The World We Live In
We are living in difficult, volatile, very important times. We see our planet, our species, our ecosystems under threat by the world’s largest corporations. We see many countries being ripped apart by wars. We see the highest levels of inequality the world has ever known. We see record levels of profits side-by-side increased poverty and desperation. Regularly we are told, “it is what it is,” “this is just how things are,” “nothing can ever change.” It is not surprising that for many people it may be easier to imagine the end of the world than a revolutionary change in society to meet our needs.
But things can always change. Regularly events around the world and in this country confirm that people are not satisfied with the ways things are, and are willing to fight for a better world. There have been explosions of deep anger boiling beneath the surface. But for many people, it is not clear what, if anything, can be done to solve the fundamental problems confronting us today.
More often than not, the most dominant ideas in society discourage us from organizing for change. We are told that humans have always been divided into different, opposed groups, incapable of working collectively to meet our needs. We are told there are no solutions to the problems of the ecological destruction of our planet. Again and again the dominant message is – nothing can be done, things will not change.
Obviously we in Speak Out Now, disagree with this perspective. Not only can things change, but the history of our species is inseparable from the history of the most oppressed groups in society organizing for a better world.
The Future Is Socialism
The world we live in today has enormous possibilities. Everywhere, working people’s labor makes society run. The exploitation of labor is what generates profits – the heart of capitalism. Working people have the power to bring this system to a halt and bring about the changes needed to transform our lives. Like slavery, feudalism and other systems that enriched the minority at the expense of the majority, capitalism’s removal is long over due. The time for socialism has come.
Socialism means a world based on peaceful collaboration and the international cooperation of working class people. It means a world based on the common ownership and sharing of the world’s resources and productive capacity under the democratic control of the world’s peoples, an egalitarian and democratic government, organized and controlled from the bottom up, facilitating people’s active participation in making decisions about how society is run.
Who We Are
Speak Out Now is a revolutionary group, primarily in the East Bay. We believe that a socialist world is possible and can be brought into being by the active struggles of the majority of the people of the world. We believe the international working class is the social force that can transform society and create a new world. But to do so, revolutionary organizations must be built in the working class. For this reason our group aims its activity primarily at large workplaces. Our newsletters are distributed at several Bay Area workplaces every two weeks.
We think it is important to both analyze the current world situation as well as to know and understand the history of past struggles. We have forums on current events and political topics and a yearly weekend called the Revolutionary University in February. We organize Marxist discussions and classes. We have pamphlets on past working class struggles, the revolutionary movements around the world and the current problems we face. We try to participate with others in anti-war and climate change protests and in other social justice struggles.
What a handful of people decide today can determine our future. Join us to work for a better future – that is both necessary and possible.
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