Study Guide to Britain's Road to Socialism

Study Guide to “Britain’s Road to Socialism”(Programme of the Communist Party, 8th edition, 2011)

Communist Partywww.communist-party.org.uk

Study Guide to “Britain’s Road to Socialism” (BRS)(Programme of the Communist Party, 8th edition, 2011)

IntroductionThis guide is designed primarily to help comrades who are acting asfacilitators (tutors, discussion leaders) for Marxist study groups ordiscussion forums. See Communist Party Handbook pages 40-44 forguidance on the organisation and conduct of study groups. The guide willalso be useful for individual, private study of the BRS.

Guided discussion around the questions set out in this guide will bring outthe main points of the BRS and some underlying principles of Marxisttheory and practice. Only very brief answers are given here. Fuller answerswill be found in the BRS itself and in the suggested additional reading. Thefacilitator should try to ensure that satisfactory answers emerge out of thediscussion, partly as a result of wrong or partial answers being corrected orsupplemented by others taking part.

Participants should be encouraged to read the relevant chapter of the BRSbefore each session, but those who have not been able to do this shouldnot be deterred from taking part in the discussion.

If a whole chapter is being covered in one session, there will probably notbe time to pose all the questions set out below. The facilitator will selectthose questions that fit in with the course of the discussion. But they willseek to bring the discussion back to the main points that have to beemphasised. It may be useful to devote more than one session to somechapters of the BRS.

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2 Study Guide to “Britain’s Road to Socialism”

Study Guide to “Britain’s Road to Socialism” 3

Chapter One

Capitalism and exploitation We live in a predominantly capitalist world, so the firstchapter of the BRS considers the nature and developmentof capitalism, the growth of monopoly and imperialism,leading to the general crisis of the capitalist system.

Main theoretical topics: surplus value, capital accumulation and crisis.

The development of capitalism and imperialism• How would you define a capitalist? Most of the means of production,

distribution and exchange (commercial buildings and land, plant, machinery,finance etc.) are owned by a small number of capitalists in the form of sharesand other financial assets.

• How would you define a worker?The vast majority of people own littlebut their labour power, which they have to sell to capitalists (or the stateacting on behalf of capitalists) in order to make a living and fund their publicservices, social benefits and pensions.

• How is surplus value created and appropriated?The value of a worker’soutput is greater than the value of the wage received for their labour power.By their (unpaid) surplus labour, workers create this surplus value but itbelongs to the capitalists who own the enterprise. Surplus value is the sourceof profit (which funds dividends, rent, interest and expansion) and is the basisof capitalist exploitation and the class struggle between capital and labour.

• Are public sector workers also exploited?Yes, but not in the same way.Their pay and terms of employment are similar to those in the private sector,but their unpaid surplus labour helps maintain the capitalist state and systemrather than create surplus value directly.


• How does the oppression of women help to sustain capitalism?Unpaid labour in the home: (1) replenishes the worker’s ability to work andperform surplus labour for the capitalists and their state; (2) reduces thepressure on wages; and (3) rears new supplies of labour power. Lower pay forwomen (and black and immigrant) workers can divide the workforce andfurther depress wage levels to the benefit of profits.

• What is the main form of capitalist ownership and control today?Almost every sector of the British economy is monopolised by 3-6 giantcompanies, most of which operate internationally as transnational corporations(TNCs). Most are jointly owned by wealthy capitalists (often companydirectors) and their other companies including pension, insurance andinvestment funds which they control even when not fully owning.

• How are the capitalist monopolies linked to state power? The statesustains and promotes the monopolies and their system at home and abroad,defending capitalist property rights, regulating the economy, spending publicmoney in the private sector and combating any significant challenges tocapitalist economic and state power. Many top state officials in the civil service,judiciary, armed forces, state broadcasting etc. share the same social conditions,educational background and ideological outlook as many top capitalists. Fortheir part, the monopolies sponsor and lobby political parties andgovernments, hire top state officials and politicians, help to devise andadminister public policy and use their ownership of the mass media topromote capitalism and attack or ignore alternatives (especially socialism andcommunism). This fusion of the economic power of the capitalist monopolieswith the political power of the state is expressed in the term ‘state-monopolycapitalism’, coined by Lenin.

• How do TNCs politically dominate the world?All TNCs are basedprimarily in a specific country, where state power is used to protect andpromote their ‘own’ TNCs above others. As well as driving the process of‘globalisation’ so that TNCs can operate in favourable conditions across theworld, the most powerful states also combine to promote the commoninterests of monopoly capital through such international agencies as the IMF,World Bank, WTO, ‘G’ summits, the European Union and NATO. Globalisationis the latest phase of imperialism.


• Why do we say that the US is imperialist when it doesn’t have anempire? Neither does Britain, which has lost most of its colonies. Lenindefined modern ‘imperialism’ as the final or ‘highest’ stage of capitalism.Economically, monopolies have extended their operations across much of theworld to control sources of labour and raw materials, markets and transportroutes, investing their accumulated profits outside their own country in orderto secure super-profits. Politically, state power is used to combat rivalimperialisms, dominate other countries (often without ruling them directly)and suppress socialism. That’s why imperialism is an epoch of militarism, war,national liberation and socialist revolution.

• How has imperialism changed since Lenin’s time? First phase (up tomid 1940s): an era of colonial rivalry and world war. Second phase (up to1980s): relative stabilisation, class collaboration, formal political (but rarelyeconomic) independence in the colonies, ‘Cold War’ against socialism andcommunism. Third and present phase (since 1980s): aggressive neo-liberal classwar including privatisation, ‘globalisation’ and foreign intervention.

A system of contradictions and crises• What is the fundamental contradiction of capitalism?The economic

processes (production, distribution and exchange) are social (inter-linked andinter-dependent across society) but ownership and control of the means ofproduction, distribution and exchange are mostly in private ownership (jointlyor individually). Narrow corporate interests conflict with society’s broaderneeds and objectives.

• How does this contradiction lead to periodic crises of over-production?As capitalists compete for price advantage and market share inorder to maximise profit, wages are held down and workers are unable to buygoods and services they produce. This leads to gluts, lower production, lessinvestment, lay-offs and falling demand in a downwards spiral.

• Why does technical progress intensify periodic crises? Competition andthe drive for maximum profit compels capitalists to invest proportionally morein forces of production such as machinery, fuel and other inputs etc., and less inlabour power – the source of total surplus value. This depresses the rate ofprofit in the economy as a whole, which capitalists counteract by cutting labourcosts, thereby reducing purchasing power and the demand for goods andservices.


The general crisis of capitalism• Which 20th century changes led Marxists to identify a ‘general crisisof capitalism’ (over and above periodic crises of over-production)?The growing domination of monopoly capital over the economy, the state andsociety generally sharpened all of capitalism’s contradictions, intensifying criseson every front (economic, social, cultural, political, environmental) andgenerating mass opposition to the system or aspects of it e.g. trade unions,political parties, social and national liberation movements and the internationalsocialist system led by the Soviet Union.

• What new features of the latest periodic crisis have intensified thegeneral crisis?The international financial crisis from 2008 overshadowed andaggravated a deepening economic crisis. Economically, it reaffirmed thepredominance of the banks and financial markets – the least productive andmost parasitic section of finance capital – within the most advanced capitalisteconomies, and the ineffectiveness of regulation that is not part of a strategyfor socialist revolution. Socially, the bail-out and subsequent austerity measuresis widening social inequality and deepening social problems that capitalist isunwilling or unable to resolve. Politically, this crisis has intensified the fusionbetween finance capital and state power, further undermining and corruptingcapitalist ‘democracy’, demonstrating the anti-democratic and pro-monopolycharacter of the EU and highlighting political bankruptcy of social-democratic,so-called ‘socialist’ and ultra-leftist parties and movements in the struggle todefend the working class, social justice and popular sovereignty.

• Why can’t capitalism end poverty and deprivation, environmentaldegradation, oppression and war?The drive for capitalist profit seeks tohold down the value of wages and the costs of social and welfare programmes.Capitalists do not invest mostly in products and services which would benefitthe poor or the planet, but in those which are profitable or subsidised (as witharmaments) regardless of social or environmental priorities.

• What can we say about war and capitalism and how it affects theeconomy now and how it affected it in the past?

1. Uneven economic and political development between capitalist states and aconsequent struggle for colonies, markets and resources led to the first andsecond world wars.

2. These wars stimulated the economies of the West, led to significant growthand the concentration of capital, out of which came the transnationalcorporations that now dominate the world.


3. These wars also resulted in new partitions of the world between the majorcapitalist powers and their imperialist ‘spheres of influence’, which canchange through economic and political competition but are ruptured mostdramatically through war.

4. Since counter-revolution in the Soviet Union, the main imperialist stateshave been able to subvert or disregard the United Nations in their drive toimpose a new imperialist order on the peoples and nations of the ThirdWorld by war or the threat of war. But the resulting chaos and instabilityhas produced new threats to social cohesion and stability at home and tothe security of Western access to markets, resources and political controlabroad.

• What is meant by the ‘financialisation’ of the British economy?Theprocess of financialisation has established the financial markets and institutions– notably the banks – as the predominant section of monopoly capital in themost developed economies. Assets and contracts are traded as ‘products’(usually in the form of derivatives or bonds) in the financial markets. Whentheir realisable value collapses after a speculative boom, the state bails out theholders and their markets at public expense. Financialisation has thusstrengthened the most parasitic, non-productive and unstable elements offinance capital, which exert their negative influence in the industrial,commercial, political and social spheres as well.

• What are ‘derivatives’ and how do they work? Derivatives are financialcontracts whose market value initially derives from that of an underlying asset(a commodity, a quantity of currency, a loan agreement etc.). Most trades areno longer to guard against future market instability, failure or default, but tomake an instant profit. Derivative dealing is largely unregulated, volatile, risky,inflationary, destabilising and a waste of society’s resources.

• How would you characterise the relationship between the City ofLondon, the EU and US finance capital?The City is one of the world’stop financial centres and a springboard for US, British and other financial andeconomic operations throughout the EU. The ‘Big Bang’ deregulation of 1986enabled US banks and hedge funds to establish substantial interests in the City.They favour continued British membership of the EU, but also want to protectthe City as a corrupt and unregulated casino against EU plans to establish aregulatory ‘level playing field’ between the financial centres of London, Parisand Frankfurt.


• What impact has this relationship had on British manufacturing?TheCity has long had a dual impact on Britain’s industrial base, acting on the onehand as a source of funding, profitable investment and a channel forinternational dealings. But its support for productive industry and R&D athome has been low (compared with, say, Germany), large amounts of capitalhave been used for speculation or export, and the City’s preference for a highsterling exchange rate have inflicted high interest rates on industrial investmentat home and high prices on British exports overseas.

Further ReadingKarl Marx, Wages, Price and Profit (1865)

Karl Marx, Wage Labour and Capital (1847)

Frederick Engels, Letter to Joseph Bloch (September 21, 1890)

V.I. Lenin, Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)

Karl Marx & Frederick Engels, The Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)

John Eaton, Political Economy: A Marxist Textbook (1949)

Arise in Unity: the international crisis and alternatives from the left (2011), especially

the essays by Sitaram Yechury, Ma Jing Peng, and John Foster

John Foster, European Union Withdrawal: The People’s Answer to Austerity (CP, 2013)

Costas Lapavitsas, State and finance in financialised capitalism (CLASS, 2014)


The ruling class and its strategy• Who constitute the dominant core of the British ruling class today?

A relatively small circle of finance capitalists concentrated in the banks andother major financial institutions, linked through the City of London with theirUS and EU counterparts.

• What are the main features of ruling class strategy today to increasetheir profits and power?The big capitalists are striving to:

1. Impose austerity policies which further reduce tax pressures on thewealthy and big business.

2. Use austerity to prepare potentially profitable areas of the public sector forprivatisation, not least by holding down public sector wages, slashing theirpension entitlements, cutting jobs and intensifying workloads (all of whichwill maximise the ‘surplus labour’ they perform).

3. Weaken trade unions in both public and private sectors by furtherrestricting legal rights and facilities.

4. Retain the position of the City of London as a world financial centre, basedon minimal regulation and the viability of sterling.

Chapter Two

State-monopoly capitalism in BritainIf capitalism has failed, then socialism is the only way

forward for humanity. But before considering how socialismcan be achieved, we need to look in more detail at how

capitalism operates in this country today.The second chapter of the BRS therefore analyses how theBritish ruling class exercises state power, and the economic,

political and social consequences.

Main theoretical topics: the state – how the ruling class rules.


5. Strengthen British state-monopoly capitalism’s domination of intellectual,cultural and political life through ownership and control of the mass mediaand the main political parties.

6. Settle the national question in Scotland on terms as favourable as possibleto British finance capital and state power in England, Scotland and Wales.

• What are the international aims of the British ruling class? Whether through economic, political or military means, British imperialismobjectives are to:

1. Promote the interests of British monopoly capital around the world, whichinclude access to markets, resources and transport routes.

2. Create the most favourable conditions in which British TNCs can competeagainst their EU, US and Far East rivals.

3. Maintain Britain’s dual position as a junior ally of US imperialism and aleading member of the EU, promoting common interests including throughinternational agencies such as the IMF, WTO and NATO.

4. Combat the rise of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) andtheir alliances as rival economic and political powers.

5. Maintain Britain’s nuclear weapons and its permanent seat on the UNSecurity Council in order to pursue strategic goals and alliances moreeffectively.

6. Place as much as possible of the burden for combating global warming onthe peoples and governments of developing countries, rather than on thecapitalist monopolies and states of the imperialist powers.

Social inequality and oppression• What practices are employers using to condition the working classto accept growing inequalities of wealth and income, and lesssecurity of employment? Casualisation. Debt bondage. Deregulation.Flexible working. Part-time work. Pension `holidays’. Privatisation.Marketisation. Paid redundancies. Two tier (core/periphery) workforce.

• What differences does capitalism use to divide the labour force anddrive down the level of real wages? Gender. Disability. Ethnicity.Immigration status. Skill. Education. Mental differences. Physical differences.Religion. Short-term contracts. Performance-related pay. Zero hours contracts.Internships.


• How can we overcome these damaging divisions? By emphasising thecommon interests of all workers, unionising them and fighting for the bestpossible terms of employment – while also recognising and combating all formsof prejudice and discrimination that can be used to divide workers and degradetheir wages and conditions.

Democracy and the state• What is ‘democracy’? Its essence is rule by and for the people, including the

power to control capital. Under capitalism, however, ‘democracy’ is restrictedto ‘rights’ that can be undermined, distorted and denied by the power andwealth of the capitalists and their state power.

• What separate organs make up the state apparatus today? Centraland local government, the civil service, the state education and welfaresystems, the police and security services, the armed forces, the legal and prisonsystem, state broadcasting, the established church.

• What is the role of the state in class-divided society?To impose andmaintain the rule of the exploiting class – slave owners, feudal landowners, bigcapitalists – by fraud and ‘consent’ if possible, by force if necessary.

• How does the capitalist ruling class try to project the state as‘neutral’, standing above classes? For example, by emphasising the‘accountability’ of parliament and government, ‘neutrality’ of the civil service.‘independence’ of the judiciary, ‘equality’ under the law, ‘freedom’ of the press,‘independence’ and ‘neutrality’ of the BBC; by promoting institutions of classrule (the monarchy, the armed forces) as popular symbols of national unity andpatriotism ; and by presenting ruling class and state policy (e.g. NATOmembership) as being in the ‘national interest’.

• How are top people in the state apparatus linked to the dominantcapitalists? Through networks of advisory committees and think tanks; publicappointments and secondments; the honours system; business directorshipsand consultancies; and a shared background in the same wealthy families, publicschools, universities, clubs and societies. This helps produce a common rulingclass outlook that shapes state policy and dominates political and public debatein the capitalist or state controlled mass media,


• What if the ruling class fails to gain consent for its policies? Masspressure can defeat, delay or modify ruling class policies, and even win reformsin the interests of the working class and the people. But in important mattersthe coercive power of the state will be used (e.g. the 1984/85 miners’ strike)and the ruling class will always seek opportunities to roll back reforms and re-assert its agenda.

• Why bother fighting for or defending democratic rights undercapitalism?1. They enable the working class and progressive and revolutionary

movements to organise more effectively and on a mass scale.

2. Fighting for democratic rights educates and politicises the labourmovement and helps prepare it to play the leading role in a popular,democratic alliance of forces against state-monopoly capitalism.

3. Achieving democratic rights helps expose their limited, fragile and distortednature in the face of capitalist and state power.

• Why did capital need a Tory government in 1979 but readilyaccepted New Labour’s victory in 1997? In 1979, the ruling class requiredsweeping measures to widen and deepen capital’s profit base: lifting controls onthe export of capital; cutting taxes on big business; privatising industries andutilities; using mass unemployment to intensify exploitation; while enacting far-reaching anti-trade union laws and strengthening the repressive state. By 1997,‘New Labour’ was a relatively safe pro-business, pro-imperialist replacementfor corrupt and discredited Tory rule that had fulfilled its main objectives.

• The 1997-2010 New Labour governments failed to reverse most Toryanti-working class measures, but they did improve trade union andemployment rights, introduce the national minimum wage, securethe peace process in northern Ireland and establish the ScottishParliament, Welsh Assembly and Greater London Authority, albeitwith limited powers and resources. But what were New Labour’smost reactionary policies? 1. Strengthening British imperialism’s subservient alliance with the US, notably

by: launching wars in Afghanistan, Serbia. Kosovo and Iraq; collaborating withthe Star Wars programme; colluding in the kidnapping, transportation andtorture of detainees.

2. Supporting repressive regimes in Israel, the Middle East and Colombia.

3. Expanding the powers of the police, intelligence services and other stateauthorities and planning the introduction of ID cards.


4. Bailing out the banks and financial system without nationalising the wholesector and redirecting public and private funds into productive investmentand public sector house-building.

5. Beginning the fragmentation and privatisation of the NHS and schoolsthrough reforms and a massive expansion of PFI-style schemes.

6. Initiating a programme of austerity and privatisation to fund the bailout andreduce the financial deficit, instead of taxing the rich and big business andinvesting in growth.

7. Launching a programme of closures of Remploy centres for workers withdisabilities.

8. Accepting a series of anti-working class and anti-union rulings from the EUCourt of Justice instead of challenging them.

The limits of social democracy• What progressive policies have been carried out in the past by socialdemocratic parties in government in Britain, Australia, Scandinavia,and elsewhere? Building a welfare state, promoting progressive taxation,taking key or failing parts of the economy into public ownership, attempting toplan economic development, aiming for full employment, reducing socialinequality through health and education reform, extending democratic rights,rejecting or moderating militarism.

• Do these policies represent any form of socialism? No. They did not endcapitalist exploitation or challenge capitalist state power (cf. Labour’snationalisation programme in 1945-51). Social-democratic governments havenever had an effective analysis, theory and programme to guide them.Government office has been mistaken for state power and the result, invariably,was to strengthen state-monopoly capitalism. In recent times of crisis, mostLabour or ‘Socialist’ parties in office have embraced ‘neoliberal’ economic andsocial policies and abandoned social democracy altogether (Britain, Italy,Greece, Spain, Germany).


Further ReadingJohn Foster, The Politics of Britain’s Economic Crisis (CP, 2011 edn.)

John Foster, ‘State monopoly capitalism in Britain’, Communist Review No. 46, Spring 2006

John Foster, European Union Withdrawal: The People’s Answer to Austerity (CPB, 2013)

V.I. Lenin, Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)

V.I. Lenin, The State: A Lecture Delivered at the Sverdlov University (1919)

James Harvey & Katherine Hood, The British State (1958)

Ralph Miliband, Capitalist Democracy in Britain (1982)

Ralph Miliband, The State in Capitalist Society (1969)

Ralph Miliband, Parliamentary Socialism: A Study in the Politics of Labour (1972 edn.)

Peter Latham, The State and Local Government (Manifesto Press, 2012)


• What is the world historic significance of the 1917 OctoberRevolution in Russia? It showed for the first time that the working class andits allies (in this case, the peasantry), led by a Marxist party, is capable of seizingand holding on to state power.

• What benefits did the revolution bring to: – The peoples of the USSR?

• Abolishing the remnants of feudalism.

• Building an industrial economy with full employment.

• Providing free high quality education and health care for all, raising the status ofwomen.

• Bringing freedom and cultural autonomy to the peoples of the former TsaristEmpire.

– The working class in advanced capitalist countries?The danger thatworkers would follow the Russian example led to concessions by the capitalistruling class, e.g. the welfare state. The heroic Soviet Red Army ensured thedefeat of German fascism in the Second World War (four-fifths of which wasfought on Europe’s eastern front).

Chapter Three

The case for socialismIn seeking to replace capitalism by a superior system wemust learn from the achievements and shortcomings of

twentieth century attempts to build socialism.This is the subject of the first part of chapter three, whichgoes on to consider the essential features of a successful

socialist society.

Main theoretical topics: the definition of socialism.


– The peoples of the Third World? Colonial peoples were inspired by theend of the Tsarist Empire to struggle for their own freedom. The Soviet Unionand other socialist states used the UN to oppose colonial rule; they alsoprovided massive financial, military and other practical aid to national liberationmovements and newly independent states.

• Which negative factors weakened socialism in the Soviet Union andEastern Europe and prepared the way for counter-revolution?1. They began to build socialism in under-developed countries on the ruins of

world war, facing capitalist invasion and encirclement intensified by ColdWar.

2. Imperialist boycott and aggression led to a siege mentality, which furtherrestricted democratic rights and participation in political life, theCommunist Party, industry and society generally.

3. The bureaucratic integration of the Communist Party and trade unions intothe state meant that they ceased to function fully as agencies of workingclass and popular power.

4. Marxism came to be taught as official dogma instead of studied as a criticaland revolutionary science.

5. The bureaucratic command system increasingly failed to modernise theeconomy.

6. Thus the Party and the people failed or refused to defend socialism when asection of the bureaucrats sought to protect their privileges by bringingback capitalism.

• How does the Chinese path to socialism differ from the Soviet one?Communist Party rule is combining central planning, public ownership andWestern and Chinese capital under state control to prioritise economicmodernisation and the abolition of poverty.

• ...and what challenges does it face? It is a long-term perspective in whichimmediate problems of urbanisation, rural decline, pollution and corruptionhave to be overcome; trade unionism needs to be strengthened, capitalistinterests and ideology controlled, democracy extended and external threatsand pressures resisted without recourse to ruinous war.

• What can we learn from the success of the Cuban revolution? Theimportance of keeping the Communist Party close to the people and involvingthe mass of citizens in defending the revolution and building a new society.


Public ownership and planning• Which human needs does capitalism turn into commodities to beprovided in order to make profit?Almost all of them, including food, water,clothing, shelter, heating, health care, education, sex, leisure, sport andprotection. An exception: fresh air? (NB. rural land ownership, the holidayindustry and carbon emissions trading).

• How does capitalism lead to the waste and destruction of resources?Workplace closures, gluts and dumping, commercial secrecy, contrived styleand fashion, duplication, unnecessary packaging, promotion of excessiveconsumption, built-in obsolescence.

• What useless economic sectors does capitalism generate? Majorexamples: most of the corporate financial sector, notably the currency,commodity and derivatives markets; legal and accountancy services tominimise taxation; business consultancy; advertising for unnecessary or rivalbut identical products and uninformative advertising; property and wealthmanagement.

• What are the differences between: capitalist public ownership (suchas Labour’s 1945-51 nationalisations); progressive, democratic publicownership (such as a left government would carry out); and socialistpublic ownership (only possible after the working class has won statepower)?

Capitalist public ownership leaves the old management system in charge, loadsthe industry with a burden of excessive compensation, usually extends only tofailing industries, and is run for the benefit of the rest of the capitalist economy.

Progressive, democratic public ownership would compensate only pension fundsand small investors, extend to viable enterprises, be accountable to electedrepresentatives, workers and communities and be operated for people’sbenefit. It is the only way to plan energy and transport to combat globalwarming and climate change.

Socialist public ownership would extend to all except the smallest enterprises(where cooperatives would be encouraged) and would make possible thedemocratic planning of the whole economy.

Ending exploitation and oppression• How does socialism end the exploitation of workers? Under socialist

public ownership, surplus labour is used to meet the needs of society as awhole.


• What about the oppression and super-exploitation of women, blackworkers and other disadvantaged groups? Socialism will end the materialbasis of oppression (capitalist ownership of the means of production) but thesexist, racist and other prejudices that sustain discrimination may linger on andhave to be consciously combated (note Cuba’s struggle against racism).Production for people’s needs ends social conflict over jobs, housing and publicservices.

• Is the fight against oppression a ‘class’ as well as a democraticquestion?Yes, because it arises in a class-divided society, often benefits thecapitalist class, divides the working class and undermines its position. By leadingthe struggle against all kinds of oppression, the working class can achieve unityin the fight to overthrow capitalism and build socialism.

Democracy and popular sovereignty• What are the limitations on democracy in Britain today?The interests

of capital predominate; democracy is subverted by wealth and power;politicians are bought, excluded, or intimidated; issues and debates areneglected or distorted by the mass media; the electoral system is rigged againstsmall parties that challenge the system; the EU enables monopoly capital tobypass democracy.

• How is the EU used by monopoly capital to circumvent democraticrepresentation and accountability?Within EU basic treaties that individualmember states cannot amend: the unelected EU Commission initiates laws andissues directives binding on national governments, with little parliamentaryscrutiny; it also represents all member states at the WTO and in regional tradeand investment negotiations such as TTIP; the unaccountable European CentralBank polices fiscal strategy with the Commission and, within the eurozone,decides monetary policy; and the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) overrides nationallegislation in vital areas such as employment and industrial policy. The EUParliament has few powers and its franchise is too large to enable organic,accountable, democratic representation.

• What main arguments are advanced within the labour movement infavour of the EU?1. It has initiated EU-wide progressive measures in favour of equal pay, health

and safety at work, fairer working hours and environmental protection.[Response: most social gains have been secured at national level as theresult of national campaigning; the EU has not protected us against anti-union laws, pay cuts, mass redundancies etc.; international agreements canbe negotiated between national governments].


2. The Single Market has helped Britain’s trade and created millions of jobs.[Response: Britain’s big EU balance of trade deficit destroys many more jobshere than it creates; it would still be in EU interests to have a comprehensivetrade agreement with an independent Britain; EU membership prevents usnegotiating mutually beneficial agreements elsewhere].

3. The EU is a counterweight to US imperialism; it is internationalism inpractice. [Response: the EU works more closely with the US and NATO topromote their common imperialist interests in the former socialistcountries and the Third World.

• What key arguments could persuade your trade union to take aprogressive anti-EU stance?1. The TUC and individual unions support policies for more public investment

and renationalisation of energy, transport and the postal service to createjobs and rebuild a modern, sustainable industrial base – many of thesewould be ruled out by EU competition law.

2. Many measures to protect and promote specific enterprises, industries orregions contradict the free movement and open tender provisions of theSingle Market.

3. The free movement of capital has enabled the relocation productionfacilities and jobs to low-paid economies in southern and eastern Europe.

4. Recent ECJ judgments have outlawed or undermined nationally establishedwages and conditions.

5. The EU was set up and functions as a big business club with neo-liberaleconomics enshrined in its basic treaties; the EU is the Europeanbridgehead for US imperialism; the main task of internationalism is todefeat imperialism and Britain’s withdrawal would strike a major blowagainst the British ruling class and its EU and US allies.

• What are the alternatives to EU membership in the short tomedium term?1. Bilateral and multilateral agreements on trade and development with

European, BRICS, Commonwealth and other countries which don’t sacrificesovereignty, democracy and planning on the altar of TNC profits.

2. Membership of EFTA and other international bodies, including independentrepresentation at the WTO.

3. An independent foreign and defence policy for Britain based on peacefulrelations, mutual beneficial cooperation, social justice and internationalsolidarity against exploitation and oppression; full participation in the UNand associated agencies with a view to strengthening them in pursuit ofthese principles.


• What would popular sovereignty look like in practice? Our conceptionof democracy originates in people’s collective struggle for control of their livesagainst the power and wealth of their exploiters and oppressors – as seen inthe English Revolution with the Levellers and the soldiers’ parliament; in theFrench Revolution and later the Paris Commune; and in the workers’, soldiers’and peasants’ councils (‘soviets’) of the Russian revolutions.

• Where can we see struggles to assert popular sovereignty in Britaintoday? In the mass movements and campaigns to oppose imperialist wars,nuclear weapons, housing stock transfers or evictions and austerity; and todefend jobs, public services and the environment against governments and bigbusiness. Workplace union committees, trades union councils and broad-basedPeople’s Assembly groups provide a glimpse of how popular sovereignty can befought for and established. It will win when state power is taken from thecapitalist class by the working class and its allies, whose interests representthose of the people and society as a whole. Popular sovereignty opens the wayfor mass participation in decision-making – the surest guarantee that socialistdemocracy will flourish.

• What are the two essential features of a socialist society? State powerin the hands of the working class, with its allies, and social ownership of themeans of production.

Further ReadingHans Heinz Holz, The Downfall and Future of Socialism (1992)

Bahman Azad, Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat (2001)

John Foster, European Union Withdrawal: The People’s Answer to Austerity (CP, 2013)

Roger Keeran & Thomas Kenny, Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet

Union (2004)

Joe Slovo, Has Socialism Failed? (1989)

John Foster, The Case for Communism (CP, 2006)

Mary Davis, Women & Class (CP, 2008 edn.)

Angela Davis, Women, Race & Class (1981)

Frederick Engels, The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884)


The leading role of the working class• Why does capitalist exploitation give the working class both theneed and the means to end capitalism? Workers are directly andcontinuously exploited over a lifetime of inequality and insecurity; gains andreforms –however welcome – cannot abolish this. But workers, especiallythose in large workplaces, usually come to see their common interest inresisting employers’ attacks, and are compelled to organise to struggle forbetter pay and conditions. Over time, experience demonstrates the need toreplace the capitalist system. Their organisation at work and in political partiesshould give workers the strength and confidence to fight for socialism.

• Are public sector workers, though not directly exploited bycapitalists, part of the working class?Yes, through the state their surpluslabour provides lower cost services and benefits for the capitalist class as awhole. Like other workers, they have to struggle in the same way for decentwages and conditions.

• What about those workers officially classed as ‘self-employed’ butwhose labour is performed for employers? Unlike genuinely self-employed workers, they generate surplus value for capitalists and have nocontrol over the use of their labour.

Chapter Four

The labour and progressivemovements

For the working class to make political progress, the socialisttheory outlined in chapter three has to be combined withrevolutionary practice. Chapter four therefore identifies

those forces in society that can be won to oppose monopolycapitalism and embrace far-reaching change.

Main theoretical topics: definitions of class and intermediate strata.


• What is the role of trade unions in working class struggle? Theydefend workers against capitalist attacks, fight for improved wages andconditions and seek to promote workers’ interests through political process.Unions across Britain are combined in a single centre, the TUC, which has thepotential to be the voice and weapon of the whole working class; theformation of the Labour Party by the TUC was an important step intransforming trade union class consciousness into political class consciousness.

• What are the main tasks of the left in the trade unions today?They are to:

1. Raise the level of militancy by extending union membership to all workers– especially young people – including in smaller enterprises andtechnologically advanced sectors.

2. Intensify the struggle for complete equality of women, black workers, andother oppressed sections of the working class.

3. Forge links with local communities so that strikes and other actions havemaximum public support.

• What enables the working class, uniquely, to be the leading force inthe struggle for socialism?The fact that capitalism would cease to functionwithout the labour power of the working class.

• Have changes in the composition of the working class weakened itsleading role? No, the majority of people in Britain and other advancedcapitalist countries are objectively working class; some changes (e.g. morebrain, less brawn) may have made it harder for some groups to recognise theirworking class identity; Marx never said that the revolutionary proletariatcomprised only industrial workers.

The labour movementand the left• What have been the implications of the Labour Party’s federal structure and the affiliation of unions representing millions of workers? As the mass organisations of the working class, unions have had the potential power to determine Labour Party policies and leaders. Hence recent changes to end the sovereignty of the conference and hugely reduce the collective role of the unions in the party – although this has not guaranteed that individual members and supporters will always vote for right-wing leaders and policies.

• How can the labour movement reclaim or re-establish its own mass party? The upsurge in mass action led by unions and the People's Assembly made possible the election of Jeremy Corbyn. The battle to reclaim Labour


has entered an unexpected but welcome new phase. The CP and Morning Star support the Labour left against the right in the PLP. Success depends on (1) renewed mass activity by unions and progressive movements against austerity and imperialism; and (2) increased understanding and unity across these movements around a common alternative economic and political strategy (AEPS).

• On what basis can the Communist Party form local and national alliances with sections of the far left? It is possible to work constructively with some individuals and organisations in broad campaigns and movements. But sectarian and adventurist tendencies to manipulate, dominate, divide or narrow the appeal of such initiatives should be resisted through debate and broad mass work. Some groups are so deeply sectarian, disruptive, anti-communist and politically irrelevant that seeking an alliances is pointless.

• Why is such ‘left unity’ no substitute for the unity of the labour movement and the working class? Once it goes beyond campaigns on immediate demands, differences arise on strategy and tactics, notably in relation to the Labour Party, the Labour left and how to ensure the whole movement has its own mass party (rather than a sectarian united front of far leftists). The labour movement needs to unite around an AEPS and with its own left-wing programme of policies.

• What is the role of local trade union councils in the advance to socialism? They can play a vital role alongside unions in (1) coordinating local and national action including strikes and demonstrations; (2) projecting trade unionism in the locality through May Day marches, festivals and other events; and (3) recruiting new sections of workers to their appropriate union.

Progressive movements and alliances• Which sections of the population fighting oppression, discriminationor injustice find themselves up against the vested interests ofmonopoly capital? Women, LGBT people, black and ethnic minoritycommunities, young people, students, the unemployed, pensioners, tenantsfacing collective eviction, peace campaigners, environmental activists,supporters of national rights in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall, internationalsolidarity campaigners – all may face opposition from sections of the capitalistclass (employers, property companies, arms producers, mining corporations,privateers) and its state apparatus

• How can the members of such groups be won to support socialistpolicies? Communists and the left need to work in and with such groups and


their organisations, helping to develop militancy and the political understandingthat only socialism can provide a full and permanent resolution of theirconcerns. As appropriate, links should be made or strengthened between suchcampaigns and labour movement organisations.

• Are there any sections of the capitalist class that can be won to joinwith workers in resisting monopoly capitalist exploitation? Many smallbusinesses suffer the consequences of big business policies and power when itcomes to rental or energy costs, dealings with suppliers and customers,finance, environmental damage, etc. They often rely on the purchasing power oflocal working class families and can see how austerity will affect them too.Socialists may be able to take advantage of other divisions in the capitalist class,e.g. manufacturers vs. financiers, exporters vs. those serving the home market,domestically owned vs. foreign owned enterprises.

• What about the intermediate strata – where do they stand? Manyself-employed workers, senior managers and small farmers and shopkeepersmay identify their interests with those of capitalism, but they also come intoconflict with monopoly capitalist power. Some can be won for progressivepolicies – most people want a prosperous economy, good quality publicservices, personal security, peace and bright prospects for their children – andeven socialism.

The Communist Party and revolutionary leadership• How does the Communist Party differ from social democraticparties?

1. It is based on the theory and practice of Marxism.

2. Our aim is socialism: we do not believe that capitalism can be regulatedinto fairness and stability, or reformed into socialism.

3. The revolutionary transformation of society is required, throughparliamentary, extra-parliamentary, industrial and mass political actionagainst state-monopoly capitalism.

4. We prioritise extra-parliamentary campaigning and fight for reforms toimprove society and people’s lives – but also with the perspective thatthese can make inroads into monopoly capitalist power and increasepeople’s capacity and confidence to strive for more extensive and deeperchange.

5. In order to abolish capitalism and build a new socialist society, the oldcapitalist state apparatus will have to dismantled and replaced by one based


on the exercise of power by the working class and the people and theirown mass organisations. Socialist democracy will be open, inclusive,participatory and exercised in every sphere of society.

• How does the CP differ from most far left parties? Ours is the Marxistparty with the longest and deepest roots in the labour movement. TheCommunist Party strives to avoid the adventurist tactics of some groups, aswell as sectarian practices which put the interests of the party above those ofthe working class and labour movement as a whole.

• What is the role of democratic centralism in building an effectiveorganisation to fight capitalism? It ensures that in (1) formulating andreviewing policy, the Party can draw on the experience, knowledge and viewsof all its members; and in (2) carrying out decisions, members speak with onevoice and act in unity.

• What is the role of the CP programme Britain’s Road to Socialismand how should it be used within the movement?The programme is astrategic document, explaining the character of capitalism and its forces andtrends; and summarising the experience of previous efforts to reform orabolish it and build a socialist society. In the light of this analysis and itsconclusions, BRS charts a way forward for the working class and people ofBritain; it is intended as a guide to action, not a speculative prediction or adogmatic blueprint. The programme helps the CP to make appropriatedecisions, anchored in a solid analysis and a longer term strategy, as thepolitical situation changes. It inspires members to strengthen the Party and thelabour movement. BRS should be studied by all Party members and used tobring militant members of trade unions and social movements closer to, and ifpossible into, the Communist Party.

• What is the relationship between Britain’s Road to Socialism and theMorning Star?The paper is owned by a cooperative society of its readersand supporters, not by the CP. Nevertheless, the People’s Press Printing Societyhas agreed at successive AGMs that the programme should guide the editorialpolicy of the Morning Star. This reflects and reinforces the paper’s broadcoverage, its role as a forum for discussion and debate, its emphasis on struggleand its socialist and anti-imperialist perspectives – all of which help to inform,educate and mobilise the labour and progressive movements. In its editorialsand features, the Morning Star also plays an invaluable daily role conveying theideas and policies of the BRS to thousands of trade union and political activists.

• How should Communists work in other organisations and


movements? Openly, demonstrating how their communist perspective guidestheir work in broad movements, but acting loyally to carry out the democraticdecisions of these organisations; wherever appropriate, including in elections,the party should also campaign independently on issues, putting a distinctiveMarxist view.

• How does the Communist Party seek to provide revolutionaryleadership in mass movements and the struggle for socialism? Itorganises within the labour movement and on every front, and so can identifytheir common interests and build solidarity between them. The Party alsobrings Marxist theory into working class and progressive movements, raisingpolitical understanding and influencing their leading cadres. Our close linkswith communist parties and national liberation movements around the worldenable the CP to help develop an internationalist and anti-imperialist outlookwithin movements at home. The BRS and Marxist analysis together equip Partymembers to make a concrete analysis of concrete situations, putting forwardobjectives which can unite and mobilise movements and campaigns in theinterests of the working class and the people, against those of state-monopolycapitalism.

Further ReadingKarl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach (1845)

Karl Marx, Wage Labour and Capital (1847)

Frederick Engels, Letter to Joseph Bloch (September 21, 1890)


James Connolly, The Reconquest of Ireland (1915)

John Eaton, Political Economy: A Marxist Textbook (1949)

Mary Davis, Comrade or Brother?: A history of the British labour movement 1789-1951

(1993)

Mary Davis, Women & Class (CP, 2008 edn.)

Robert Griffiths, The Battle for the Labour Movement (Morning Star, 2016)

Gawain Little, ‘New Draft of Britain’s Road to Socialism’, Communist Review No. 59,

Winter 2011

Bill Benfield (ed.), Britain’s Road to Socialism: An Introduction (Morning Star, 2012)


The fight on three fronts• Why does an alternative strategy involve much more than a set ofaims, policies or demands?What are the key elements of the AEPS andhow are they related? Class struggle is fought on the economic, political andideological (and cultural) fronts: the economic struggle for wages, jobs, etc can’tproduce lasting gains without political changes to strengthen the position ofthe working class and challenge monopoly power; and neither economic norpolitical action will succeed without fighting the battle of ideas against capitalistnotions that confuse and divide the working class.

The left wing programme• What is the purpose of a Left Wing Programme (LWP)? It is a vital

component of the AEPS: a set of policies that can be fought for now, could becarried out by a left-wing government, and would lay the basis for even moreadvanced policies to challenge state-monopoly capitalism.

Building a productive, sustainable economy• What are the economic aims of the LWP? Stronger productive industry

and public services, full employment, Third World development, safeguardingthe planet’s ecosystem.

Chapter Five

An alternative economic andpolitical strategy

To unite and mobilise the forces for change there’s a need fora set of progressive policies that can command widespreadsupport. Chapter five of the BRS therefore sets out an

Alternative Economic and Political Strategy (an alternativeto the strategy of the ruling class) and a Left Wing

Programme that can form the basis of a popular, democraticanti-monopoly alliance, leading to the election of a left

government and far-reaching change.

Main theoretical topics: alliances between the working class and other classes and

social movements.


• What are the main policies to achieve these aims? Guaranteed work oreducation for all young people; public and private investment in manufacturing;planning agreements with private firms; controls on the export of capital;promotion of hi-tech exports to developing countries; a shorter workingweek; no mass redundancies in viable enterprises; support for ruralcommunities, especially small farmers; democratic control of land use;democratic public ownership of energy, transport and the financial sector;massive investment in renewable energy and energy saving measures.

• In what industrial sectors might investment be concentrated?Renewable energy projects and equipment; house-building, constructionmaterials and components; food processing; conversion of arms manufacturingto peaceful uses.

For social justice and democratic culture• What are the social aims of the LWP? To raise living standards, reduce

inequality, attack discrimination and encourage cultural creativity andparticipation.

• What are the main policies to achieve these aims? Higher statepensions and benefits, and a higher minimum wage (i.e., a living wage); equal payfor work of equal value; stronger laws against discrimination; more councilhouses; an end to NHS fragmentation and privatisation; comprehensive, secularlocal authority schools for all; mass mobilisation against racists and fascists;greater support for local initiatives in the arts and sport.

Funding the left wing programme• How might the programme be funded? Higher top rates of income tax; a

Wealth Tax; a levy on City financial transactions; higher corporation tax onlarge companies; windfall taxes on monopoly profits; closing tax havens underBritish rule; replace council tax by local income and wealth taxes; renegotiatePFI contracts; cut military spending; BUT reduce VAT on essential goods andservices.

Extending and deepening democracy• What democratic reforms should be included in the LWP?

1. Repeal all anti-trade union laws with solidarity action recognised as ahuman right.

2. Full and equal rights for all workers from day one.


3. A Federal Britain with equal status and substantial economic powers forScottish and Welsh parliaments and, preferably after regional devolution, anEnglish legislature; combined with measures to equalise financial resourcesbetween all devolved bodies.

4. Where the demand exists, directly elected assemblies with economicpowers for the English regions and Cornwall.

5. Parliamentary and assembly elections through a real system of proportionalrepresentation (STV in multi-member constituencies), with votes at 16.

6. Break up the media monopolies.

7. Restore powers to local councils over education, transport, housing andbusiness taxes.

8. Abolish the House of Lords and disestablish the Church of England.

• What is meant by ‘democracy is not an institution but a process ofemancipation’? Democratic advances – extending working class and popularrights, influence and power – are won through struggle and continuous struggleis needed to defend and extend them.

• What is the Party’s attitude to Scottish and Welsh independence?Weapproach this issue not as a matter of constitutional principle but as a questionof revolutionary strategy; we oppose separation between the nations of Britainin preference for progressive federalism (see above), because it would (1)fracture the unity of working class and progressive struggle against a largelyintegrated and united monopoly capitalist class at British level; and (2) furtherentrench the unequal distribution of wealth between the nations and regionsof Britain. Nevertheless, if the peoples of Scotland or Wales vote forindependence, it should proceed without obstruction.

An independent foreign policy for Britain• What would be some of the international policies of the LWP? End the

subservient alliance with US imperialism; leave NATO; strengthen relationswith progressive regimes and movements around the world; abolish Britain’snuclear weapons and support world-wide nuclear disarmament; withdraw fromthe EU; impose sanctions on Israel until Palestine is established as independentstate; help reunify Ireland.


A popular democratic anti-monopoly alliance• Why do we see such an alliance as the next stage in the classstruggle?The class struggle between capital and labour, economically andpolitically, is continuous but has intensified with the international capitalistcrisis of 2007-8. State-monopoly capitalism is on the offensive on every front,but resistance to austerity, privatisation and labour ‘flexibility’ is bringing widersections of the working class and people into action. In Britain, the objectiveconditions have been developing for forming, locally and nationally, a broadalliance of forces led by the organised working class, against ruling classstrategy and for the kind of left and progressive alternative outlined in thePeople’s Manifesto.

• Why do we describe the anti-monopoly alliance as both popular anddemocratic? Popular because it reflects the interests and so can win thesupport of the vast majority of the people; democratic because it mobilises thecollective power of the working class and its allies against anti-democraticmonopoly capital.

• How do the policies of the Left Wing Programme appeal to differentsections of society? Specific policies appeal to specific groups and sections ofthe people, different campaigns and movements etc., many of themcomplementing and reinforcing one another. The LWP helps bring thesestreams of struggle together into the Alternative Economic and PoliticalStrategy in support of its key political objectives.

• What is the role of the Morning Star in the struggle for left andrevolutionary advance? It exposes and attacks capitalist exploitation andoppression; it reports working class and people’s battles honestly andsupportively; its features and letters pages analyse and debate important local,national and international developments; and it helps wage the class struggle onall three fronts, popularising the LWP and explaining the need for building apopular, democratic anti-monopoly alliance. Editorially, based on Britain’s Roadto Socialism, the Morning Star draws political conclusions and points the wayforward for the labour and progressive movements in accordance with theAEPS, against state-monopoly capitalism and imperialism and for the socialistalternative.


Winning a government of the left• What broad stages can we foresee in the revolutionary process inBritain? 1. A substantial and sustained shift to the left in the labour movement;

widespread support for the LWP; and development of the populardemocratic anti-monopoly alliance, culminating in the election of a leftgovernment.

2. The left government and mass movement set out to implement the LWPand come up against resistance from monopoly capital at home and abroad,within and beyond the state apparatus.

3. The mass movement and its government drive deeper inroads into thewealth and power of the capitalist class, take state power, restructure thestate apparatus and embark on the construction of socialism.

• How would a left government come about? By the election of a majorityof left Labour, socialist, communist and other progressive MPs. Leftgovernments in Scotland and Wales would also include left and progressiveelements in the national movements.

• How can a left government counteract monopoly capitalist attemptsto prevent it carrying out the LWP? By mobilising the working class andits allies in extra-parliamentary action; the forces drawn to the popular,democratic anti-monopoly alliance may take new forms and create novelstructures, as has happened in Britain and elsewhere at times of intensestruggle and crisis.


Further ReadingV.I. Lenin, ‘Democracy’ and Dictatorship (1918)

V.I. Lenin, Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power? (1917)

Jonathan White (ed.), Building an economy for the people (Manifesto Press, 2012)

Andrew Cumbers, Renewing Public Ownership: Constructing a Democratic Economy in the Twenty-First Century (CLASS, 2014)

Prem Sikka, Banking in the public interest: Progressive reform of the financial sector(CLASS, 2014)

Robert Griffiths, The Battle for the Labour Movement (Morning Star 2016)

Georgi Dimitrov, Unity of the Working Class Against Fascism (1935)

Hans Heinz Holz, ‘Antonio Gramsci’s Theory of the Party’, Communist Review No. 59, Winter 2011

Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution? (1900)

Paulo Freire, Education for Critical Consciousness (1973)


• What can we learn from the Chilean experience about how toprotect a left government from domestic and external subversion?It’s vital to distinguish between government office and state power, in order tocontinue fighting for the latter, including by: continuing to build and mobilisebroad alliances and mass organisations; combating ultra-left adventurism;replacing reactionary personnel in top positions; unionising and democratisingthe repressive forces of the state; developing a military policy that relies onmass working class participation; and building a Communist Party with decisiveinfluence.

The international balance of forces• What kind of external threats might a left government in Britain face?

Attacks on the pound; obstacles to external borrowing; denunciations or diktatsfrom EU, IMF, WTO; restrictions on imports from Britain; challenges in the courts.

• What changes in the international balance of forces will help a leftgovernment to resist these threats? Communist, left-wing, progressive,anti-imperialist and non-aligned governments in Asia, Latin America and Africamay offer diplomatic, political and economic assistance; capitalist crisis isgenerating mass opposition to imperialism in many parts of the world and thesemovements can be won to act in solidarity with a left government in Britain.

Chapter Six

Towards socialism and communismWhen a left government begins to implement the LWP itwill face ruthless resistance from monopoly capitalism andits state apparatus. The last chapter of the BRS outlineshow the revolutionary movement will confront the

capitalist state, how at some point the movement will haveto take decisive steps to dismantle the capitalist state

machine and construct a socialist alternative. This will openthe way to building socialism, and eventually communism.

Main theoretical topics: the lower and higher stages of communist society.


• What are the arguments against the possibility of socialism beingdeveloped in one country and why are these rejected byCommunists?The uneven economic and political development of capitalisminternationally, analysed and understood by Lenin, makes it possible to breakweak links in the imperialist chain. There are already countries buildingsocialism, so it is unlikely that any single country will have to go it alone in thefuture. Even so, Britain has the sixth biggest economy in the world withsufficient labour, material and technical resources to build socialism.

Taking state power and defeating counter-revolution• How will a left government deal with economic resistance andsabotage by monopoly capitalism? For example: by imposing controls onthe movement of capital, closing tax havens under British rule; and byprioritising, where necessary, the nationalisation of sectors or enterprisesposing an economic or political threat to the LWP.

• How will it deal with resistance or subversion within the capitaliststate apparatus? 1. Replace key personnel in civil service, judiciary, police, secret services,

armed forces by supporters of revolutionary process.

2. Extend trade union rights to police and armed forces, and democratisethem in collaboration with trade unions and local communities,

3. Break up the media monopolies and allow a much wider range ofinvolvement and operation by social, political and community organisationsand campaigns.

• What would the growing confrontation between a left governmentand the capitalist state apparatus signify? It will mean that therevolutionary process has entered the third and crucial stage, when the leftgovernment must take state power for the working class or counter-revolutionwill triumph. Having a strong and influential Communist Party, with its allies,organised on every front of struggle, will be an essential factor in ensuring thatmass and government action resolves the crisis in favour of building socialism.

• What is the main danger to the revolution in this final, conclusivestage? Different and even contradictory interests within the popular,democratic anti-monopoly alliance – and exploited by the threatened rulingclass – must be kept in perspective and resolved democratically andconstructively. It is vital to preserve the unity of the alliance, even by makingconcessions to some sections, so long as these don’t undermine therevolutionary process.


• How can the left government ensure the widest public support forradical attacks on capitalist power and privilege? By regular democraticendorsement in elections and referendums, and using parliamentary powerstogether with new forms of working class and popular power to monitor andtake over state functions.

• Is violent insurrection or armed struggle an inevitable phase ofsocialist transformation? No. Although a desperate ruling class wouldalmost certainly seek to defend its power by violent means, this may beprevented if the revolutionary movement has a strategy for using massparticipation to limit the capacity of the ruling class for violent resistance. It isthe responsibility of serious revolutionaries to chart a path to socialism whichminimises the risk of violence to those who would be its main victims –workers and their families.

• BRS quotes Marx’s and Lenin’s description of working class rule asthe ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’. In what sense do we use theterm? It refers not to the rule of an individual dictator or a small dictatorialgroup (as in common usage), but to state power being exercised by theworking class – the vast majority of the population – rather than by thecapitalist class. The concealed rule of the minority has been replaced by theopen rule of the majority.

Building a socialist society• Does the extension of social ownership mean that all economicenterprise must be in the public sector and that there must be asingle model of public ownership? No. There should be scope for smallbusinesses together with self-employed, cooperative, municipal and voluntaryenterprise. But the commanding heights of the economy would be in socialistpublic ownership, with growing participation by workers and communitieswithin a democratic framework of national and regional economic planning.

The transition to full communism• Which slogans best express the distinction between the lower andhigher stages of communist society? ‘From each according to their ability,to each according to their contribution’ for socialism; and ‘From eachaccording to their ability, to each according to their needs’ for full communism.


• Which economic and social changes will make it possible to advancefrom the lower stage to the higher? 1. The planned development of productive forces to the point where society

can produce an abundance of all the goods and services required.

2. The erosion of the selfish attitudes engendered by capitalist exploitationand competition.

3. The blossoming of new values arising from participation, cooperation anddemocracy.

• Does ‘human nature’ stand in the way of achieving communism? No,‘human nature’ is a questionable concept and need not be reduced to mostlynegative features. There are basic human instincts, and human behaviour whichis influenced by social conditions and personal circumstances. Even in class-divided societies, compassion and cooperation often override greed andegoism. In building socialism, these positive qualities will be fostered and provetheir worth.

Further readingWilliam Morris, News from Nowhere (1890)

V.I. Lenin, ‘Left-Wing’ Communism – an Infantile Disorder (1920)

V.I. Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)

V.I. Lenin, The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky (1918)

Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution? (1900)


Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875)

Frederick Engels, The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884)

Gawain Little, ‘New Draft of Britain’s Road to Socialism’, Communist Review No. 59,Winter 2011

V.I. Lenin, ‘Democracy’ and Dictatorship (1918)

V.I. Lenin, Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power? (1917)

John Foster, The Communist Party and the Labour Movement – Elections and ClassStruggle (2008)

John Hoffman, The Gramscian Challenge: Coercion and Consent in Marxist PoliticalTheory (1984)

Slavoj Zizek, Violence (2008)


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NotesThese notes pages are for you to record issues that arise,which require further discussion and/or which you want to

pass on to the Communist Education Coordinator.


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www.communist-party.org.uk

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Documents

Study Guide to Britain's Road to Socialism