8/6/2019 Spgb Forum 1954 Nov 26

1/8

FORUMINTERNAL JOURNALOF THE S.P.G.B

No. 26 November

6d.1954

SOCIAL ISM OR CLAUSE 6 7Before I set out my criticisms of the

Declaration of Principles. as requested byhe resolution moved and carried at the meet-ng of party members held at the HolbernHan on Sunday, September 12th. there areseveral things I wish to make clear.

For the benefit of those members 'who likemyself were unable to 'Je present at themeeting the resolution referred to was:-

"THAT THE r.c. CALL LPOf"\'COMRADET~RNERTOPUT]~WRITll'\G HIS OEJECTI001S TOTHE DECLARATION OF PRI:\-CIPLES, AND THE r.c CO:\-SIDER \VHETHER IT COf"IESWITHIN RULE 33."

Untrue StatementsIt would appear from this resolution thit!

he members 'who voted in favour of it wantedme to place my criticisms of the Declarationof Principles in order to see whether a chargeof action detrimental to the interests of theparty could be preferred. To put i t mildlythis is a very shabby trick, some might eventhink that it is sharp practice. I should havethought that the only reason for requestinga member to put his views in writing wouldbe for those views to become the grounds fordiscussion, to adopt those views if consideredcorrect or tG Jput him rig:lt i f the view.,3.reconsidered incorrect. I can only hope thatmost members were unaware of this dista,te-ful purpose 0 f this resoIu tion.

It has been said by a number of member"that I am opposed to the party, that I amcampaigning within the party in order todisrupt it and that I do not put the Sociali,:case when I am on the platform. May Istate at once that not one 0 f these sta ternentsis true. If the members who have made thesestatements really believe thern to be true whyhave they not used the machinery of the

party which exists in order to dea. withmembers who are deemed to have acted ina manner which i s considered detrimental tothe interests of the party? The;'e accusationsmust be considered irresponsible unless themembers who make them back them up in themanner laid down in the rule book. In casethere are members who may be thinking" that 'where there is smoke there must befire", I must state my position. I hold thatSocialism alone is thewlution to the many

problem; that vex society today.

By Socialism 1 mean a universal systemof society, or 'way of living, in which nohuman being, or group of people, stands in aprivileged. position to others. No group ofpeople will own the means of production, norwill theyown things that will be produced.All 1!1mgs will be held in common and allpeople will have access to things accordingto their needs and all people will contributeto society according to their. abilities. Fromthe standpoint of sex groupings, neither sexwill stand in a privileged position to the other.Racially no groupings of people will be

privileged, nor stand with power over others.In ~hort, equality will be the thread;runningthrough ~vcry conceivable h uman r el at io nsh ip ,

I hold with the Sociali3t Party that aperson is a socialist who recognises thepracticability and desirability of the aboveobjective. I also hold with the SocialistParty that no other crganisaticn in thiscountry has Socialism, as I have outlined it,as its sole obj ective and th~refore membershipor support of these .other organisations isincompatible with Socialism. A perscn whoclaims to be a so cialist cannot support warunder any circumstances, T\or can a socialistcrganisation put fonvard reform programme"in order to obtain members or get suncorton such programmes. There are of co~ll"sequite a number of other issues with which Iam in agreement with the party, but: think

I have enumerated enough to p:ovc "ness to retain my membership.

The ObjectThe criticisms I have of the Declara

of Principles are where, in myopinion,depart from the objective as set Jut aboTo put it another way, my criticisms arefrom the standpoint of an anti-socialist.are th ev c ri ti ci smsof a no n-so cia list,I saying that the party is non-socialisr am saying that, inmy opinion .the SoParty could be more socialist in its mto people than it has been during thefifty yean. As far as tji, contributionmy criticisms is concerned I j!ropose to j'estit to those clauses whid] deal with action.criticisms of these clauses spring fromconception of .c:;ociali,m as slaled abovewhich. to the best of my belief, wouldagreed to by most, if not all members.repeat Socialj~m means to me a univesystem of society in which all human beistand equally to each other, 'where all prlege and power of people over other peo

no longer exists.

Clause SixMy major criticis:n of this principle

;;\ '0parts. .The first deals with th.e ~the working da,3 must organise

relation to the objective. I f the objectto establish Socialism then onlv socialistsorganise for its establishment: whether thsocialists in other fields are workerscapitalists, men or women, American, BritGerman. etc., black or yellow,' isirrelevan L The lest of being a socialisolely that of recognising the practicaband desirability of Socialiom and ofdesire to work for its establishment. Ithat the economic classification, workercapitalist, play, no part in renderingpeople who qualify under the above tes

The opinions expressed in this journal are those of the individual contributors, and are notto be taken as the official views of the party

8/6/2019 Spgb Forum 1954 Nov 26

2/8

8 2 FORUM

o: unftt for organising for Socia lism. If, ofcourse, we hold that cnly wage and salaryworkers stand to gain by the establishment ofSociali:;m, then it is understandable whv ;heaupeal is clircc.ed to the working class. - Butif this is the reason why the appeal isdirected exclusively toworkers then we areat variance with the proposition that Socialis""lmeans the emancipation of ALL MAN-KIND.

The second part of lllj e;i'leis!".'! of thisprinciple is where i t states that "conque'tof powers of government national and localin order that this machinery inch:rn::; 'thearmed forces of the nat.on maybe corivertedfrom an instrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation". All governmentsand their powers exist to perpetuate privilegein one form or another. All forms o fprivilege carry with them the machin or y tomaintain the privilege and this machinery iscoercive. If we mean by Socialism theemancipation of all mankind, then suchanemancipation cannot be achieved by coercion.

I t can only be brought about by mankind asa, .whole understanding and wanting thisemancipation.

Agent of Emancipation

We cannot convert instruments of oppres-sion jnto agents of emancipation. The cn'vagent of emancipation of which I am awareis men and women armed with knowledgeand desire of Socialism, not soldiers, airmenand policemen armed with bombs, guns andtruncheons, nor statesmen armed with lies.We could, however, capture control of themachinery of government including the annedforces and shift oppression from one set ofpeople to another, but if this is not what wewant then why retain a clause which makesit appear that we do. Socialists rely uponthe socialist understanding of people every-where in order to make social equality aliving reality. Coercion is the doctrine ofthose who despair of others ever unj r-standing. We cannot rely upon bothunderstanding and coercion.

The whole of the Declaration of Principlesleads up to tbe objective contained inClause 6, namely that the working classmust consciously capture control of themachinery of government. I want to drawyour attention to what this phrase is actuallypostulating: it must mean that the governmen-tal machinery including the armed forces isa constant institution and yet the ideas ofthe overwhelming majority of people willhave so changed that they no longer want

nations, classes, nor any ..:Jeh:r groupantagonisms.

Fundamentals of CapitalismAre we to understand that the funda-

mentals of capitalism" including the statemachinery, will remain the same as in 1904and yet changes will take place in people'sideas so revolutionary in character as to want

a system of society for which there is no.historical precedent ~ How will these ideasbe changed? This question cannot beanswered on the postulates of Clause 6. Therrovemmental machinery is a fundamental ofprivileged society, In the language of theDeclaration of' Principles, it enables thecapitalists to conserve the monopoly of the;'.rea!th taken from -the workers. But so arethe ideas''of people fundamental to society,that 'is why we state that the majority ofpeople must hold ideas of Socialism in order,0establish it.

It would appear from the Declaration of

Principles generally and Clause 6 inparticular that there is no connection betweenideas of people and the other factors of cacit-alism, bearing in mind that the other factorsremain 'fundamentally unchanged but theiqeas of people wjll change revolutionarily,Tnis contradiction ishows itself in our state-ments in the Socialist Standard and en theplatform on the subject of Clause 6,

Avery small number of propagandistsargue we would use the state machine azainstcapitalists and their supporters. A largernumber argue that we would use the statemachine to pass the first and last law .. the

abolition of private property". A few arguethat we will capture the state in order coabolish it. . Every members of the party hasat some time or another heard these viewsexpressed" from the platform. One thingstands. out dearly from all these oronounce-ments that is that they do not take intoaccount the dynamic character of rccietv, thatis that changing ideas move along with ~hal1g-ing institutions. I hold that when the massof people hold socialist ideas there will beno state machine to capture.

Clause Seven

" That as all political parties are but the"expression of class interests and as the.. interest of the working class is diametric-"ally opposed t-o the interests of all"sections of the master class, the party'.' seeking working class emancipation". must be hostile to every other party".

November 1

It is evident that the phrase .. theseeking working class emancipation . .refers to us. Of course we are sworking class emancipation but we arein g the emancipation of ail mankind andrefusal to compromise ,vith other organisatishou!d not be because they do not exthe interests of the working class butfor the reason that their objectives arthose 01 establishing a universal systemwhich all people are equal.

As this clause reads it appears that~!ltere;t' of the working class and SocialIS one and the same! thing: If we meanSc cialism is ill the interest of allbeings and workers are human beincs thefore Socialismjs in their interests :U'be well, but it is evident that this is cotwe mean, because capitalists are humbeings, but we do not say that the interethe section; of the cap.taliet c las;establishment of Socialism.

Not a Class Interest The first part of Clause 7 is correct-"

political parties are but the expressionclass interests". No economic class basits objective universal weia] equality;objectives of both clasoeo and all the sectiof these classes are simply to gain atexpense of each other. The interestscapitalists are in opposition to the interestsworkers as well as in opposi~ion toworkers as well as in opposition to each otThis also applies to the intercsrs of the 'wkers. The interest of neither class is SocialisIt seems to me lobe absurd to say, as wethat the interest of the wcrkinc clasSocialism even though they are unawareit . It could equally be said of the capitathat their interest is Socialism but theyunaware of it. So-cia lists seek to end csociety and the struggle between th~se claand for us to argue that we represent'class against the .other in order to end claaltogether seems to me as nonsensical asclaim that in order to bring about peaceshould support war.

A. W . TU

Correspondence and artIcles should be

tent to FORUM, S.P.G.B., 51, CI'apham

Hi,h'St., London,. W. 4. Subscript/lm's

11 months, 7/6d, 6 months Jl9d. Ch~ques

and '.O.'s should be made .payable

E. Lake, S.P.G.B.

8/6/2019 Spgb Forum 1954 Nov 26

3/8

N ovem ber 1954 FORUM

OUR OBJECT AND

D. OF P.Criticisms of the above have been made in

the past and are being made again now. Itherefore take this opportunity to state myviews.

Clause 1, from inductive objective reason-on my part, is still axiomatic fact. IV1 ) 'study of Capitalism during this period-1904to 1954\.-of S.P.G.B. activities, and thefew centuries of Capitalism before thisperiod, convinces me that economic wealth isproduced by the working class alone. . Alsothat this wage-working-class remain enslaved,because the Capitalist class are owners of themeans of living. by their vast majorityamount of shareholdiug, Capitalism has notremained static; its productive powers havedeveloped and increased enormously as aresult of competition amongst the rivalnational capitalist states. for sales of surpluseconomic commodity wealth in tbeshrink-ing world market. The State powers ofCapitalism have also increased by Nationali-sation of more industries, but more Statecontrol of these industries has not lessenedthe amount 0 . ownership of the means ofliving by the private shareholding andGovernment bond-holding Capitalist Class.Government debts, in all countries, 10 theCapitalist money lenders, increase by theState development of industries, and by thegreater expenses on account of the armamentcompetition of the rival national State powers.The Capitalist class continue to live luxur-iously on Cround Rent, Interest and Prqhtand the Working Class continue to exist inpoverty on wages or salaries. From thisClause 1, a few correct logical deductionswere stated by the founders of the S,P.G.B,

Clause 2 refers to economic antagonism : J finterests between the Capitalist haves and theWorker have-nets, which is the Iuncamentalbasis of the Class Struggle in this presentCapitalist system 0 . Commodity-producingsociety. This Clause 2, in my opinion, 'is acorrect logical deductive conclusion fromClause 1.

Clause 3 and oUf P ar t} ) O b je ct both referto the only method of abolishing the economicantagonism of the two classes in thisCapitalist system of Society, and thereby thedomination by the Capitalist class owners ofemancipation of the working class from

the means of life: by conversion to commonownership of those means for all the world'spopulation. The human race depends onnature's materials scattered unequally through-out the 'world; therefore the emancipation ofthe workers of the world f r om the chains o fwage-slavery can only be achieved bycommon ownership of these natura! materials,and by the machinery of production anddistribution of human needs being democratic-ally contmlled. This, to my mind, is a

correct conclusion from the statements of factthat the wage-working class are the next andlast class yet to achieve its freedom and theiremancipation, and therefore will involve the:emancipation of all mankind. The historyof Economic and Political changes in HumanSocieties, since common ownership ofproperty in the means of life, during PrimitiveCommunist Society, was displaced by privateownership of the means of living, proves therei3 no class remaining to be exploited belowthe present wage working class. Surely,then, Clause 4 i s an accurate statement, andmeans the end of class rule and classes andexploitation of humans ..

C lause Sstates that this final emancipationis the historic duty and task of the workingclass itself. This clause must be a correctdeduction from the fact of antagonism ofinterest between the two classes in Capitalistsociety and the statement of facts in Clauses1, 2, 3 and 4.

C/a , 1 . l SC 6 refers to the machinery ofCapitalist Government, including the civiland armed forces, used to continue theCapitalists' ownership of the means of livingand their politically legal robbery of theworking wage class, who produce all wealthby applying their physical and mental energies

to Nature's materials. Then, surely, theworking-class must organise politically 16gain powe:', national and local, in theirrespective national states, in order to convertthe forces of domination and oppression intothe agent of emancipation, by ending theparasitic life of this Capitalist system andoverthrowing the privileges of the Capitalistclass and ending class divisions and classes.This Clause, laid down by the founders ofthe S.P.C.B., I am in agreement witheven in this decade, from my own inductive

objective reasoning and deductive conclus

Clause 7 refers to S.P.C.B. hostiail other parties; but are not all other poparties more hostile to the S.P.C.R,the S.P.G.B. are to these other p

parties t This 15 because we do nofiCE our principles for their numbers,sacrifice our Socialist aim now fo rperiod. Capitalism has insoluble proand contradictions which al l otherconsider soluble within the framewthis present competitive Capitalist systwe all pull together, workers and capitpolitical parties including the SSurely all members of the S.P.C.B.,agree that the longer the Capitalistcontinues the graver are its problems. Tfore let us work in harmony to put Capitin its grave and its problems with itus do our part in Great Britain to

frontiers of this Capitalist dying systemachieve the aims of World Socialism.

CiauSe! 8. Surely the S.P.G.B. mlive in the present, and have had brighworthy aims laid down by the founthe S.P.C.B. We are not livingfuture yet. we cannot love our enemieswe have to put up with their parasiticmeantime. We do not aim to extermthem, but we do not o urselves wexterminated by their wars, \'Itherefore help to increase Socialist undersing and action, and achieve our pobject, firstly; then our peaceful eco

object follows almost immediately afterwThe S,P.C.B., and its companionabroad know the problem and the soand with conditions becoming easierstood by the working class of the wohelp us to achieve our and their emanctogether, i f we do our part now,members seem to consider they are cof re-writing a new version of our S.P.CObject and Declaration of Principlesaccurately and in much better andmodern language. I doubt it; perhapsame few members consider they are caof re-writing more accurately" Wage Land Capital" and "Value, Price

Profit". which were written more thayears before 1904; I doubt that alsnot let us forget how Marx. in "VPrice and Profit", advised us correctlycauses and effects: and. although Capconditions force us to do many thingsare inadequate-almost like tryingback the tide-our main concentratioactivities is the ending of the \Vages SyWe must overcome all obstacles,

DA VID LAM

8/6/2019 Spgb Forum 1954 Nov 26

4/8

,-

8 4 F ORUM November 195

THE NATURE OF THE SOCIALIST

REVOLUTION

7 - fLfie Sociaii{),t JK(l(tement ( roncfuded)The tendency towards social equality

which characterises the physiology, as Itwere, of Capitalism, appears also in the ::;tillincompletely articulated anatomy, as betweensovereign powers or groupo. \'Ziithin(heempires. the historical transition from ex-change of unequal to exchange of. equalvalues is marked bv th e stages of contact,conquest, cok1l1isati;n, condominium.' Thesame transition occur, between rival powersor empires.. In both cases it is the instru.ionof alien artefacts (through trade) from themore developed economy which starts orhasten; the equalising of productive powersand standards of living, and the greater themass and range of thes~ artefacts, the quickerthe assimilation of backward with forward.Germany was "

8/6/2019 Spgb Forum 1954 Nov 26

5/8

Novem ber 1954 FORUM

phenomenon. In the East there is no Opposi-tion because there is a by-passing (by tele-scoping) of nineteenth centurycapitali5m, inthe West (America, Britain, France. etc.)there is change of personnel without changeof policy because within the national physio-logy of capitalism there is no longer anyfelt major social problem-the major problemis external, the problem of war andsovereignty.

The military State climax of oapitlistevolution hastens the development of theartefacts (and with them the activities ofbody and mind, the institutions) which inte-grates society physiologically and anatomic-ally (socially and geographically) - thishastening being essentially the greatermomentum of the greater mass of product,while the process, itself inhere. in capital, inthe commodity cell where (in brief and in

little) it ia the relative diminution of value tothe point of irrelevance, and thereafter ex-trusion, when meek usefulness shall inheritthe earth. And the cultural spirit whichissues from this integration is conce-rn withthe quality of life and labour, marking itoff from the pre-history concerned withquantity, with output, value, shares, owner-ship of means, conspicuous waste, etc.

This sketch of the evolution of Svcialismis necessarily brief, and necessarily deals wjihone part at a time. In social facL the partsare not consecutive but concurrent (and it isthe essence of my interpreta tion of materialismthat they concur). The" defect" of thegraphic arts is that they are two-dimensional,and the artihces for overcoming that defectare part of the art. Language, having onlyone dimension, precludes those devices, andas a makeshift for concurrence we have to"bring into relation". F or example, thedevelopment of powers of unprerlictible des-truction come, from the atomic revolutionwhich mean, also worldwide equality ofproductive levels. which means both equalityof retaliation and (because there are thenno areas which can be won by lesser means)the impossibility of conquest by means sodeadly, and any shooting wars before thencan only hasten that equality. Again, with-out war, sovereignty dies of irrelevance, oris superseded by ,the aftermath of 'war.Again, actual orIaient conflict of sovereign-ties hastens the emanicpation of use fromvalue within the national economy, and doesso simultaneously at points which convergeand boost one another: diffusion of me-valuesout of higher productivity concurs withnational defence taxation which help"equalise distribution of value. Again, highertaxation favours diversion of surnlus toimproving conditions of work, reinforced

both by the reduced pressure of "economicincentive" (social equality in use-values)and by the need of national defence to im-prove output-and out of these t\e cyber-netics, made possible by electronics, whichfurthers the replacement of dying economicincentives. (quantity) by humane andaesthetic incentives (pleasure in work), -andwith all of which concurs the less brutallyaggressive appetite of capital where prohtis a condition rather than an aim, and wherethe controllers and operators of the capitalare no longer hereditary moguls but appointed.. in accordance with ability;', 'Or enjoyingthe privilege of ownership less for the kudosand more for the status and the elementof creative discretion in work.

Take up any thread, it is woven into evervother. All analogies are false, but (\live;)that there is motion as well as matter) thereis concurrent change of matter, form and

spirit; there is emergence of the new,mechanically by the throwing oft ofskin, hut out of the skin; and therprecipitation of dewdrops out of air, the cescence of droplets into streams,

8/6/2019 Spgb Forum 1954 Nov 26

6/8

8 6 FORUM- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

November

production in steel has occured due to anaccelerated rate of expansion of the steelindustry relative to other industries. Thi:element of over-production in steel willcause a sharp decline in the rate of pro htIedine to a contraction of investment andht:nce~ production, thus resulting in reduceddemand for commodities such as labourpower; iron; coal; transport, etc. Thi;;:nturn will generate cumulative effects in otherundertakings which are linked with the steelindustry and who now as a result of theover-expansion of the steel industrv exj.e lc",c'!a deficit of demand for their pr!:cu!!.!.iproduct.

As a result of falling r~rice] an l profit: ;nt!\e,e undertakings, investment will contractand production decline. Pay-roll> ,;ii) fa 1and consequently current purchasing power,viII be lowered, which will then accelerate

the proce ss already begun, If the :11;equilibrating effects arising from this' dis-proportional development of the ole o Jindustry are sufhciently widespread then theymay initiate a series of events which p.o Iucc:a crisis.

Over-production in one branch of ir!.~;lEtrjcan then produce a state of affairs whic'-,brings about elements of .over-r:w:luction inother branches of industrv and leads to ac~ndition of general over-production. Inshort, one branch of the economic system hasfailed to expand proportionally with otherbranches, and by 'rupturing the essentialconditions of equilibrium, has brought aboutin these branches a condition of relative overproduction which in its general effects isindistinguishable from general over-produc-tion. All crises then, are crises of relativeover-production. Because particular branchesof industry can only expand disproportion-ally in relation to other branches, to talk ofabsolute disprcportionality and lienee,absolute over-production i, not only anabsurdity but a contradiction in terms. Theassertion of some naive under-consumptionistswho say that crises are the outcome cf .comuch of everything being produced can thenbe seen in proper perspective.

It might appear from what has been oaidthat crises emanate ronly from that depart-ment of industry which produces the meansof production. Disproportionately of pro--duction, leading to a crisis situation can how-ever originate in that other broad departmentof industry which produces the means of con-sumption.

Thus in a period of a rapid burst ofcapital accumulation, manufacturers of con-sumption goods-or any interested entre-preneur for that matter-may seek to expandtheir concerns by investing in building; new

factories; machinery, etc. If the transferenceof labour power and other wealth re.ourcesto the industries v,hichmanufacture themeans of production are considerable, thenthere w- i l lfollow a sharp rise in the organiccomposition of capital, i.e., an increase of

constant capital relative to variable capital.The rate of profit will tend to fall and unem-ployment will appear. This will be followedby a declin; in purchasing power and pricesin the consumption goods industry will falL

A lowered rate of profit and a fall inthe price level of consumption go ods w illnotof itself produce a crisis. If he -. eva, anacu:e decline in both prohts an:l crices isexperienced by those who invest money inthe manufacture of finished consumerarticles for the reason already outlined, thenit fellows thatover-exrs.nsion has ',,,"kenplace. As a result there wiI! 12 a :.:z.~LeJslackening of activity in the trade; poduc-ing means of consumption. No,'! ~u'h astate of affairs will become crucial if sucha slackening of trade activity has a markedlyadverse effect on those trade) which producethe means of procuction, i.e., by causing adecline in the demand for their productswhich of course are dependent 'on andderived from the trades p ro duc ing fm ishelconsumption goods. In actual fact changesin demand for production goods have muchmore significance than changes in -Iernandbetween different lines of articles for con-sumption in view of the greater durabilityand expenses of producing the former. A

sharp decline in demand for industrialment carries powerful di.iequilibrating e

If the decline i s serious enoughbring about in the constructional and mmaking concerns a state of over-producwith its familiar features of falling price

profits, curtailing of investment andquently, production, and subsequent din employment and consuming power,in turn will produce serious repercussionthe already declining activity of theproducing the means of consumption.conditions of equilibrium will be gravturbed and a crisis ensue. It followthat a crisis can originate in eithertwo major departments of industry-producing the means of consumption orproducing the means production. Butcase the crisis is in the final analysis tcome of disproportional development bethe two branches of industry,

It may be said that many non-Meconomic theorists would not in any apable way dissent from the above deJco f crises. Nor could it be said that Mviews on crises have influenced them tconsiderable degree. "'lhat can bethat the development of capitalism hpelled them to a more realistic apprthe dynamics of the system thanfavoured by academic theory of ageneration. For that reason it 1 0 inimplicit tribute to Mar x' s work on thject of crises. E

(to be continued)

_._-+-.-.-

THE SOCIALIST DILEMMA

The theory is current in some quar.ersthat the reason for the Farty's lack ofconspicuous progress during th ; lat lift}years has been the sterility of i to propa-ganda, or, in other words, the lack ofconstructive Socialist ideas. \Ve can :mlyinfer from this tht once the Party com-

mences to give graphic illustrations of a futuresociety, the apathy of people will wither awayand "hope the hornblower" appear on anelevated platform .n Hyde Park to usher inthe new en. Is not this new tactic in thequest f or (dare I say it) working classcomprehension merely the expression of thefailure of propaganda itself to be cufficien:~to produce the requisite Socialist majority,rather than a failure of the particular formof propaganda used?

Many thousands of people have heard theS.P.C.B., during the half-century it has been

in existence, and digested the main partcase, yet the force of circumstances hbeen strong enough to induce the necactivity in the desired direction. Insocial forces in more than 999 casesa thousand are far more powerful thaapparent desire on the part of a pers

Socialism. The S.P.C.B., and its hof sympathisers is the exception whichthe rule, as the phrase gees. They fofractional percentage which has (byperhaps) found Socialism the stgravitational pull in the social orbit.

The question has now got to be fato whether or not the material conditionripe enough to induce the socialist revolto overcome the oPPP05ing forces andthe scales on the other side. As Marxout in the Preface to his Critique of PoEconomy: -" No social order ever p

8/6/2019 Spgb Forum 1954 Nov 26

7/8

November 1954 FORUM

before all the productive forces for whichthere is room in it have. developed . . ."Looking at Capitalism today, we can see thatits growth (if we take Capitalism to be theuniversal system) is still in its in fa nc y.. o nlypart of the world being highly developed onCapitalist lines. Take for' example lildiaan d China, who are but on the threshold ofnationalist industrial Capitalism.

The question th~ Party mustcons\der is :what will be the dynarnicof the revolution?I. do not propose to answer it in this article,bu t only to state the problem. As I havesaid above, the apparent. failure of scientificsocialists to induce cacceptance of. their casewarrants a closer examination - of Capitalismto try to discover" what, if anything, isnecessary to make people realise tbeimperativeness of Socialism.

I do not imply that we must perforce sitback to wait lIpon some' inexorable law ofwcial development to take its predeterminedcourse. That is the mechanistic or meta-phy;{cal materialist theory atits,~orst. Butideas themselves are notstrongJ;nough toovercome conditions which are not equitableto." them. Witness the Russian revolution,and the attempt on the part of Lenin and. hisfollowers ..to by-pass the inevitable outcomeor~;nditions in Feudal -Russia, vis-a-visjheWest. In passing, it might be mentionedthat tbe possibility of so doing was one ofthe main facets of Russian socialphilosophvduring_ the latter .half of the nineteenth

century.

There is nothing new il l o:yslcm bui lding,which the Party is tentatively casting an eyeto. The left wing literature of the lastcentury is full of it, all sterile through beinginopportune and for the most part unscientific.More atavistic than revolutionary, they weremostly expressions o.f distaste for Capitalismin .its period of primitive accumulation, andthus doomed to failure. The few socialistictendencies which showed themselves can beexplained dialectically by the phrase:-"Every problem bears within it the seeds ofits own solution." Some were apparentlyearly ripeners. Nevertheless, to try torepeat the errors of .the past at a later stageof Capitalist development is to court thesame illusion.

The" socialism " of the rebellious workingclass during the early years of indust1'iaiCapitalism was permeated by the condition

of . the - system . at that particular time.(Today our view of Socialism is determinedby the way Capitalism impinges Oll usindividually. Further proof of irnmaturity.)I t. took no account (how could it?) of thenecessity of the system to grow and witherwhen (and not until) it can no longer servethe interests of humanity; ultimately, ofworker or capitalist. The working classwere only concerned with abolishing indus-t r i a l - i sm;the machine being deemed the enemyof their interests. It was the old question ofthings as they appea r, as opposed to thingsas they a re . Marx stated at the time that it"las not machines, but the relations ofproduction, which were the cause of the

trouble, and must receive the blame.the alienation of man from the creatiohis own energies, which producederroneous conception. Only underism can the machine become the serman, and man the master of himselfJe has conquered his own society, "brought pre-history to a close".

Taking the immature" Socialist" actof the last hundred and fifty years as a gwe may assume that Socialism willwhole character be determined bcharacter of Capitalism at the pointransition. \Vith very little or no ideathat will be like, it is a sheer waste ofconjecturing (no matter how interesting,even how natural that may be) or desigthe proverbial " blueprint" of U topiathat is all it can be.

The only practical and uucompronuway of intimating Socialist conditions,point out the causes of social problems u

. ~apitalism; equate them wit]: privatperty, and then show as a logical concluthat with its abolition certain things willdisappear: the state, money, marriage,religion, poverty, insecurity, crime, etc.,etc., and why,

The task before us then as propagandis to spread to the utmost of our abilscientific concept of society, so that-whetheor not it attains universal accentance apresent time- the knowledge ~I'ill bhands, or rather heads, of people, ifwhen the necessity arises.

RENUNCIATION AND ',SOCIALISMIt was Thomas Caryle in his SortorResar tus , \vhotold us thath' is only with

" renunciation" that life, properly speaking,can be said to begin. Sakya Muni taughtthe doctrine of .. renunciation" 2500 yearsago; he said that individual life was a pain-ful delusion from which men escape by theconquest of individual desire. Self, he said,must be subordinated; self is a method andnot an end. The wise o f all ages havepractised "reunuciation" in one form orano~her:~'-"Iri India, 0 1 :instance, llciretiglouz

teacher can hope fo r a hearing unless hefirst renounces th e world. The deepest con-vict~onof the Hindus in all ages has beenthat salvation and happiness are attainableby knowledge. In the famous Bhagavad-glUi, one of the sacred books of the Hinduswhich is used in lawcourts fo r taking theoath etc., there is advocated " renunciation ". as a means to attain happiness and salvation.

But it is not the only means, for it alsosajcs:- The f.iunuiliff action i s superior 1 0 th e

renuncia tion of action,meaning bycourse action only that leads to salvationit says: th e w hole w orld is [ettetedaction ether than action for thesQI;,-ijice. It also states that renunciationtire pu rsu it ofaction a rc bolh inslrhappiness.

Mahavir, the founder of J ainism ialso preached .. renunciation", butextreme form of self-torture andmutilations. Strict asceticism and nudity

8/6/2019 Spgb Forum 1954 Nov 26

8/8

FORUM

nted by the jains o f :",lahiv lra ', periodat 15. a t the , ime of Buddha) a nece,';,o rder to suppress the do 'm inant im pulsesernancinate the soul hom Karma, fe racquisition of true know ledge and

piness , T he J a ins a ccepted no God o rds ; althought unlike the B uddhists theyieved tha t m an had a soul, they did notage in ritua l lik e theHlllclm. T heIr idea;e fundam enta lly s im ilar to Buddhism andduism in tha t they were aim ingal '(::\',,-Im e and nOll! and no t hereafter. T hey

differed in m any ways on how toachievestate o f happiness , b ut werefnndaE;en-

y in agreem ent thatit must co rn eby tilepression o f the dom inantimpulses,

Jumble of WordsNo nation in the worldhas producer! . uchout m en and such w ise thinkers :""hean philosophers, in the realm of smanci-ve think.ng. Fo r such men thought Cell

h pro found tru thsnot

f or i nd iv id ua lgains,

to give a prac tica l m essage tomankin dhow to achieve a way out o f a sufferingld \Vestern Philosonhv ha s been fer th e100 years 0)' m ore no thing but ab so lu te

sense-c-three [curths cash and one fou,thy fancies , all w rapped up in unfathom -language, and like the cuttle-fish ;,-ith

ink-b ag , crea ting a c loud o f darknessund it to prevent peopleseeing what it 13 .vers ity philosophy has b een Eo thingLu :um b le o f words, which s till to this .Jayble, men to talk al l day w ithout sayingthing : hence the A rab ian ))ro',-~rb: "rr the cla pperin g of the m ill, b u t I see:"ur, "

Sane and PracticalThe questions that now arise are: fj//,2,-"s ~ 'r en un cia tio n" _i i i in to s c i e n u_ iTclanation o f socia ! e volu tion did hW??'.J:I1iet],';and Is il reail!; a: June (!i1d~; ache:::!hod.J The answer to the first questionhat it firs in r e r Iectly: !vIan s socialution has b een amental crccess , whichgradually b uilt lijJ by "tn .la nz:in g o ne

ive agains t ano ther, and suppressing m anyhis dom inant im pulses , which were

ssary in the earlier stages o f his develop-t. He had to "renounce" in o rder \:0operate freely with his fellow men. Hi"m a l in stin cts , 111 3craving w ill, his s trongions and desires had to b e snppre rsed inr to achieve a form of c iv i'isatio ri, and

could only b e achieved by mannoun c in g " his earlier ways of l iving.

The seco nd question is realiy answered

ho m th e first, from the fact that hum -ansociety only became possible by " renuncia-tion " o f a certain am ount of m an 's dom inantim pulses in o rder that he m ight knit h ims e l fmore dosely in to tilewhole.

However, it would no t be wise to say thiswas the only factor at work ; there were nodoub t o thers, although tb e others were theconditions fo r this suppression , not the ca use.T he cause has tobe sought fo r in m an ',:kno ',viedge, inhi s 3em e of guilt: no tin hiswill, no r the will o f God. F o r m an, m oreso than the anim al, carrie; ab out w i~hhima strong sense o f guilt, which enab les him tos trive after sa lvation in one sense or ano ther.H~ no doub t w illed like the anim al d ld , theonly difference b eing m an w illed w ithknowledge-s-hence the guilt. T he ernancipa-live idea and th e religious idea o f sa lvationare fundamentally th e "arne thing , 'which isno thing but a striving to clear this guilt andinjustice.

Why This Suffedng?Man's inb o rn idea is that he exist" to b e

happy , in spite o f the glaring fac to rs o f m asssuffering aII arcun d him (in every step hetakes, he is engulfed by suffering infameform or another). Then we hear from himsom e disquieting rem arks such as :H l'h :y a llt his s u .i Je ri ng .J fril}: J l ! a$1 b o r n in!o aU thisslijJuing and b loodshed Wh}: isn o t th e"i))orld a hapIJ}) one ? To answer such aperson all tne&e g u es tions, we would nrct 0 fa li have .o know what the -world is, toan swer ho \l' it is . A nd were you tc tell the

ques tioner the tru th about ouch things he m ightpossibly hang you o r cut your throat.

T he third ques tion is no doub ta!1::;'.l'eredfu lly from the firs t and second, the prco fb eing that m odern civ ilisa tion , bad as it is ina g:r~at m any ways, is yet a long 'I',cayfromth e ju ng le.

How then does all this concern Socialismand the estab lishm ent o f aclass- l e5 " s o ci et y?I answer. it concern" Socia lism very m uchindeed . fo r 'w ithout " renuncia tion", in som eform or o ther, S ocia lis m can only remain am y th. F or i f our present confusion m ust b e

turned in to fu ture o rder we m ust no tbe scfoo li"h to expect such o rder to com e downfrom the high heavens , no r just from thechange in production and distrib ution . Theyno doub t w ill b e the conditions for sucho rder in a c lass-less so c iety ,but certa inly no tthe cause, Fo r there can b e))'0 doub t a b outit, "ac tion and renunciation" will b e th eprim e m overs in b ringing such asociety intoexistence.

November

There has been a great deal oan d nonsense printed by so-calledin the past, as wel] as in tb e presentSocia lism will com eabout . A greit cam e from dream ers, hys terica lmand also from som e scientific m awere running about w ith a kgetting ra ther rusty as tim ewenthave men in the patty just now

Eke very much to tell us all prettyhow b eautifu l and wonderfu l Socbe. but find themselves in a sim ilto Dante when he was looking fofo r his heaven: his hell w as perfecmaterial was scattered all ab outno t a wise po licy tobe over-optim iwritings about socia l ev ils andhowbe abolished, as i f they could bejust lik e an arithm etica l problemor sub tracting . This is thereasonchild , no t a grown m an. A nd tgrow up and realize this , the bette

Jus t at present there is an Innamed Vircba Bhare, a prom inenthat country just now . who sato transform the money-basec] socio-ecstructure into a non-possess ing ation-free soc iety , To hear o fcoming from tha t land o f "renuohould tend to m ake- even thethink tw ice before they start criti" ascetics" as foo l" and m admIndia the relig ious life hasregarded as a journey and searchE ven the m ost o rthodoxp rog ramme admits this, A nd whvb e so [co lish to criticize such del if e, e sp ec ia ll y 'when i t is in linefic thought, and also the m eansSocialism that IS , by acte l) u nc ia l io n .

R SIVIITH

NEXT MONTH

WHEN IS A CHANGEFUNDAMENTAL

(A Dialogue by" Optimus

IMPROVING THEPRINCIPLES

(Part Two of S ,R_P.'s

And more interest ing artic

Pub'i'*'Ecd by S.P.G.B., 52 Clayhal1' High Stre ee . SW.-4 & Print ec by L E WEcst~ Lto.,:T,U.) 14 Kingsbury Creel ' Farede,