Magnificent society

The Socialist Party of Iceland's (Sósíalistaflokkurinn) message in the parliamentary elections on September 25, 2021: Final offer to voters presented at the Socialist Congress (Sósíalistaþing) on September 19MAGNIFICENT SOCIETY

We Icelanders are lucky people. Few of us live in a large country rich in resources. We are a wealthy nation and can shape a secure and bright future for ourselves.

We have the opportunity to make the fervent dreams of common people worldwide come true, to build a just and good society based on empathy, human dignity, and equality. This is truly the dream of common people throughout the ages; to escape oppression and tyranny and build a society that is good for everyone, not just the few who hold power and wealth.

In fact, this is our historical role. We have a unique opportunity to make these dreams come true. Of course, we will do this for ourselves and our descendants, but there is nothing wrong with seeing it as making the dreams of previous generations come true at the same time. Our ideas of equality and justice have accumulated over the centuries and are the result of a much larger group than is gathered here in this country.

But where does our unique opportunity lie, living in Iceland today?

Now is the time and place

Firstly, Iceland is a country rich in renewable resources. With their just and sensible utilization, we should be able to build a just, strong, and powerful society here.

Secondly, it is easy for us to take power from the plutocracy. Icelandic plutocracy cannot threaten to take its wealth and means of production and move away, leaving the common people destitute and impoverished. Icelandic plutocracy has enriched itself by seizing public resources; the fish in the sea, the energy in waterfalls and the earth's interior, and the natural beauty of the country. The plutocracy cannot take this with them. We collectively own all sources of wealth in Iceland. The public owns all of this, the plutocracy owns nothing.

Thirdly, we are now living at a moment in history when the web of neoliberal deception is falling apart. No one believes anymore that the rich create the wealth that is the prerequisite for prosperity. The 2008 collapse and even more so the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have definitively revealed that it is primarily common funds and the power of the state and central banks that can rebuild and develop societies. One of the biggest deceptions of the neoliberal years was to constrain public authority within strict fiscal policy limitations, holding back the public authority's ability to build infrastructure and robust basic systems for a strong and just society.

We have the power

Worldwide, these constraints have fallen, and it has become clear that the multiplier effects of public investment are much greater than previously thought, and the harm from neoliberal austerity policies is correspondingly more damaging than people realized. Governments worldwide are reviewing their policies, seeking an outlet for this great power of the state, finding ways to activate it.

If we want to borrow terminology from the business world, the investment capacity of the state, the executive arm of public authority and the democratic platform, has been greatly underestimated. In fact, we have the opportunity to meet the threats of climate change and at the same time build a just and secure society based on a vision that ensures equality in society and balance in nature.

We can look to history to understand this energy. Where do you think the power came from to lift the economies of South Korea or Japan, the United States after the depression, or Europe after the war, what lifted Iceland from being the poorest country in Europe to becoming the richest? It was a concentrated will to build up industry, infrastructure, and a welfare system that was a common project of the entire society, the task of the democratic platform. This was not done by unleashing speculators, by turning a blind eye to their corruption and uncontrolled accumulation of wealth in the hope that something good would follow, that some of their wealth would trickle down to the common people.

The plutocracy is rubbing its hands together

But it's not just us Socialists who have realized this immense power. It has become clear during the election campaign that the plutocracy is well aware of this. Throughout the coronavirus recession, the plutocratic parties have used the power of the state and their control over the Central Bank to pour money into capital and large corporate owners, inflating an absurd asset bubble here. And the plutocracy has put forward demands for even greater financial contributions to itself in the coming years, even more tax cuts, and that all basic systems of society be further bent to its needs so that it can extract even more money from society. The plutocracy calls this plan the land of opportunities, envisioning itself being able to seize enormous funds from public coffers in the coming years due to international recognition of the increased power of national treasuries.

It is the role of the Socialist Party to stop these plans. And in reality, the upcoming elections are about whether this power will be used to further enrich the few, or whether the power will be used to save society and nature and to build a strong and powerful society here where all people are welcome, where all people are heard, where all people are seen, and where all people live with the freedom to enjoy themselves, live, and flourish.

The choice is between a society of free people or Samherji's fishing station.

Love is the foundation

This is the message of the Socialist Party in the upcoming parliamentary elections on September 25. A foundation was laid withThe Economy of Love. There the tone was set, the only justification for a formal society among us is to lift people out of poverty, support the weak, strengthen the fallen, and right the wrongs of the oppressed.

On top of this foundation, we introduced a new tax system, abouttaxing the rich,stopping tax evasion, transferring the profits fromresources to the public, strengtheningthe revenue base of municipalitiesand lowering taxes onthe publicandsmall businesses. We also introduced a newsocialist regional policyand a newfisheries management systemthat transferred the profits from resources from plutocratic circles to the public.

And we continued to build on the foundation of love: We proposeda housing revolutionwhere 30 thousand apartments would be built in ten years, thatbasic services would be free of chargeand that wewould eradicate poverty, immediately. These are the prerequisites for equality, which is the foundation of justice.

Then we put forward measures inclimate affairswhich were based on justice, that the cost would be placed on the polluting companies and not on the entire public, and most on those who have the least means. We proposed measures againstthe epidemic of violencelong-standing, gender-based violence. We proposed special measures fordisabled peopleand will continue to put forward measures for the elderly, children, immigrants, and other groups. These proposals can be read in the policy statements of the Socialist Party's action groups;the Master League, Young Socialists,Socialist Feminists,the Workers' Council (Verkalýðsráð), the Disabled People's Council (Öryrkjaráð), the Immigrants' Council (Innflytjendaráð).

We need to recreate politics

And we pointed out that these results could not be achieved without recreating politics. We said we would overthrowelite politicsand stopthe corruptionthat is rampant in connection with elite politics and plutocracy. And we put forward a plan to stimulatethe public's struggle for independenceby strengthening public organizations of consumers, tenants, debtors, immigrants, patients, and other groups that lack economic strength to achieve their goals.

The Socialist Party sees itself as a force for change. The Party has shown that it can unite people with different opinions, from different parties and social groups, for action and struggle. The reconstruction of the labor movement is an example of this. And the Party's election policy is presented in such a way that a large majority of the public should be able to unite behind it. It is no more radical than to fall under the slogan:Let's unwind neoliberalism.

Shouldn't everyone be able to unite around that? To restore the tax system to the justice that prevailed before neoliberalism? To transfer the resources of the sea to the public as was the case at the end of the Cod Wars? To strengthen the power of the public so it can fight the tyranny of the plutocracy? To build a society on the foundation of the love of the many, not the greed of the few? To stop the plutocracy's destruction of nature and the basic systems of society? To build infrastructure and a welfare system? To lift people out of poverty, support those who suffer setbacks, stand with those who experience violence?

Who wouldn't want to participate in a struggle for these goals?

And aim for a magnificent society

These goals we Socialists call a magnificent society. And we should set the bar so high, not an inch lower.

And it's not just because we should always dream big, but because we can accomplish this. We stand in a similar position to where nations stood at the end of the Great Depression and the war that followed it. We stand amidst the ruins of a fallen ideology, which is cruel and ugly, and we have access to power sufficient to build a magnificent society according to the demands, interests, hopes, and expectations of all the public.

This is our historical role. Socialists say they will take power from the plutocracy. That statement is about this. That the public drives the plutocracy from power over the state and uses the power residing there to build a good society.

The upcoming elections are about this. A magnificent society for the many or a land of opportunities for the few. There is no middle ground. You cannot serve two masters. Either public authority rules or the plutocracy rules.

Vote with your heart, deliver red!