Lately, there has been a great deal of fuss over the Democrats and the state of Israel. As best I can gather, the Republicans are claiming that anyone who does not love and support Israel is anti-Semetic, which is to say prejudiced against Jews. Or possibly it is the Democrats who are accusing the Republicans of being anti-Semetic. More likely, each is accusing the other of being anti-Semetic, and quite possibly there is a particle of truth to both statements. Not that either party cares about the prejudices of the other. Both just love to sling mud, insult the other and spread confusion. This is another way of saying that both parties serve the same class of people, the capitalists, the bourgeoisie. This is the point which must be driven home to the working people.
In the interests of straightening out this confusion, I will start by pointing out that the Zionists are Jewish nationalists who have historically had the goal of creating a Jewish nationalist state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews. The borders of that homeland are in dispute, even by Zionists, but broadly include the area known as the Holy Land, the historic land of Israel and Canaan. It should be noted that the region in question is considered sacred, or Holy Land, by Jews, Muslims and Christians. The members of all three faiths have lived together in that region for centuries, respecting the differences of each other.
That situation changed dramatically in 1948, when the Zionists were successful in creating the state of Israel. It is considered to be a soverign, self ruling homeland for the Jewish people, located in the Holy Land. Since that time, the Zionists, who are in charge of Israel, have been encouraging non Jews to vacate the premises, in order to make way for immigrating Jews.
Naturally, this has given rise to considerable resistance on the part of the people who have lived there all their lives. Many of them can trace back their ancestry for hundreds of years, both Muslims and Christians. These people, commonly referred to as Palestinians, have no quarrel with Jews. It is the Zionists whom they see as the enemy, as indeed they are.
Now the capitalists of North America would have us believe that anyone who does not support the state of Israel is anti Semetic, which is absolutely not true. There is a big difference between opposing the Zionists and opposing the Jews. Those who support the people of Palestine are not anti-Semetic. They are anti Zionist.
It is up to conscious people, Marxists, Communists, to drive home that point to working people.
This brings us to two other words which are being mentioned in the news, that of capitalism and socialism. As working people pay strict attention to the news, we should use these news outlets as a source of information, and bring clarity to the working class, explain that which is going on in simple straight forward terms, while at the same time using words such as proletariat, bourgeois and petty bourgeois, and explain their meaning. That includes the words socialism and capitalism. The capitalists go to great lengths to keep the working class in the dark concerning the existence of classes and class conflict. It is up to us to shed some light on these dark corners.
The press is reporting that the Democrats are reluctant to use the word capitalism, that it is now a ”dirty word”, to use their less than eloquent expression. A great many Democratic politicians, including those who are now running for president, are painfully well aware that there is a growing ”progressive movement on the left”, especially among ”millenials”, and such Democrats are now reluctant to ”label” themselves as capitalists. These are the words they use, remarkably enough. The capitalists go to great lengths to spread confusion.
Of course all of the presidential candidates, as well as the politicians who are running for other offices, are capitalists, or at least support capitalism, but as part of the deception of the working class, they are careful to ”avoid the label”. As long as they do not deny being capitalists, just as they do not admit to being capitalists, they straddle the fence. This is called moving to the centre. Such people can be far more dangerous than those who outright admit to supporting capitalism. These are the people whom we must focus on exposing.
By contrast, most Republicans, such as Trump, flaunt the fact that they are capitalists, perhaps without mentioning the word directly. They refer to themselves as business people or entrepreneurs, and Trump is reported to have 550 businesses around the world. This is by no means unusual for a billionaire, and in modern times is more the rule than the exception. Vast amounts of wealth are controlled by a very few people. It is also note worthy that their profit is referred to as their bottom line, as the word profit is also a ”dirty word”.
To return to the reporting of the press, and bearing in mind that the press is of course severely biased towards the capitalists, we have got to separate the particle of truth from the mountain of lies and distortions. That particle of truth is that the politicians are reluctant to use the word capitalist, as they are aware that working people are now instinctively opposed to capitalism. This is especially true among the younger generation, those who are commonly referred to as millenials.
Every generation has its own jargon, and of course each generation thinks all previous generations are familiar with their jargon, which is not the case. So with that in mind, I will mention that the word ”millenial” is a reference to ”a person reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century”. Now we know.
In their own stilted manner, the press is reporting that the working class, especially the younger generation, is ”moving to the left”, which is to say moving away from capitalism and towards socialism. It is safe to say that as yet, this movement is more instinctive than it is conscious. It is up to us, conscious people, Marxists, Communists, to transform that vague discontent with capitalism into the deepest possible passionate hatred.
Once the press stumbled upon this jewel of shining truth, they did the predictable. They conducted a survey. The results were not too surprising, as they reported that most people did not know that socialism is ”government ownership of the means of production”. They reported this quite gleefully, proud of the fact that as middle class, well educated people, they knew more about these definitions than working people. As working people tend to be rather poorly educated, especially in such matters as the economic bases of society, this was not too surprising.
With that in mind, we can point out to working people that in modern society, the economic base is either capitalist or socialist. As we live in a capitalist society, the means of production, which is to say the factories, mills and mines, as well as the railroads, shipping lines and airline, not to mention the banks, are owned and operated by the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, for their profit.
By contrast, under socialism, the means of production is owned and operated by the government, for the benefit of the citizens, the vast majority of whom are working people.
Certain Democratic politicians were asked outright if they were capitalists, and most danced around the question. At least they avoided an outright lie. The exception was Senator Elizabeth Warren, considered to be a top contender for the presidency. She admitted she was a capitalist, but was careful to explain that she favoured capitalism, but not ”theft and cheating”. As if there are honest capitalists!
There is another political force which has emerged on the left, referred to as the Democratic Socialists of America or DSA. In their political platform they state they are an ”organization of democratic socialists, social democratic and labor oriented members in the United States”. They make no claim to be Marxists, so are not scientific socialists but utopian socialists. Their membership has increased dramatically since the revolutionary movement has increased in North America.
At a meeting in Chicago of 2018, with the federal midterm elections looming, the organization agreed to the following: ”the election of socialists was settled on as one of three national priorities, with a pledge that the organization will concentrate its scarce national electoral resources on supporting chapters that are campaigning for open socialists who are running as Greens, independents, or in partisan Democratic primaries.”
Those of us who are conscious people, Marxists, which is to say Communists, can certainly support such a group. They may or may not welcome our support, but now that we have the internet, complete with various forms of social media, that is a minor detail. We can use such tools as facebook and youtube to get our message across, which is somewhat different from that of the DSA.
The Director of the DSA, Maris Svart, stated in an interview that the group had no immediate plans to form a political party. As she phrased it, ”Our vision is to build a mass, multi-racial, working class movement that brings people together across our differences and demands that our society and our economy be run democratically. Most of us believe this will not work under capitalism.”
We most emphatically agree with her, especially concerning her belief that it will not work under capitalism. With that in mind, the best way to persuade working people of the correctness of our position is to help to elect to office people who are thought to be progressive.
She goes on to explain the reason the DSA has no desire to form a party. ”We also want to maintain the flexibility of being within the left wing of the Democratic Party, but also being outside of it.”
The platform of the group and some of the statements may be somewhat lacking in clarity, but the fact is that they have adopted at least one tactic which I truly admire. Recently, a group of members of the Democratic Socialists in the District of Columbus, demonstrated at a restaurant which was serving the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristjen Nielsen. The protesters were yelling ”shame”, as Nielsen was enjoying a meal in complete luxury.
Without doubt, this tactic embarrasses and infuriates the capitalists. It is also entertaining, which is a big plus. It is with the use of such entertainment that the members of the working class can be educated. Perhaps if a member of DSA had been carrying a sign drawing attention to the fact that this is typical of capitalism, with the chosen few living a life of luxury. At the same time, the department of which she was in charge, that of Homeland Security, was separating parents from their children, and placing all, including young children, in jail. Babies, still in diapers, placed behind bars! This is the capitalists idea of keeping the homeland secure!
It is not clear just what crime these infants committed, unless it was accompanying their parents across the border. It is clear that their parents were guilty of the crime of being poor, seeking a better way of life, just as our ancestors did, not so long ago. Perhaps a statement by a spokesperson for the group, placed on youtube, drawing attention to this glaring inequality, would have been appropriate. Perhaps this same spokesperson could also have made the point that our own ancestors were also poor people, immigrants, who also came to this country seeking a better way of life.
Now that the midterm elections are over, the race is on for the next election, less than two years away. In fact, it is in full swing, with a great many people running for various offices, including the presidency. No doubt the DSA is seeking progressive candidates to support, either democrats or independent socialists. We think that is a great idea.
At the same time, we have no doubt that capitalism is the problem, not Trump and the Republicans. No change of face or Party in Washington will change that. The capitalists are in charge and fully intend to remain in charge. The only alternative is socialism. No doubt there are many anarchists who will disagree with that statement and I respect the beliefs of such people, just as I respect the beliefs of the members of the Flat Earth society. This is not to say that I share those beliefs, because I most certainly do not.
During the recent midterm elections, a fair number of young, progressive, mainly female candidates were elected to the House of Representatives, referred to as the Congress, as members of the Democratic Party. This is an indication of the strength of the revolutionary movement, which is growing ever stronger. It shows that the working class is no longer apathetic, but is now taking an interest in their lives, determined to elect political leaders who will represent them, pass laws to protect them, serve them properly in Washington. That is a most commendable attitude, even though it is not about to happen.
It is up to us, conscious people, Marxists, Communists, to advise the working people that we live under monopoly capitalism, imperialism, and the monopoly capitalists, the imperialists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, are in charge. They have mountains of money and money talks, and in fact it talks loud and clear. This is to say they have great power and fully plan to hang on to both their money and power. They are also quite well aware of the definition of the word socialism, so they know that it means ”government ownership of the means of production”. Such a ”catastrophe” would spell the end to their wealth and their power. That is not about to happen, as long as they ”live and breathe”.
The capitalists are also well aware of the Marxist theory of the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, and it terrifies them. The idea that the working class, the proletariat, may overthrow them and replace their rule, the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, with a new rule, the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, is their worst nightmare.
Now that the working class, or at least the most advanced members of the working class, are taking an interest in their lives, and that includes their political leaders, it is up to us to raise their level of awareness higher, to bring them forward. We have to stress to them that they are members of a working class, proletarians, and that our interests are diametrically opposed to those of the capitalists, the bourgeoisie. It is necessary to use the common words followed by the scientific terms, so that they will learn the meaning of scientific terms.
We can also expect these more advanced workers to be skeptical, properly so. They have been told all their lives that the people they elect to office represent them. We are telling them that it is all a lie, the party bosses tell their elected leaders how to vote, and the party bosses represent the interests of the capitalists. These new, pretty faces in Washington -and many of them are quite attractive- are not going to change that.
The best way to persuade the most advanced workers of the correctness of our position is to help them elect to Congress and the Senate, and even the White House, candidates who are considered to be progressive. At the same time we must make it emphatically clear that these progressive souls cannot change capitalism. It must be destroyed, and that requires revolution.
Some of the new, most vocal members of Congress, are determined to impeach Trump. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is opposed to this. The White House press secretary has mentioned that Nancy Pelosi is apparently losing control of the House. For once, I agree with the press secretary.
It could be that Speaker Pelosi is merely doing as she is told, by the Party bosses, or it could be she knows that to impeach Trump would do no good. Such an action is easy, as it merely requires a vote of the majority of the Congress. Then he would have to go on trial by the Senate, and to be removed from office would require a vote of two thirds of the Senate. As there are one hundred Senators, sixty seven of them would have to vote to have him removed from office. Further, fifty three of these Senators are Republicans, so that is not about to happen.
Then again, due to pressure from the members of the public, or ”from below”, as they put it, the Senate recently voted, by a margin of 59 to 41, against the ”state of national emergency” declared by Trump. This means that twelve Republican Senators voted against Trump, which is a reflection of the strength of the revolutionary movement. It would take eight more Senators to vote to remove Trump from office, and the way the revolutionary motion is increasing, that could yet happen.
In summary, we have our work cut out for us. We have to use the internet to encourage working people to vote for progressive candidates for political office, while at the same time making it clear that capitalism is the problem and revolution and the subsequent Dictatorship Of the Proletariat is the solution. We have to use popular language followed by technical terms, very popular language for the much less advanced, and encourage such working people to send similar emails to their circle of friends. Bear in mind that the advanced workers lead, while the less advanced follow. We must focus on the most advanced, without ignoring the less advanced. At the same time, we must strive to work as closely as possible with such organizations as the Democratic Socialists of America, among others.
Our goal is to raise the level of awareness of the working class. The revolution is bound to break out soon, so time is not on our side.
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 