stood in the Leninist tradition or at least showed a willingness to identify positive aspects of the Bolshevik takeover that could be applied by the socialist movement elsewhere in the future. In particular, the Leninist conception of socialism as state ownership and direction of the economy under the control of a vanguard party operating through the political medium of workers’ councils was readily accepted by most of these groups. Hence they only later ascribed a ‘state capitalist’ characterisation to Russia when they judged that state ownership no longer coincided with ‘proletarian democracy’ and the power of the soviets. This was essentially the analysis initially put forward by ‘council communists’ such as Otto Rühle who saw in the crushing of the soviets the rise of Despite the initial excesses of Left Communist and council ‘commissar despotism’ and state capitalism (Rühle himself communist groups who invariably let their early admiration later realized the inadequacy of this position and came to for the Soviet political form dominate their analysis, view nationalisation and state regulation as intrinsically arguably the worst example of the conlation of socialism state capitalist). The largest ‘Left Communist’ group in with state ownership plus ‘revolutionary democracy’ came Europe, the German KAPD, developed a similar perspective. from the Trotskyists. Ironically, the Trotskyist theories of It identiied capitalism as the private (speciically non-state) state capitalism, being by far the most fragile, are the most ownership of the means of production, and, like the council well-known. C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya from the communist Workers’ Socialist Federation in Britain, praised American Socialist Workers’ Party were the irst Trotskyists the Bolsheviks for their construction of socialism in the to break with Trotsky himself and identify the state capitalist

12 Socialist Standard October 2017 nature of the USSR though perhaps the most widely known This conclusion was certainly rejected by Cliff and all the theory was that elaborated by Tony Cliff and circulated as a other Trotskyist state capitalist theorists, though not of discussion document within the Revolutionary Communist course by us. Party of Britain in the period immediately after the Second Today, many council communist, left communist and World War, before being published as Russia: A Marxist Trotskyist political groupings identify Soviet Russia, Analysis . Cliff – who was the driving force behind what certainly post-Lenin, as having always been essentially became the British SWP – said his reasons for breaking with state capitalist, and like us, they have applied their analysis orthodox Trotskyism by identifying the Soviet Union as state of Russian society to other ‘socialist’ countries exhibiting capitalist were plain enough: similar features in Asia, Africa and Central America. That ‘When I came to the theory of state capitalism I did not we were not alone in identifying the capitalist nature of the come to it by a long analysis of the law of value in Russia… USSR does not of course diminish our position as the one Nothing of the sort. I came to it by the simple statement organisation which promoted a state capitalist analysis of that… you cannot have a workers’ state without the workers the events in Russia at the time of their happening, and not having power to dictate what happens in society’ (interview merely with the beneit of hindsight. What is more, we have with The Leveller , 30 September 1979). remained one of the few organisations committed to such In reality, Cliff had been heavily inluenced by fellow a critique of the USSR and similar regimes, that has never Trotskyist Jock Haston about the Socialist Party’s view of sought to adopt or promote the Leninist vanguardism state capitalism existing in Russia rather than socialism which so clearly led to that state capitalist outcome. or a ‘workers’ state’, but Cliff could never break entirely DAP with the perspectives of Lenin and Trotsky. Indeed, Cliff’s analysis was irmly rooted in the idea that the USSR was a Next month will see a special issue on ‘The Aftermath form of ‘workers’ state’ before Stalin’s irst Five Year Plan of of Leninism’ looking at the surviving Leninist regimes 1928 established the bureaucracy as a new class consuming today. surplus value. Like all the Trotskyists that have followed him, Cliff did not identify the USSR as a society developing along state capitalist lines from 1917 but only from Stalin’s ascension to power. Under Lenin, Russia was supposedly a society in transition from capitalism to communism, based on working class power. For Cliff, a perceived change of political control led to a fundamental change in economic structure, to what in fact amounted to a ‘reversion to capitalism’. Perhaps surprisingly, those Trotskyists who remained faithful to Trotsky’s own view when in exile of Russia as a ‘degenerated workers’ state’ made some of the most pertinent criticisms of Cliff’s analysis, particularly his conclusion that the economic structure of the Soviet system had changed in 1928 and had assumed a capitalist basis. Foremost among these critics was rival British Trotskyist Ted Grant (founder of what became Militant): ‘If Comrade Cliff’s thesis is correct, that state capitalism exists in Russia today, then he cannot avoid the conclusion that state capitalism has been in existence since the Russian Revolution and the function of the revolution itself was to introduce this state capitalist system of society. For despite his tortuous efforts to draw a line between the economic basis of Russia before the year 1928 and after, the economic basis of Russian society has remained unchanged… money, labour power, the existence of the working class, surplus value, etc. are all survivals of the old capitalist system carried over even under the regime of Lenin… the law of value applies and must apply until there is direct access to the products by the producers’ (Against the Theory of State Capitalism , 1949).

Socialist Standard October 2017 13 n the socialist tradition a socialist revolution is one that Iresults in a change in the basis of society carried out by and in the interest of the immense majority. “All previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority.” (Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto , 1848) “The word Revolution, which we Socialists are so often forced to use, has a terrible sound in socialist revolution would not be like – a minority leading a most people’s ears, even when we have explained to them discontented mass of people. that it does not necessarily mean a change accompanied by riot and all kinds of violence, and cannot mean a change made The aim mechanically and in the teeth of opinion by a group of men One of the big differences between them and a real socialist who have somehow managed to seize on the executive power revolution is that the change in the basis of society is different. for the moment. Even when we explain that we use the word These previous revolutions changed the basis of society revolution in its etymological sense, and mean by it a change from feudalism to capitalism, from a society based on the in the basis of society, people are scared at the idea of such exploitation of land-workers by a landowning aristocracy a vast change, and beg that you will speak of reform and not to a society based on the minority ownership and control revolution. (….) [W]e will stick to our word, which means a of industrial means of production. The change in the basis change of the basis of society” (William Morris, How We Live of society that a socialist revolution brings about is one and How We Might Live , 1888). from minority ownership to the common ownership and democratic control of natural and industrial resources by the Past revolutions whole community. A society based on ‘the possession of the There have been revolutions that have resulted in a change land and of the means of production in common,’ a ‘community in the basis of society, but they have been carried out of free individuals, carrying on their work with the means of either by a minority or in the interest of a minority. The production in common,’ as Marx put it in Volume I of Capital . French Revolution would be a case in point. The 1868 This is not the same as state ownership, which is still a form of Meiji Restoration in Japan would be another. The Russian minority ownership by those who control the state. Revolutions of 1917 a third. The socialist revolution is a change, not from one form of The revolution in Japan was an example of a revolution minority ownership to another, as in France and Russia, but carried out just by a minority. A section of the old feudal ruling the end of all minority ownership and so the establishment class seized power with a view to removing obstacles to the of a classless society. A society no longer divided into owners development of capitalism in Japan, so as to change the basis and non-owners, capitalists and workers, bourgeoisie and of society there from feudalism to capitalism. proletariat, the 1 percent and the rest, or however you want The French Revolution and the Russian Revolution, on the to describe it, but a community of equals. Every member other hand, involved a fair degree of popular mobilisation of society stands in the same relationship to the means of and so fall into the category of a revolution in the interest of production as every other member – as co-owners having an a minority, not simply as in Japan one carried out exclusively equal say in how and for what purpose they are to be used. We by the minority itself. The result, however, was the same – the are talking about a fully democratic society. removal of obstacles to the further development of capitalism We are also talking about a non-coercive society as, with the as a system of production for proit by wage-workers, and the abolition of class-divided society, there will be no need for the accumulation of capital out of proits. state as an instrument for maintaining the domination of a This, of course, was not how the leaders or the popular ruling class or of the government as its executive committee. participants saw it. In France they thought they were Instead, there will be an unarmed administration – or, rather, establishing the rule of ‘the people’; in Russia it was to be the administrations, world, regional, and local – subject to rule of ‘the workers’. But, as Marx pointed out, in his summary democratic control. of the materialist conception of history in the Preface to his A Nor will there be any economic coercion. People will not be Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy , ‘just as one forced to work by individual economic necessity. The wages does not judge an individual by what he thinks about himself, system, under which one section of society is forced to sell so one cannot judge such a period of transformation by its its ability to work to get the means to live, will have been consciousness’. Judging by their actual results, both these abolished. Some essential work will be necessary of course, revolutions paved the way for the further development of a otherwise society would collapse, but this would have to be society based on wage-labour and production for proit. undertaken freely by people who understood this. So, we can leave aside both these revolutions as an example So, we are talking about a society involving not just of what a socialist revolution might be like. In fact they could democratic control and participation but also freely-decided even be used as counter-examples, as examples of what a cooperation and work.

14 Socialist Standard October 2017 send to parliament, congress, chamber of deputies or whatever, delegates mandated to further the cause of socialism, not support a government or vote through capitalist legislation. In fact, the socialist movement can begin to send such delegates to parliaments even before it has majority support. The socialist MPs would still be mandated delegates subject to the democratic control of those outside parliament who wanted socialism. While in a minority, they could use parliament as a megaphone, a tribune from Production would be organised to directly satisfy people’s which to denounce capitalism and needs, not for proit; not for sale either. Since the means of advocate socialism. production will be owned in common so will the products. The When a majority, they could use political power to end question will then not be how to sell these (which wouldn’t capitalism by dispossessing the owning class through make sense since selling is a change of ownership but declaring all stocks and shares, bills and bonds, and other everybody is already a co-owner). It will be how to distribute capitalist property titles null and void and that from then on them, how to share them out amongst the co-owners. Today, all the means of production belong to the people as a classless given the tremendous capacity to produce what people need, community of equals, to be used to turn out what they need products can be made available for people to freely take and both as individuals and as communities. The basis of society use, the implementation of the old socialist slogan of ‘from will have been changed. The socialist revolution will have been each according to their ability, to each according to their carried out. needs’. Naturally, this assumes that people in their workplaces The new society based on the common ownership of natural outside parliament are already organised, ready to take over and industrial resources will be a classless, stateless, wageless, the means of production and keep production going. moneyless society of democratic control and free cooperation. The socialist majority would also use its political control to That’s the change in the basis of society that a real socialist make other changes, in particular thoroughly democratising revolution would bring about. the central administration body by lopping off its coercive and bureaucratic features, preparing the way for its The means transformation from an instrument of rule over people into This being the aim – the end – the means to achieve it an unarmed organ of participatory democracy. In effect, the must be compatible. In other words, it has to be achieved abolition of the state as state. democratically by a majority who want and understand it. The socialist revolution as Marx and Engels put it must be World Revolution ‘the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense The revolutionary process just described has been about majority’. Not a movement, not even a majority movement, led one country but, capitalism being an international system by leaders who alone understand (‘the conscious minority’) spanning the world with a network of interlinked production at the head of masses who are merely discontented (as in units, ‘socialism in one country’ is not possible. the model of those inluenced by the French and Russian So, we are talking about a world-wide socialist revolution with Revolutions), but one in which the majority too understand, the same process taking place in country after country over and organise themselves without unaccountable leaders who a relatively short period of time, rather like, for instance, the pretend to know better than them. overthrow of the state-capitalist regimes in East Europe in the This shapes the strategy and tactics to achieve the opening 1990s or the so-called Arab Spring. stage of any revolution – the winning of political control, This is not an unreasonable supposition as, already, economic the capture of political power. This implies organisation and social conditions are basically the same in whatever into a political party, but one quite unlike the reformist and geographical or political areas capitalism dominates. Nor is it vanguard parties we know today, all of which are based on unreasonable to suppose that, when the socialist idea catches the leadership principle, in the one case by MPs and in the on, it will spread in all countries. It is the opposite supposition other by professional revolutionaries. The socialist political that is unreasonable: that this will be conined to one country party must be a mass, open, democratic party controlled or that one country would be way ahead of all the others. This by its members – the class of wage and salary workers is not how ideas spread today. democratically self-organised to take political action for Everywhere, production is for proit, people have to work socialism. for wages and have to buy what they need. Everywhere When once the socialist movement has become ‘the self- they face the same problems that result from this, problems conscious, independent movement of the immense majority’ which can only be lastingly solved within the framework of the question arises what it has to do to win political control. a borderless world society based on the Earth’s natural and In developed capitalist countries the means are to hand – the industrial resources having become the common heritage of vote. The socialist majority can use the power of numbers to all humanity. ADAM BUICK

Socialist Standard October 2017 15 believe they could claim Marxist credentials? These three revolutions were successful partly because of the motivation that these ideologies provided for those who did the ighting and dying; or rather, the speciic interpretation of those ideologies at the time. It might be informative to analyse these ideologies in terms of their origins, their cultural and linguistic reinterpretation and their use as propaganda. All of this can be done in the context of the similarities and differences they represent with the proposed model of a socialist revolution. We begin with the English Revolution of 1642. The Reformation Europe had witnessed the persecution of Jan Huss and John Wycliffe for their opposition to the widespread corruption within the Catholic Church but it was not We begin a three-part series on the link between until the time of their Protestant progeny Martin Luther that revolutionary social changes and the ideology of those who the Reformation became politically important. Many European carried them out. potentates were tired of the political interference and high taxes that emanated from Rome. One of these, German Prince series of discussions with friends of both leftist and Frederick III, saw in Luther’s protest a way to weaken the liberal persuasions recently uncovered two classic political power of the Holy Roman Empire. Thus Luther’s A objections to the Marxist perspective. They are protection by the powerful, in contrast with Huss and Wycliffe, essentially derived from the same misunderstanding of the made it possible to promote the Reformation which in turn nature of a socialist revolution. eventually enabled a political formulation of the nation state The irst objection was in the idealist tradition and that was independent of Rome. All of this was accelerated by centred on the connection between the Enlightenment and the new technology of the printing press which made possible the Soviet gulags. It is more common to hear the terror of the irst dissemination of mass political/religious propaganda the French revolution being associated with Enlightenment in the vernacular. ideals but not - via Karl Marx - with the Bolshevik One of the consequences of the importation of the concentration camps. The other accusation was that it was Reformation in England was the dissolution of the naive to expect a socialist revolution to be any different than monasteries. As a result great swathes of land were acquired those that preceded it historically. by the nouveau riche of the merchant class who had become To deal with these closely associated criticisms we have to wealthy courtesy of international trade in wool, slaves unravel the relationship between the ideologies proclaimed and coal. They sought to achieve the same levels of proit by those involved and the historical context of their actions. from their new land by becoming capitalist farmers. This As Marx would say – we have to cut away the ideological contrasted with the great aristocratic landowners’ approach overgrowth to get to the political reality. Socialists have long which was still in the feudal tradition; consequently they believed that to view history as primarily a progression of became increasingly concerned about the wealth of their new ideas (idealism) is misleading and politically dangerous. neighbours and pressed the king to try to curtail their proits, However, it is of signiicance why certain ideals were or at the very least give them a share. To achieve this the used during periods of political upheaval rather than King claimed monopoly rights on production which he then others; not just in terms of propaganda but also culturally proceeded to give to aristocratic cronies at his court together and linguistically. Why was the memory and traditions with the infamous ‘ship tax’ which gave him a share of trading associated with an obscure Jewish prophet of some 2,000 proits. The new ‘landed gentry’ (capitalist farmers) together years ago invoked by the Puritans of the English revolution; with other progressive elements in society were outraged by why did the emperor Napoleon defend his dictatorship with this and campaigned through parliament for a ‘free market’. reference to the Enlightenment and why did the Bolsheviks

16 Socialist Standard October 2017 They saw the feudal lands as being unproductive and the that compelled them into violent opposition. It may be said aristocracy as a political barrier to their further enrichment. that this represents an unprovable hypothesis because you The scene was set for this class struggle to erupt into the can never impose retrospective ideological alternatives English revolution. This is the Marxist or ‘materialist’ version onto history; what we can do, however, is compare this of the events of the 1640s. Now let us turn to the ideological revolution with others that have also transformed their explanation. society from monarchical absolutism to bourgeois rule without the aid of Christian ideology. Religious ideology In the second part of this article we attempt to do that When Constantine adopted Christianity as the state religion with an analysis of the French revolution where not only of Rome he attempted to make the diverse legends (gospels) was Christianity absent within the ideology of the victors, into a coherent ideology that would serve his political needs. it was replaced by a philosophical approach we call ‘the Although there continues to be some controversy the gospels Enlightenment’ which possessed an atheist trajectory. we have now in the ‘New Testament’ date from that time. WEZ The religion has obvious attractions to an autocrat in that it represents the ultimate authoritarian social structure with (Next month: the French Revolution) God at the top and his representatives (the Pope, Emperor, Kings and the priesthood) in a descending coalition of oppression. It also has revolutionary elements in terms of its original deiance of Roman hegemony and Jesus being a messiah or deliverer from tyranny. This is the element taken up by the Puritans who were profoundly dissatisied with the English Reformation and perceived the Anglican church to be still Papist and politically reactionary. This together with the Protestant emphasis on hard work, obedience, thrift and the idea that worldly wealth and success meant belonging to God’s ‘elect’ made them obvious allies for the emerging bourgeoisie. For hundreds of years the priest in the pulpit had been the major political propagandist for the ruling class so it is not surprising that the political debate in the 17th century centred on Christian doctrine and the perceived importance of controlling the church. The pulpit now had a propaganda rival in the printing press and within this revolutionary environment a variety of dissension was expressed. There were some who saw the revolution as a culmination of class antagonisms but the majority understood it in terms of Catholic oppression of their natural political rights with Charles I’s claim to Divine Right being an obvious expression of this. Once the revolutionary war started both sides believed that victory on the battleield was the sign of divine approval. We can be certain that Jesus of Nazareth (if he existed as an historical individual) would be more than a little surprised by the killing that has been done in his name. It is dificult to ind any justiication for war in the gospels (with the exception of the book of revelation which seems to be a diatribe of revenge). What Christianity does offer ruling elites, and would-be ruling elites, is an authoritarian universe with everything and everyone in his place. Many, if not most, religions offer this reactionary supernatural scenario and it wouldn’t take much imagination to replace it with any other similar religion and, given the same political and historical context of England in 1642, the result would be the same – revolution. In other words, the ideology that expressed the fears and ambitions of those who made the revolution were relatively unimportant compared with the economic and political forces

Socialist Standard October 2017 17 Why are we wai ng ?

ocialism is a form of society based money to buy the goods which are have the gall to claim that their form of on mutual aid, in which the peoples available. capitalism – whether private or state – is Sof the world help each other and live The people who are now in charge of actually socialism, and the workers of amicably. Capitalism is what everyone world aff airs – the people who own the the world should strain all their eff orts to has now. Whether it is private capitalism, factories, the land, and all the world’s support it. which rules in much of western Europe produc ve capacity – together with all the Capitalism, of whatever variety, needs and in the United States, or state poli cians who act for this upper class, money in order to separate the great capitalism (the system they have or had in and keep this unjust society going, realise mass of people from the goods that they Russia, China, North Korea and Cuba), or that many of the non-owners of the world, produce, but do not own. Socialism will an uneasy mixture of the two, everywhere the people who do the work, may see the not need money, nor banks, nor stock it produces the same results. Great riches enormous a rac ons of socialism, and exchanges nor hedge funds, nor the for a few, gross poverty for many, and a will want to establish it. Some sec ons fi nanciers who spend their en re lives perpetual money-struggle for many more; of the world’s upper class react to this gambling that this or that product, or this along with con nual interna onal hos lity, ‘danger’ (from their point of view) by or that country’s currency, will rise or fall leading to wars, unrest, shortages, and virulent hos lity. They control virtually the in value; in fact, it will not need fi nancial occasionally outright famine. whole of the complex machinery which ins tu ons of any kind. Nor will it need And yet human ingenuity means that provides the great mass of the world’s wage-labour, nor armies, navies and air- the goods which everyone requires – ‘informa on’ – the newspapers, the radio forces, nor police forces, nor those many food, clothing, shelter – can be produced sta ons, the television, the schools, the jobs which simply keep a fi nancial check and distributed, with the aid of modern religions, the universi es. All these engines on everyone else – travel inspectors, bank methods, in much greater quan es than of propaganda are relessly working to clerks and so on. ever before. So much so that the great persuade the rest of us that our present All those whose labour is wasted in current fear of poli cians is that there system is not only the very best which has this way will be able to join everyone else will not be enough ‘work’ for everybody, ever existed or ever could exist, but that in producing food, clothing and houses. and that therefore there will be vast it is now and always will be completely There is no point in nkering with an quan es of goods which everybody inevitable. economic system which benefi ts only the wants, but for which there may not be But the reac on of other sec ons of few, rather than the many. We could have suffi cient economic demand (meaning the world’s upper class is much more a ra onal society tomorrow, if enough of economic ac vity is derailed by a slump): subtle. They claim to be converted to this us wanted it. Why are we wai ng? unemployed people don’t have enough marvellous new system, and they then

meaning of the socialist principle of ‘from notoriously declared that socialism each according to their ability, to each would lead to the Gestapo. according to their needs’. You argue that if there was to be a Misunderstanding No 2. People are sizeable minority of recalcitrants in not naturally averse to working. People socialism, ‘either these people make like, even need, to work in the sense socialism impossible, or they have to of exercising their mental and physical be eliminated on the grounds of their Answer on a postcard (to energies. What people, quite rightly, don’t counterrevolu onary posi on.’ Lord Finkelstein) like is doing work that seems pointless You are right in one sense that, if there or from which they don’t benefi t, as is were to be such a sizeable recalcitrant LORD FINKLESTEIN, in your column the case with the great majority of jobs minority, then socialism couldn’t work. in the Times (30 August) en tled ‘True today under capitalism. If, on the other But why would there be, when a society socialism always ends with the Stasi’, you hand, work is seen to be socially useful or of free provision in return for working invited readers to send you a postcard brings them some sa sfac on or benefi t, freely would be so obviously be er than correc ng any misunderstandings on then people are prepared to undertake capitalism that it had led a majority to your part. Unfortunately, a postcard is it. Socialism, which (your words) will establish it? That doesn’t make sense. not large enough. eliminate ‘the market compe on that Even less does your alterna ve of You do correctly understand that in makes us ruthless and makes us jostle for suppressing them by force, for the simple socialism ‘market exchange is replaced by posi on’ (actually, to avoid falling into reason that a socialist society will have friendly, voluntary co-opera on and free poverty), will provide ample opportuni es abandoned the means for doing this. The provision’. Your misunderstandings begin for such work, undertaken for more than coercive state needed in class-divided when you say that, reading Paul Mason’s mere ‘amity’ as there’ll be a large element socie es would have been replaced by book Postcapitalism , you wondered ‘how of enlightened self-interest in it. purely administra ve, unarmed and he might get someone, for instance, to Misunderstanding No 3. People democra cally-controlled, bodies. clean sta on pla orms or do any extra wouldn’t have to do the same job all In invoking the Stasi you are assuming shi without being paid’. day every day. Many rou ne jobs are that the regime in East Germany set You describe as ‘preposterous’ the idea ideal for automa on (including cleaning out to establish socialism – with free that people would be prepared to work at pla orms). Those that can’t be could be provision and no market exchange – but such jobs, or any job, ‘for nothing’. done by diff erent people doing them for failed and had to resort to coercion. In Misunderstanding No 1. People would short periods on a rota basis. fact right from the start the regime there not be working ‘for nothing’. In return, When you introduce the Stasi you move was the same sort of state-capitalist they would be ge ng free access to beyond misunderstanding and enter the dictatorship as existed in Russia and was the things they need to live and enjoy realm of lying propaganda. In this you imposed by the bayonets of the Russian life instead of a wage that only gives are following in the footsteps of Churchill Army. The GDR was never socialist any them limited access to these. That’s the who, during the 1945 general elec on, more than it was democra c.

18 Socialist Standard October 2017 The Jihadis’ Tale

Through the dramas he has wri en and directed for Channel 4, Peter Kosminsky has explored the impact which war has had on the people caught up in it. The Government Inspector (2005) drama zed UN weapons inspector Dr David Kelly’s role in undermining the government’s a empted jus fi ca on for the Iraq War, while The Promise (2011) was set in Pales ne, drawing links between the situa on under the Bri sh mandate in the 1940s with that in the 2000s. His latest drama, The State, tells the stories of young, enthusias c jihadis who travel from Britain to Syria to fi ght for ISIS. Over four episodes, we follow the characters from their arrival in an ISIS stronghold to when life under the regime brings disillusionment with what they have commi ed themselves to. the process of becoming disillusioned Religion has long been a way in which The characters were based on real with ISIS. One character gets frustrated power rela onships are expressed. In people who were interviewed by the at how her role as a doctor is impeded ISIS’ version of Islam, the diff erences in programme’s researchers. As most by having to wear a niqāb while working power between men and women, slaves Bri sh ISIS fi ghters who have returned and being ordered to harvest organs and owners, believers and non-believers are in prison, researchers largely drew from injured enemy troops, and when are supposed to be jus fi ed by chapters on the experiences of people who were her son becomes drawn in to jihad. of the Quran. Those in charge choose the not from the UK. Unfortunately, any Another gets disenchanted with the quotes which back up their authority. At research into how they came to believe regime because he doesn’t want to treat the same me that it creates divisions in ISIS’ interpreta on of Islam enough ISIS’ prisoners or his slaves brutally. In between people, the religion can also to join didn’t end up in the script. More both cases, disillusionment comes when create a common iden ty, essen al depth is needed in characters taking the characters’ more established values to hold together an organisa on as up four hours of screen me (including confl ict with those of ISIS. extreme and fana cal as ISIS. It is this commercial breaks, featuring adverts for While the lack of background to blinkered fana cism towards such a brutal enlis ng with the army, appropriately the characters is disappoin ng, the dogma that marks out ISIS adherents as enough). Kosminsky explored the journey programme is more revealing in the sociopaths. to becoming a religious fana c in his 2007 details of life in ISIS-run Raqqa. Un l they The State is useful to show how drama Britz, so maybe he didn’t want to marry off and rent a home with their oppression can become normalised for repeat himself. But if we can’t understand partners, male and female mujahideen the few who accept ISIS’ twisted ideology, his characters’ mo ves, it’s harder to live in segregated, rule-driven shared even if it is lacking in the reasons behind understand the appeal of a barbaric houses. The men are trained up to be this. The la er point was picked up in organisa on like ISIS, or the mindset it soldiers, while the women are trained up several other reviews, including that on encourages. ‘Radicalisa on’ is o en talked to be wives. The scenes set in and around The Arts Desk website, which summed about in the media in the same way as the women’s house are unse lingly up the drama’s characters by saying ‘no a disease, as if people become infected reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s one is nuts enough’ (21st August). The with extreme ideas which then take hold dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale (see July’s programme didn’t impress the Daily Mail’s much like the fl u virus. This approach can Socialist Standard). In both, women are Christopher Stevens, who called it ‘poison’ simplis cally ignore how our views are taught to be subservient to men, women in his review of 20th August. He accused shaped by our experiences in a divided, aren’t allowed outside without being Kosminsky of interpre ng ISIS’ propaganda compe ve society. So, a life of feeling accompanied, their clothes have to cover as an accurate refl ec on of life under the alienated and powerless could push them up almost completely, they’re regime, thereby glamorising jihadis. He someone vulnerable to swallowing ISIS’ expected to keep to domes c du es, they adds that ‘this is a recruitment video to warped worldview to fi nd an iden ty and adopt new names, and are used as sex rival Nazi propaganda of the 1930s calling purpose there. slaves. And in both, culture is shaped by young men to join the Brownshirts’, just Instead of focusing on radicalisa on, the fundamentalist religion, Chris anity in like the Daily Mail did at the me. drama concentrates more on its reverse, The Handmaid’s Tale rather than Islam. MIKE FOSTER

Socialist Standard October 2017 19 Book Reviews

Marxist refuta on This pamphlet is a collec on of ar cles Unarmed and Unforgiven Martov wrote in 1919 and 1921 and was originally published in Germany in 1923 under the tle World Bolshevism . Most of it was translated into English and published as a pamphlet in 1939 as The State and the Socialist Revolu on. Martov denied that Marx had argued for the violent smashing of the state, but rather for its take-over, peaceably if possible; what was to be ‘smashed’ was not the whole state but only its ‘bureaucra c-military’ aspects which were to be ‘lopped off ’ a er its capture, leaving a democra sed state as the instrument to use to dispossess the capitalist class and usher in socialism. On the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’, Martov pointed out that ‘dictatorship’ Why the Russian Revolu on wasn’t a meant the exercise of full powers and Gregor Benton ed: Prophets Unarmed: Socialist Revolu on. Julius Martov’s The that ‘of the proletariat’ meant that these Chinese Trotskyists in Revolu on, War, Jail State and the Socialist Revolu on . The powers were to be exercised, necessarily and the Return from Limbo. Haymarket Socialist Party. 100 pages. £2. democra cally, by the whole proletariat, $55. not merely by a minority of them. In The Socialist Party has reprinted this short, the term meant the rule of the A 1,200-page volume on a poli cal classic Marxist refuta on of Lenin’s working class, using the democra sed movement that existed for just twenty- distor ons of Marx’s views on the state. state to eff ect the socialist revolu on from fi ve years and had at most a few thousand capitalism to socialism. His ar cle is a clear supporters (and generally far fewer Lenin, who considered himself a Marxist explana on of what Marx meant, even if than that), this is an exhaus ve study of and did in fact know his Marx, was the term itself is unfortunate as in some Trotskyism in China, from 1927 to 1952. concerned to jus fy in Marxist terms respects it invites misinterpreta on, an It is based primarily on memoirs wri en the Bolshevik coup and subsequent aspect Lenin exploited to the full. years a er the events or interviews with elderly former par cipants, as there are dictatorial rule in Russia. He claimed The whole Russian revolu onary that Marx had advocated that the very few original documents surviving. tradi on had called for Tsarism to be state should be ‘smashed’ in an armed In the 1920s, many young Chinese replaced in the fi rst instance by an elected uprising, that ‘dictatorship of the le -wingers spent me in Moscow, Cons tuent Assembly which would decide proletariat’ meant the dictatorship of being indoctrinated and learning how to Russia’s future cons tu on. An elec on a vanguard party ac ng on behalf of organise poli cal ac vity. Some of them to one did take place in November 1917, the proletariat, and he jus fi ed the came under ‘Le Opposi on’ infl uences, a er the Bolshevik seizure of power, but dissolu on of the Cons tuent Assembly especially from Karl Radek, who was as the Bolsheviks failed to win a majority on the grounds that the soviets were a one of their teachers. Many of those higher form of democracy. of seats they dissolved it. Martov, without who sympathised with Trotsky, or were Julius Martov (1873-1923) was a denying that the soviets were makeshi thought to do so, were sent back to China, long-standing member of the Russian democra c bodies, dismissed Lenin’s claim where they tried to build some kind of Social Democra c Labour Party and that they were more democra c than a movement in opposi on to the Chinese had been a member of the editorial central assembly directly elected by direct, ‘Communist’ Party (CCP). Later, Trotsky- board of its publica on Iskra alongside secret and universal ballot; they were not supporters were kept in Moscow, where Lenin, Plekhanov and others. However, elected by secret ballot and the only direct they could be more easily controlled. he and Lenin fell out over the issue of vote its members had was at local level, The best-known of Chinese Trotskyists how Russian Social Democrats should the higher levels being indirectly elected. is Chen Duxiu, one of the founders of organise themselves that was debated In prac ce, it was even less democra c as the CCP and its fi rst leader. He was held at their congress in 1903. Lenin had they were manipulated by the Bolshevik by Stalinists to be responsible for the proposed that the party be organised party. failure of the Chinese ‘Revolu on’ in 1927, as a disciplined, top-down body of This edi on has a new introduc on and when Chiang Kai-shek and the na onalist professional revolu onaries. Martov was contains, as an appendix, the fi rst printed Guomindang violently clamped down on among those who favoured a more open transla on of the opening chapter of the CCP and its supporters (though he and party along the lines of other European World Bolshevism in which Martov sets others were basically just following the Social Democra c par es. Lenin’s view out to explain the a rac on of Bolshevism Comintern’s line). He was expelled from won the vote and the party split into amongst some sec ons of the working the CCP in 1929, and died in 1942. ‘Bolsheviks’ (the majority) and the class in Europe. Also included are two In the 1930s and 1940s, Trotskyists in ‘Mensheviks’ (the minority). Martov was, reprints from the Socialist Standard: the China were brutally suppressed by, at then, a ‘Menshevik’ though this was not review of the original pamphlet in 1940 various mes, the CCP, the Guomindang how he described himself as ‘Menshevik’ and a review of Israel Getzler’s biography and the Japanese occupiers: imprisoned, was a Bolshevik term of abuse. Basically, of Martov. tortured, executed. Many CCP members he was an orthodox Social Democrat. ALB

20 Socialist Standard October 2017 Exhibi on Review

regarded them as Japanese spies. A er the defeat of Japan in the Second World War, there was a civil war between the CCP and the Guomindang, during which the Trotskyists were too weak to be anything other than bystanders. In 1948–9 there were two Trotskyist organisa ons, with just a couple of hundred members in total. A number le the country when the CCP took power in 1949; those who stayed behind were for the most part not poli cally ac ve. In December 1952 the remaining Trotskyists in China were arrested and imprisoned, apparently in order to gain more support for the Mao regime from the USSR. These arrests were not publicised or made part The Weimar Republic, from Germany’s pain ngs confi scated and displayed of a wider poli cal campaign. Some defeat in the First World War to Hitler’s in the exhibi on of ‘Degenerate Art’ prisoners were not released un l 1979, capture of power. A me of economic crisis, from 1937 (though in truth it did and they have never been formally hyperinfl a on, massive unemployment, not take much to be categorised in ‘rehabilitated’, even posthumously. cultural innova on, increasing na onalism this way). Dix had fought in the First Opposi on to Trotskyism remains part and repression. An exhibi on at Tate World War, and some of his depic ons of the CCP’s poli cal line, perhaps Liverpool, on un l the middle of October, of fi gh ng and the trenches are because, Benton suggests, such a empts to capture some of these drama c extremely powerful. He painted some opposi on ‘is a badge of commitment developments by exhibi ng the work of of the many women who had been to poli cal monolithism.’ photographer August Sander and painter widowed by the war, also pros tutes, O o Dix. beggars and the rich. Dix refused any There are some references to Sander (1876–1964) is represented by poli cal allegiance, and concentrated disputes among Trotskyists as to photos from his project ‘People of the instead on showing what was going whether post-1949 China was state 20th Century’. In one sense these are on around him, but, as with Sander, capitalist or bureaucra c-collec vist, straigh orward depic ons of people who are this was inevitably too much for the but unfortunately there are no details looking into the camera; they are nearly all totalitarian regime he had to live of what these disagreements involved. anonymous and described in terms of their under. His 1937 pain ng ‘The Seven Presumably this is because, as the work (e.g. farmer, doctor, blacksmith). There Deadly Sins’ (not included in this editor states, ‘the focus of the volume are photos of blind people and others who exhibi on), which contains a caricature is on Chinese Trotskyism as an ac ve are in some way ‘excluded’ from society, of Hitler embodying greed (or perhaps poli cal force rather than as detached such as those with learning diffi cul es. As envy), is fairly easy to read nowadays, commentary.’ But it would have been the years pass, there are photos of Nazis but Hitler’s moustache was only added good to see more on these theore cal in uniform and, from 1938, of ‘vic ms of a er the war, so it was originally not so issues, rather than so much on long- persecu on’. In 1934 Sander’s son Erich was clear-cut. arrested and imprisoned for poli cal ac vity; forgo en doctrinal disputes and splits. A photo of Dix by Sander links the he died in prison in 1944. A few photos two, but they are already connected If you are interested in the topic of poli cal prisoners, taken by Erich, are in the visitor’s mind by their honest but cannot face a book of this length, included. representa on of a Germany that reading the editor’s forty-page In 1936 the Nazi authori es had the was on a path of suff ering, from one introduc on would probably suffi ce. plates of one of Sanders’ books destroyed trauma c war to another. PB and copies removed. A similar fate applied PB to the work of Dix (1891–1969), who had

Socialist Standard October 2017 21 maintain full employment’ ( The Guardian, 1/10/65.) 50 Years Ago It is not convenient, now, for Labour to remember that the wage freeze was always supposed to be the alterna ve to unemployment. This was Callaghan, again at the 1965 Half a million conference: ‘This problem of ge ng increased produc vity unemployed would be solved either by unemployment and substan al defl a on, or by a prices and incomes policy: there is no other way.’ AS THE Ministry of Labour’s doleful (The Guardian, 1/10/65.) fi gures come out, let it not be As it turned out, the working forgo en that it is a Labour class have got it all; a wage freeze, government which says that it has unemployment and what is called created half a million unemployed. “defl a on”. The Labour Party hold the theory Presumably, if they were pressed that a government can produce, on the ma er, the Labour Party or abolish, unemployment at will. would s ll say that this is Socialism. Whether this is true or not is beside For one thing, their policies seem to the point, which is that Labour are be holding the support of a majority of saying they are responsible for the trade union leaders, although what these rise in unemployment, that it has come same leaders would say about the same about as a result of their deliberate policy. Labour Conference 1965 policies if they came from a Conserva ve It is not convenient, now, for them to government hardly bears thinking about. remember some of their promises. Like this one, To some extent, then, Labour have had things their by James Callaghan at their 1965 conference: way. What it amounts to is that in 1964 there was a dirty job ‘... he had not joined the Labour Party to create to be done for the Bri sh capitalist class and Labour have unemployment. He was certain that the measures being done it. taken, through regional planning, were the right ones to (From Review, Socialist Standard, October 1967).

ACTION REPLAY

workers, or even groups of workers, desired loca on or a picture by a famous What ‘workers’ ge ng the ‘full fruits of their labour’ painter. As in these cases, the price they even if this could be measured (which it get is what people are prepared to pay. revolu on’? can’t). If this happened there would be This price is not a wage but a monopoly nothing le for those who, for one reason income, or rent. It has nothing to do with or another (too young, too old, severely the amount of work these footballers do. ACCORDING TO Mark Li lewood, disabled), were unable to work. Marx The football clubs – or, rather, football the Director General of the market- himself pointed this out in his Cri que of businesses – they play for are prepared worshipping Ins tute of Economic Aff airs, the Gotha Programme. Since produc on to pay a high price because they recoup in an ar cle in the Times (14 August) is collec ve today, socialists say that what a large part of it by selling the right to headlined ‘Highly-paid footballers are the is produced collec vely should be owned televise their matches, and of course purest example of a workers’ revolu on collec vely. We want a world where the because they need to have the best in ac on’: ‘fruits of labour’ belong in common to players to stay in the league whose ‘If you remain a racted to the dictum society as a whole. matches bring in a revenue from being that the workers should receive the Most professional footballers are televised. “full fruits of their labour”, changes in simply wage workers selling their The change that has taken place in the power structures of English football par cular skill to an employer. As with football is not a workers’ revolu on. The should be your stand-out example of the other workers, their wage refl ects the most that is true is that football, like world you believe in.’ cost of them maintaining the par cular other sports and entertainment, provides His argument is that developments in type of labour-power they are selling. a way for some individuals from a poor the football business over the last fi y There has been no substan al change in background to escape from this and even years represent ‘a substan al transfer of their posi on over the past fi y years, to join the ranks of the capitalist class. power away from the capitalist bosses certainly no shi of power from their A workers’ revolu on is quite diff erent. and towards the employees upon whom employers to them. It aims to emancipate the whole their industry depends.’ A small minority of professional working class, by making the means He’s being ironic of course as he is not footballers are, fi gura vely as well as of produc on, currently owned by the in the least a racted by the idea that literally, in a diff erent league. Their capitalist class, the common property of workers should receive the ‘full fruits very high degree of footballing skill sets society as a whole. The fruits of society’s of their labour’ or that there should them apart. As such skills are in limited collec ve labour will then belong to be a transfer of power from capitalists supply, the price paid to use them is society, to be shared out amongst all the to employees. He is having a dig at determined by the demand for them. members of society in accordance with socialists. But is there anything in what Those possessing them are in the same their needs. he says? posi on as others owning something that Socialists don’t stand for individual cannot be reproduced, such as land in a

22 Socialist Standard October 2017 Mee ngs For full details of all our mee ngs and events see our Meetup site: h p://www.meetup. com/The-Socialist-Party-of-Great-Britain/ CARDIFF Saturday, 14 October, 12.00 Noon South East Wales Regional Branch Venue: Na onal Museum of Wales OCTOBER 2017 cafeteria, Cathays Park, Cardiff , CF10 3NP

LONDON LONDON Sunday, 8 October, 3.00pm Saturday, 28 October Socialism: what it is and how to get London Anarchist Bookfair from 10.00 there a.m. An open discussion Venue: Park View School, West Green Venue: The Socialist Party’s premises, 52 Road, London, N15 3QR Clapham High Street, London, SW4 7UN The Socialist Party will have a stall outside the event from 12.00 Noon CANTERBURY Saturday, 14 October from 12.00 Noon MANCHESTER Street Stall Saturday, 28 October In the Parade pedestrian precinct, CT1 2JL Life Without Money, 2.00pm Phone 07971 715569 for more Venue: The Unicorn, 26 Church Street, informa on Manchester, M4 1PW

Declaration of Principles LONDON Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 This declara on is the basis of our of the working class will involve the October, 10.30am – 5.00pm both organisa on and, because it is also an emancipa on of all mankind, without days important historical document da ng dis nc on of race or sex. Autumn Delegate Meeting from the forma on of the party in 1904, Venue: The Socialist Party’s its original language has been retained . 5. That this emancipa on must be the premises, 52 Clapham High Street, work of the working class itself. Object London, SW4 7UN The establishment of a system of society 6. That as the machinery of government, based upon the common ownership including the armed forces of the na on, and democra c control of the means exists only to conserve the monopoly and instruments for producing and by the capitalist class of the wealth EC Mee ng distribu ng wealth by and in the interest taken from the workers, the working Saturday 4 November 2017 , 52 Clapham of the whole community. class must organize consciously and High Street, London, SW4 7UN. poli cally for the conquest of the powers Correspondence should be sent to the Declara on of Principles of government, na onal and local, in General Secretary. All ar cles, le ers and The Socialist Party of Great Britain holds order that this machinery, including no ces should be sent to the Editorial these forces, may be converted from an Commi ee. 1. That society as at present cons tuted is instrument of oppression into the agent based upon the ownership of the means of emancipa on and the overthrow of of living (i.e. land, factories, railways, etc.) privilege, aristocra c and plutocra c. by the capitalist or master class, and the Picture Credits consequent enslavement of the working 7. That as all poli cal par es are but Cover: Wladimir Iljitsch Lenin, 920, Pavel Semyonovich Zhukov, PD; Leo Dawidowitch Trotzki, class, by whose labour alone wealth is the expression of class interests, and 929, Unknown, CCBY-SA 3.0; Joseph Stalin, 943, U.S. produced. as the interest of the working class is Signal Corps, PD; Russian Imperial Coat of Arms, PD diametrically opposed to the interests of p4: Cornucopia, Jina Lee, 2003, CCA-SA 3.0 p9: Rohingya, FCO, 2012, OGL v1 2. That in society, therefore, there is an all sec ons of the master class, the party p10: Flag of the Soviet Union, 955, Rotemliss, CCBY- antagonism of interests, manifes ng itself seeking working class emancipa on must SA 3.0; Petrograd July 4 917, PD; Head Icon of V.I. as a class struggle between those who be hos le to every other party. Lenin, Johnny Wiki, CCBY-SA 3.0; Factory Delega on, possess but do not produce and those Petrograd, 917, Kataryn & Shelby Cullom, PD; Hitler/ Stalin (Detail), 4, Spiridonion Cepinu, CCBY-SA 4.0; who produce but do not possess. 8. The Socialist Party of Great Britain, Trotsky Grave, en.user:fabioj, CCBY-SA 3.0 therefore, enters the fi eld of poli cal p14-15: Iris – Le Eye of a Girl, 4, Laitr Keiows, CCBY- 3. That this antagonism can be abolished ac on determined to wage war against SA 3.0; p16-17: Charles I (1630), Anthony Van Dyck, PD; Coat only by the emancipa on of the working all other poli cal par es, whether alleged of Arms of England (1603-1649), Sodacan, CCBY-SA class from the domina on of the master labour or avowedly capitalist, and calls 3.0; Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, 656, Na onal class, by the conversion into the common upon the members of the working class Portrait Gallery, PD; Coat of Arms of the Protectorate, property of society of the means of of this country to muster under its banner Sodacan, CCBY-SA 3.0 p19: The State, Channel 4 produc on and distribu on, and their to the end that a speedy termina on may p21: O o Dix – Sy von Harden, 1926, Tate Liverpool, democra c control by the whole people. be wrought to the system which deprives 8, Manvyi, PD; them of the fruits of their labour, and p24: Gustave Dore – Death on a Pale Horse, 865, 4. That as in the order of social evolu on that poverty may give place to comfort, Swedish Bible, Gustave Dore, PD the working class is the last class to privilege to equality, and slavery to achieve its freedom, the emancipa on freedom.

Socialist Standard October 2017 23 Nibiru nonsense gullible from their real interests. ’During have agreed with Marx when he stated If you are reading this, the world a segment in which Bakker was selling that ’The aboli on of religion as the did not end. ’This year, a Chris an $175 buckets of his disaster preparedness illusory happiness of the people is the conspiracy theorist David Meade has food, Tasty Pantry... he revealed that he demand for their real happiness. The made an alarmingly specifi c predic on felt the real issue with the weather and demand to give up the illusions about – not only is the world about to end, everything else on the earth has to do their condi on is a demand to give doomsday is scheduled for September with sin and wickedness... Bakker added: up a condi on that requires illusion. 23... Meade bases his predic ons on ’Just remember, God gets the last word. The cri cism of religion is therefore an assortment of sources including the God gets the last word. Be not deceived, the germ of the cri cism of the Book of Revela on and signs allegedly God is not mocked ’( theblaze.com, 7 valley of tears whose halo is religion’ wri en in the Pyramids. He says: ’It September). ( Introduc on to A Contribu on to is very strange indeed that both the the Cri que of Hegel’s Philosophy of Great Sign of Revela on 12 and the No nonsense Nun Right, 1844). Given the very real threat Great Pyramid of Giza both point us to Remarkably, the contents of a ’coded capitalism represents to our survival one precise moment in me’ (yahoo. le er wri en by a 17 th century nun while – you do not need to be a socialist to com, 8 September). Meade will likely she was possessed by the Devil [have recognize the ever-present danger of join the many fakirs on Wikipedia’s been] fi nally translated using decryp on nuclear Armageddon, for example – long list of dates, stretching back so ware discovered on the dark web’ reject the pie in the sky when you die to 66CE, who predicted apocalyp c (dailymail.co.uk, 8 September). There’sno of religion and instead worry, agitate events. Capitalism con nues: it’s crystal ball in sight but this islikely to be of now, be happy later. business as usual – war, famine interest to socialists. According to modern ater. (amidst plenty) and (o en curable) scien sts, Sister Maria suff ered from Capitalist confl ict pes lence. schizophrenia or bipolar What are we to make of the ongoing war betweenbetwee the Arakan Rohingya Half-baked Salva on ArArmy and the state of Religion was humanity’s fi rst a empte mp t Myanmar? Mainstream media in the at science. We could not explainlain West prepresents it in religious terms: the forces of nature, the risingng the persecupe on of Muslims by and se ng of the Sun, BuddBuddhists. Religion is o en used phases of the moon, etc., to jus fy confl ict as well as to and ascribed them to the obobscure the real interests super-natural. Viewed involved. ’China’s concerns through the lens of the over Rakhine State are materialist concep on of related to interests in history, it can be seen as a its One Belt One Road necessary adjunct to our Ini a ve (OBOR), said development. Yet religion poli cal and ethnic aff airs has long served the analyst U Maung Maung interests of the minority Soe. Rakhine plays an master class. Just as the important part in OBOR, fundamental change from as it is an exit to the Indian Catholicism to Protestan sm OceanOc and the loca on was essen al for the rise of of a planned billion-dollar capitalism as an ideology – forfo r ChineseChines project – an economic example, the Calvinist idea that zone on Ramree Island, and the God shows his favour on Earthrth by Kyaukphyu deep-sea port, which has making merchants rich – so atheism oil and natunatural gas pipelines linked is fundamental for the 99 percentrcent and with Yunnan Province’s Kunming. the socialist claim that the world is disorder yet she described God and Jesus “Therefore, the stability of Rakhine theirs to run, with neither gods nor as dead weights (preda ng Marx’s ’the State is important for this project. The masters, as they see fi t. The evangelist tradi on of all past genera ons weighs like mee ng shows China’s concerns over Jim Bakker – once jailed for fraud, an incubus upon the brain of the living’ its One Belt One Road Ini a ve,” said involved in a sex scandal, and leader by over 200 years) adding that the former U Maung Maung Soe’ (irrawaddy.com, of PTL (be er known as Pass the Loot) was invented by Man. Maria may well 4 September). Ministry – con nues to divert the

ISSN 0037 8259 Published by the Socialist Party, 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN Tel : 0207 622 3811 24 Email: [email protected] Website : www.worldsocialism.org/spgb Blog: http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/Socialist Standard October 2017