THE CONSTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS
OF SOCIALISM
I.
IT is a recognized and accepted proposition amongst Socialists that Socialism derives its claim to a science from two branches of scientific investigation: The first, Marxian Economics, is a thorough dissection and profound critique of capitalist production; and the second, the Materialist Conception of History, provides the student with a theory for the understanding and appreciation of historical phenomena or social development.
Through the application of the Socialist method of historic investigation to social evolution, the various and ever changing stages in the complex development of mankind assume a more distinct form, and the driving forces and causes underlying this endless chain of struggles, transformations and revolutions are laid bare and exposed to the investigator. Through the proper utilization of the Materialist Conception of History in studying the past and present of human progress, history, with its many almost impenetrable mysteries and strange labyrinths, ceases to be a closed book to the student, and becomes a vital, interesting narrative, depicting the unceasing struggles of the classes through the ages: a struggle that finds its culmination in the furious class war raging between Capital and Labor to-day, and that will be definitely concluded with the abolition of class prerogatives in property and the establishment of the Industrial Republic. As stated before, to shed light on the multifarious phases of historical development, and to thus enable the investigator to intelligently appreciate and appraise existing conditions by a sound knowledge of the past, also to enable him to vision and penetrate into the future with the aid of scientific spectacles, that is the domain of Historical Materialism, the groundwork of the Socialist philosophy.
Upon this massive and imposing foundation the system of Socialist, or, to be more exact, Marxian Economics is erected. The Economics of Marx are nothing else but a key for the proper understanding of the origin, nature and culmination of the capitalist system of production. Marxian Economics furnish to the student a complete analysis of the laws underlying present-day production; they point out the causes of the various industrial manifestations and also expose and formulate the tendencies inherent in these economic potentialities. Thus the genesis of profit, interest, rent, unemployment, panics, competition and wars is easily ascertained with the aid of the Marxian system of economic research. For a scientific conception of Capitalism, therefore, the study of Socialist Economics is indispensable. And without a sound knowledge of capitalist production, no effective, Socialist activity, economic or political, is possible.
The Materialist Conception of History and Marxian Economics, i.e., "the Socialist conception of historic development plus the Socialist analysis of capitalist production, these two theoretical systems are the intellectual pillars upon which the Socialist movement rests—they symbolize the bedrock of Socialist science. In proportion as the Socialist movement organizes and develops in accord with the dictates flowing from a proper assimilation of these principles, in that proportion will it become a Socialist movement and possess the revolutionary and constructive vitalities so peculiar to a class-conscious movement, and vice versa. Therefore the strength of the Socialist movement is necessarily to be found in a sound and comprehensive understanding of its principles and aims by the rank and file. Without this understanding no intelligent action is possible, and no responsible opinion can be rendered or decision arrived at. Consequently, familiarity with the fundamentals of the Socialist philosophy is an imperative prerequisite for a competent conception of party problems, and also for the proper understanding of Socialist tactics.
The question of Socialist tactics belongs to the Constructive Department of Socialism. It is a a question which is generally raised unwillingly and mostly considered not worthy of serious discussion. To many Socialists, and they are generally of the calibre who have not mastered the fundamental prerequisites underscored above, the tactics of the Socialist movement are not determined by the conscious efforts of the Socialists, but are more or less the products of chance. And when we study the tactics employed by the different state and local organizations of the Socialist Party in this country, and notice the different conceptions responsible for the same—conceptions that, in many cases, go as far apart as day and night—then we must conclude: that this melting pot of tactics, this tactical hash, is only conceivable and possible in an organization whose members have as yet developed no unity of opinion as to the aim and historic mission of Socialism. A proper conception of the social significance of Capitalism, coupled with a knowledge of the economic structure or capitalist production, is bound to equip every worker with a proper understanding of the role played, or to be played by the Socialist movement in present society. Such an understanding will necessarily and instinctively stimulate the imagination, and create a vision of the goal of the Socialist movement in the mind of every proletarian. The historic role and status, and the goal of the Socialist movement being given, the determination of the proper tactics and methods to be employed in the struggle for industrial liberty now becomes imperative and a burning question.
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The Constructive Department of Socialism is that branch of Socialist philosophy which occupies itself with the methods and forms of organization to be employed by the workers in their struggle against the exploiters for the Industrial Republic. It is the logical supplement to the two theoretical systems touched upon above; Marxian Economics and Historical Materialism emphasizing the necessity for and historic basis of Socialism, and Constructive Socialism pointing out the method for its realization. This constructive phase of Socialism is in reality the most important element in the Socialist philosophy, because the development and success of the class-conscious proletariat actually depend upon its proper organization and the correct tactical interpretation and application of Socialist principles. Without the proper appreciation of the Socialist goal and adoption of the tactics resulting therefrom, no decisive victory for the working class is possible—no victory for Socialism can be obtained. The tactics, nature and form of organization of the Socialist movement may, therefore, be defined as the tools of the working class absolutely essential to the erection of the Industrial Republic. To determine and define these methods and forms of proletarian organization is, consequently, synonymous with laying the theoretical foundation of the Socialist Commonwealth.
Marxian Economics clearly emphasize that the capitalist system will only disappear with the abolition of private ownership in the means of production. This proclaims the necessity for industrial revolution. The basis of Capitalism is private ownership, consequently, the basis of Socialism, its antithesis, can only be social ownership; as can readily be seen—one excludes the other, and the domination of one implies the subjugation of the other. Industrial revolution or the movement for industrial revolution, can, therefore, project only one demand and that is the socialization of industry and all agencies of production. Such a demand, however, is not only in accord with the tendencies and dictates of social evolution, but also voices at the same time the specific class interests of the proletariat, and can, therefore, only emanate from that social layer. The demand of social evolution, whose obedient servant the working class is, is a demand at war with the basic interests of the capitalist class. The working class, as an agent of social evolution, and the capitalist class, as an obstacle in the path of economic progress, have, therefore, nothing in common. This fundamental difference of interests, functions and historic destinies breeds the class antagonism and the struggle for power.
To-day Capitalism is strongly fortified behind economic and political bulwarks. By virtue of its industrial powers, it has humanity the world over at the throat. To dislodge Capitalism from this powerful position, and to thus lay the cornerstone of the Socialist Commonwealth is the august mission of Constructive Socialism.
In this struggle between the capitalist class and the proletariat, the latter, being in the position of aggressor, is naturally at a disadvantage. It is a disadvantage, however, that compels a survey of the battlefield by the workers, the results of which contain the solution to the problem of how to overcome and eliminate this obstacle. This survey of the economic, political and social position of the capitalist class reveals, that the basic power or influence of this class resides not, as is so often erroneously assumed, in its political domination or control of government, but in its economic rule over society. History teaches and profusely illustrates: that the class in control of the economic resources of society in a given period has also been the class to exercise practical control over political society, i.e.—over society itself. History vindicates the contention that the economic life of society, the form of ownership and methods of production and exchange existing at a certain stage of social development, is the compelling factor, the preponderant form, which determines, influences and shapes all other ethical, moral, intellectual and political, in short—cultural phases of life.
A casual study of the periods of Antique Slavery, Feudalism and Capitalism will serve to convincingly illustrate this contention. Such a study will reveal that the roots of Slavery rested in the absolute domination of a people by another; that the enslavement and exploitation of a people by Rome was made possible only by the superior and well organized economic resources and the disciplined armies of the conquerors. The economic foundation of Rome was predicated on organized slavery; and even the classic period of Letters and Art in Greece and Rome, that as yet uneclipsed period of splendour, was reared upon the backs of slaves. With the decay and fall of Slavery, the marvellous splendour, and the political and military power of Rome also collapsed. The same tendencies are also detectable when examining Feudalism. Here we note the unlimited power of social control vested in the same feudality, which through its ownership or tenure of the land—the then main agent of production—exerted practically an undivided influence over every detail in the life of its subjects. By virtue of this economic control—land ownership—the feudal lord was actually elevated to the position of arbitrator over the life, happiness and prosperity of his serfs: He held their destinies in the hollow of his hand, because he monopolized the wherewith of life—the land. And when we make an investigation of Capitalism, the by far preponderant role played by the economic element of the capitalists' power in present society is easily discernible. Here we are compelled to admit that the class divisions of to-day, similar to the ones of yore, are fundamentally economic or property divisions. Furthermore, that the influence of a class is not measured by the degree of its productivity, or the proportion of its work for the social welfare, etc., but mainly by the economic power in its control. To illustrate, in society to-day the nigh illimitable and colossal dimensions of the workers' productive faculties are easily recognized and acknowledged by everyone. At the same time the relatively insignificant and minor role played by the capitalists in this industrial process is well known. If social and political influence were apportioned in ratio to the economic use-value of a class, then the proletariat would certainly be the dominant class in society and the capitalists occupy a most insignificant position. The opposite being the case, proves conclusively that political and social influence is not the fruit of social service, but the product, as was the case in previous centuries, of economic power in some shape or form. The economic power of the capitalist class, a power to which the vast majority of the population is compelled to pay homage, is not only lodged in the private ownership of land, as in the case of Feudalism, but in the private ownership of all instruments and agencies of wealth production. The title of private ownership to the means necessary to the life and prosperity of a nation, vested in a numerically insignificant minority, gives this minority an unlimited control over the welfare and happiness of a people. Here we have the source of capitalist power—the genesis of the social and political significance of the capitalist class. The title of private ownership in the means of production is the cornerstone of the capitalists' social influence—the generator of every form of capitalist power.
To shatter this foundation of capitalist class might, to capture this stronghold of industrial despotism in the interest of the workers, must, therefore, be the one great object of Constructive Socialism. The destruction of the economic power of the capitalist class, of course, also spells the collapse of its political rule, together with the social position occupied by this class, and announces the inception of the social revolution and the elevation of all the producers in society to the rulership of society. The question how to organize the proletarian forces for this momentous and gigantic object; how to create the so essential power in the working class; this question is now in order, and its proper solution forms the quintessence of Constructive Socialism—the basis for scientific Socialist tactics and effective action.
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It is a recognized truism that pressure begets pressure and that might breeds might. Furthermore, must the inexorable fact be recognized that the means and tactics of warfare of the aggressor, in this case the proletariat, are largely dependent on and determined by the strategical position and general methods employed by the enemy, the capitalist class. A study of the social position of the capitalist class has already revealed to us that the roots of the exploiters' power in society are to be found in their economic control of the socially necessary means of production. The holding of this economic citadel imparts a strength or power to the capitalist class phenomenal in scope and only explainable by the absolute indispensability of these economic resources to society. To capture this position from the capitalist class; to meet the economic power of the plutocrats with a superior economic power of the workers, that is the next logical step in this gigantic struggle.
Economic power, as has been sufficiently illustrated in the foregoing pages, is the source of all other forms of social influence; therefore, economic power can be correctly defined as the basic element of social might. Consequently, if a class seeks to rise to political domination, seeks to capture the governmental institutions of a nation, in short, seeks to attain control of society, it must first predicate its ambitions and demands upon a solid structure of organized economic power. Demands and movements not so fortified are in the outset doomed to ignominious failure and defeat. This deduction applies particularly to the struggle of the proletariat against the exploiting class.
In our investigation we have clearly defined the seat of the capitalists' economic power, and, therefore, fully appreciate the significance and source of the political and social influence exercised by this class in society. We know that the title of private ownership in the means of production, vested in the capitalist class, is at the bottom of it all. In the face of such a powerful force, what form of economic power can the working class organize with which to be able to overcome and obliterate the property prerogatives of Capitalism?
We are fully aware that all ruling classes in the past have based or established their social supremacy upon some form of ownership, i.e., upon some property prerogative. The patricians of Rome considered birth and the possession of land, cattle, and a multitude of slaves a fitting recommendation to rule; the feudal lord pivoted his era of the mailed fist upon the absolute control of the land; and the capitalist is in undisputed possession of the ship of state, by virtue of his absolute control over all the agencies of production in society. The working class, mustering its forces to give battle to the advocates and upholders of the present system, finds itself the only class in the long chain of social development that seeks to acquire the economic and political supremacy in society without possessing or attempting to fortify this supremacy with some property prerogative.
The working class being toolless and stripped of every vestige of property can not organize its economic forces along the lines of ownership. The economic power of the proletariat rests not, as it is and has been the case with all parasitic ruling classes, in the power of ownership, but in the power of production: not in its problematical indispensability as a possessing class, but in its actual indispensability as a producing class. The physical and intellectual productive faculties of the working class form the groundwork of present day society and symbolize the pulsating blood of our social organism. Consequently, these faculties organized on a class-conscious basis and in line with the dictates of economic development; in other words, these physical and intellectual productive forces of the workers organized in the interest of the proletariat represent and form the structure of working class economic power. As, can be readily seen, the seat of working class power, different from that of previous ruling classes, does not rest in the usurpation and possession of rights and property respectively, but in the consciousness of the proletariat's indispensability as a productive agent—in the consciousness of being the working class. This class-consciousness of the workers is the generator of the economic power of the proletariat. Recognizing the economic indispensability of the workers in the process of production, and thereby appreciating the role played by the proletariat in the maintenance of society, it is now a simple matter for the class-conscious worker to translate these conceptions into proper forms of organization.
Production being the origin of and maintaining element in social life; production also being solely carried on by the workers; furthermore, exploitation or the appropriation of surplus value also taking place at the point of production; and, again, the point of production being also the seat of the capitalists' economic power, it logically follows that the class organization of the workers will first marshal and organize its forces at this point. The organization of the workers along class-conscious lines at the point of production is synonymous to rearing and developing the economic power in the proletariat. Consequently, this power increases as the class-consciousness increases amongst the workers, and their economic and political organizations will grow in the same proportion.
To sum up: The economic power of the worker rests not in some form of ownership or property prerogative, as is the case with the capitalists, but in the recognition of his status as a worker, in the recognition of his economic worth or indispensability—in his class-consciousness. In order to assert itself effectively, this class-consciousness must take on certain organized forms on the industrial as well as political field, i.e., must express itself in accord with the requirements of capitalist development in particular and social evolution in general. This phase of the problem will be dealt with in the second part of this article.