Britain's Road to Socialism Introduction

In this programme, the Communist Party explains its view that:

Capitalism is a system of exploitation, contradiction, crisis, social conflict,
inequality, corruption, environmental degradation and war which is innately inca
pable of solving the most fundamental problems of humanity.
The capitalist monopoly corporations and the state apparatus which serves their
interests are the main obstacles to progress on every front: economic, social, c
ultural and political.
Socialism is the only form of society that offers the potential for solving huma
nity's problems in conditions of individual and collective freedom.
Because the working class has the most direct and immediate interest in putting
an end to capitalism and replacing it with a socialist society, its own class in
terest also represents the interests of society as a whole.
In Britain, the potential exists to pursue an alternative economic and political
strategy that challenges and ultimately defeats the ruling class.
More specifically, a popular anti-monopoly alliance can be built, led by the lab
our movement, to fight for a left-wing programme of policies that would make inr
oads into the wealth and power of the monopoly capitalists.
Through an upsurge in working class and popular action, left governments can be
elected in the countries of Britain based on parliamentary majorities of Labour,
socialist, communist and progressive representatives.
In striving to implement the most advanced policies of the Left-Wing Programme (
LWP), the mass movement and its left governments will have to engage in a decisi
ve struggle for state power and win.
Ensuring a united challenge to British state-monopoly capitalism will require a
high level of working class and progressive coordination and unity, maximising t
he democratic potential of national rights in Scotland and Wales and minimising
the scope for division.
Achieving state power and minimising the opportunities for counter-revolution wi
ll create the conditions in which capitalism can be fully dismantled and the fou
ndations laid for a democratic and peaceful future in a federal, socialist Brita
in.
A socialist society can then be built in which wealth and power are held in comm
on and used in a planned way for the benefit of all, with the working class and
its allies liberating the people generally from all forms of exploitation and op
pression.
Putting an end to British imperialism â the exercise of monopoly capitalist exploita
tion and power in other parts of the world â is the biggest contribution we can make
to international human liberation and socialism.
A Communist Party which exercises mass influence will be essential if Britain's
Road to Socialism is to be realised in practice, through political class struggl
e.
This programme is based on the study, analysis and assessment of concrete realit
ies, tendencies and trends. It is intended to be a guide to action, not a specul
ative prediction or a dogmatic blueprint. It is a living, developing programme t
o be constantly tested in practice and reassessed in the light of experience.
Above all, it is subject to the Marxist insistence that the liberation of the wo
rking class and the emancipation of the people can only be achieved by the actio
n of the working class and the people themselves. Freedom cannot be imposed from
outside or above â it has to be fought for and won by the overwhelming majority of
the population.