03.09.2008

Transition to communism

Programme: socialism and labour tokens. Phil Kent reports

The CPGB is continuing its debate on the redrafting of our Draft programme. At the August 31 London Communist Forum everyone was in agreement over the tasks of ‘the socialist state’ (section 5.1 in the current version, which I introduced). Namely, that it will implement the maximum programme: the transition to communism, which from the beginning is the consciously undertaken task of abolishing the state as a coercive implement of class rule. This can only be completed by the global working class.

While finance capital will be nationalised immediately on the seizure of state power, the rest of capitalism will be wrested by stages from the capitalist class in as orderly and as peaceful a manner as possible.

The communist principle of ‘To each according to their needs’ cannot be applied under socialism, but will be worked for consciously, as the market is replaced by an increasingly planned society. Relative scarcity will still exist and work has not yet become “life’s prime want”. To quote our programme, “This means laws, courts, the obligation to work. The persistence of bourgeois right expresses the fact that work is based on coercion.”

Coercion will, however, be exercised through the democratic will of the majority. The form of the dictatorship of the proletariat will necessarily be democratic, simplified and strengthened by the removal of all the checks and balances that enable minorities to control and frustrate the will of the majority.

Comrade Jim Moody commented that, just as in Marx’s time, socialism is understood on the left to be ‘sugar and spice and all things nice’, when in reality it is often just a load of puppy dogs’ tails. To avoid confusion Marx preferred the phase ‘the lower stage of communism’ to describe the period of working class rule.

Frustrated are those that try and rescue language from the human race. In politics, if a word has an agreed meaning it almost certainly is not being used. Language is a battleground. ‘The lower phase of communism’ has the benefit of emphasising the transitional nature of the period, while the word ‘socialism’ tempts people to see the period as a distinct mode of production. On the other hand, ‘socialism’ is shorter and easier to use. The question is, said Tweedledee, who is in control?

Comrade Stan Keable raised the question of labour tokens and asked whether they would reflect the maturity of the socialist state. Comrade Peter Manson said that in his view socialism would only come into being when money was abolished and the system of labour tokens - ‘From each according to their work’ - was fully implemented: up till then there would be capitalism under workers’ control. I replied that this position contradicted the argument that the entire period was transitional and in any case labour tokens are compatible with bourgeois right and are a basic, early step in the transition to communism.

Comrade John Bridge argued that labour tokens mean equal pay for equal hours worked, the end of the wages system and the abolition of money as a universal equivalent. Labour tokens can only be used for consumption. They reflect the fact that in a socialised system work can only be measured in time. Skilled work will be sought after not because of the reward of increased consumption. Rather because it is inherently more interesting and challenging. Dangerous and unpleasant jobs can be either shared out or phased out through automation.

Such a system can be introduced in advanced economies because shortages are relative. All important everyday necessities can be met and rationing of shortages will not create an onerous burden. We should not compare the coming world revolution led by the workers in the most advanced countries with the situation in Russia under Lenin. Marx speculated that the lower phase of communism might last for one or two generations. We do not know, but in historical terms it should be a very short episode in human history.