|
Socialism means a world society based on
production solely for use, not profit.
It will be a classless society, in which
everyone will be able
to participate democratically in decisions about the use of the world's
resources, each producing according to their ability and each taking
from the common store according to their needs.
In such a society there can be no money
--or, more precisely, no need for money.
Money is only needed when people possess and most do not.
Imagine that all the things you need are
owned and held in common.
There is no need to buy food from anyone--it
is common property.
There are no rent or mortgages to pay because land and buildings belong
to all of us. There is no need to buy anything from any other person
because society has done away with the absurd division between the
owning minority (the capitalists) and the non-owning majority (the
workers).
In a socialist world monetary calculation
won't be necessary.
The alternative to monetary calculation
based on exchange-value
is calculation based on use values. Decisions, apart from purely
personal ones of preferences or interest, will be made after weighing
the real advantages and disadvantages and real costs of alternatives in
particular circumstances.
The ending of the profit system
will mean at the same time the ending of
war, economic crises,
unemployment, poverty and persecution--all of which are consequences of
that system.
The revolutionary change that is needed
is not possible unless a majority of people
understand and want
it. We do not imagine all humankind's problems can be solved at a
stroke.
Reforms of the present system fail
because making profits
must always be given priority over meeting needs, so the problems keep
on recurring and ever multiplying.
It will take time to eliminate hunger,
malnutrition, disease and
ignorance from the world. But the enormous liberation of mental and
physical energies from the shackles of the profit system will ensure
that real human progress is made.
From The Socialist Standard May 1998
|
