As I write this, the American government shut down has entered its twenty second day, officially making it the longest such shut down in history. Close to a million government workers are either out of work, or forced to work without pay. The number is growing, as other government agencies, such as the federal courts, also run out of money.
The workers are not taking this lying down. They are proud people, who want to earn an honest living. They are asking only for a ”days pay for a days work”, which is completely reasonable.
Instead of jobs, the government is advising them to ”have garage sales and walk dogs”. This advice the workers find offensive, as indeed it is. They are picketing, and their signs make it clear that they want to work. They are workers, not pawns, not at all happy to be caught in this glorified chess game the politicians are playing. They are also voters, and are making that fact quite clear.
Trump says that these workers approve of the shut down, and that he can relate to them. Of all his lies, this is perhaps the most flagrant. The fact is that he is a capitalist, has been filthy rich all his life, and has more money than he can ever hope to spend. Now to suggest that he can relate to workers who are struggling to make ends meet, is completely absurd.
Into this explosive situation, the New York Times just released another bombshell. As one of the most highly respected newspapers in the country, this report is not to be taken lightly. A source more favourably inclined towards capitalism – to put it mildly – would be difficult to find. That being said, it is safe to assume we can trust the details which they report are accurate. These details may well cause Trump to be removed from office.
The headlines are completely shocking: ”FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working On Behalf Of Russians”.
When I refer to this as a bombshell, that is not an exaggeration. If these allegations are true, then Trump, the president of the United States, could well be charged with treason.
The NYT reports that the FBI became suspicious of Trump and his associates even before he became president, but was running for office. As they phrased it, the FBI was ”uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude”.
We can hardly blame the FBI for not immediately proceeding with an investigation into a candidate for the presidency. Such an investigation would have very likely resulted in the career suicide of the agents taking part in the investigation. Self preservation instincts kicked in, prompting their silence.
The situation changed dramatically shortly after Trump became president and fired the head of the FBI. At that time the American capitalists, the bourgeoisie, determined that their golden boy was a loose cannon, and had to be removed. It is very possible that the Russian capitalists were of the same opinion. Either way, the people who work behind the scenes, on behalf of the bourgeoisie, ”advised” the FBI to proceed with the investigation, as Trump was considered to be a liability, and had to go.
As the NYT reports it, the ”FBI opened an inquiry into whether Trump was secretly working on behalf of Russia”, either ”knowingly or had unwittingly fallen under Russian influence”. This is considered a ”possible threat to national security”.
That is a masterpiece of under statement, as the Russians are considered ”foreign adversaries”.
The writers for the NYT certainly have a way with words.
The investigation, which first began as a possible ”obstruction of justice”, on the part of Trump, has expanded into an investigation into a possible ”threat to national security”.
If Trump is indeed working for the Russians, then it is safe to say the ”threat to national security” is very real.
This helps to explain the hiring of a small army of lawyers, at the expense of the tax payers, of course, whose job it is to protect the ”executive privilege” of the president. Trump does not want the members of the public, the working people, or the politicians, the democratically elected members of the House and Senate, to be made aware of that which he has been doing. As that very likely includes being in the service of the Russians, as the NYT alleges, such an attitude is completely understandable.
The investigation into Trump, which was started by the FBI, has since been turned over to the Special Prosecutor. It is expected that his report should be finished soon, and Trump is determined to bury it. Perish forbid that tax payers should find out just what he has been up to.
It is up to Marxists to stress to working people, including those who are currently unemployed due to the government shut down, that Trump and the capitalists can afford to hire an army of lawyers to protect the president, to shield him from the members of the public, as well as members of congress, to keep the tax payers in the dark as to the manner in which their tax dollars are spent, but cannot afford to pay government workers!
It is only the Senate that has the power to remove the president from office, and only by a vote of two thirds, and only upon conviction of charges of ”treason and other high crimes and misdemeanors”, as specified by the Constitution. The crimes which Trump is alleged to have committed certainly fit that category.
This is not to say that his removal from office is assured, as it requires very strong pressure ”from below”, as is the currently correct political expression. That means only the uprising of millions of working people will secure his removal from office. It is only under such pressure that the Senate will take action. In other words, a revolution is necessary, and in fact, it is inevitable.
The point must be driven home to the working people that Trump is not the problem. Capitalism is the problem, the bourgeoisie is the problem, removing Trump from office will not change that fact. He will merely be replaced by another stooge of the capitalists, and the class war will continue.
It just means that another clown will assume the office of the presidency – the current vice president comes to mind – and the deception of the people will continue. The current crisis in capitalism will continue to be portrayed as a crisis at the border. The working people will continue to be slandered. The desperate hard working people streaming towards the southern border will continue to be portrayed as thieves, terrorists, rapists and murderers. In fact, they are trying to escape desperate poverty and degradation, seeking a better way of life, just as our ancestors, in a similar situation, came to this country, many years ago.
Only the transfer of all political power to the proletariat can solve the problems of capitalism, that of war, poverty, unemployment and starvation. Further, that transfer of power can only take place through revolution. That revolution can only be successful if the working class, the proletariat, follows the teachings of Marx and Lenin. There is no alternative to scientific socialism.
It was Lenin who stressed that without a revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary motion. That is a fact, just as it is a fact that the Marxist Leninist movement is by its very essence an international movement. It is up to us to support our brothers and sisters, our comrades, who are seeking to enter the country, in their quest for a better way of life. It may help to regard them as our own ancestors of years ago.
Finally, Lenin also stressed that the ”role of vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by the most advanced theory.” As yet, there is no such party in existence, so it is the duty of the most advanced members of the proletariat, along with people who are aware of class distinctions, to form such a party.
Now is not the time for despair. Now is the time for action.
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 