Is socialism relevant today?

The first question is: what is the defining principle of being a socialist? My answer is:

to work for a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families.

This definition does not exhaust the aims of socialism, nor does it highlight the various policies and struggles in favour of socialism. It does, however, tell us that New Labour and many of the ‘socialist parties across Europe are not in reality socialist.

The second question is: how relevant is socialism today? We live in a society of vast and growing social inequality, whose financial crisis is throwing many working people into destitution. In such circumstances socialist goals and purposes are clearly relevant.

The key problem today is to work towards the articulation of socialism and then to create organisations which can struggle for socialism.