The war must be funded somehow, and the people who pay the price are ordinary workers, through cuts in social-services – health, education, welfare etc. – and with their lives. Conversely, the rich get tax cuts. The polarisation of wealth increases. Add to this the competition with, and loss of jobs to cheap-labour countries and the situation for working people is becoming more and more dire.

The same process is happening all over the Western-world, although perhaps less sharply than in the US. The working class internationally is systematically being stripped of the social and economic gains it won in the post war period – including democratic rights.

The actions of US capitalism have huge repercussions for other capitalist powers (including China) which are in competition with it for resources and markets. If the US continues on its imperialist rampage, what are the others going to do about it? It is no accident that they are all building up their military capabilities. And again, who pays the price for the increased militarism? The working class of these countries. And the working class in all of these countries will come into conflict with their own ruling classes, particularly the “social democratic” parties which are essentially capitalist parties.

So what you might be able to see here is that the interests of ordinary working people in all countries (i.e. internationally) are diametrically opposed to the interests of their respective ruling classes. The objective conditions of capitalism and its coming crisis, and the inability of ordinary people to bring their leaders to account through the traditional capitalist “democratic” avenues, will cause more and more people to question the entire system, and look for alternative solutions.

The interests of workers all over the world are the same, and socialists believe that the only way to resolve the problems of capitalism is for workers to remove capitalists from power and take power themselves on the basis of socialist principles – i.e. ownership of the means of production is social. However, capitalists won’t give up their wealth and power easily, and a revolution will be required.

What results from the coming convulsions will depend on what action is taken, and what action is taken will depend on what perspective ordinary people have – i.e. what level of understanding of capitalism they have, and what strategy they have to resolve the situation.

This is where socialists come in. The reason that “theory” takes such a prominent role in socialism is that, as in most things in life, in order to get somewhere you have to know where you are, where it is you are going, and how you are going to get there – i.e. a goal and a plan for action. Marxist-theory, or dialectical-materialism, is the tool which Marxists use to analyse and understand capitalism, where humanity needs to go if it wants to progress or even save itself, and what action we must take to get there. There is no short cut to this, and it is “utterly and completely useless” to act without first understanding the situation and formulating a strategy. (Which of course is not to say that socialists are always right, or don’t make mistakes).

Socialists are not parliamentary politicians who appear at election time and make various promises to get elected and then ignore the electorate the rest of the time. They do participate in elections, mostly to publicise their ideas and program. They would take power electorally if voted in, but that is not their most immediate goal, particularly at the moment, and anyway, a revolution is not likely to occur solely by parliamentary “democracy”.

What socialists see as the most important thing currently is to prepare and educate workers and develop their understanding of capitalism, particularly that capitalism is incapable of resolving its own crisis, and that workers are going to have to intervene, and what strategy is required. This is what they do “practically” because otherwise any action taken will lead workers back into the dead end of capitalism

As part of the “strategy”, they believe that the working class must build a mass international-party based on international socialist principles. To do this, workers must understand international socialist principles, therefore they must be educated – and educate themselves.

This all requires workers to become actively politically involved in solving the problems of capitalism in their own interests independently of capitalist parties who don’t really want them involved at all. Although it doesn’t seem as though workers are interested at the moment, the objective conditions will push them towards becoming involved - however there is no guarantee of a socialist-revolution (and there won’t be one without a plan for one).

The other thing about socialism is that it will not be like bourgeois-democracy where you vote for a party every three years on the basis of vague policies, and have little else to do with politics. Everyone will be involved in the decision making process – say on the basis of workplaces which elect delegates to councils and committees, and who are subject to regular elections, and instant recall.

So you might be able to gather from this that we won’t just implement socialism in Australia, it will be dependent on the international situation because the current economic system is global. And we won’t just elect a socialist party and hope they keep their promises, socialism will result from the interaction of complex social and economic forces – most importantly the intervention of the working class.

If you are interested in a socialist election program see here: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/feb2007/sep-f10.shtml
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/mar2007/nick-m23.shtml
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/mar2007/nick-m19.shtml

Keep selling those Green left and Resistance papers on the street corners and universities man, Che lives!

You have convinced me tao, all those sit-ins in the uni administration buildings will finally pay off when the student proletariat finally shake off their capitalist oppressor shackles and join the socialist revolution!

The bourgeois lecturers and university administration will bow down to the power of the student might and grant free education for all and limitless LSD supplies (from the chemistry dept)!

Anyone found counteracting or undermining these manifest destinies of mankind will be ridiculed on YouTube and OLO forevermore!

Anyone found ridiculing their betters with fecal references will be taunted until they know better!

Moreover, anyone who doesn't think the socialist revolution will succeed is a moron, and will be treated to at least 3, yes 3, postings until they submit to the power of socialism!

And Bugsy it is what most Christians do to force their beliefs on others, demonstrating that the Apostles were communists.