A World to Win

Building on results

Capitalism has already developed an array of methods and technologies, many of which constitute the basics of a fully integrated, socialised system of production and distribution.

Much of what has been developed is currently concentrated in a few countries and benefits a small percentage of the world's population, whilst the majority suffer inhuman and degrading conditions. A new democratic society serving the needs of the majority will ensure that the beneficial results of capitalist production are made available to all. These include:

a globally interconnected communications infrastructure
scientific systems of management
highly-skilled workforces in many countries
integrated methods of supply, production and distribution
the continuing scientific and technological revolution
a global financial system.
Act globally - start locally

As capitalism has subordinated the sovereignty of national economies with globally inter-connected enterprises and a world financial system, so our proposals for moving beyond capitalist- driven globalisation are based on the needs of the whole of the world's population. Our aim is to extend the gains and advances that capitalism has given the few, to all people in all countries through the development of a global, socialist society. This is the only alternative. We put forward the following principles as a way to act globally by starting locally:

the social ownership of land, banking and finance, transport and communications infrastructure
ownership of production facilities of the major corporations through a variety of forms of co-ownership
democratic control and self-management of economic and financial resources, including public services
steering the development of productive capacity towards satisfying need
ecologically sustainable production and distribution
encouraging and supporting small-scale enterprises, creative workers and farmers
favouring local production for local needs
facilitating the development of the "conscious market".

Actionable first steps

There are some immediate steps we could take to release and redeploy resources to meet urgent need in housing, healthcare, education and transport.

Shareholders' dividends. Capitalist firms distribute £20 billion a year in dividends. With firms collectively owned, these resources can be used to tackle urgent social questions.

Pension funds. Almost one half of the stock market is actually owned by pension funds and insurance companies, who have invested the contributions and premiums of millions of workers. Their value at the end of 2003 was about £650 billion. Many funds are in a state of collapse following mis-investment and their misuse by companies. In future, these funds would be used to develop self-managed and collectively owned enterprises. The value of existing company pension schemes would be guaranteed under these new arrangements.

Bank/building society deposits. These funds are mostly used to speculate on foreign exchange markets and in all sorts of financial schemes. While guaranteeing their security and value, a not-for-profit economy could use these funds to advance sustainable production for need.

Government spending. Large parts of present government spending are either wasteful or are used to prop up capitalist firms. A major part of the NHS budget, for example, is used to buy drugs from the major pharmaceuticals. Government spending is also wasted on the private finance initiative and subsidies to railway companies or on arms budgets. Housing benefit is used to keep people in poverty when the funds could be used to slash rents to affordable levels.

Switching to production for need

These first steps will set in motion the reshaping of society. The priority will switch from production for profit and the accumulation of capital to an approach based on assessing the usefulness of products for meeting socially-agreed needs. The new priority will stimulate and encourage changes in the market. The most advanced techniques will be adapted to reflect new patterns of consumption and demand.

In the medium-term this could work in the following way: Planning. Regional plans will reconcile expected needs, balancing the potential of local, self-managed production against purchase of fairly traded goods. The coincidence of overproduction and famine will recede into history. Part of this process will be a rigorous assessment of the relative social benefits and costs of local production versus acquiring what is needed through trade.

Production and distribution. There will be full-cost accounting, taking into account the cost of recycling of resources, increased use of technology to increase productivity to reduce physical and mental labour, scientific and public assessment for safety of proposed new products, location of production and distribution as close as possible to the market, to minimise ecological impact.

Fair trade. We will not acquire things to the disadvantage of those we are acquiring them from. This leads to fair trade with other countries and producers, paying prices for goods that help towards the equalisation of standards of living throughout the world.

Conditions at work. The objective is to reduce hours and stress through the use of automation and the elimination of employer/employee relationships in favour of self-management and control. Wage differentials will be based on skills rather than market scarcity. There will be an emphasis on health, safety and job satisfaction as opposed to working simply to earn a living, whatever the nature of the task. Unattractive tasks should be shared by all.

Co-producers. An economic approach based on co-operation will put the needs of the consumer first in terms of safety, life of the product, ease of upgrade and maintenance. Consumers' representatives will be involved as co-producers in decisions about production, which will also involve responding to new needs and wants drawn from how people live their lives.

Self-management: making it work

At present, the food chain is under the control of agribusinesses, processing corporations and a handful of supermarkets. The pressures they exert have contributed to severe ecological damage, the decline of rural areas, a sharp fall in food safety, the promotion of nutritionally poor food, low wages and, of course, massive profits for a handful of firms. Given the social ownership of all these elements of the food chain, a new approach based on self-management and co-production for need will revolutionise the way we eat.

All the existing enterprises - supermarkets, distribution facilities, processing plants, food producers, and farmers will cooperate in inter-dependent, self-managed networks. Each separate enterprise would contract with purchase/supply partners. Prices will be determined by the costs of production, taking into account sustainable methods of agriculture and processing, and the livelihoods of those involved in production, distribution and retailing.

Each enterprise will be run by an elected workers' council with access to a wide range of expert, financial, technical and scientific advice. The responsibilities of those involved in self-management could include:

working locally with representatives of consumer households, hospitals, schools, social services and other large users to ensure local needs are identified and met
taking advice from experts in the fields of nutrition, food economics and safety
identifying with consumers what new products can be developed and supplied to meet both local and national needs
ensuring that food hygiene, safety and nutritional qualities meet agreed standards
identifying what can be produced locally and what needs to be acquired from elsewhere
formulating proposals on their own working conditions, hours and salaries
ensuring that revenues generated from these activities are accounted for and that contractual obligations in the supply chain are fulfilled
producing a democratically-arrived at plan for food supply in the short, medium and long-term as proposals to Assemblies
working with and being accountable to local, regional and national Assemblies.

Many of these tasks are already carried out in a haphazard and often uncoordinated way within capitalist society by salaried workers. The aim here is to set them within a new framework of social responsibility and accountability. This approach to self-management and democratic planning could become a model for all branches of industry and services.

The future

As the socialised system matures it will identify, measure, and satisfy all the basic needs of people throughout the world, according to criteria agreed through the democratic process. In a system focused on producing for need rather than on an endless profit escalator, society will offer the potential for reducing working hours for those now in work, and, for the hundreds of millions without work, the opportunity to provide for their families for the first time. Society will move forward decisively to the time when manual work becomes a smaller and smaller part of life and when everyone can live in the fullest sense according to their needs.

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