Constructing Socialism

Socialism will be an intentional human creation. It will not emerge gradually of its own accord to replace capitalism. Nor is it at all inevitable that the creation of a Socialist society will flow from the overthrow of capitalism.

In this context we must recognise that the establishment of Socialism is going to be difficult. The creation of a peaceful world without gross inequality of wealth, and those inequalities of power and status that this brings, will be a dramatic and deeply unsettling enterprise.

It will not be a straightforward exercise in transfer of property and power but requires the creation of a new type of society. It requires meticulous planning, with clear rules, but within a system that has the capacity to learn and adapt. So it cannot be totalitarian.

Not only will this process be at all times fought by the forces Socialism has defeated but it will hampered by the human instinct to cling to the familiar, and by the myriad possibilities for corruption. There will, in turn, be the temptation to dictatorship ‘for the greater good', to adopt terror-full means to achieve ends whch they cannot justify.