This is a time of revolution, or at least a time of the revolutionary upsurge of members of the working class. Millions of Americans, including those who have previously been apathetic, are now taking an interest in politics. From within this spontaneous uprising of citizens, certain leaders are emerging. In particular, four women, those who describe themselves as ”women of colour” and whom the press refer to as ”the Squad”, are distinguishing themselves. They have been elected to the House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the Congress, and are taking a principled stand. They are standing up to Trump and the Speaker of the House, truly representing their constituency, and not the party bosses in Washington. This is truly a revolutionary development, unheard of in Washington.
For that reason, I refer to them as the Proletarian Headquarters, because they are precisely that. It is very likely that they are not aware of this as yet, but that in no way diminishes their importance. They will soon find out that they are spearheading the American revolution.
They constitute a dual level of power, one which the capitalists cannot crush, as they have been elected to the Congress. It is almost certain that their numbers will rise dramatically in the next election, as ever more Americans join the two mainstream political parties, as card carrying members, and nominate ever more members of the working class for political office, on behalf of both parties. It matters not whether democratically elected politicians are members of one particular party or another. The important thing that they serve the working class.
For the benefit of the countless members of the working class who are just now becoming politically active -Welcome, my Brothers and Sisters!- I will mention that we live under capitalism in its highest, most decadent form, which is monopoly capitalism, technically referred to as imperialism. As Lenin says, ”Imperialism is reaction, right down the line”. This is to say that there is nothing progressive about imperialism.
I explained in a previous article that it is easy to become a party boss, which is the name people have for a card carrying member of either party. It is as simple as applying for membership, which can be done on line. It is such members who decide the individual to run for any and all political office. As I fully expect countless working class Americans to join the two parties, it is reasonable to expect that Washington will soon be flooded with working class politicians, or at least people who represent the working class. Such politicians will join the Squad, the Proletarian Headquarters, and will further strengthen the dual level of power.
All of the other politicians in Washington, as well as in other parts of the country, represent the monopoly capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. That class of people, the bourgeoisie, are not about to tolerate such a challenge to their authority, and we had best be prepared for their response.
It is quite likely they will attempt to resort to a ”coalition” government, in order to fool, divide and weaken the workers. In other countries, most notably Britain and France, such a ”coalition” has been used with considerable success. In such cases, a joint cabinet is formed, containing loyal servants of the bourgeoisie, as well as turncoats to socialism, traitors to the working class. Invariably, whenever these ”socialist” leaders joined a bourgeois cabinet, they proved to be puppets, figureheads, screens for the capitalists, instruments for deceiving the workers.
It may be objected that the members of the Squad make no claim to be socialists. That is absolutely true, just as it is true that most of the working people who are about to be elected to political office, in the 20-20 election, will very likely not be socialists. It is also true that the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, are not impressed by this. They are supremely well aware that the government can represent the class of capitalists, the bourgeoisie, or it can represent the class of workers, the proletarians. It cannot represent both. There is no middle ground. There can be no dual level of power, or at least, not for long. One class or the other will emerge triumphant.
In almost all previous coalition governments, in other countries, the bourgeoisie triumphed, if only because the number of working people elected to office were rather few. These few people, who were supposed to represent the working class, if not socialism, were then successfully bribed. They were given well paying if meaningless posts within the government, complete with a generous expense account, and allowed to make speeches to deceive the working class. For the most part, this was successful, at least for a short time. We can expect our current crop of parasites, our very own bourgeoisie, to resort to the same tactics.
Yet there is strength in numbers. As long as a great number of working class people are elected to office, then that tactic will not be successful, if only because there will be too many working class people to bribe. As an alternative method of rule, the bourgeoisie may decide to amend the constitution, in order to give a semblance of legality to their rule. Such amendments require a vote of two thirds of the states, and if nothing else, drives home the importance of electing people to office on a state and local level, not just a federal level.
As Lenin pointed out, ”The bourgeoisie will betray their country and commit any crime to retain both their power over the people and their profits.” If these efforts towards a coalition government are unsuccessful, then we can expect these people, the members of the class we refer to as the bourgeoisie, to resort to more primitive methods, such as scrapping the constitution and setting up an autocracy, in which only the select few have the right to vote. Or then again, they may just declare martial law.
Now it is up to Marxists, conscious people, to raise the level of awareness of the working class. Working people have got to be encouraged to join the two mainstream political parties, as card carrying members, and nominate candidates for office, at all levels. At the same time workers should be advised that the capitalists are not about to relinquish power voluntarily. They will resort to any subterfuge, any crime, any act of treason, to maintain their wealth and power.
It is merely a matter of time before the working class people who are elected to office, including the Squad, the Proletarian Headquarters, come to realize that Marxists are right. The only alternative to capitalism is scientific socialism, in the form of the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. The same is true of the working class people who are about to assume office, as well as the members of the public. Now it is up to conscious people, Marxists, to hasten the process, to bring that awareness to the working class,
As Marx said, the proletariat has nothing to lose but their chains.
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 