Gus Hall talks socialism vs. capitalism, workers vs. bosses, 1980.
Life in our capitalist society does not permit one to serve both classes at the same time because the basic self-interest of the corporations is to make maximum profits, while the workers' basic self-interest is to make a decent standard of living. This puts the corporate board of directors and the trade union on opposite sides of the fence since both wages and profits come from the same pot. This makes it impossible to serve both employer and employee interests at the same time...
Big business wants a completely free hand. They want the complete cooperation of the unions and the government in their drive for maximum profits and they want to convince the workers and their unions that it is in their interest to cooperate. But the fact of life is that the ONLY way corporations can maximize profits is by intensifying the exploitation of the, workers through all means at their disposal. It is NOT in the interests of workers to cooperate in their own further exploitation. It IS in their interests to fight back and take over when necessary to save their jobs and their lives. The right to a job, to decent wages and working conditions must be the demand of all workers...
The biggest, most basic and most dramatic difference between capitalism and socialism is the fact that under capitalism a few rich stockholders own the industries. They are privately run solely for profits and for the benefit of the privileged few who don't work a day in their lives. Under socialism, the industries are owned socially, by the entire people and the entire people are the genuine masters of their country. Production is motivated solely by the humanist objective to satisfy the steadily growing material and cultural requirements of all the people...
Capitalism in the U.S. careens from one crisis to another because it is unplanned, chaotic and anarchistic. Its credo is each dog for himself and dog-eat-dog. The new advances in science and technology become entangled in their singleminded determination to milk all the benefits of production for their private profits. New technology needs a socio-economic system that can develop it. use it and distribute its benefits to society as a whole. Socialism is uniquely designed to serve humanity and distribute its vast products to all the people in society.
All quotes excerpts from the leaflet Would You Believe...US Workers Running the Economy?, Gus Hall, Communist Party USA, 1980
Gus Hall led the CPUSA from 1959 to 2000 and ran for President 4 times, twice with Jarvis Tyner and twice with Angela Davis.