Master plan
On achieving a majority Socialists would be faced with the task of setting up a plan for democratic control by society. This would need to be something in addition to and above the specialist’s control of their respective industries, and this democratic control by society could not commence independently by local minority groups without a complete co-ordinated organization for the whole society, and likewise it could not be commenced by a central minority before organizations for local representation were in existence. Therefore a complete democratic organization for the whole society would have to be in existence before a Socialist society could be possible.
This argument does not apply to industrial control, nor to political control, because organizations for these controls are built upon the basis of existing organizations. Democratic control by society will abolish political party control and thereby political party locations.
It is impossible to plan the locations needed for control by society before that society is actually in existence, and conversely Socialist society could not be in existence before the actual organizations for its democratic control by society were in existence.
Therefore if there were a Socialist majority now Socialism could not be established now, and this fact will not disappear with the passage of time.
Graham A. Smith
Bristol
Reply:
Your opening sentences reveal a misunderstanding about Socialism and how it will be achieved. There will be common ownership of the means for production which will be democratically controlled by, and in the interest of the whole community. There will not be “specialist control of their respective industries” but social control of production.
The working class must organize politically in order to abolish capitalism. The Socialist Party of Great Britain is the nucleus of this democratic organization. It is of course impossible for the SPGB to draw up a plan for the Socialist future. This we have never done. However when the vast majority of the working class understand and want Socialism we will have the necessary organization to implement it. The use of the vote by this vast majority will not be a passive act but a demonstration that they are ready, and willing, to carry through the transformation of society. Bearing in mind that the concern for society will be the straightforward issue of “administering things”, that is gearing production to serve human need unfettered by money relations, there is no reason why we cannot initially make use of the same regional basis for organization as before the revolution. Socialist society will not be static and it will be possible to amend the manner of its organization in accordance with the social need.
Editors.
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