The Strategy for Socialism
The lesson of the past decades is that the problems facing the great majority of people in Britain will never be solved within the confines of the capitalist system. Crises are endemic to capitalism and the capitalist class will always seek to place the burden of these crises upon the shoulders of working people. The only solution is a fundamental change in the very structure and organisation of society. The system of exploitation must be abolished and replaced by a new, higher system free from exploitation and all forms of oppression. Capitalism must be replaced by socialism, for only socialism can overcome the basic contradiction of capitalism from which every aspect of the crisis flows.
But the transition to socialism will not come about of its own accord. It will only come about through revolutionary struggle, in the course of which the working class and its allies, by uniting and concentrating their forces, take state power out of the hands of the capitalist class.
The necessity for this comes from the fact that under capitalism the state is not something neutral. 0n the contrary, as the experience in Britain in the recent period has again confirmed, the state is an instrument used by the capitalist class both to maintain the system of exploitation of working people, and to prevent any effective and organised means of opposition to that system. Therefore the working class and its allies must take state power if they are to be in a position to determine the future direction of society in their favour.
By taking state power they would be in a position to replace private ownership of the means of production with social ownership, thereby ending exploitation and replacing production for the sake of private profit with production for the needs of society. Industrial democracy would become a reality with the expansion of social ownership, and the democratic planning of production would make possible the full use of modern scientific and technological advances to eradicate poverty, raise the standard of living and end, once and for all, the scandalous contrast of extreme wealth for a few and hardship for millions.
At the same time using state power to change the economic base of the system would not be an end in itself, but a means of creating conditions in which human beings will be able to realise their full potential in working together for the common good instead of being divided by class, sex, race or creed.
Socialism would create the conditions for genuine democracy and participation in all spheres of society, allowing people to establish a new quality of life free not only from economic and social pressures, but from all forms of prejudice and discrimination. The differences that remain between people will be determined, not by inequality of opportunity, but by their own different talents and inclinations. Instead of the exploitation and maximisation of private profit that is the guiding principle of capitalism, the guiding principle of socialism would be “from each according to ability; to each according to work”.
Although the establishment of socialism, and the taking of state power necessary to achieve this, are in the objective interests of the working class and its allies, the actual conditions for socialist revolution in Britain do not yet exist. The major problem is that the growth of trade unions, and working class consciousness in general, has not been matched by a growth in socialist consciousness. The reasons for this are complex.
In the period of British imperialist dominance, some of the profits extorted from overseas could be diverted towards improving the relative position of the more skilled and better organised sections of the labour force with the aim of limiting dissatisfaction with capitalism. In more recent times British imperialism has lost its position of unchallenged pre-eminence. In the jungle of inter-imperialist rivalry, the scope for concessions has been emailed. But the ruling class is still prepared to provide privileges and benefits to certain sections of the working class, and this maintains divisions and holds back the full development of working class political understanding. At the same time, the capitalist class continues to use every avenue open to it to promote capitalist concepts and ideals in order to prevent dissatisfaction being turned against capitalism itself, and to block any search for ways to replace it by a new and fundamentally different system. To this end, for example, the capitalist class exploits ideologically the growth of home ownership among the working class, as well as the limited share ownership among some of its sections.
Racism and national chauvinism are two particularly damaging legacies of Britain's imperialist history, and overcoming reactionary ideas in these areas is a crucial part of winning the battle of ideas in favour of socialism.
A further important factor which helps to impede the development of working class consciousness into socialist consciousness, is the role played by right-wing reformism in the leadership of the labour and trade union movement as a whole, and especially in the leadership of the mass political party of the labour movement, the Labour Party. For central to this trend has always been the argument that the problems facing working people in Britain can be solved through minor adjustments and improvements to the capitalist system, and on the basis of co-operation with capitalist employers, thereby making a revolutionary change neither necessary nor desirable.
Given these and other factors which prevent the growth of socialist consciousness, how can they be overcome? How can the gap be closed between the objective necessity for the working class and its allies to take state power and establish socialism, and the need for a greater awareness of these tasks? This is the central question today.
An important part of the answer to this question depends upon the extent to which the main organisations of the Left, and in particular the Communist Party, can succeed in projecting socialist concepts and ideas within the ranks of the organised working class and other sections of the population. This is a point to which we shall return later. But the wider answer must lie in the experience gained by working people in the course of the class struggle itself.
In Britain in recent years, this struggle has grown in scope and intensity as different sections of the working class have taken action on a wide number of issues, for example to defend wages or job conditions, or to defend benefits and services, or to protect basic democratic rights and civil liberties.
One important and very positive aspect of these struggles is that, where successful, they help to boost the morale and confidence of the people involved and encourage them to expand their demands.
Another equally positive aspect is that these struggles help, to a greater or lesser extent, to advance people's awareness of the fact that behind the power of the private monopolies and the banks stands the power of the state. This was illustrated in particular by the experience of the historic miners' strike of 1984-85 when the miners, who took mass action against pit closures, saw the Tory government make full use of the riot police, law courts, media and the whole state apparatus to intimidate and harass them and undermine their support. Another example is the experience of the Wapping dispute in 1986-87 where the print workers understood all too well that one of the principal reasons why Murdoch won the dispute was the fact that he could resort to the new Tory anti-union laws in order to sequestrate the funds of the print unions and thereby force their eventual retreat.
The major lesson from all this is that if we are to help raise the general level of awareness of the class nature of the state, and therefore of the need to take state power in order to establish socialism, we need, as a starting point, to help develop the different struggles on the immediate issues facing working people. More than this, we need to bring these struggles into a common stream so that the experiences of working people can be pooled, and their efforts concentrated and pointed in the direction of making inroads into the wealth and power of the capitalist class as a vital part of achieving basic social change.
However, if we are to ensure that this does happen, that the struggles of different groups of working people do develop, not in isolation or in contradiction to each other, but in a mutually reinforcing manner, the various demands in question need to be placed in the context of a wider, more comprehensive, and at the same time integral, campaigning strategy. That is to say, there needs to be a strategy which, by linking separate policy demands on a range of issues into a single, coherent framework, is capable of promoting a united, co-ordinated, and therefore more effective, struggle in defence of working class interests. The Alternative Economic and Political Strategy, developed by the labour and trade union movement, and by the Communist Party in particular, is just such a strategy.
Economic and Social Policies
The immediate aim of the economic proposals of the strategy is to substitute for the present Tory anti-working class programme of spending cuts, a reflationary programme aimed at boosting the economy. It is proposed to cut VAT, to reduce direct taxes on working people's incomes, and to shift the burden of taxation on to the rich, for example through a special wealth tax and stricter controls on tax evasion. An integral part of the process must be the repeal of the Poll Tax and its replacement by a local income tax. Incomes of those in currently poorly paid jobs should be lifted through the implementation of a National Minimum Wage Policy linked to average earnings, while at the same time there should be provision for equal wages for work of equal value for women, ethnic minorities and other discriminated sections of the workforce.
Alongside measures to boost individual incomes of workers, there needs to be a massive and sustained increase in public spending in several priority areas. One priority is industry. There must be a big investment drive in the traditional publicly-owned industries and in the newer industries based on modern advanced technology. This investment drive needs to be accompanied by measures which will ensure both an all-round increase in jobs, and which will provide equal opportunities for access to those jobs for all sections of the working population.
The implementation of a shorter working week would be one of the most important ways of ensuring that investment in new technology does not lead to an overall loss of jobs. Training must be an integral part of a policy for expansion in investment and job creation. In particular, funds should be made available for high quality education and training for all young people and particularly working class youth. At the same time it is important to provide a programme for training and retraining adults, especially women and ethnic minorities, to allow them entry into the more skilled, secure and better paid jobs in the manufacturing sector.
The education system for all our young people at every level has been viciously attacked by the Tories and should be developed into one that is of high quality and free to all sections of society. Nursery provision needs to be improved and made available to all: primary and secondary education should be adequately staffed to enable all children to receive a full and comprehensive education. Further and higher education, including the universities must be made available to all sections of society, with grants generous enough to support students without recourse to family contributions or loans. Student grants should be a right for all people with the necessary qualifications wishing to continue with their studies and no part of the grant should be repayable or in the form of a loan.
The planned investment drive must also take into account the important question of regional distribution. It is necessary to rebuild a regional economic development strategy to stimulate industry and employment in Scotland, Wales and the English regions suffering severe economic depression and social inequalities. Strong systems of regional economic planning and development, democratically accountable to the peoples of each region, must be a key part of this programme for expansion. Within the framework of planning at an all-Britain level, the peoples of each region must have the powers to ensure that industrial development is made increasingly accountable to them and that curbs are placed on the freedom of big business and property speculators to wreck and distort regional economies.
Another priority area is social service provision. Funds must be made available to increase pensions and services for the elderly to enable them to live in dignity and comfort. There must be an increase in spending on housing, education, hospitals and other health services, and on leisure, cultural and recreational facilities. And much more needs to be spent on f amin allowances and maternity grants, and on nurseries and child-care facilities, for only the greater provision of these kinds of services will actually afford women, especially those with children, the means to escape casualised work on the margins and to enter better jobs in the mainstream of the economy.
The aim of securing an ambitious programme for economic and social expansion raises the question of how the programme is to be financed and what type of controls need to be imposed. As regards this we must first make clear our unequivocal opposition to incomes control, or to wage restraint of any form, as a means of forcing one section of the working class to finance any improvements or benefits for other sections. On the contrary, the main intention behind the Alternative Economic Strategy is to seek the collective improvement in the living standards of all working people, forcing the capitalist class, and the monopoly sector particularly, to foot the bill out of its profits. In this connection there are several controls which need to be implemented. In the first place there needs to be arms control. There must be a massive reduction in Britain's arms spending and conversion to peace projects. Britain continues to spend a higher proportion of its GNP on weapons than any other capitalist power outside of the USA. Cuts in this total would release enormous resources for use in Britain's depressed social services and in Britain's ailing industry.
There needs to be a system of price controls. A prices commission must be set up to ensure that wage increases are not arbitrarily passed on to consumers via price increases, but are absorbed, where necessary, through a reduction in monopoly profits. At a more fundamental level, there needs to be a system of investment controls which must, as a priority, include the policy of democratic nationalisation. The major areas of industry which have been privatised by the Tories should be re-nationalised, not on the old lines but on a new basis ensuring worker and consumer representation in management so as to guarantee that they are run according to social criteria and not the criterion of private profit.
There also needs to be further nationalisation covering the strategic sectors of the economy, including the major banks and financial institutions so as to ensure that the vast amounts of funds at their disposal are directed towards investment in British industry. At the same time, nationalising North Sea oil would be the only way of ensuring that the revenues here, currently being squandered to pay for imports and investment of capital abroad, are used instead to help restore Britain's manufacturing base.
There also needs to be a comprehensive system of planning agreements whereby the government, with the fullest participation of the trade unions and workforce concerned, can set and if necessary impose on major private companies in industry guidelines for investment and growth. In the struggle to control those transnationals still in private ownership, the potential of the public sector as a powerful economic lever will need to be exploited to the full. The role of the co-operative movement should be strengthened and expanded through the development of workers' co-operatives.
To enable industrial and social development to take place in a planned and balanced way, the big landed estates in the town and countryside will have to be taken into public ownership. The free market in land will have to be brought under local and democratic control, within an overall national plan.
Turning to the external dimension of the Alternative Economic Strategy, there would need to be capital and exchange controls to ensure that the vast sums of long-term capital currently being channelled abroad are invested in domestic industry and jobs. In addition, there would need to be selective import controls to protect and redevelop key areas of British industry such as cars, electronics, steel and coal. The protection of these areas of industry would be crucial to the restoration of Britain's manufacturing base, and would allow for balanced development of other interlinked or dependent sectors of the economy.
Finally, in order to ensure the implementation of the wide range of domes tic and external controls listed above, there must be a clear commitment to the immediate withdrawal of Britain from the Common Market. The call for Britain's withdrawal from the Common Market is not a call for Britain's withdrawal from the European economy, or from international economic relations in general. On the contrary, it is a call for a different form of participation in these relations. By withdrawing from the Common Market set-up, it is possible to restructure British industry, to which reference has been made above, by replacing the present system of unbalanced and inequitable relations with a few select partners, by a system of balanced and equitable economic relations with all countries in Europe as well as in the rest of the world.
The struggle of the British working class to improve its living standards and surpass those existing anywhere in the world is not dependent upon Britain's membership of the Common Market. It cannot be overemphasised that the struggle of the British labour and progressive movement to advance its interests against those of monopoly capital must entail unity and solidarity with the struggle against the transnational monopolies and imperialism on a world wide scale. This means unity with the working class throughout Western Europe, the US and Japan. It means a much expanded development of trading relations with the socialist countries where working people have taken state power. And it means unity with the people of the developing countries who, under the present system of neocolonialism and debt-bondage, continue to have their wealth and resources plundered by imperialism and remain in a state of abject poverty. In specific economic terms, unity here should mean not only planning for balanced and mutually beneficial trade with the developing countries, but also making active provision of favourable credits and other forms of direct aid to assist their industry and trading position.
The Expansion of Democracy
If the struggle to promote the economic and social interests of working people is to be successful and to have any real meaning, it must be seen as part of the wider struggle for the expansion of democracy. Policies which aim at increasing jobs, social service provision, and living standards must be linked to a comprehensive set of policies that can guarantee corresponding political and human rights. This means in the first place repealing all Tory laws that have suppressed civil liberties and democratic rights in many spheres of society, and have aggravated inequalities and divisions in the ranks of working people.
There must be a more open and democratic form of central government. Voting should be on the basis of proportional representation, which more accurately reflects the wishes of the electorate; MPs should have greater control over the executive; there must be provision for their recalling. The House of Lords and eventually the Monarchy should be abolished. The current process of growing centralised domination and control over local government should be reversed, and new non-authoritarian relations between central and local government should be established. Local government should be strengthened and at the same time made more democratic to ensure greater participation by all local residents in the running of their communities.
The trade unions should be fully independent and free from government interference or control. In particular, this would mean repealing all Tory anti-union laws, restoring the traditional immunities of the trade unions. The vitally important question of greater democracy inside the trade unions themselves, involving for example greater accountability and links between the leadership and the membership, should be a matter for the members themselves to decide, and not subject to government interference.
A crucial aspect of the fight for democracy is the fight against all forms of oppression and discrimination. There need to be vigorous measures to combat racism in all walks of life. The various state practices and laws, including the immigration and nationality laws which institutionalise racism, must be abolished and replaced with legislation that removes all forms of discrimination, and guarantees black people and other ethnic minorities in this country equal opportunities.
This same principle must underpin measures to ensure genuine equality for women. Whilst we recognise that this can be fully achieved only under socialism, it must be fought for here and now. Policies aimed at economic and social expansion provide the material basis for women's liberation, but there must be at the same time legislation that can end all forms of discrimination and subordination of women. And the democratic character of the struggle must embrace support for campaigns to end all forms of discrimination against lesbians and gays.
Policies to tackle the national question must form an important part of the democratic process. The governmental system in Britain needs to be restructured so as to end the domination of Scotland and Wales by the central government in London. In particular, the peoples of Scotland and Wales must have the right to elect Scottish and Welsh Parliaments that have the wide-ranging powers to tackle each nation's economic and social problems, and to defend each nation's distinctive cultural and linguistic identity.
The economic backwardness of Cornwall, the bits-and-pieces development that goes on, requires radical changes to be made to improve the living standards of the Cornish people. Part of Cornwall's rich natural resources must be devoted to the development of Cornish culture both in schools and in the community at large.
A New Foreign Policy
The progressive and democratic principles that underlie domestic policies for Britain should also extend to its foreign policy. Britain should pursue an independent foreign policy, based on the principles of peaceful co-existence and co-operation with all states irrespective of their system. It should withdraw from NATO, unilaterally renounce nuclear arms, dismantle existing nuclear war bases in Britain, and remove all foreign bases. It should support a treaty to outlaw the manufacture and possession of nuclear weapons by all nations, with similar prohibition of germ and chemical warfare, and it should work for general and complete disarmament. There must be extensive measures to increase trade, economic co-operation, and the development of social and cultural exchanges between Britain and the socialist countries.
Arrangements should be worked out to end the colonial status of the few remaining British colonies, and all British troops should be withdrawn. British support for reactionary and repressive regimes in different parts of the world should be terminated, and replaced with a policy of active support for national liberation and independence. This should include a repudiation of neo-colonialist economic policies, and the stepping-up instead of economic and other forms of assistance to the developing nations. Britain should institute full economic sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa, including disinvestment of corporate shareholdings.
Given that Ireland has been the subject of British imperialist domination and repression longer than any other country, and the way the consensus between successive Tory and Labour governments has perpetuated this, Britain has a special responsibility in ensuring a democratic solution in Northern Ireland. Repression in Ireland feeds authoritarianism within Britain itself. The continued inclusion of the six counties within the United Kingdom is therefore a major obstacle to social and democratic progress in Britain, holding back the struggle for socialism itself. The removal of this obstacle is therefore in the interests of the British working class and of all who would benefit from the creation of a more democratic progressive society in Britain.
For these reasons all repressive and undemocratic laws and practices in Northern Ireland should be ended immediately, and there should be a declaration of intent to withdraw British troops. At the same time Britain has a duty to provide substantial financial and other material forms of assistance in order to tackle the acute problems of poverty and unemployment caused in the main by British imperialist exploitation, opening the way for the Irish people to determine their own future as a united, sovereign and independent state.
The European Community was established primarily to increase the power and the profits of the transnationals through the greatest exploitation of the working class and the peoples of Europe as well as of the countries of the Third World. Its bureaucratic, anti-democratic structure reflects this purpose. More and more it threatens the national sovereignty of member states and this will be taken an important step further with the Single European Act, which comes into full operation after 1992. The argument that “now we are in, we may as well accept it”, or that the European Community can be transformed into an instrument for advancing socialism, ignores the realities - who controls the community, how they control it, and the actual strengthening of the position of the transnationals that is taking place today, and the overall threat which all of this poses to the working class. The fight to take Britain out of the Common Market is more important than ever. An essential part of that fight must be to develop solidarity between the workers of all European countries, particularly those employed by the transnationals, and to step up the campaign in defence of jobs and for the improvement of living standards.
The policies for economic expansion and greater democratic rights, together with the policies for disarmament and progress in the world arena, characterise the Alternative Economic and Political Strategy as a comprehensive and integral strategy with a coherent class content. It is a programme for planning, restructuring and redirecting the British economy and society in a manner which benefits and strengthens the collective position of all working people, and which forces the monopolies and finance capital to concede the necessary wealth and political power to achieve this.
Although the AEPS is not in itself a socialist programme, it is nonetheless a programme of action directed against state-monopoly capital. It takes as its point of departure the balance of class forces within the existing framework of capitalism. It is in fact a bridging strategy, linking the defensive battles of working people to protect their immediate interests, with a more offensive array of struggles that can challenge the fundamental power base of monopoly capitalism. It is for this reason that the ruling capitalist class, and the monopoly sector in particular, will not sit back and allow such a programme to be implemented, but will, on the contrary, do everything possible to block and derail such a programme.
Meeting Capitalist Resistance
The inevitability of fierce resistance to the proposals of the AEPS highlights the question of what type of government - in alliance with the mass movement - can possibly implement such a programme. In the present conditions of Britain its implementation can only begin to come about with the election of a Labour government. However it cannot be a Labour government of the usual right-wing reformist type that we have seen in the past, which, although it can be compelled to carry through a few progressive measures, is basically committed to managing and protecting the capitalist system. On the contrary, it must be a Labour government of a completely new type, a government which can come about through the wide-ranging struggles of a mass movement demanding the type of policies contained within the AEPS.
This would involve a decisive shift to the left in the Labour Party, particularly in its National Executive Committee and in the Parliamentary Party. In turn, this shift would depend in large measure, on a significant move to the left in the trade unions, which form the mass base of the Labour Party, and on the growth in size and influence of the Communist Party working closely with the Labour Party. It is in the course of the struggle to achieve this that leaders will emerge who would make up a government elected on the basis of the AEPS, and, alongside the mass movement, fight to carry it out, overcoming in the process the resistance by the monopoly corporations, the banks, and their backers abroad.
The power of resistance by the ruling capitalist class should not be underestimated. It will try to use the mass media to whip up a vicious propaganda campaign against the AEPS. International experience, e. g. Chile, shows that the ruling class will seek support from international capitalist institutions, such as the IMF or those of the Common Market, and from the world's major transnationals, in an effort to blackmail a left government. It might seek to organise a capital strike, or encourage the transnational companies to withdraw their operations from Britain in the hope of sabotaging the economy. Efforts could also be made to change the law to make the election of left governments more difficult or impose limitations on their powers. In addition, illegal methods, sabotage and attempts at an armed coup are all possible. Every effort to create an atmosphere of chaos and disruption should be anticipated, because this could then be used to justify the use of force against the left government.
However, if the economic, political and ideological power of monopoly capital is not to be underestimated, neither should it be overstated. The ruling class is not all-powerful. It can only work within the limitations imposed by the actual balance of forces, internally and internationally. Its resistance can be overcome, providing two essential conditions are met.
firstly, steps must be taken to ensure the widest possible democratic involvement of all sections of the working population at every step in the implementation of the AEPS. Neither the labour and progressive movement nor the left government, should see the AEPS as a matter of parliamentary legislation and government jurisdiction. It is a programme which at all stages must be firmly rooted in mass support and participation, and must be implemented not only through parliamentary legislation but also through extra-parliamentary struggle. This could involve not only established organisations of the labour and democratic movements but also new organisations of popular and working class struggle created in the way that previous battles throughout our history have given birth to such bodies as factory trade union combines, councils of action, the Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions, miners' and print workers' support groups, and Women Against Pit Closures. We cannot overemphasise the fact that the most sustained pressure, mobilising the organised working class and other progressive forces, will be needed to keep a left government on a correct course and defeat the resistance of the monopolists and their allies. In this situation the Communist Party would have a special responsibility for developing and leading the mass struggle and campaigning on the issues involved in the workplaces and localities.
Secondly, steps must be taken to ensure that the power of parliament, government and the state is effectively utilised to limit and severely restrict the powers of resistance of the opponents of the AEPS. Such steps should include the democratisation of the media so as to allow supporters of the AEPS greater access to the television, radio and newspapers to present their views. It is vital that monopoly control over the media is broken up because the capitalist-owned newspapers, and the television and radio under capitalist control, are a powerful factor in conditioning working people to accept capitalism and the futility of struggle for a new society. The media do all in their power to distort the issues involved in the struggles of working people in Britain and overseas. And they try to undermine confidence in the achievements of socialist countries and their efforts to overcome the difficulties and problems, in order to combat the spread of the idea of socialism among the working class.
In this regard, it is important to recognise that only the Morning Star gives full support to the working people in all their struggles, and argues the case for the AEPS and for socialism. Therefore, a big increase in its daily readership is vital for working class advance in Britain.
Other essential measures to restrict the possibility of resistance to the AEPS must involve closing the current gap between the legislative and executive function of government. Steps must be taken to bring the powers of the executive under tight scrutiny and control by a parliament, itself made more responsive to the people and their democratic mass organisations. The civil service and other key areas of the state including the police, judiciary and the armed forces should be democratised and their top personnel replaced so as to make them directly accountable to parliament and the people. Members of the armed forces and the police should be entitled to join trade unions. There should be the adoption of a wide system of measures to limit finance capital's control over the movement of funds, and steps taken to speed up the establishment of economic relations with the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries to reduce British vulnerability to economic sanctions by domestic and foreign transnationals.
In this connection, the struggle for disarmament assumes added importance. For the existence of a large professional army, plus foreign US bases and US military personnel, would pose a potential threat to a government determined to implement the AEPS, since they could obviously be used in any military coup which might be attempted.
Finally, to repeat once again: democratic mass activity is the decisive factor in guaranteeing the effective use of governmental power to enforce the legislation needed to make a reality of the AEPS and overcome resistance to it.
State Power
From the moment of election of a new type of Labour government committed to implementing the AEPS, the class struggle in Britain will enter a more acute and protracted phase. The capitalist class will seek by every means to resolve that struggle in its favour, and the working class and its allies will seek to resolve it in theirs. Which side will win? The answer ultimately comes down to which class controls state power.
As long as the capitalist class continues to maintain control over every layer of the state apparatus, the policies for increasing living standards and extending democracy can never be taken to the limit where capitalist exploitation itself is abolished and a new system of socialism is established. Only when democratisation of the key sectors of the state is taken to the point where the working class actually takes over the whole state apparatus, and transforms it into an instrument that enforces its policies, will it be possible for the working class to remove the very basis of its own oppression.
Through this process of struggle, parliament and the mass movement must begin to enforce changes in the top personnel and the radical restructure of state bodies, in particular the armed forces and security services, the police and judiciary, and the civil and foreign services, to ensure that they begin to carry out their function in the interests of the working class and its allies. Depending on the circumstances, this would include measures to involve creating new structures and dismantling any which serve exclusively the interests of monopoly capitalism. The process would also include measures to involve the independent organisations of the working class, along with elected MPs, in the exercise of the functions of the state.
The necessity of revolution, therefore, the taking of state power by the organised working class and its allies, is a fundamental precept which is not open to question. But what is open to question, is how the working class and its allies can be won to an understanding of the tasks before them, and it is here that we come back to the importance of the Alternative Economic and Political Strategy. For in the real, concrete conditions of modern Britain, the question of state power will only be put on the agenda in the course of mobilising the working people to secure the implementation of a programme which advances their economic, social and political interests at the expense of those of the ruling class, and which will therefore meet resistance from it.
Only by this means will the realisation come, not in a narrow or formal sense, but in a mass practical way, shaped and conditioned by struggle itself, that there can be no permanent advance by the working class unless state power is taken and used to block monopoly capitalist opposition, and further to remove the economic and political base of this opposition altogether.
It is at the point where the struggle for advance envisaged in the AEPS brings into play the question of state power and its use by the working class and its allies, that the fight for the AEPS flows into the fight for socialism itself.
To sum up, the achievement of state power by the working class and its allies will open up a qualitatively new stage. State power, involving democratic participation and control by working people at every level, will be used systematically to take resources out of the hands of monopoly capital and allocate them in a planned way for the needs of society.
This will make possible a new type of democracy which ensures economic conditions for personal freedom and an unprecedented extension of human rights, including safeguards for the pluralism of views and their political expression, freedom of dissent, respect for the views of minorities, religious freedom, and freedom to press their demands for all the shades of interest that will exist in socialist society. A new morality, replacing the egotistical individualism of capitalism by collective care and concern for every individual and for the full, all-round development of the human personality will become the guiding principle of society.