Socialism 3 Essay, Research Paper

1. Overcoming Capitalism The overall aim of all my political activity is to do the most to facilitate the transition of humanity from capitalism to a higher system based on the principle: ” From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. ” It is the capitalist mode of production which represents the great driving force of all social dysfunction in the modern world. The capitalist mode of production operates to restrict the development of economic and social wealth, inject and amplify ignorance and insincerity in humanity’s collective culture and consciousness and corrupt all political systems pretending to serve the interests of the majority of society. While the capitalist mode of production continues to have within it the potential for the creation of enormous wealth and infinite room for reforms, no amount of wealth creation or series of reforms can change its essential nature , which serves to bring economic ruin and misery to billions, war and militarism to relations between nations, the devastation of humanity’s ecosystem heritage and the blocking of the most rapid forward development of humanity. The transition from capitalism is the essential and decisive step in humanity’s transition from a low-synergy to a high-synergy society and is fully inevitable. It is the task of the working class to bring about this transition, which can only be accomplished via the defeat of all social and political factors which hold humanity back, and which ultimately can only be accomplished through the immense energy of the masses unleashed in the course of a prolonged period of social upheaval.

2. Greatest Effectiveness I will attempt to direct my actions along those lines which represent the most decisive tasks for principle number one and the most effective use of our energy and activity.

3. Theory is needed. I believe the decisive tasks at the present time revolve around overcoming the “theoretical crisis of communism” and must focus on the theoretical question of how a modern society can organize its economic, political and cultural life without benefit of the rule of the market (ie: without commodity production and without money). (Following are principles which are more minor but are still important:)

4. I enjoy this and have fun with a single task, around which revolves all else, is the liberation of humanity from capitalism. I believe that activity toward this end can be exhilarating and fun should we approach it with a clear perspective. Of course I am mindful of the tendency of small groups to weave sectarian myths to shield themselves from outside influences, hold themselves together and justify their existence and existing pattern of activity. I am in favor of developing more “bottom-up” methods of organizing activity. I oppose guilt-tripping, moralizing and manipulative methods of prodding people into action. I oppose the excessive separation of the how from the why, the hand from the brain and the leaders from the led.

5. Activists must be assured a reasonable, Under the old “close your eyes and hit your head against the wall” model a small nucleus of activists made enormous sacrifices and had relatively little impact on the world. Under the new “keep your eyes open and your mind out of denial” model — many activists can watch their small sacrifices make a powerful impact. Instead of a river of sacrifice making a trickle of impact — it can be the other way around. We can develop such a new model by raising our consciousness about what activity is really decisive and abstaining from most activity which is not. Instead of placing primary emphasis on trying to organize and recruit workers in a period of historic lull in the level of the class struggle — we will take a moment to step back, survey our overall situation — and endeavor to take full advantage of the possibilities which will be opened up by the revolution in computer-assisted communications which will be unfolding over the next several decades — and which is already beginning to dominate the business news. We believe that we are surrounded by nearly infinite amounts of revolutionary energy and that the liberation of this potential energy, (the task of harnessing and utilizing it) requires that we develop methods of giving activists a solid “return on investment” — in which they will know (based on empirically observable phenomena) that the sacrifice of their time, their work and their life energies will not be frittered away (squandered or otherwise wasted) but will result in commensurate improvement in the life conditions, happiness and consciousness of the masses and give clear evidence of speeding the transition of humanity from capitalism to a classless society.