The partial American government shutdown is finally over, but it is very likely that a new one will soon begin. Trump and the Speaker of the House, the Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, have come to an agreement. The deal is to allow the government workers to return to work, with pay, at least until February 15. It is significant that Trump did not get one dime for his precious border wall.
As for the workers who were forced to work without pay, throughout the shut down, Trump swears they will be paid for the days they worked, very soon. As Trump is a habitual liar, it is very likely they will never get paid, at least if Trump has his way.
It is now up to conscious people, Marxists, Communists, to explain to the working people that we have just won our first big battle with Trump and the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. Trump did not get any money for his wall with Mexico, and was forced to ”blink”, to back down. Not that he has given up, but this proves that Trump and the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, can be beaten. This should serve as an inspiration for all working people.
Now Trump and Pelosi have just under three weeks to come to an agreement on ”border security”, as they now refer to it. If an agreement cannot be reached, then Trump is threatening to once again shut down the government or declare a state of national emergency. Trump is still determined to secure money for his border wall and raise the national debt, while Pelosi is equally determined not to give money for the border wall or raise the national debt.
At least, that is very likely the case, for if she gives in to Trump on either issue, she may face a revolt within the Democratic Party and lose her position as Speaker of the House. The new members of the House are determined to enact change, and that includes standing up to Trump and ensuring fiscal responsibility. In other words, no money for the wall and no increase to the national debt.
The agreement to negotiate until February 15 may sound a little strange, as it was announced that the government was expected to run out of money on February 8, 2019. That was first postponed until March 1, and now the officials of the Treasury Department think they can drag it out until September, using ”cash on hand and extraordinary measures”. Those officials are doing everything they can to avoid asking the Congress, which is to say the House of Representatives, to raise the national debt ceiling.
In fact, this is just one more example of the executive branch of the government, led by President Trump, of taking over the duties performed by the legislative branch of the government, which is to say the Senate and the House of Representatives.
For example, the constitution makes it quite clear that only the Senate can declare war. Yet, the last time the Senate declared war was back in 1941. Since that time, America has gone to war on numerous occasions, strictly at the discretion of the president. At no time has the Senate held the president accountable. In effect, the Senate has abdicated their authority.
By the same token, Congress controls the money. Only the Congress can raise the national debt limit, and only the Congress can decide where the money is spent. That is spelled out quite clearly in the constitution. And yet, since the end of the second world war, the executive branch of the government, which is to say the president and his ”administration”, have been allowed to spend tax payer money as they see fit. They have also been allowed to raise the debt limit to the huge levels that it is now, so that a great deal of tax payer money merely goes towards the interest payments. Further, if Trump has his way, the debt ceiling will be raised much higher.
But now the situation has changed dramatically, as a result of the working class revolutionary movement. There are a great many new members of Congress, commonly referred to as ”freshmen”, or ”back benchers”. Until very recently, they were expected to sit quietly and do as they were told. The party bosses issued the orders, and the new ”recruits” voted precisely the way they were told. In turn, those who were solid, reliable, faithful servants were allowed to gather seniority and were rewarded with more important posts. This is referred to as ”climbing the ladder of success”.
That was then and this is now, and those ”good old days” are a dim and distant memory, at least from the standpoint of the capitalists. Many of the ”old guard” have given up, or been forced from their posts, told by their lords and masters, the billionaires, the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, to walk away. As they can no longer control the legislative branch of government, the Senate and House of Representatives, the bourgeoisie will just have to determine a different method of rule.
Now we have several new members of the Senate, and a great many new members of the House. For the most part, these new members are a mixture of people who are rather young, progressive, female and members of minority groups. There are already cracks appearing in the Senate. In a recent vote, six members of the Republican party broke ranks and voted with the democrats on a particular bill. As there are only one hundred members of the Senate, and as it is was formerly unheard of for any Republican to defy the party bosses, this is significant.
The new members of the House have already made an impression. They first voted in Nancy Pelosi as their leader, the new Speaker of the House. She in turn refused to back down from Trump and the partial government shut down ended without any money allocated for his precious border wall. Negotiations are proceeding for the next couple of weeks, between Trump and the Democrats, but it is doubtful that Trump will get what he wants.
It is important to remember that Trump wants more than just money for his border wall. He also wants to dramatically raise the national debt. He is equally determined to ensure that the members of his class, the bourgeoisie, continue to pay almost no taxes. He is well aware that the new members of Congress are opposed to an increase to the national debt and favour an increase to the tax rate of billionaires and corporations. Trump would sooner crawl on his belly over broken glass, rather that consent to an increase to the tax rate of members of his class.
This is the reason that Trump and his belly crawling boot lickers, the so called members of his administration, have decided upon a policy of spending ”cash on hand and extraordinary measures”, instead of getting the approval of Congress. It is an attempt to circumvent the constitution, to bypass the House, raise the national debt and spend taxpayer money as they see fit. It remains to be seen if the House will allow them to do this, as past members of the House have done so.
Trump may yet declare a state of emergency, which is a form of martial law, appropriate tax payer money which has been set aside by congress for national emergencies, such as forest fire or floods, and use that money to build his border wall.
It is clear that the bourgeoisie can no longer rule in the old way and have to change their method of rule. It is not clear just what shape that new method of rule will become. We just know that it will not be progressive, for as Lenin states, ”imperialism is reaction right down the line”.
It is our duty, as Communists, to raise the level of awareness of the working class to that of Marxists. The best way to do this is to use current events as examples, such as the fact that our democratic rights are being trampled, not so much by Trump but by members of his class, the bourgeoisie. We can also point out that the new Democratic members of Congress are opposing this, and we should support them in this noble pursuit. At the same time we should point out that Trump is not the problem, merely the most visible member of his class, the bourgeoisie. It is that class of capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, which has to be overthrown. That can only be accomplished through revolution, and then their resistance – which will be increased ten fold after they lose power – must be crushed through the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
That is our task, the task of Communists, and that task is largely being ignored. I have scoured the newspapers and party platforms of numerous organizations which claim to be Communist or Socialist or Marxist Leninist and have found only one which advocates the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, and that one is in Burkina Faso.
The current situation is explosive and in fact a revolution could break out any day. The working class is not about to wait until we are prepared, and the bourgeoisie could force the workers to revolt, especially if they declare martial law.
With that in mind, I think it best to give the advice of Lenin, as expressed in Left Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder:
”The fundamental law of revolution, which has been confirmed by all revolutions and especially by all three Russian revolutions in the twentieth century, is as follows: for a revolution to take place it is not enough for the exploited and oppressed masses to realize the impossibility of living in the old way, and demand changes; for a revolution to take place it is essential that the exploiters should not be able to live and rule in the old way. It is only when the ‘lower classes’ do not want to live in the old way and the ‘upper classes’ cannot carry on in the old way that the revolution can triumph. This truth can be expressed in other words: revolution is impossible without a nation – wide crisis (affecting both the exploited and the exploiters). It follows that, for a revolution to take place, it is essential, first, that a majority of the workers ( or at least a majority of the class-conscious, thinking, and politically active workers) should fully realize that revolution is necessary, and that they should be prepared to die for it; second, that the ruling classes should be going through a governmental crisis, which draws even the most backward masses into politics (symptomatic of every genuine revolution is a rapid ten fold and even hundred fold increase in the size of the working and oppressed masses – hitherto apathetic -who are capable of waging the political struggle), weakens the government and makes it possible for the revolutionaries to rapidly overthrow it.” (all italics and parenthesis by Lenin)
I have quoted this paragraph in full because it is of such importance. The article was written in 1920, and Lenin gave particular attention to the revolutionary situation which at that time existed in Britain. He made reference to Henderson and Snowden, members of the Labor Party, and Churchill and Lloyd George, members of the Liberal Party. In modern terms, it may help to think of the Labor Party as the equivalent of the Democratic Party, and Churchill and Lloyd George as the equivalent of the Republican Party. At least, when I read the following paragraphs with that in mind, the article made complete sense. So for what it is worth, with name changes in parenthesis which are mine; all other parentheses and italics are by Lenin:
”Both conditions for a successful proletarian revolution are clearly maturing in (America). The errors of the Left Communists are particularly dangerous at present, because revolutionaries are not displaying a sufficiently thoughtful, sufficiently attentive, sufficiently intelligent and sufficiently shrewd attitude toward each of these conditions. If we are the party of the revolutionary class, and not merely a revolutionary group, and if we want the masses to follow us (and unless we achieve that, we stand the risk of remaining mere wind bags), we must first help the (Democrats) to defeat the (Republicans) or rather compel the (Democrats) to defeat the (Republicans), because the (Democrats) are afraid of their victory!); second, we must help the majority of the working people to be convinced by their own experience that we are right, that is, the (Democrats) are absolutely good for nothing, that they are petty bourgeois and treacherous by nature, and that their bankruptcy is inevitable; third, we must bring forward the moment when, on the basis of the disappointment of most of the workers in the (Democrats), it will be possible, with serious chance of success, to overthrow the government of the (Democrats) at once; because if the most astute and solid (Trump), that big and not petty bourgeois, is displaying consternation and is more and more weakening himself (and the bourgeoisie as a whole) by his ”friction” with the (Democrats), how much greater will be the consternation of a (Democratic) government!”
It is clear that these conditions exist and equally clear that conscious people, Communists, are not rising to the occasion. We are not explaining to the working people that revolution is necessary and about to happen, that the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat is also necessary. Until the revolution takes place, it is necessary to support the newly elected progressive Democratic members of Congress, so that the workers will learn from their own experience that the Democrats also are loyal servants of the bourgeoisie. Even if a few members try to change the system, the bourgeoise will remain in charge. Nothing of substance will change.
I can also suggest that all Americans be encouraged to join the two mainstream political parties, Democratic and Republican, as card carrying members, and not just as registered members. As party bosses, they will determine the candidates to run for any and all political offices. That includes the presidency.
I can only hope that this little article inspires people to read that magnificent article by Lenin:
Left Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 