By Oisín Hill
The body of political theory, and the organisations and movements that we now call the socialist movement emerged in the early 19th century. The world at that time was being shaken by a period of great social, economic, and political change – the global capitalist system was emerging.
The Industrial Revolution birthed an enormous new capacity for the production of goods, and brought huge technological advancements with it. In its infancy, capitalism plunged millions into appallingly unsafe labour in factories and workhouses and gave rise to the horrors that came with colonial expansion in capitalism’s pursuit of new markets to exploit. Capitalism, then as now, prioritised the profits of a small minority over the needs of everyone else on earth. Capitalism continues to require barbaric violence to maintain itself.
The revolutionary role of the working class
Witness to the rise of global capitalism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels sought to analyse how this system worked, taking on a scientific study of capitalist society. They noted that capitalism is based on a fundamental divide between the capitalist ruling class and working-class people that they exploit for profit, and that the system’s constant drive to increase profits would bring these two classes into conflict.
The struggle of working-class and oppressed people, who fought back through strikes, uprisings, and rebellions, developed as an organic response to capitalism’s exploitation and oppression. And because of their role in producing society’s wealth, Marx argued, the working class has a unique potential to transform society through revolutionary change.
Socialism and human flourishing
While capitalist ideologues act as though there is no other way to organise society other than around the profit-motive, in reality, their system is in crisis. Socialists believe that working-class people, united in a revolutionary struggle, can organise society in a much better way than crisis-ridden capitalism. We fight for a society in which the enormous wealth and productive power of capitalism is harnessed to meet the needs of everyone and placed under democratic ownership of the people who produce that wealth, the workers. The vast wealth that is hoarded by billionaires today could be put to work building housing, schools, hospitals and green infrastructure.
On this basis it would be possible to massively reduce the working-week, eliminating unemployment by redistributing wealth and sharing out necessary labour. Such a society would allow people to flourish and use all of their powers and capabilities in complete freedom from exploitation and oppression, and would also free people up to engage in democratic decision-making and social progress. Socialism means the democratisation of the economy, for every decision that affects society to be made collectively by working-class people.
