In Autumn 2022, the Fraser Institute ran a survey that asked respondents in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia about what sort of economic system they would prefer: capitalism or socialism?
Among 18--34 year olds there was a clear preference for socialism in all countries. A significant minority even agreed with the statement that `Communism is the ideal economic system'. This despite the fact that pro-capitalist ideas have a monopoly in the mass media.
The survey also asked respondents how they would favour paying for socialism. A new wealth tax on the top 1% was the most popular option, favoured by over two thirds of respondents. Higher income taxes on the top 10% of earners was favoured by over a half.
A similar survey conducted in New Zealand would most likely yield a similar result.
Despite its popularity, none of the major parties plan to implement a wealth tax anytime soon - Chris Hipkins definitively ruled it out as Labour party leader. Anything that directly targets capitalist wealth is off limits. For politicians of all stripes, this is a sacred principle that must be upheld at all costs!
The reality is that people work, alienated from each other, to produce riches that benefit a handful of capitalist billionaires. Their privilege and our wage slavery depend on the continued existence of a system based on private property, the market economy and the nation state. The system reached its limits some time ago. The working class cannot buy back all of the wealth it produces and thereby realise capitalist profit.
Capitalists have tried to maintain profits by squeezing workers, cutting taxes, privatising pubic industries, speculating on the stock market, and using state power to dominate competitors and carve out spheres of influence on the world stage. The result is a world plagued by poverty, crises, and war.
People are beginning to realise that the system itself is the problem. The system will not change through elections, but through struggle. Workers are turning to industrial action. This must be combined with a political struggle. Ultimately, it must lead to mass revolutionary action and socialist revolution.
The global working class creates all the wealth and is the most numerous and potentially most powerful force in human history. The International Marxist Tendency is working to build a revolutionary leadership trained in Marxist theory, that can lead the movement to the complete abolition of capitalism. Don't just tax the wealth, expropriate it!
If this sounds like you, please join us. Our aim is to build an organization here in Aotearoa New Zealand that intervenes in the movement of the working class, with the ideas and perspectives that lead it to victory.
Join the Communists!