Alternative vote or alternative society? (2011)

From the May 2011 issue of the Socialist Standard

When a magician offers you a choice of cards, it doesn’t matter how you decide to pick one, you’ll always get the card they want you to.

It’s the same with any joker who thinks that capitalism can be made to serve us all. Government is there to make sure that the unequal relations of capitalism are maintained.

Not because of some conspiracy but because any party in power finds itself confronted by the might of the people who own our society. It ends up ruling in their interests, rather than the vast majority who work for a living.

That’s why in the financial crisis we’re being made to pay with lost jobs and wages.

You’re being asked to choose a new way of electing those governments that attack you. It’s something that matters a lot to politicians, because it decides how many of them and their mates get the good jobs.

What matters more is what we use our votes for. If we vote for more rulers and the ownership of the world by a handful of people then it doesn’t really matter how politicians share the spoils. But if workers use the vote to reject the false choices that are framed within the context of an owning class dominating another class, we will be further on the road towards a truly democratic society.

If we vote to make the wealth of the world common property in which we all have an equal say, then we can finally have what we call Socialism. We can put an end to minority rule, and we can organise our affairs in our own interest.

That’s why the real choice before you this May isn’t AV or First Past the Post, but choosing to reject class based society. The best choice you can make this May is to join us in campaigning for common ownership.