As we seek to build houses for the poor, the capitalist banks have washed their hands of providing finances for low cost housing. It was precisely these kinds of conditions that the Bolshevik revolution fought against and overthrew, underlining the fact that there can be no democracy in a capitalist society. This is an issue that we have not looked at squarely in this country, and it is the responsibility of the working class and the poor to expose the lie that capitalism provides the best environment for democracy. For us as the SACP, democracy is not only limited to the vote, important as this is and has been in our democracy. Democracy at its core is about the democratic redistribution of economic resources in order to fight poverty, hunger and illiteracy.
Capitalism is simply undemocratic.
The wealth is produced collectively by millions of people but appropriated privately by a few individuals. A continuation and strengthening of capitalism in our country will simply undermine the sustainability of whatever progress is made to meet the needs of our people. This is a fact that we should not be uncomfortable to point out, because it is the truth. Capitalism widens the very poverty whose increase will always remain a threat to our democracy. It is for this reason that what the Bolshevik revolution intended to achieve was both political and economic democracy.