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Title: Socialism and Freedom Author: Workers Solidarity Movement Date: 1994 Language: en Topics: libertarian socialism, Workers Solidarity Source: Retrieved on 18th November 2021 from http://struggle.ws/ws94/freedom43.html Notes: Published in Workers Solidarity No. 43 — Autumn 1994.
WHAT IS IT that most ordinary people want in life? Is it something
unreal or utopian? No. The goals which most people have are quite
modest. A good standard of living and freedom to live our lives the way
we want to.
Instead we have to put with unemployment, low pay, insecure employment,
drudgery. We are pushed around, bullied or dominated by bosses and
faceless bureaucrats. All of this to make a small group of people, the
ruling class, wealthy beyond most peoples’ wildest dreams.
Most of us want equality with our fellows in the decision making and
control that affects our lives, and those of our families. We want the
security of knowing that the necessities of life will always be there
for ourselves and our loved ones, and that we will not have our world
pulled from under us by being thrown on the dole.
We want to enjoy the good things that go make life both human and
pleasant. We do not want to denied this type of life because lack of
money makes it available only to the wealthy. The working class creates
all wealth, we should be able to enjoy its benefits.
In a world which can put people onto the moon, cure most diseases, speak
to people thousands of miles away, and the thousands of other scientific
achievements this century has produced, our goal is no fantasy or
utopia. It is achievable but only if we are clear about what we are
against and what we are in favour of.
The “communist” world was not communist. It was state capitalist and
dictatorial. A small elite controlled everything. The “free” world is
not free. In their lust for power and profit the ruling class have given
us a planet where millionaires can have whatever they want while the
rest of us have to make do with what’s left over.
Whilst poverty, hunger, oppression and wars continue to plague the
people of this planet there will always be people seeking an alternative
way to run society. Whilst the division of people into bosses and
workers, rulers and ruled, continues there will be no meaningful change.
Anarchists want to abolish, once and for all, the root cause of such
human suffering.
The alternative we work for is a world where production is to satisfy
human needs and desires, not to make profits for a small parasitic
minority. A world where we can all have a direct say in the decisions
that will affect us, where participatory democracy is found everywhere.
A world where freedom is the rule and not the exception.