SWPE's vision of a Socialist future for England is one in which everyone is housed - not merely adequately, but housed well - and in addition it is a vision of a country in which the population will be redistributed so that nobody has to live in a town which has a population in excess of 5,000 people, and in which everyone has an acre of land which they can use to feed themselves, and also a workshop in which they can express their creative side. The use of the land and workshop allocated to each family will be to the discretion of the family concerned. If people grow more food than they need, or specialise in foodstuffs which they can trade with their neighbours, then that is a good thing. Likewise, if artisans create things which they can trade, then that is their right. Every family will be allocated land and property which will generously provide them with everything they need in order to feed themselves, and of course shelter. Family will be the cornerstone of society, as is the natural way.
There is a saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch. This is as true of Socialism as any other phenomenon. In return for free housing, free land, free workshops, free supplies of essential services (clean water must be provided at no cost whatsoever), we would ask that the people recognise the need to work together to keep the wolf of capitalism away, and that they contribute to the advancement of society as a whole.
A four day week would be sufficient to cover the necessary industrial work to keep the standard of living high. The basic essentials of food and shelter would be taken care of in the allocation of land and housing to each family. This would still require people to work so that clothing and industrially produced goods would be available. As part of our agenda of rooting out the Semitic religions which have wrought so much harm to our people, we propose that the working week would begin on Friday and end on Monday, leaving the days of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as days to be enjoyed in the company of others or in leisure activities as suit the individual.
An environmentalists, we understand the damage of pollution. We would limit the harmful results of industry by making the economy of each town such that commuting would be unnecessary. Every town would have a range of shops which would provide for the needs of the population. Every town would have a small number of small scale factories which would produce the goods required by the people. In the case of larger industries (such as car manufacture, hospitals and power production), we propose that towns at the centre of each region would specialise and supply the region as a whole. This would greatly limit the need for goods to be transported across the country and would eliminate commuting for the vast majority of the population.
Industry need not be laborious. By employing modern technology we could keep the need for people to work in industry at a minimum.
The four day week would give the people three days of leisure. The emphasis on the local town as the focus of economic activity would abolish the need to travel to work over long distances, giving back to the people time to spend as they wish, which would otherwise be lost in commuting.
SWPE policy does not mean uniformity and blandness. Each town would be required to provide for the people living in it, and each region would be required to be set up in such a way that the centre would provide for what the general towns could not (to avoid unnecessary duplication of industry across the country). Beyond this requirement, each region would be encouraged to create a style of building of its own and each town within each region would be encouraged to adopt and adapt the regional style further so that every town in the country would have a distinct character. Local cuisine, local culture, local traditions, local art, would all be encouraged, abolishing the plastic coca cola culture currently ruling over England in which every town has the same shops and the same mass produced housing estates and differs only from every other by name. We envision a reborn Wessex, a reborn Mercia, Anglia, Northumbria, each with a unique character, each reveling in its own cultural identity as a part of a free and federal England.
So what of the great architecture and museums of the cities? What would become of them with the move away from urbanisation? Our great buildings would remain and be made accessible to everyone. For example, the urban sprawl of London would be returned to nature by the demolition of bland housing estates and indistinguishable streets (and of course such absurdities as mosques and modern eyesores like Canary Wharf), but in its place towns separated by open space would be born. The great buildings would provide points of focus for the new towns.
Socialism doesn't mean faceless artless concrete jungles such as plagued Romania under Ceausescu. Our Socialism is English and demands the preservation of our countryside and of our own unique culture. By creating a four day week, we would give people the time to explore their country and to visit places of art and culture such as museums and art galleries cleansed of degeneracy. At present people are forced to work for 5 days a week for 48 or 49 weeks a year. We see no reason why we couldn't have the working month reduced to 3 weeks of work with 1 week of leisure, organised in such a way that industry would operate all year but every week would be a free week for a quarter of the local population. This would allow for tourism and leisure focused work, giving the people the ability to explore the their own country.
Socialism is a practical ideology which will see the country restored and reborn free of the shackles of liberalism and global capitalist imperialism. Rise up Wage Slaves. You have your Country to gain and you have nothing to lose but your chains of debt to global finance. A Socialist future is a future of culture, of leisure and of joy. All we ask is that in return for freedom each single adult provides 4 days work for 3 weeks out of 4 and that for married couple with children, one of the parents takes that responsibility while the other looks after the children (and does so in a paid capacity). The benefits of Socialism far outstrip the demands, and for those who will not contribute, the safety net of a home and space to grow food mean that taking part in society will be voluntary, although encouraged.
