 It's been very good today as everybody will testify. And all the subjects, which are dealing with Capital Volume 1, certainly point in the direction that capitalism itself is an unstable system, it's a system which is prone to crisis. In the subsequent volumes that Marx wrote, It goes into these questions in a lot more detail. Clearly, crisis has been around a long timedr times existed before capitalism existed. In the middle ages people perished because the harvest is failed or there was a natural disaster or there was a plague. felly mae'r ystyried sydd wedi'i ddim yn dweud y cyfnodol, y cyfnodol yn y ffordd. Mae'r ddodol, mae'n ddodol, mae'r cyfnodol yn gwneud ei ddodol yn ddodol, ac mae'r cyfnodol yn ddodol, ond mae'n ddodol yn ddodol. Here we have crises which are born out of over production, crises of over production unheard of in the history of humanity and shows the contradictions that capitalism has ended us in, that the market cannot absorb the amount of production that capitalism produces on a profitable basis that is. And therefore periodically it ends not just in a boom but an almighty slump, a cyclical development of boom and slump which has always been inherent in the capitalist system since the beginning of capitalism. And that arises from this contradiction that the working class only receives in wages only a part of the value that it produces and it cannot buy back with the wages it has, the products that it produces. And therefore there's a crisis of over production, the workers cannot buy back, the fruits of its labour. However if that is the case why isn't capitalism collapsed on day one? Well the reason is that capitalism is able to overcome this contradiction. It is able to develop its own market and it does this by taking the surplus value from the working class, the profits that the workers make, takes it off them and invests it into making new means of production. Developing the productive forces even further and in that way it creates a new market and it overcomes this temporary contradiction. Of course this contradiction comes to the fore on a regular basis and of course the problem for the capitalist is once you invest more, once you create more means of production, more productive capacity, you create in the means of produce even more an abundance of commodities all the time, increasingly. And therefore the working class again has to, cannot absorb this amount being produced. So this ongoing contradiction of capitalism is there inherent in the system of over production. A mad term really, a crazy idea. You know we have the means to solve the problems of what in society and yet we have the barrier of capitalism itself stopping us. They will not produce a house of food unless profit is made out of it and therefore is a barrier as far as they concern to the full development of the productive forces. There comes a time however when we're not faced simply with cyclical crisis with this boom and slump, boom and slump which in Marx's day was about every ten years. Then I think in the 1970s, 60s and 70s it shrunk. It was about every five or six years now which elongated back to about every ten years. The last one was ten years ago, 2008. Now this, well I was saying boom, it's not a boom, this attempted recovery is now exhausted itself. And they are preparing the way for another downswing of the capitalist system on a world scale which in all likelihood will be on a bigger level than 2008. In other words, another devastating crisis and a low capitalism was able to prevent the slump of 2008 turning into a depression like in the 1930s. It did this by lowering interest rates to the lowest in history, even negative, incredible situation. And through, yes, quantity of easing, now there's pumping money into the system, liquidity into the system, pumping money in there. But of course now they've accumulated debts, huge debts as a result because we are paying back for the austerity. We're the ones who pay for it. The only problem we've got now is what the hell are they going to do in the next downturn? Because they can't lower interest rates any further because they're negative. They can't bail out the capitalist system any more because they've exhausted quantity of easing. And it doesn't work anyway, they prove that. In other words, they've used up all the weapons they had to prevent them sliding into a depression. There are other factors. We've got time to go into it. China also pumped in a massive amount of money into its economy. Biggest expansion in China for decades and decades. They can't do that again. So that's the problem that they faced. Our new crisis will be even more devastating than the previous one. And one of the reasons for this severity is the fact that the capitalist system has reached its limits. Just like slave society reached its limits and declined. In fact, it wasn't overthrown slave society. It declined and disintegrated the rise of feudalism. That also declined and was overthrown by the rising bourgeoisie at the time. And now we have capitalism, which also has exhausted itself and is in a state of terminal decline. That's the reason why we have this disasters on a world scale, this enormous upheaval in society. All this content and sort of emerging from the crisis itself is because the terminal nature of the crisis. Does that mean to say that one day, nine o'clock, Monday morning it's all over? No, it doesn't mean that. This can go on for years and years and years. The depression in the 1930s lasted ten years. The only reason why it stopped at ten years is because there had a world war. It wasn't a new deal in the United States that ended unemployment. It was the war. Of course capitalism cannot have another world war because it would destroy the entire planet. And the capitalist only go to war in order to win new territories, gain new influence and make more profits. A nuclear war would mean ashes. So that's not the way out for them, but it shows that all the crisis therefore is increasingly internalised. It's even worse. And therefore you could have a depression going on. They could slide into a very easily. And that would be a devastating crisis for world capitalism. But on the other hand it's going to provoke enormous backlash in society. It is now. At the present time, we know that for a fact. I think I had a quote here from 2009 was quite a funny quote really. This is an investor, a capitalist. He's looking at 2009. He says, I sense fear, anger and the deep feeling of injustice, reminiscent of the climate on the eve of a French Revolution. Just replace bread shortages with foreclosures, add us to the crats with bankers and the privileges such as the right not to pay tax with stock options and you've got the elements of a revolution. And people are drawing revolutionary conclusions from this situation they're in. Deep down. This can't go on. Is this the way out? What the hell's going on? And this is before the real deep crisis of capitalism emerges. Of course capitalism will not collapse of its own accord. It has to be overthrown, but it creates conditions for its overthrow. That's the whole point. It creates such discontent in society. It prepares revolutionary movements. It is doing so now. Marx talked about the old mole of revolution. Buttering away there. No one notices it underneath the surface of the society. And then suddenly it emerges. Unexpected. And that provokes a revolutionary crisis. And revolutions are unexpected largely. They don't expect them. And they emerge very quickly and rapidly at a whole contradictions coming together. I know that mentioned the revolutionary movements in the 1920s and so on and so forth. We had others as well. I was present in 1968 in France. 10 million workers seized the factories. It was the biggest general strike in history up until that time. Power was in the hands of the working class. Unfortunately, the leaders they had betrayed the movement. They sold it out. And that's what you've had periodically. Revolutionists have taken place who can point them out in different countries. Unfortunately, they've not been successful revolutions. The only successful one that took the work is the power was in 1917 in Russia 100 years ago. The point is that the lessons from that is you need the correct leadership. That's the lesson. What the Russians had there at the Bolshevik party. Under Lenin and Trotsky, you were able to lead the advanced workers. Again, a very small number of industrial workers, 3 million, led 150 million peasants to overthrow capitalism and landlordism. And I think you do it in a backward country like that. With all the difficulties that they had, then I think the task was probably a bit easier in countries where there's a bigger proletariat. But it doesn't, in any way, negate the idea that you need a leadership. You need to create a revolutionary party in order to overthrow capitalism. Why? Because, well, the working class itself has different layers. It draws different conclusions at different times. And the idea of the party should be to draw those elements together, to give leadership to the working class. To overcome those differences. To link them together, to bind them together, and offer a way forward. That's the idea of a revolutionary party. A bit like what Trotsky said in his great history of the Russian Revolution, where he compared it to the steam of the masses. It's like the energy of the masses. But the steam, if left alone, it would just dissipate into the air. But if steam is channeled through a piston box, it can drive the locomotive. It can be extremely powerful, that's what he was saying. And that's what the revolutionary party is. It's just a means of galvanising the forces of the working class to end capitalism itself and not compromise with it. Because unfortunately the Labour and trade union leaders we've had in Britain for a long time, have always to think the idea that you can patch up capitalism. You know, we can make capitalism responsible. We can make it, you know, sit over and pur, and they will get gains from it. Well, it doesn't work, unfortunately. This idea doesn't work. Capitalism cannot be reformed, particularly when it's in crisis. Because that is counter reforms, as we can see. And these counter reforms, this austerity, has nothing to do with the wins of a government. Some people say, oh, it's a political choice. It's not a political choice. A austerity is imposed upon a government. That's why it's international. Because of the crisis of capitalism itself. That's the reason for it. And therefore the only way you can get rid of it is getting rid of capitalism. It's not an individual thing. You can have nice people in the government. They're doing nice things. They're dictated to by the laws of capitalism. Just like I was at the TUC the other week. I think you have these people saying, well, it's good capitalist and bad capitalist. Good employers and bad employers. Well, I suppose they are in one sense. But in the other sense is, capitalists take decisions according to their needs and the driving force of capitalism. Not their own personal desires. Because if they're in competition with other businesses, they'll be put out of business. If they don't cut wages, because someone else is cutting wages. It's not a question of you being nice. It's a question of the laws of capitalism itself. Which you have to follow. If you're in the game, you have to do it. It's a rat race, actually. It's not a game. And that's what happens. So, you know, there's no way out on the basis of capitalism. You cannot reform capitalism. You cannot change it bit by bit overnight. And then suddenly you've got a socialist utopia. You have to do away with it. Because the resistance of the capitalist as well. No ruling class in history has ever given up its power and privileges without a struggle. Only thing is, the ruling class is so strong. Potentially. And if this force is used, it can paralyse this minority of privileged class. Or the state that it might want to use against the movement. And they will threaten the movement. But the power of the ruling class is far stronger, far more powerful than what they've got to offer. But it needs a leadership that's prepared to go to the end. Prepared to take that decision that way forward. Of course, you can't have socialism in one country. You have to appeal to work as in other countries. In Europe or in space and austerity. In America. We're now turning towards socialism. Let's be clear about it. The Bernie Sanders really illustrated, the big changes that are in the United States, is the illustration of taking place everywhere, as a matter of fact. In other words, revolutionary developments are being prepared by capitalism, whether we like it or whether we don't like it. There's going to be revolutions, whether we are here or not here. For $64,000 question is, are they going to be successful or not? That's the main thing. And that's where we can play a role in helping to assist a revolution to become successful. And that's why we are, we have to realise as individuals who can do a little bit. But if you organise, you can do a lot more. Organisation is key to the development and success of something. That is why we are not just a newspaper in social sphere but an organisation linked to the international Marxist tendency operated internationally. As I said, socialism cannot be established in one country. You have to fight internationally for the change in the world itself. Because on that basis, with the technology that is there, the resources that exist at the present time, we can transform the entire planet for the benefit of the peoples of the world. And it could be, yes, it could be a utopia in that sense, given the possibilities that is there. 95% of scientists who have ever lived in the whole of history are alive today. 95%. The thing is that most of them work for the military industrial complex. You can imagine if their talents were used for the benefit of society, how we could transform the globe, transform the lives of people. You imagine when we lower the hours of work, in other words, we don't see machinery or robotics as enemies, but they'd be used to lower the burden of work, the hours we have to work. So we don't have to work 40 hours or 30 when we work 20 or 10 hours to free up people to involve themselves in the running of society. We talk about democracy, that's democracy. Not taking a ballot paper every five years for the involvement of the mass of people, but to do that you have to give them time. Today, under capitalism, after working and sweating whatever off, you want to go home and just turn the television or go down the pub and you're up to you with it, with the stress of work and so on. But if you're liberated people, the talent that you would liberate could be put to the productive benefit of society. You know it's simple enough, but that cannot be done on the basis of capitalism. It could only be done on the basis of the overthrow of capitalism and it becomes a real race against time in that sense. You can see how unstable society is at the moment. This will mean, yes, movements will take place, opportunities will arise, but we have to take advantage of them and that is why we have to organise ourselves. Yes, we fight within the trade unions, we fight within the working class, we fight also within the Labour Party, the Labour Party in Britain is the mass organisation of the working class. It needs to be transformed and re-transformed. And that way, yes, we support the Corbyn, we support the fight against the right wing, but we want to go much further. We want to actually change society, not patch it up, because a patched-up capitalism is no good for anybody, not good for the capitalist and it won't be good for us. It has to be a clean sweep, but in that way people are responded, people are cheesed off, people are not happy, people are fed up, and deep down they believe surely there is a better world that we could create for our children and their children. And it is, but it has to be fought for and it has to be explained. That is why we believe that what Marx explained, philosophers have explained the world. The point however is to change it. And that's what Marxism opposes the question. Not just to understand, but the first thing, but then to act. Because when you act, then we can change with the working class. We can change society and introduce a whole new world order for our people, the working people of this world. It's within our grasp, it's within our generation. Capitalism is now crying out for change. The ruling class are holding on like they're cleaning on to their power. But they are like a dead man walking in one sense. It's up to us now to ensure we put them where they should be in the grave. Very capitalism and build a new society fit for humanity. That's what we have to do. So join us, join Socialist Appeal, join the IMT. Help us create this organisation that can help the chain society in Britain and internationally. Fight for our future, no one else is going to do it for ourselves. Please join us. Please let's fight, let's win. Thank you very much.