Tag: Capitalism

    Why Socialism?

    Why Socialism? Featured

    April 18, 2021 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    Exactly 66 years ago Albert Einstein passed away. Einstein wasn’t just one of the greatest scientists in history, he was also a socialist.⁠
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    In his 1949 essay “Why Socialism?”, he wrote:⁠
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    “[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules.⁠
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    I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion.”

    Source: Redfish

    Statement of the Socialist Party on the ideological issues raised by MDC

    Statement of the Socialist Party on the ideological issues raised by MDC

    October 22, 2020 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    The statements alluded to the Secretary General of MDC points to a political entity and a bunch of people that are ideologically dishonest and may be even bankrupt.

    Talking about pursuing practices that borrow from both capitalism and socialism is not in the realm of ideology. For example, all capitalist countries, including the USA, apply some selected socialist principles in certain key areas of society or under crises situation – such as the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. But this is not the same as saying they pursue a socialist ideology. Neither is their overall goal the building of a socialist society! Far from it, socialist principles and practices are selectively applied to stabilise the system and provide a human face to an evil system.

    The overall goal of bourgeois political parties is to entrench the capitalist system in which capitalists, the most economic powerful elite, have hegemony over the social, cultural, economic and political life of the respective countries.

    In the same vein, a socialist country can never be pure socialist! By definition, a socialist society is transitional. It is built in a capitalist dominated environment. It has therefore to socialise specific aspects of life whilst others remain capitalist. A pure socialist society is therefore a misnomer – it would have to be called a communist society.

    Today, we do not have a single country that has attained the status of a communist society. China is a socialist country whilst embracing aspects of capitalism. The political party in power has an overall goal to build a socialist and eventually a communist society. By allowing aspects of capitalism to grow, the Communist Party of China has not abrogated it’s overall goal at all. In a world dominated by capitalism, some spheres of life will for a long time to come still embrace capitalist principles and practices.

    The sphere of ideology looks at the bigger questions of organising a class based society and it’s inherent contradictions. In a class society, the class that owns the critical means of production has huge control of the economic base. It also logically ensures that a supportive social, cultural, educational, legal, administrative, political and security superstructure emerge that protects it’s economic class interests. Understanding this interface between the economic base and superstructure is key to the positioning of ideology.

    Socialists are honest about whose class interests they represent. The mission is to end class based exploitation of labour by capital. This is only possible through a revolutionary transformation where ownership of the economic base will be dominated by the working masses themselves. Where the masses get to have a dominant say about the management of their natural resources. Where the masses regain their human dignity from the slave-like conditions under which they live and work today!

    To understand what the founders of the MDC believe in, one has to look at what each one of them has said and written over the past years! They are all unrepentant capitalist promoters! So why not just be upfront with it? Why hide under some eclectic and contradictory statements? The simple answer is that its is good PR to talk about a middle of the road approach. In a society where the masses of our people are marginalised and impoverished by the day, the MDC stand is tantamount to betrayal of the masses wanting transformative change.

    The MDC is nothing other than a bunch of frustrated petty bourgeois politicians seeking for a piece of the evil capitalist cake.

    Issued by
    Dr Cosmas Musumali,
    First Vice-President and General Secretary of the Socialist Party
    Lusaka

    Socialism is not a complicated concept – Dr M’membe

    Socialism is not a complicated concept – Dr M’membe

    October 13, 2020 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    FRED M’membe says socialism is not a complicated concept.
    Meanwhile, Dr M’membe, the Socialist Party president, says he cannot be a burden-bearer for President Edgar Lungu.
    Dr M’membe featured on Hot FM radio’s Red Hot breakfast show on Tuesday, October 13, 2020.
    He explained that socialism was simply giving a dignified life to citizens.
    “Socialism is not a complicated thing as people try to make it. It’s not about bombastic words, bombastic concepts. Socialism is simply giving a dignified life to our people, by providing them with services that make life dignified,” Dr M’membe clarified.
    “Our priority will be to give our children the education they need. So, we’ll socialise education and make it free from nursery, at the age of three, all the way to university.”
    He asserted that a better society, in the modern world, could not be built with uneducated people.
    “It’s not possible!” Dr M’membe argued.
    “The more a woman gets educated, the lesser and lesser infant mortality rates you have, because they are able to look after children better. So, it will be compulsory for every citizen to go to school up to Grade 12.”
    Dr M’membe added that under a socialist-oriented government, “the adults who are illiterate today, within two years, we’ll make them literate.”
    “We’ll have a huge literacy campaign, which we have already started….” he said.
    He also explained that Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) had been on the current capitalist path since 1891 when Cecil Rhodes and his company, the British South Africa Company (BSA), colonised the territory.
    “We have been on that path to this very day from 1891. We know what capitalism has done to our country. If capitalism had succeeded in this country, there would be no need for any other system. There would be no need for socialism,” Dr M’membe noted.
    “But capitalism has not only impoverished our people but it has also killed.

    By Socialist Party reporter

    Morning reflections from the village

    Morning reflections from the village

    October 4, 2020 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    It’s impossible for capitalism to exist without exploitation, humiliation and degradation of some human beings. It is impossible for capitalism to exist without inequality, injustice, unfairness and inhumanity.

    It is impossible for capitalism to exist without marginalising some people.
    Capitalism cannot operate without exploitation. There has to be an exploiter and the exploited. If you are economically weak, you are the exploited.

    The exploitation of the masses is, in fact, the basis on which capitalism has won the accolade for having solved the problem of production. There is no other basis on which it can operate. For if the workers ever succeeded in obtaining the full benefits of their industry, then the capitalists would receive no profit and would close down the enterprise.

    Fred M’membe, Mwika Royal Village, Chinsali

    Socialist Party launches manifesto

    Socialist Party launches manifesto

    June 10, 2020 by Socialist Party Zambia in

    The manifesto of the Socialist Party will be launched on 17th of June, 2020. No doubt, this is the document that many people across the country are eagerly waiting for. It is a crucial document that engenders the transformative process towards a Socialist Zambia. It is the first of its kind. It articulates the value system that at one time Zambians hoped to create for themselves, the values of equity, non-violence, a sense of justice and national unity. Under capitalism, these have become a distant vision. Instead, Zambia has become a shameful example of how neoliberal capitalism is producing and reproducing itself under conditions of extreme injustice, inequity and state sponsored violence. It is our collective duty to remedy this situation. Dr Fred M’membe rightly noted that the choice ahead for mankind is either socialism or barbarism. Let us give socialism our best effort.