The simple ideas of socialism

People often ask me what do you mean by socialism is it the brutal dictatorships that have been held up as failed states where the condemnation of socialism cannot work? I say no these are gross distortions undemocratic and not what we’d define as socialism. I’m told I’m splitting hairs and I can’t decide what is and isn’t socialism well I don’t agree to me many people in the labour movement will call themselves socialist but for me it is the simple feeling that the current system we live under capitalism does not work for the many and that we need system change. The system I stand for would be socialism democratic socialism with the highest form of democracy. I stand for choicer not less, greater participating in running of society from the bottom up and a society based on the meeting of people’s needs not the blind drive for profit. Eliminating the profit motive would instantly mean we could produce for people needs a fundamental reorganisation of society would be necessary. I do not believe we can reform the system out of existence either I think only fundamental revolutionary socialist change can see us on the path towards human enlightenment. I do not feel that humans have even began to tap into their thought and learning potential there is so much we could achieve in a more advanced planned economy where the need to make profit was not the deciding factor in if we produce something. This would not lead to mass waste or things we didn’t need as opponents would have you believe if anything it would be far more efficient as we would only produce for what we need not spend huge amounts on waste for marketing purposes and duplications of the same product. Socialism for me has always been a simple idea and something that i feel many people can understand. It is based for me on a deep sense of fairness and a complete hatred for unfairness. Understanding and discovering there was an n alternative to the madness of the market has opened my eyes up to all sorts of possibilities that could be possible if our economy was under the democratic control of the working class. I dream and fight for and a society where there are no class’s as class’s have been abolished this would mean the working class coming to power internationally and realising their potential latent power. We do not need boss’s but the boss’s need us, the wealth today created is created by the workers why should we not own and control this instead of our wages and profits being creamed off for profits of a few. Putting socialist ideas in plain everyday language is good it helps us connect with those who have not yet seen the light so to speak. Having a class consciousness is key to understanding the world and what needs to happen to change society. Once this has been awoken in people things can change very quickly indeed. Socialism is the future and the way forward, the march to power of the working class begins here.

Is this the end of occupy London or just the start?

Last night riot police and bailiffs moved in out of the blue although the camp had been expecting them at some point to evict occupy London.

By the time last night had come there left around 40 tents and 100 activists the majority had left before clearance day fearing the end.

I was another one who was first sceptical of what the movement was all about as was not a traditional workers movement I thought it was some petti bourgeois adventure. But it turned out to grow in peoples consciousness and gain a lot of support from far and wide.

One of the things people have levelled at occupy is their failure to link up with the wider working class and link with workers struggles, but they did to a extent hosting debates with trade unionists, Jarrow marchers and actively supporting the sparks on their regular protests every week. So they tried but it was still a very early movement in its infancy.

I think many workers were sympathetic to the aims of the camp even if they were not sure where it was heading.

There was much criticism of occupy in its early days for not having any real demands. But this I think was answered by the fact that it was a chance to debate democratically what has gone wrong and what can be the solutions to the crisis.

In some ways the camp was very mixed with some reformists wishing for a nicer capitalism others green activists with climate change at the heart of their message and others there to learn off others.

All in all I think the whole 4 months covering some of the coldest temperatures we’ve seen for some time and all sorts of difficulties with the ST Pauls church and surrounding areas. But eventually I think they got their message through.

I think the strongest message to come out of it will be the idea of the 99% and the 1% starting to form an idea of class again and injustice in society again. Class has b even off the radar for sometime and I personally felt this was a good step forward to regaining this consciousness.

I listened to the eviction last night of occupy London with sadness really as these were people who protested peacefully not harming anyone. Despite the media’s claims it was not an inconvenience to the public or an eye sore. They opened up an avenue of debate actively bringing back capitalism to be talked about. I don’t think Ed Miliband and David Cameron would have been talking of an “ethical capitalism” if occupy hadn’t had an impact on peoples moods and anger out there.

Many activists say this is the end for the movement and the camp, in some way it is but I do think many lessons can be learned from this e experience and bedded in to peoples consciousness that occupy has a role to play in the future movement. Occupying an area or a building is a powerful symbol and puts into question the role of private property that it is the 1% who still do very much hold all the power in society. In other ways this is just the beginning for occupy as they look to regroup and re assess where they go from here.

Whatever happens it will be interesting to see where they go from here as they are right this crisis is not going away its only going to deepen as the year progresses

The importance of theory in the class struggle

We often hear many people out there in the wider movement ask ourselves well what is your theory to back up your politiacl ideas.

We as socialists and more specifically marxists are very keen to learn the lessons of history and keep a keen eye on theory at every stage of the class struggle.

i personally enjoy theory and learning about the working class history and class struggles that have erupted over the years and decades in the past. I am almost to the end of Das Capital Volumne 1 its been a fantastic read with so much strength in depth in its theory and understanding.

Karl Marx one of the greatest revolutionary thinkers ever wrote this book along with his good friend Frederich Engels in the 19th century and is still to this day the best explaination of capitalism as it is today. I am not saying all of what Marx wrote back then in the 1800's is relevant today as it is not but the lessons and the teachings of how capitalism works are as true today as they were back then.

It is avery well put together study and analysis that has never been disproved even by economists and capitalists today.

But theory is fantastic but cannot be a idol proccess and a stand alone method to the class struggle it must be applied and go hand in hand with practical day to day struggles and applying marxist theory and lessons learnt by Leon trotsky and Lenin to todays struggles by workers in everyday situations.

Capitalism and our version of it as our particular version is quite unique in a sense in Britain having its full rich history based here we as working class fighters have a wealth of historic events we can study and learn from to make suer we do not repeat the mistakes of the past in the future.

As Marxists we do not live in the past as many opponents of our ideas throw at us instead quite the contary we look to the past to fuel us with ideas and lessons to make the right and correct analysis for todays situation and current class contiousness. Knowing at what period are we passing is key. Having good theory and failing to draw the correct conclusions from a ebb or a flow in the class struggle can leave you marooned on the wrong side of history.

For example some on the left saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the soviet union as a step forward and a great victory for the working class at that time. Whilst we'll always support the falling of a iron fisted dictator we in the CWI at the time correctly saw that this was a massive defeat for the working class as much of their gains including nationalised industry and free health care and transport for example are under great threat from the capiatlists who were looking to reafirm their grip on the world market in the late 80's and this consequently saw a reemergance of capitalism in Russia and the former Eastern block countries.

TO think that this period was a big victory for the working class and they can now go on the offensive looking to make gains was a huge mistake and still many on the left are still coming to terms with the realities of that big mistake. So as i say theory is important but drawing the correct conclusions from new events in the class struggle globally not just on a national basis is key to drawing support and influence in the movement .



As lenin told us quite rightly "Without a revolutionary theory there cannot be a revolutionary movement. "

Politics begin where the masses are, not where there are thousands, but where there are millions, that is where serious politics begin.
(Vladimir Lenin)


"It is impossible to predict the time and progress of revolution. It is governed by its own more or less mysterious laws" (Vladimir I Lenin)

But as lenin correctly pointed out a ounce of practical action in struggle is worth 10 times the amount of theoritical struggle, what he was trying to say that there is no greater expereince to the class struggle than actually getting out there and living it fighting it on a day to day basis.

The role agitation can play in the class struggle today

In the early days of forming a movement of which we can say we are in today the early signs of a fight back with the trade unions finally stepping on the scene some may say and i'd agree took them long enough. But in these early days it is important to raise ideas of a change in society with people.

Back when capitalism was going through its "boom stage" we found it hard to convince workers that this system cannot meet all of your wants and needs and ultimatly a crash will come which is enevitable under capitalist boom and bust.

But these days where a heightened increase of the class struggle and many commentators in the media making claims of a "class war" and other such like the ideas of revolutions in the arab world the idea of a change in soceity has become mainstream once again The idea that the occupy movement has coined slogans such as we are the 99% and capitalism is crisis are just two of what i have picked out of a change in contiousness out there among people.

You cannot tell me that these sorts of slogans and phrases would have been being talked about on radio phone in shows and television 3 or 4 years ago. Ever since the banking crash of 2008 the world has changed and we will never go back to that place.

For revolutionary socialists like myself who have drawn the conclusion that capitalism is a deeply unfair system and we need to change society todays plain is still a tough place to convince people of our ideas but at least we can highlight examples of exploitation and greed in society. The widening gap between rich and poor to a wide gulf is having a impact on people and their thinking. A certain layer of workers have arisen from a long long sleep if you like and are currently in a mass state of confusion. Many blame MP's, The labour party and now the tories others less informed like to play the race card and blame the lack of jobs to a imigration issue something of which i will blog more on tommorrow and the dangers that can entail.

But certainly as marxists with ideas of how the system of capitalism works and trying to further understand it ourselves through the ideas of Karl Marx relating those ideas to todays issues is becoming easier in one way but harder in another due to peoples confused state they are waking up from.

Many know something is wrong and something has to be done about it but few have drawn vague socialist ideas as yet many just simply feel the world is not fair and getting worse.

We agree, but we have a programme a alternative that can help move us on from the position we find ourselves. It is known as the transitional programme which we apply to every step of the class struggle.

Getting in and amongst workers and being involved in their daily struggles, making their fight our fight and our fight their fight is a key to keeping in touch with current contiousness and having a influence on such a contiousness,

Being able to explain our ideas in a comradely way a friendly and welcoming fashion will attract workers who are desperatly searching for a alternative to this mad rotten capitalist system.

On the question of political leadership

As Lenin wrote in his excellent thesis what is to be done,

Many comrades in the early days of the russian revolution and in Lenin's party and others never regarded themselves as leaders, and no one ever elected or appointed them as such, although in actuality, they were leaders, because, in the propaganda period, as well as in the period of the struggle against the government, they took the brunt of the work upon themselves, they went into the most dangerous places, and their activities were the most fruitful. They became leaders, not because they wished it, but because the comrades surrounding them had confidence in their wisdom, in their energy, in their loyalty.

Today we are badly lacking any political leaders, But the idea that they can just come about in a increased class contiousness is not always the case. As lenin rightly explained often political leaders do not wish to become one or have any desire to they almost fall into the position. Due to their role within the party and the movement and comrades confidence in their actions and decisions.

It is important to stress that in this day and age of a heightened suspicion of any leaders or any organisation at the present time many are not looking for your old style leader do as we say which i can understand fully and do not support. But revolutionary working class leaders with the ideas to inspire and shine a light in the direction we need to be heading is greatly lacking today.

The fact that a lot of the labour movement has more aor less moved to the right coupled with the move to the right of social democratic parties like the Labour party there is very little in the way of working class voices any longer for workers to look towards.

Even in the trade unions i can only think of a handful of real leadership material. But i think as contiousness shifts and events unfold there will be a new layer of workers drawn into the struggle who are drawn to marxist ideas and conclusions that leadership is needed more than ever now. To lead us out of this capitalist money driven mad house to a farier stable society based on peoples needs.

Towards socialism, taking workers with us

As you may know on this blog i talk alot about socialism and marxism and so forth but we can often forget that not all workers we are aiming to win over get this and we do always have to remember as rerevolutionary socialists where we are and where the class is in its contiousness. At present we are at a very low form of class contiousness and a even lower socialist contiousness. Many workers do feel something is wrong, some even say so. But as far as an alternative goes very few workers have any idea what there is. Many still dont tag the current crisis up with capitalism. These are all the tasks and challenges we are left to tackle as marxists. To get amongst the working class and firstly find out where they are. What their concerns are immediatly and support those concerns whatever they may be. Extra pay, better working conditions or extra holiday time whatever it may be. We will always support workers in struggle with the boss's just because we see a alternative way of running society and reject the current system does not mean we will stand by and let workers get hammered by the boss's, quite the contary we will lend our support and resources as should the labour movement to fight for working class reforms out of the boss's. But at all times we must be raising ideas that reforms will never be enough that when the boss's grant us a concession with one hand they will look to take from us with the other.

This is why we as revolutionaries are constantly looking to popularise ideas of a better world, a farier way of running society for the majorities needs rather than a select few's personal profitable gains.

The reason i've taken up socialism and marxist ideas more in the last few months is the realisation that we do live in a deeply unfair world and it is deep rooted in inequality that is built into this system we live under and it needs changing and it can be changed.

But as we talk to workers in struggle of all levels of contiousness we must be careful and aware to never preech to workers not to patronise and offend. We are fully aware that we are the most advanced layer of contious workers and have already made the conclusion that society needs to be changed into a different order and capitalism is a bankrupt system. But not all workers currently agree with this. They may feel agrieved that their job is on the line or that their pay is being cut but this may not be enough for them to drawn the same conclusions as us, the marxists. But only by fighting alongside these workers in struggle for a better world which by nature all workers are compelled to do we can explain our own ideas the ideas of Karl Marx and Leon trotsky in a everyday situation and the idea that this doesnt have to be this way at all.

Having a open dialog with workers in struggle is the key to a revolutionary parties success. Being able to gauge the current feeling out there with workers and interveen where we can with the correct ideas is crucial i feel. As the socialist party with lots of very experienced comrades in struggle their experience will be crucial the idea that history does not repeat itself but can certainly be learnt from is key.

Popularising marxist ideas and ideas that can win over workers with a program that can appeal to those who are looking for an alternative will be important in this coming year and i feel that we must and are prepared for this and i am hoping we can win many more over to our ideas if we can.

But we must always be keen to show a empathy and a humility that we do not know it all. We have a good analysis and a correct program but we cannot be with this and look to ask workers themselves what they think first and foremost aragant . We must look to take the class with us if we can not look to lead it from out in front. Being apart of the class struggle but raising socialist ideas all the way will be key but never preeching and dictating our own ideas. Of course being passionate with our ideas and forceful like we expect others to do when countering our own ideas in a comradely way as a clash of ideas in the labour movement is a constant battle for the correct program to win out. We feel confident workers will find our ideas appealing and be drawn to our ideas in time. But let us not be that worker that turns them away but welcomes them with open arms. To take us forward for a fairer society and future for the many not just the few.

A marxist look at current class contiousness

According to Marxist theory, a socialist revolution requires a class conscious working class. Consequently, most socialist political activity is directed one way or another to raising workers' consciousness.

Making a Marxist inquiry into the class-consciousness of today's workers on the other hand, requires that we bring the whole of this notion into focus. For this, we must clarify the nature of class and the consciousness of a class in Marxist theory. To begin with the latter, "consciousness" in the expression "class consciousness" does not mean the same thing as it does in the expression "individual consciousness." It is not just a matter of individuals being conscious, or having a certain understanding, of their class. Rather, class is the subject, and consequently, consciousness is not just a larger version of individual consciousness. What is it then? Before answering we must shift our attention to class.

We find that defining "class"—or indeed any other important notion in Marxism—proceeds from the whole to the part (class, in this case) rather than from still smaller parts (individuals) to class, viewed as some larger composite notion. According to Marx, "the subject, society, must always be envisaged as the precondition of comprehension" This whole, this society, is capitalism, or more specifically, Marx's analysis of capitalism, which captures both its distinctive character as a social formation and the unique dynamics, or "law of motion," that has transformed it from its beginnings in feudalism to and through the present to whatever future awaits it. Before we can offer more precision on Marx's notion of class, we need to have a better idea of the whole in which it plays such a crucial role.

Capitalism is not a perpetual motion machine destined to last forever and a day. But if it isn't, what is it about the way this system works and develops that will eventually bring on its destruction? Marx believed he found the answer to this question in the process of accumulation and centralization of capital (or wealth producing wealth), especially when view in connection with the limited purchasing power of the workers. This relationship is often expressed as the contradiction between social production and private appropriation. Production and consumption follow two different logics. The former is determined by profit maximization; the capitalists invest in order to make and maximize profits. While what gets bought and consumed is determined by what people, most of whom are workers, can afford. And, as the capitalist never return as much wealth to workers (in the form of wages) as the workers produce (in the form of commodities), there is a constant pressure on the system to find alternative buyers for this surplus.

This contradiction intensifies as the gap between the amount of wealth produced (and producible) and the amount returned to the workers as wages grows, as it invariably does, chiefly through advances in science and technology. Increases in the workers' real wages, which can occur from time to time and from place to place does not seriously impede this process. Every decade or so for the past 150 years this contradiction has resulted in a crisis of overproduction (or, viewed from the perspective of the workers, of underconsumption), with the accompanying destruction and wastage of factories, machines, goods and workers. Eventually the need to rebuild what has been destroyed or left to wear out together with the appearance of new markets makes investment more profitable. There is a renewed burst of accumulation, and the cycle starts over. The new beginning takes place on a higher level; more is invested, more people, tasks, and area are involved all around the world; more is at stake. Capitalism has been saved, but only at the cost of increasing the scale of risk in the next crisis. In Marx's estimation, capitalism is a little like a drunk who drinks in order to steady his nerves until the time that... And that time always comes. Marx's prediction of the downfall of capitalism is not to be read as the prediction of the arrival of a comet on such and such a day, but as the projection of the most likely outcome of a worsening impasse, whose development one can see and study in the past and present.



STATEMENTS SUCH as "the working class has disappeared" or "the barriers between the classes no longer exist" have been repeated for many years. This is often backed up by pointing to the de-industrialisation of Britain especially over the last two or three decades.

In fact there are still around four million workers in manufacturing industry in the UK. It is true that increased globalisation of the world economy has meant a large number of manufacturing jobs being transferred to areas such as Eastern Europe and China. But manufacturing jobs lost in the west have often been replaced by low-paid jobs in the service sector, for example in retail, finance and tourism. The fastest growing job sector in Britain is those who clean, shop, child-mind, garden etc for others.

In "white collar" jobs, measures such as performance related pay, imposed targets and casualisation have been increasingly introduced. Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) members in Revenue and Customs for example, have been fighting the introduction of 'lean processing' which breaks down tasks into small repetitive parts to create assembly line type work. Civil servants organised in the PCS have been one of the most militant sections of the working class in recent years and have elected a left union leadership.

New Labour and tory politicians and academics tend to talk of the poor being the 'underclass' living off benefits on council estates, or about 'social exclusion', thereby trying to separate the unemployed off from the rest of the working class. Effectively they repeat the old Victorian idea of the 'undeserving poor' and want people to be 'encouraged' into work by the threat of benefit cuts,
It is a strange solution to poverty - to cut the income of the poorest! And by forcing people into low paid work, they do not eliminate poverty. Millions are now described as the 'working poor'.

Capitalist definitions of class confuse the issue. The term "middle class" is often used very broadly, from a white collar worker on low pay in local government or the civil service to a rich businessman.

Official classifications also obscure the real class divide. The highest category according to the Office for National Statistics is 'professional and managerial' which includes people such as teachers and nurses. These certainly do not constitute the ruling class!

Marxists however say that the main class divide in society is between the ruling class - big businessmen and financiers who own "the means of production" on the one hand, and those who have to work for a boss to earn a living and actually create the wealth (value) on the other.

In the past, the average worker sold their "labour power" in a factory. Today, in addition to the millions who still do this there are others working in different fields who also produce new value. Others again, such as many public sector workers, do not strictly fit into this category but are part of the working class because of their social outlook and economic situation. The working class is not homogenous; far from it, there are many sections and layers. There are also middle layers in between the working class and ruling (capitalist) class, what Marx called the petit-bourgeoisie, particularly the self-employed, including small farmers, shopkeepers etc - altogether a wide and varied range of people. Many of them however are in debt to the big banks and have much in common with "workers".

In dealing with the possibility of socialist revolution in the present however, whether Marx's present or our own, it is not enough to treat people as embodiments of social-economic functions. As much as this helps us understand their conditions, the pressures they are under, and their options and opportunities, the people involved must still respond to these influences in ways that make what is possible actual. In Marxist terminology, they must become class conscious. To study whether this can actually occur here and now, or at least soon, we must add a subjective, people-oriented, more directly and narrowly human element and focus to the objective, system-oriented view of class that has been presented so far. In short, in analyzing history and political economy, Marx could operate with an essentially functionalist conception of class derived from the place of a function within the system. Class here is something to which recognizable individuals are attached. In this way, incidentally, it is possible for an individual who serves more than one function (managers and wage-earning professionals, for example) to belong to more than one class. But in analyzing the present state of the class struggle and in developing political strategy, this view has to be supplemented, not replaced, by a conception of class that gives priority to the actual people who occupy this place and perform this function. Sharing a social space and functions, they also tend to acquire over time other common characteristics as regards income, life-style, political consciousness, and organization that become, in turn, further evidence for membership in their class and subsidiary criteria for determining when to use the class label. Here, class is a quality that is attached to people, who posses other qualities—such as nationality, race or sex, for example—that reduce and may even nullify the influence on thinking and action that comes from their membership in the class. Conceived as a complex social relation, in line with Marx's dialectical outlook on the world, class invites analysis as both a function and a group, that is to say, from different sides of this relation.

Exploitation and inequality are built into the system. To get rid of them, capitalism needs to be removed and replaced with a socialist society. The multinational companies owned by the rich need to become publicly owned.

An end to the chaos of the market and the introduction of socialist planning would mean an overall increase in the real wealth of society, not just a redistribution of the wealth that already exists.

IN THE last 30 odd years, there has been a relative lull in trade union struggle in Britain. In the wake of the collapse of Stalinism in the USSR and eastern Europe, there was a shift of former working-class based parties such as the Labour Party, towards being openly bosses" parties with a full acceptance of the market. This, together with the effects of a long period of modest economic growth, led to a drop in consciousness of socialist ideas.

Despite this, there is still clear recognition of the existence of classes. Surveys have consistently shown that the majority of people in Britain describe themselves as working class. The latest British Social Attitudes survey shows 57% of people consider themselves working class.

The report authors call this 'remarkable' considering that only 31% of the workforce is in traditional "blue collar" sectors. In reality it gives the lie to the idea that class politics is no longer relevant. How much more sharpened will class-consciousness be in the future when big workers' struggles take place and when economic downturn has an impact on millions of people

Even those who see themselves as middle class, or who are on relatively comfortable incomes, have plenty of reasons to oppose the capitalist system, run for the benefit of big business.

Many problems created by capitalism affect them. The rising cost of university tuition fees for example, or the cutbacks in public services such as the NHS. For the vast majority of people who have private health insurance, it is very limited, only covering routine things.

For socialists it is not just that the working class is exploited under capitalism and therefore has good reason to end it, but also that it has the power to do it. Through struggles to defend and extend their own livelihoods, working-class people develop a greater class-consciousness. On a mass scale this can go together with a growth in socialist ideas.

But in particular, workers have the power to change things because of their role in society - their position in relation to the functioning of the economy and the "means of production". Even small groups of workers taking strike action, especially in an era of high technology, can have a massive effect. This power will be decisive when the working class moves together.

The removal of capitalism, led by the working class and with the support of most of the middle layers of society, can create the beginnings of conditions for a genuinely classless society.

This would be a socialist society where, for example, you would not have a higher chance of dying early simply because of where you were born, and where the resources of society would be democratically planned and used for the benefit of all.


Studying class consciousness has something in common with trying to catch a wave at the moment when it breaks. All movement toward this point is treated as development, as preliminary, as the unfolding of a potential. Everything that either contributes to or helps it movement is equally the object of study, but the constant point of repair, the perspective from which the whole process is viewed and interpreted, the event that gives everything that proceeded it its distinctive meaning, is the moment at which the wave breaks. Naturally, there is the assumption, derived from a Marxist analysis of capitalism, that the waves will almost certainly break, that sooner or later the worsening problems of the system, together with the reduction and eventual disappearance of system-approved alternatives for dealing with them, will drive most workers to embody the consciousness of their class.

Britain today where is contiousness at present

As we gear up for a autumn and winter that is set to hold much battles with the boss's and this government who dont seem to be wanting to back down on any of their savage cuts programme i thought i'd examine where current contiousness lays in the working class and labour movement as a whole, in this country.

As Leon Trotsky observed and stated in his writings on Britain which you can read for yourselves i have found very interesting and pretty accurate to todays situation.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/britain/v3/ch02a.htm


For an analysis of a situation from a revolutionary point of view, it is necessary to distinguish between the economic and social premises of a revolutionary situation and the revolutionary situation itself.

2. The economic and social premises for a revolutionary situation begin, generally speaking, at that moment when the productive forces of the country are going not up but down, that is diminishing; when the specific weight of a capitalist country on the world markets is systematically reduced and when the incomes of the classes are likewise systematically reduced; when unemployment becomes not a conjunctural event of fluctuation but a permanent social evil with a tendency to growth. All the foregoing characterize the situation in Britain completely and we can affirm that the economic and social premises for a revolutionary situation exist there in this form and are always becoming more and more acute. But we must not forget that the expression, revolutionary situation, is a political term, not alone sociological. This explanation includes the subjective factor, and the subjective factor is not only the question of the party of the proletariat. It is a question of the consciousness of the whole class, foremost, of course, of the proletariat and the party.

The revolutionary situation, however, begins only from the moment that the economic and social premises of a revolution produce a break in the consciousness of society and its different classes. What must be produced in this way for creating a revolutionary situation? (a) In every situation which we must analyse, it is necessary to distinguish three classes of society; the capitalists, the middle class (or petty bourgeoisie) and the proletariat. Those changes in the consciousness of these classes in order to characterize a revolutionary situation are very different for every one of these classes. (b) That the economic situation is very acute, the British proletariat know very well, far better than all theoreticians. But the revolutionary situation begins only at the moment when the proletariat begins to search for a way out, not on the basis of the old society but along the path of a revolutionary insurrection against the existing order. This is the most important subjective condition for a revolutionary situation. The acuteness of the revolutionary feelings of the masses is one of the most important measures for the ripeness of the revolutionary situation. (c) But a revolutionary situation is one which must, in the next period permit the proletariat to become the ruling power of society, that depends in Britain, less than in any other country, but also there to a degree, on the political thoughts and feelings of the middle class; the revolutionary situation would be characterized by the loss of confidence of the middle class in all the traditional parties (including the Labour Party, which is reformist), and its turn of hope to a radical, revolutionary change in the society (and not a counter-revolutionary change, viz., a fascist change). (d) Both the changes in the consciousness of the proletariat and the middle class correspond to the change in the consciousness of the ruling class which sees that it has not the means to save its system, loses confidence in itself, decomposes and splits into factions and cliques.

It cannot be foreseen or indicated mathematically at what point in these processes the revolutionary situation is totally ripe. The revolutionary party can only establish that fact by its struggles, by the growth of its forces, through its influence on the masses, on the peasants and the petty-bourgeoisie of the towns, etc., and by the weakening of the resistance of the ruling class.


I would say after all that that we find ourselves in a period of very low contiousness in the workers of today. Many are taken in by reality television and trashy newspapers like the Sun unfortunatly. I do sense a growing awakening in parts of the class though with a sharp uprise in protests and a want to fight back against the savage austerity measures being pushed through today.

But i would say at present this is largely unorganised and quite factional with groups thinking they can go it alone much like UK uncut who do a good job of highlighting tax evasion but such movements need to put the interests of the class first and not look to do the class's job for them. A united struggle must be our next viewpoint.

In terms of the Labour party which i would say the unorganised working class still largely cling to is still a factor today i would say. Only when the mass of workers become fully disenfranchised by this party of reformists and blairites mixed in with a few tories and form their own new workers party we may start getting somewhere.

Tommorrow night i am attending a socialsit party open public meeting in Stevenage on " why we need a new workers party". This for me is really key to uniting our daily struggles uniting all the anti cuts campaigns and giving them a political voice and a direction on a political scale to bring it all together not just for electoral gains but to counter act the arguements which the tories, labour and lib dems are pushing that there is no alternative.

I do still think there is much much more work for revolutionaries in this country but as events unfold as Trotsky rightly pointed out contiousness can change very quickly and rapidly in one way or another. We as the revolutionary party must be there looking to be that guiding light and becon for workers to look for to unite our struggles.

We do not have all the answers and cannot fully carry out a revolution but our role is to agitate , organise workers and influence the class by raising socialist transitional ideas that workers can relate to to push the struggles forward. When the whole of the working class moves forward it is extremely powerful but as yet we are still largely unorganised i would say. I think we are starting to see the shoots of something resembling a large scale fightback with the emergence of public sector workers going on strike this autumn in november. To unite around that struggle and to link trade unions to ordinary workers employed or not will be key to winning and raising contiousness.

To fully explain why we are to be going on strike and why its the right thing to do will be key too i feel. With up to 3 million public sector workers on strike possibly affecting many this strike is likely to have a larger impact than 30th June and more members of the public will be affected. For us it is key we get our ideas out there that this is nessesary and to support the strikes and not be taken in by government/media properganda of nuisance and divide and rule. Lets not give in to crude tactics like that.



In my view contiousness is growing all be it slowly but i think i can sense the start of something bubbling away as small as it might be at present workers are starting to sit up and take note of our ideas.

Why we shouldnt hold illusions in thecapitalist media

I hear time aftertime when there is a in depth class struggle is occuring in the streets and comrades are feeling oppressed that the media out there do not wish to report our struggles.

I find this sad yet makes me want to bang my head in all honesty.

The capitalists greatest tool on their behalf is the media. The power the media can have today is truely scarey in some ways. It can influence public opinion and influence trials in court and all sorts. It is no doubt in the hands of the capitalists a very powerful tool. Lets be under no illusions with this. Comrades on the street still do seem to hold this notion that the media is independant and thinks for itself and reports on whatever it wants. Wrong i'm sorry to say but who owns these media sources i ask you ?

Well does the name Rupert Murdoch ring any alarm bells. and who is he linked to ? the tories anda right wing capitalist agenda. So should we be surprised that him and other media organisations acting in the interests of the ruling class dont report on our struggles ?

I persoanlly am not.. But to get this message over to other comrades who are perhaps new to the struggles of the working class is difficult and often frustrating. Many still thinkt he media should be reporting wherever there is a major incident . Not nessesarily. Only when it benifits them. Just like at the student protest last december. They covered them as they were big news at the time but you heard one side of the story of course. When newly radicalised comrades get aggrieved that they are not being treated fairly and rightly by the media i am not sure what they expect when they are not on our side anyway.

I am not having a go at good natured and well intentioned comrades but i do think sometimes we need to take a reality check and realise who is on our side and who isnt and just there to make some quick dosh out of our phlight.

So this has got to be another excellent wink in the direction for a marxist paper/ publication.

Such papers as the socialist formaly the Militant a weekly socialist publication from the socialist party is a excellent read but not only that it sets out our common transitional demands each week. If you read closely enough you will be able to identify our transitional demands formulated by Leon Trotsky many many years ago. Of course ours have been updated to reflect the current class contiousness of today as all power to the soviets as correct as that was back then during the Russian Revolution would not really apply to todays struggles. So we put forward our demands and our targets where we want to be heading each week. We may have some excellent writers with good experience and knowledge but also we have a organised program behind us which not many political organisations can claim today in all fairness.

So when comrades moan and groan about not gaining enough coverage from the media who feel aggrieved because our struggle isnt playing out live on tv well why do we not take Leon Trotsky's route and form our own publications and media and put our own counter arguements out there and invite real debate in politics rather than a one way media frenzy against the working class.