The state of the world testifies to working-class socialism being not only a good idea, but a stark necessity. Yet the credibility of socialism is buried under the debris of Stalinism, that savage and malign pseudo-socialism. What now? Articles by Frederick Engels, Karl Kautsky, Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky, and Sean Matgamna point the way.
The state of the world testifies to the truth that working-class socialism is not only a good idea, but a stark necessity for humankind. Capitalism is still a system of waste, irrationality and savage inhumanity. Wage slavery and exploitation are at the heart and root of capitalism. Every year tens of millions of "Third World" children die needlessly and horribly under this system ruled by bankers, factory owners and self-righteous media magnates. As this book went to press, some Latin American cities have unemployment of 40%, in Europe over 15 million were unemployed. The fundamental issues remain. Socialism is necessary.
Yet the credibility of socialism is buried under the debris of Stalinism, that savage and malign pseudo-socialism. That Stalinism was the "socialism that failed" is now the conventional wisdom. The ideas of socialism are everywhere under attack. They are at the nadir of influence and prestige. Socialism is reduced to a vague word. Most people haven't a clue what real socialism is about or what it would look like. What can we do? What approaches are suggested to us by the long history of the international labour movement? How can the elemental working-class struggle for palliatives, amelioration and reform be tied to the fight for socialist consciousness and for socialism? This book brings together a collection of texts from a number of key socialist figures to answer these quesions.
- Introduction, by Sean Matgamna
- The Principles of Communism, by Frederick Engels
- The Class Struggle, by Karl Kautsky
- The Spartacus Programme, by Rosa Luxemburg
- The Death Agony Of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International, by Leon Trotsky
- It Will be Socialism or Barbarism