Party News from the May 1995 issue of the Socialist Standard
Below is the election address of the Socialist Party candidate in the 4 May elections, in Rochdale, Lancashire:
You are once again faced with a bunch of local politicians who can only be distinguished from one another by the colour of their rosettes. These politicians will be promising to provide better local services, improvements in sport facilities, rubbish collection, or in some cases, council housing. Each party and their candidate will be blaming the other parties for the things that are not right. Labour will blame the Tory Government and the Tories will blame Labour because they are in power locally.
For the first time in Central and Falinge, the Socialist Party is contesting a local election. Most of you will not know much about the Socialist Party, this may be the first you have heard of us. Certainly many people have heard the word “Socialism” but imagine it has something to do with nationalised industries, or the form of State Capitalism in the former Soviet Union or China. So it is understandable if you regard Socialism as just another political cliche, used to win votes for Labour politicians and hence having little to do with working class interests.
The Socialist Party is different from ail other political parties because the Socialist Party stands solely for Socialism. Why do we make this principle our aim and objective? Because we do not think that the present social system, capitalism, can be made to work in the interests of the majority of people.
You do not need the Socialist Party to tell you there is something badly wrong with the way society is organised at present.
WHY should tens of thousands of workers be homeless and poorly housed when there are thousands of empty houses and large numbers of unemployed building workers?
WHY must vast numbers of workers suffer and even die waiting for hospital treatment while there is no shortage of resources being allocated to the armed forces, which exist to kill people, not cure people?
WHY is food locked away in cold storage or dumped in the sea while around the world 40,000 starve to death daily?
WHY?
BECAUSE we live under a capitalist system where profit for the few who own and control the means of wealth production and distribution is more important than the needs of the majority.
This crazy way of running society only carries on because the majority have been persuaded to vote for it. Conned into believing that there is no other way, that capitalism run by leaders of left, right and centre, is the only option. The present social madhouse will not last forever. Workers whose political support has upheld the system can be persuaded to withdraw that support.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Unlike the political promises being thrown at you by our political opponents, the Socialist Party promises it will do absolutely nothing for you. If you want to change society you can do it yourself. Socialism is about people—all of us— regardless of age, race, gender, owning and controlling the resources of society, for use, not profit. At last the world will belong to the people who inhabit it, with all of us having free access to the abundant goods and services which society can produce.
If you think the Socialist objective is worth registering your support for, rather than casting another wasted vote for capitalism, or not voting at all, then vote for Roger Chadwick, the genuine Socialist candidate in this election. Do not vote for him if you want a leader to put things right for you. The Socialist Party wants only Socialist votes and plenty of them, so we can show those who uphold this rotten system that there is a growing number of workers seeing through it.
DON’T JUST VOTE—THINK • DON’T JUST THINK—ACT.
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