A New Society Awaits

Socialism offers the only alternative to the existing and corrupt system of monopoly capitalism and the first progressive step towards building an alternative system is to recognise the deficiencies, deception and dishonesty inherent within social democracy itself.

Once you understand and acknowledge that the system is inherently biased and controlled by the ruling class, and that no leader, however well-intentioned, has the power to introduce policies that address injustice, then work begins in earnest to build something new.  

Engels once said “The worst that can be done to the leaders of a workers’ party is to make them ministers. They are then expected to operate a machine which is out of control.”

And that’s the truth, the reality of our situation. I was born in Australia and when I was a child, we had a decent social democratic leader called Gough Whitlam, who when he tried to go beyond the bounds of what Anglo American imperialism would permit, he was summarily sacked by the Queen’s representative in Australia, the Governor General.

Putting store, hope and faith in yet another social democratic leader or party is futile. Government has no power, political parties within social democracy have no authority, it is the pantomime by which we are continually fooled we live in a democracy.

I was part of the Corbyn project in round one and I learnt and woke up following that experience and subsequently joined the CPGB-ML. Since then I have studied economics, history, philosophy, politics and more, with like-minded comrades, many who shared my Corbyn adventure. I have deepened my understanding of the world, geopolitics, and how capitalism in its final stages, imperialism, operates and I am filled with hope.

If you are looking for the answer to the failed and moribund society in which we live, the first step is to wake up to the duplicity we live under. To recognise that any real change in our material conditions is impossible within this system. If we have to go through another pantomime of party politics with a new version of Labour via the Your Party and a new version of Tory in Reform, then potentially another 10 years will be lost – and in that time our life conditions, and those of our children, will have become immeasurably worse.

We are called the Class Consciousness Project for a reason; we want to wake workers up by giving them hope and the means of achieving it. Workers’ instincts tell them that social democracy, politicians and the prevailing capitalist system are broken beyond redemption but for the most part they don’t know what to do to elicit change. If you want hope and a means of achieving positive change, social democracy is not the answer.

Inequality is not the root problem, class exploitation is. Capitalist societies will always have inequality because they are structured around the private ownership of the means of production and the exploitation of labour. A speech by Jeremy Corbyn saying he wants society to be “more equal” is just ridiculous as it suggests inequality is something that can be resolved within capitalism, rather than it being the product of it.

A call for “more equality” sidesteps this core contradiction.

Hope is powerful, positive and gives you energy to do, act and make change. But hope doesn’t last and so you have to be sure that the source of your hope is capable of delivering positive change. Hoping for someone to elicit change within the existing system is like putting ice in your drink and hoping it doesn’t melt. Both are scientific impossibilities. A new system can be achieved but it does require your participation. It is not a pipe dream, it exists in countries all over the world in one form or another so whilst not a reality for us yet, it is indeed a possibility – one that could be become a reality when you and others like you decide to act.