Perhaps it is a result of more than three decades of counterrevolution. Perhaps it is simply a refusal to take responsibility for our futures. But sometimes it seems as if opposition to capitalism and the consequences of the rule of profit remains just that – opposition. Are we so mired in the trenches that we cannot lift our sights and think not about opposing their plans but proposing our own?
Everywhere we see the result of capitalism’s planning – that is, if grab and run can be dignified as a plan. They want to weaken us, divide us. That’s no reason for us to feel weak or divided.
There are hints of an attitude that needs to be cherished, promoted. In this issue you can read that the National Union of Mineworkers is not just opposing pit closures but showing a clean coal future is possible. Or the rail unions using the East Coast example to show how rail can run in public ownership.
Let’s look at our strengths. We live in a world where workers represent the clear majority, and in a country with the world’s sixth-largest economy. We are literate, educated, cultured. We have a skilled workforce, and inhabit an island sitting on centuries-worth of coal and gas surrounded by a sea of fish. We have a proud history of fighting to win, and we know how to run our country.
So why should we believe that only capitalists can rule, or that Britain is so small and insignificant that it must let the European Union negotiate all our trade agreements, for example?
To use a phrase from the Communist Manifesto of 1848, we have a world to win. So let’s start thinking and talking about how we will win it.