As I write this, the number of candidates for the office of president of the United States, on behalf of the Democratic Party, has officially risen to twenty. That number is expected to grow. The one and only Independent Socialist candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, is facing some stiff competition.
Not the least of this stiff competition comes from Senator Elizabeth Warren. That became clear from the first town hall meeting in New Hampshire, in which she stated positions which are perhaps further to the ”left” than those of Sanders. In particular, she wants to make all public universities free and cancel all student loans for those who are of somewhat lower income. She refers to this as the college debt forgiveness plan. That is an excellent idea, one which should appeal to all young voters, and many voters who are not so young, those who have been saddled with huge student loans for a great many years. At the same time, she wants to place an extra tax on the multimillionaires and billionaires, the bourgeoisie.
She is careful not to use the word bourgeoisie, as that would imply a recognition of the existence of classes, a fact which she and the capitalists are determined to deny. Instead, she refers to this as an ”ultra millionaire tax”, one which would cover the costs of tuition of public universities and even produce a surplus. This extra tax on the bourgeoisie is an even better idea, and one which is sure to be opposed by that same bourgeoisie, the class of people whom she is careful not to mention by name.
At the same time, the political ”gong show”, which is unfolding in Washington, continues to develop. Most members of the public, the working class, are paying strict attention to this, if for no other reason that it is so entertaining, every bit as good as a ”soap opera”. These ”soaps” are very popular among the working class, especially housewives. Consider the following:
The Democratic members of Congress have recently held a conference concerning the heavily redacted Mueller report. They want the full report, and may subpoena Mueller to testify before Congress. They plan to continue the investigation. They are also considering the feasibility of impeaching Trump.
The Washington Post reports that the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, are worried about the ”fate of American capitalism”, as a result of the ”huge wealth inequality”. Of course, they are reluctant the use the ”R word”, revolution.
The House Judiciary Chairman has issued a subpoena for the former White House councillor, Don McGahn.
The White House is ordering all members of the staff, as well as all former members of the staff, to defy all senate and congressional subpoenas. Those who respect the subpoenas will likely be fired, losing their jobs. Those who defy the subpoenas will likely face some serious jail time, losing their freedom.
It is clear that the executive branch of government is at war with the legislative branch of government.
The Attorney Generals of D.C. and Maryland are suing Trump over business ties, and may demand his tax returns for the last several years.
In retaliation, Trump and his sons are suing Congress over their demands for his financial records. These are the same financial records which Trump describes as his ”red line”, not to be crossed.
It has recently been revealed that his daughter, Ivanka Trump, recently met with the Mueller team for a ”presser”. (That is the word that is being used, and may be fabricated, a bit of slang.) Apparently, it means she was being investigated by the Mueller team and they met with her and her lawyers to offer a possible plea agreement, perhaps a reduced sentence, in return for any information she may have concerning other matters. The only reason she had for agreeing to meet with the members of the Mueller team is that she is almost certainly facing some very serious charges.
The journalists are speculating that the reason Trump is so determined to keep his finances a secret is because he is nowhere near as rich as he says he is, a multi- billionaire. He may be ”pulling a Madoff”, in that he is deeply in debt, owes a great deal of back taxes, and is facing bankruptcy.
The ”High Court” is reported to be taking up LGBT employment rights, and may overturn the Trump decisions discriminating against such people in the military.
It is reported that the enthusiasm among voters is at the level of the 2016 election, especially among the 19-31 year old age group, those who favour Sanders.
The press is reporting that the Mueller report did not ”follow the money”, which is rather strange, as that is the first rule of any investigation. Instead, there are various government agencies which are determined to do just that.
Various lawyers are maintaining that the only reason Trump is not being charged with obstruction of justice is because so many of his trusted employees refused to follow orders, did not break the law as they were instructed, thus saving Trump, and themselves, from criminal charges.
Other lawyers maintain that instructing people to obstruct justice is a crime in and of itself, an attempt to obstruct justice, and the fact that the people who were instructed to break the law failed to notify the appropriate authorities, such as the FBI, may also be a crime. They too could be charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, along with Trump. It is entertaining to imagine Trump sharing a jail cell with the very people who tried so hard to protect Trump from himself.
There are various ”sanctuary cities” across the country, cities which are defying the federal government. They refuse to allow the undocumented immigrants to be picked up and deported. This is a big step towards the secession of various states from the country and the subsequent break up of the American empire.
The politicians are referring to this as a constitutional crisis, even though it is not. It is a crisis in capitalism. The three branches of government, legislative, executive and judicial, are not working together.
That is a fact which the monopoly capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, the imperialists, either cannot or will not admit.
It is my personal opinion that this is the way in which the crisis must be presented to the working people, the common people, the members of the public. Many of them object to being referred to as the ”masses”, as it sounds too impersonal. At the same time they have to learn the scientific terms, and that is the reason repetition is so important.
I have listed a few highlights of the crisis in capitalism, in order to drive home the point that the revolution is fast approaching. The best way to prepare for this revolution is to gather as many people as possible to our side, including politicians in Washington. We want these politicians to be socialists, or at least sympathetic to the idea of socialism. At the same time, we want to educate the working people, making them aware of the existence of classes, aware that they are members of the working class, the proletariat, with their own class interests, which are diametrically opposed to the interests of our class enemies, the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. These scientific terms too, the workers have to learn.
The best way to do this -if not the only way- is to unite the Left. It is absolutely necessary to come together with people whom we may consider to be completely disagreeable. In such cases, it is safe to assume they feel precisely the same way about us.
I should mention that on August 20, 1918, Lenin wrote a letter to the American workers. His message is just as valid now as it was when first written. He expressed his opinion of the American working class, quite clearly. Bear in mind that this was written a few months after the first great successful proletarian revolution in Russia, which happened in the fall of 1917. The great slaughter of the competing imperialist powers, for the division of the world was still taking place, that which is referred to as the First World War. As Lenin phrased it:
”The history of modern, civilized America opened with one of those great, really liberating, really revolutionary wars of which there have been so few compared to the vast number of wars of conquest which, like the great imperialist war, were caused by squabbles among kings, landowners or capitalists over the division of usurped land or ill-gotten gains. That was the war the American people waged against the British robbers who oppressed America and held her in colonial slavery, in the same way as these ‘civilized’ bloodsuckers are still oppressing and holding in colonial slavery hundreds of millions of people in India, Egypt, and all parts of the world….America has taken first place among the free and educated nations in level of development of the productive forces of collective human endeavour, in the utilization of machinery and of all the wonders of modern engineering. At the same time, America has become one of the foremost countries in regard to the depth of the abyss which lies between the handful of arrogant multimillionaires who wallow in filth and luxury, and the millions of working people who constantly live on the verge of pauperism. The American people, who set the world an example in waging a revolutionary war against feudal slavery, now find themselves in the latest, capitalist stage of wage-slavery to a handful of multimillionaires, and find themselves playing the role of hired thugs who, for the benefit of wealthy scoundrels, throttled the Philippines in 1898 on the pretext of ‘liberating’ them, and are throttling the Russian Socialist Republic in 1918 on the pretext of ‘protecting’ it from the Germans.”
That was the opinion of the great Lenin, and there is no higher praise.
Now the American people are in the vanguard of the world socialist revolution in the war against capitalism, against the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. As the leaders, the role they play is crucial. It is much more difficult than the previous wars of liberation against the British oppressors in the eighteenth century and the war against the slave owners of the nineteenth century. Yet there is a great deal we can learn from the American revolutionary tradition.
In the eighteenth century, the Americans waged a war which they refer to as the Revolutionary War. At the same time, they had to deal with the French and Spanish oppressors, those who owned a large part of that which is now the United States of America. Each of these countries was far stronger than the newly formed fledgling republic, and the Americans knew this.
They were also well aware that all three empires hated each other, and the Americans decided to take advantage of this. They formed an alliance with the French, against the British, to the benefit of the colonials, soon to be referred to as Americans. The revolution succeeded, the Americans won their independence, but it is doubtful this revolution could have succeeded without the American alliance with the French.
An even more clear cut example happened in the nineteenth century, when the Americans went to war with the southern slave owners, in their war to end slavery.
At that time, the country was deeply divided, of course. Then, as now, classes were in conflict. The twenty states of the north had embraced capitalism, while the sixteen southern states still practiced slavery. The capitalists of the north were anxious to invest their capital in the south, while the slave owners of the south were dead set against industrial development. Tensions rose until finally, in early 1861, eleven of the southern states separated from the union and formed the Confederate States of America. That left twenty five states within the union, but five of them still practiced slavery, the so called ”border states” of Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri. The capitalists of the north decided to destroy the slave owners in the country, and chose the tactic of entering into an alliance with the slave owners!
Incredible but true. In 1861, the Americans made an alliance with the slave owners of the border states, in order to destroy the slave owners. They no doubt thought that the best way to defeat the southern Confederacy was by uniting with the slave owners who remained loyal to the union, rather than antagonizing the slave owners in those states, which would likely result in the border states joining the Confederacy.
Historians are deeply divided over the correctness of this policy, but the results are beyond dispute. In the spring of 1865, the southern Confederacy was defeated and in December of that year, slavery was abolished in the United States of America.
No doubt the Americans have learned from the experience of previous revolutions. The lesson is that it is sometimes necessary to enter into alliances with people whom we find to be completely disagreeable, if not completely obnoxious. There are occasions when we must place the interests of the revolution, the interests of the oppressed people, the working people, before our own tender feelings.
Lenin goes on to say: ”The American people have a revolutionary tradition which has been adopted by the best representatives of the American proletariat, who have repeatedly expressed their complete solidarity with us Bolsheviks….The American workers will not follow the bourgeoisie. They will be with us, for civil war against the bourgeoisie. The whole history of the world and of the American labour movement strengthens my conviction that this is so.”
Lenin went on to give credit to one of the great American revolutionary leaders, Eugene Debs. It was Debs who helped to organize the Industrial Workers of the World, a truly fine trade union, and spent time in prison for his service. He also helped to set up the Social Democratic Party of America, and several times ran for president. He was absolutely opposed to American involvement in the great slaughter, beginning in 1914, the war to divide and redivide the world, now referred to as World War 1. In that case the so called ”Great Powers”, that of Britain, France and Germany, was each determined to secure for themselves ever more colonies, at the expense of the others, of course.
For this service to the working people of the world, Debs was once again thrown in prison. This shows that the revolutionary tradition of the American people extended into the twentieth century, and now we can expect the revolutionary movement to carry on into the twenty first century. We can further expect that revolutionary motion to be even finer than before, with the American working class among the vanguard of the world revolution.
No doubt, most Americans have never heard of Debs. There is a reason for this. Americans have been robbed of their history, especially their revolutionary history. The capitalists, the bourgeoisie, are determined to gloss over and obscure that history, one of which all Americans have every right to be proud. Very soon, we can expect Americans to build upon their revolutionary history.
Now we have to prepare for the forthcoming revolution. As a result of this ”constitutional crisis”, as they refer to it, we can expect the bourgeoisie to do that which they are loath to do, which is to take action. They are the ruling class and are now unable to rule in the old way, so they have to change their method of rule. One of the simplest and easiest ways to do this is to modify the election process, in order to ensure that only the most loyal belly crawling boot lickers are elected to office, at least in Washington.
This may not be as difficult as it sounds. Every two years there is an election for each and every member of the House of Representatives, referred to as the Congress. The vote is held in early November and those who are elected are sworn into office in late January. This means that immediately after being sworn in, they have less than two years to plan for the next election. Yet the first order of business is the ”Party primary”, which is usually held the following spring, perhaps March, but sometimes as early as February. This gives each member of Congress just over a year to prepare for that all important primary, because if they are not nominated to run for re-election, on behalf of the Party, either Democratic or Republican, then the chance of another term in Congress is practically non- existent.
It is the Party bosses who decide the individual to run for office on behalf of the Party, and the primary vote is something of a formality. At least it used to be, until the registered members of each Party started to stand up and refuse. Only the registered members of each Party are allowed to vote in the primary.
The American capitalists love the two party system. It has served them well since the days of the Civil War, a century and a half ago. It is doubtful that they will abandon such a system. Rather, it is more likely they will modify it, in an attempt to preserve their method of rule. Possibly the simplest way to do this is to allow only ”card carrying” members of the Party to vote in the primary, rather than ”registered” members of the Party. In that way, only the individuals who are approved by the Party bosses will be allowed to run for office. The American voters will then have the option of voting for the Democratic candidate or for the Republican candidate for the Congress. Either candidate can be counted upon to be a loyal belly crawling boot licker of the capitalists.
As I can think of no reason that we should do the capitalists any favours, my suggestion is that we should come together, as members of the Left, and even go to the extreme of shaking hands and pretending to like each other. Then we can join both mainstream political parties, Democratic and Republican, as card carrying members, and encourage the members of the public to follow suit. As this is quite easily done online, those who are proficient with computers can offer to assist those with less developed computer skills.
With that in mind, I can suggest that Leftist people approach people in the senior centres, as well as those in sports clubs, union halls, sewing circles, schools and universities. In addition, there are churches, mosques, synagogues and temples which can be reached. After each service, booths can be set up where the faithful can be assisted in joining the two Parties, if they so desire. I would even go so far as to say that booths can be set up in shopping malls, in the interests of helping citizens take part in the democratic process.
As for those who consider this nothing but an idle dream, I can only respond that you are right. It is a dream, but it remains to be seen just how idle it is. That depends on the members of the American Left. There are many millions of Americans who took part in the Occupy Movement of several years ago, millions of others who took part in the more recent Womens’ March of 2017, as well as the veterans of the Anti-War Movement of the sixties. There are countless others who are dissatisfied but not sure just how to proceed. It is up to us, the members of the Left, to offer them an alternative. Do not be surprised if they are enthusiastic to join the two Parties.
There are also a great many people who maintain that the capitalists will never allow socialists to flood Washington. They think that an Independent Socialist as president will never happen, the capitalists will never allow this. The only response I can give to such cynical souls is that I think you are right. In that case, if the democratically elected members of Congress who are socialists or at least Leftist are not allowed to assume office, if the democratically elected president, also a socialist, is not allowed to be sworn in, then a great many honest citizens will be convinced of the correctness of our Marxist position. We maintain that there can be no peaceful transition to socialism, that socialism can only be achieved through violent revolution. At that point, the common people, the members of the public, from their own bitter experience, will believe us.
In conclusion, I consider it best to quote the final words in the letter Lenin wrote to the American workers a century ago:
”The workers are breaking away from their social traitors…Slowly but surely the workers are adopting communist, Bolshevik tactics and are marching towards the proletarian revolution, which alone is capable of saving dying culture and dying mankind…. we are invincible, because the world proletarian revolution is invincible.”
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 