Monte Bello: An Anti-Social Event (1952)

From the November 1952 issue of the Socialist Standard

Under the capitalistic mode of “production for sale," the historical increase of the potentiality of the machinery of production finds a parallel increase in powers of destruction, which is alone explained not by “the evil in men’s hearts” or the theory of “ original sin,” nor yet by the various ideologies of rival sections of the capitalist class whether emanating from behind “Iron Curtains" or “Democratic” frontiers— but by the private ownership of the wealth which has been socially produced and manifests itself, in the words of Marx, “ as a vast accumulation of commodities."

This production potential of modern capitalism, capable as it is of producing vast quantities of commodities, creates a problem of “Export or Bust” for those who own the products; the capitalist class, whose sole object is the sale of these goods, by hook or crook, in the markets of the world. This is known as “healthy competition," but inevitably leads to events at places such as Nagasaki, Bikini and Monte Bello becoming anything but “ health resorts.”

The latest achievement in destructive power has been the production and explosion of an atomic bomb by Britain’s rulers in a remote comer of “their empire ” which from all accounts has been a comparable “effort” with that of the American experts at Bikini. British “prestige" has apparently received a fillip from this devastating blast, described by the Liverpool Express of 3rd October, in glaring headlines, as “a triumph in the powers of destruction.”

It is a far cry from the days of the British gunboat, sufficient to uphold the “prestige” of British capitalism then at a cost quite negligible in comparison with this expensive demonstration at Monte Bello, deemed necessary by our rulers to impress rival capitalist powers.

Quite apart from what any disciple of Darwin would have to say re the effects on the flora and fauna of Monte Bello, and despite the fact that on this occasion care was taken that no member of the human race was within range of the deadly blast, the purpose behind these “triumphs of destructive power” is obvious and can be summed up in the capitalist slogan, What we have, we hold." What they have is the surplus value squeezed from the hides of their wage-slaves and what they hold of this wealth depends on their “Might,” which is the only “Right” of capitalism, mirroring as it does, the “ law of the jungle.”

This constant waste of human energy in destruction, whether in the form of bombs, warplanes or battleships, is sufficient indictment of a social system which has outlived its historical purpose. Now is the time to end it and we appeal to the wage-slaves of the world to “rise in their countless numbers,” and organize on the political front with one object—the abolition of capitalism, and the establishment of Socialism; when, following from this revolutionary act, access to the wealth of the world will be a natural birthright for each and every member of society; where the competition of the capitalist jungle of national entities gives way to a world of co-operation and production solely for use, enabling man to regain some of his lost human dignity, at present buried under the degradation of his commodity existence.

Remember—the Socialist Party is the growing instrument for your emancipation.

G. R. Russell