Carlos Alvarez is a member of the PSL National Committee and the 2009 PSL candidate for mayor of Los Angeles. He presented the following talk as part of the panel “Socialism, the only alternative to capitalism” at the PSL National Conference on Socialism Dec. 7.
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But why is socialism not only distinct from any other efforts to change the world? Why is socialism the only possible alternative to the ravages of capitalism?
The bourgeoisie would have us believe that above all workers must work within the system for their own needs. We are taught that working against the system is a fool’s game in which our class is bound to lose. Indeed, we are taught that there is no alternative to the class-based system of capitalism. We are told that communism is a good idea that could never possibly work. We are taught of the infallibility of capitalism and its great dexterity in its ability to change for the better. We are taught that the great crises of our time like the Iraq war, or the federal government’s negligence following hurricane Katrina, or the current economic crisis, are errors of judgment or bad leadership.
The truth is that the ruling class is far more class conscious than the working class at this time. The ruling class knows that it is they who cannot exist without us. They are well aware of the threat that communism presents to capitalism, in that it is the only true alternative to a system based on profit. It knows this so well, in fact, that it employs a whole apparatus to control and suppress the masses.
It has created the state, an organ of oppression for one class to control another. The state includes many facets of capitalism, such as the courts, the laws, the prisons, the army and the police. All these are employed to maintain the rule of the ruling class over the working class.
One of its most important facets is the electoral system as a mechanism to diffuse any discontent among the masses. This system is rigged to only allow the wealthy to become the managers of the system. This system allows for popular votes to decide among very limited choices on this or that policy or this or that manager of the capitalist state, but in no way is the system itself ever in question. Communist intervention into the elections, such as that of the PSL this year and next, is for the purpose of building a movement that will one day be strong enough to overthrow capitalism, and not to win control of an office.
We are organizing to bring about real, lasting change and not simply piecemeal reforms. Most recently, the government has guised itself in the cloak of change through incoming president Barack Obama in order to stabilize and defend capitalism. Obama and the whole of the Democratic Party are part of the ruling class and do not wish to do away with capitalism; they actually seek to restore this system and secure increasingly massive profits for the billionaire bankers. But they espouse the aforementioned theories of change within the electoral system to suspend the threat of mass action against the system.
It is, after all, the mobilized masses who bring about all change to society. The capitalist class will stop at nothing to repress, misdirect or quell any form of popular uprising. This is the nature of reforms for the capitalist class.
Reforms for the workers mean something radically different. For workers, reforms ease the burdens of living under capitalism. They protect workers through the extension of civil rights or other policies such as reforms for affordable housing.
In some cases, reforms can be so radical that they reach almost every sector of society. The Mexican revolution of 1910-1917 is an example. Expropriation of the landowners took place during this political revolution, resulting in great triumphs for the workers and peasants. Great advancements in the workers’ organizations were being seen throughout the nation. The whole of Mexican society was moved to action as the people rejected the policies that confiscated land for its redistribution to foreign imperialist interests.
But this upheaval, as great as it was, was not a socialist revolution. The foundational structure that exists to advance the oppression of the ruling class over the working class still existed. The capitalist state remained intact.
A socialist revolution would end the private ownership of the factories, mines, transportation and offices by a tiny clique of capitalists and put them in the hands of the working class.
Uprisings and rebellions have happened throughout history in repudiation of effects of the capitalist system. Unless these rebellions have targeted the very foundation of the capitalist system, the successes achieved have been either temporary or limited.
In the case of Mexico, many of the bourgeois democratic reforms achieved during the political revolution have been stripped away by successive governments and by imperialist attacks against Mexico’s sovereignty. Policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement have deteriorated workers’ rights and environmental protections. Living conditions have dropped and millions of workers have been forced to migrate to the U.S. Today, the workers of Mexico are on the defensive again to shake the capitalists off their backs.
This brings us to the all-important questions of what do we need and where do we stop: reform or revolution? While we support reforms to improve workers’ lives—our lives—we will always be on the defensive and we will never do away with the most brutal aspects of capitalism unless there is a socialist revolution. We need the fight for reforms to win what we can from the capitalist parasites but, in the end, we need a revolution to do away with the capitalists for good.
For centuries, the capitalist class has survived by arguing to workers that the capitalists, too, must exist for society to function. The ruling class would have us believe that without their ownership of our homes or our jobs, we could not possibly survive on our own.
Workers have an innate sense of their oppression at the hands of bosses and landlords. When an owner collects the rent, or the boss drives down wages and fires workers or when the bank forecloses on someone’s home, workers know that they have been had. We must be ready to provide the answers for workers of how to achieve lasting change.
In the United States, a socialist revolution is the only alternative to what we have now. We need to expropriate the wealth of society and use it for the benefit of the working class.
Hundreds of years ago, the capitalists organized production. Today, they are totally unnecessary and, in fact, are the main barrier to our happiness. Workers do not need the capitalist class at all.
On the contrary, private ownership of the means of production is holding back society’s limitless potential. Socialism is not only necessary, it is a historical inevitability. And we must start to organize for it so that it can come as soon as possible.
