I am opposed to all wars except one ... the world-wide war of social revolution.
—Eugene V. Debs
The Chicago Socialist Party strives to establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control — a non-racist, classless, nonsexist, socialist society in which people cooperate at work, at home and in the community.
Popular Control
Socialism is not mere government ownership, a welfare state or a repressive bureaucracy. Socialism is a new social and economic order in which workers and consumers control production and community residents control their neighborhoods, homes and schools. The production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few. Currently, the capitalist system forces workers to sell their abilities and skills to those who own the workplaces. These fat cats profit from workers' labor while they use the government to maintain their position of power and luxury.
Revolution
People across the world need to cast off the system which oppress them and build a world turly fit for all humanity. Democratic revolutions are needed to dissolve the power now exercised by the few who own great wealth and control the government. By revolution we mean a radical and fundamental change in the structure of economic, political and personal relations. The building of socialism requires widespread understanding and participation.
Freedom
The Chicago Socialist Party believes in a political and economic system which has freedom and equality for all. An ecologically responsible society where people may develop to their fullest potential in harmony with others. We are committed to full freedom of speech, assembly, press, religion and to a multiparty system as well as the abolition of class society, male supremacy and the elimination of all forms of oppression.
People First
In a socialist system, the people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically controlled public agencies, cooperatives or other collective bodies. The primary goal of economic activity will be to provide the necessities of life, including food, shelter, health care and education.
Full Employment
Under capitalism, a reserve army of people is kept under-educated, under-skilled and unemployed. This reserve pool — which is mainly made up of people of color and women — exists to put pressure on employed workers and on organized labor. The working class is divided against itself with employed and unemployed split by mutual resentment and fear. By contrast, under socialism, full employment will make meaningful jobs available to all.
Liberation
No oppressed group has ever been liberated except by its own organized efforts. A society based on radical democracy requires a socialist transformation from below. People's organizations cannot be created by decree, nor can they spring into being only on the eve of the revolution. They can only grow in the course of popular struggles. Our aim is the creation of a new social order, a society in which the commanding value is the preciousness of every woman, man and child.