The Democratic National Convention has now officially endorsed Joe Biden for president and Pamela Harris for Vice President. Due in part to the Corona Virus, this Convention is far different from all previous Conventions. As large gatherings of people are ruled out, so as not to spread the virus, the celebrities have been forced to give their speeches on video.
Then too, never before has any member of the Republican party actually endorsed a Democratic candidate for president. Now numerous high ranking Republican party members have ”crossed the floor” to endorse Biden and Harris. These include Governors and Senators, those who are currently in office, as well as those who formerly held those offices. A great many people, who served as loyal, high ranking bureaucrats within several Republican administrations, have now joined the ranks of the Biden supporters. Countless others are as yet remaining silent, or ”straddling the fence”, to use the expression of the press. As yet they have not decided ”which way to jump”.
Perhaps the harshest words came from a most unlikely source, the former president, Barrack Obama. He chose to speak out, in a manner which left no room for any misunderstanding. He stated that as far as Trump is concerned, ”this is one big reality show. He has not grown into the job because he can’t. He has no interest in putting in the work…only cares about himself and his friends…his administration is determined to tear our democracy down, if thats what it takes for them to win”.
It is most unusual for a former president to speak ill of a sitting president, if not unprecedented. This is one more indication of the fact that the class of people in charge of the country, the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, are deeply divided.
Obama is correct when he says that Trump ”is determined to tear our democracy down”. At least, he is making a supreme effort. On the other hand, it is not true that Trump cannot grow into the job. He simply has no interest in making the effort. Further, it is not true that Trump cares about his friends, if only because he has no friends. Trump cares only about himself and his immediate family. No one else.
A great many people who helped place him in power are currently in jail, or facing serious criminal charges. The latest ”associate” of Trump, who has just been charged, is his former ”top lieutenant during the crime spree called the Trump 2016 campaign”. He is considered to know ”where all the bodies are buried”, and is thought to have the moral fortitude of Trump. In other words, he is a regular ”snake in the grass”. As that is the case, the advisors to Trump are advising him to issue a presidential pardon, to this snake, before he ”sings like a little canary”.
I have chosen to use these popular expressions as they are the same expressions the politicians use, as well as the mobsters. That is not a coincidence. The American political arena is very similar to a mob outfit.
It is doubtful that Trump is worried about being ”ratted out”. He may issue pardons to his loyal henchmen, or he may not. It is more likely that he will ”throw them under the bus”, as their freedom, or incarceration, is a matter of complete indifference to him.
As president, the head of state, he is quite well immune from prosecution. He is president now and fully intends to remain president, regardless of the results of the upcoming election. In fact, he plans to remain as president, for life, and then pass the reins of power to his daughter. It is the least he can do for the American people.
The point being that Obama is right to be worried that Trump is determined to ”tear our democracy down”, because he is doing just that. Obama is a member of the middle class, the petty bourgeois, yet is a loyal servant of the bourgeoisie. He has reason to be concerned. Further, he and the other members of his class expect all Americans to be concerned with the loss of ”their democracy”.
This begs the question: What is this democracy, of which he is so concerned, and why should we also be concerned?
Lenin provides us with an answer to that question in his work, The State and Revolution. As he phrases it, ”In capitalist society, under the conditions most favourable to its development, we have more or less complete democracy in the democratic republic. But this democracy is always restricted by the narrow framework of capitalist exploitation, and consequently remains, in reality, a democracy for the minority, only for the possessing classes, only for the rich. Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave owners…Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich- that is the democracy of capitalist society…on all sides we see restriction after restriction upon democracy….in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from taking an active part in democracy.”
From this it is clear that democracy, at least under capitalism, is not ”majority rule”. Far from it, although the ruling class, the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, would have us believe otherwise. Instead, it is ”democracy for the rich”, for the ”insignificant minority”, for the monopoly capitalists, the bourgeoisie. It is the ”ideal political shell for capitalism”. The trouble being, as far as the capitalists are concerned, is that Trump is a threat to the democracy of the bourgeoisie!
There is a reason the bourgeoisie are concerned with the fact that Trump plans to set himself up as ”royalty”, perhaps ”King Donald of America”. As Lenin explains, ”A democratic republic is the best possible political shell for capitalism, and therefore, once capital has control of this very best shell…it established its power so securely, so firmly, that no change, either of persons, of institutions, or of parties in the bourgeois democratic republic, can shake it.” (italics by Lenin)
Trump is not planning to change ”persons or institutions or parties” within the ”democratic republic”. Trump is planning to destroy the democratic republic, the ”best possible political shell for capitalism”! That is the reason the bourgeoisie is determined to stop him.
That answers the first part of our question, and brings us to the second part, which is the reason we should care about the destruction of the bourgeois democratic republic.
It was Engels, no less, who referred to universal suffrage as an ”instrument of bourgeois rule”. He referred to it as ”an index of the maturity of the working class. It cannot and never will be anything more in the modern state”.
As that is the case, we certainly want all members of the working class, the proletariat, to be as politically active as possible, to ”take an active part in democracy”. At the very least, that means voting for the candidate of their choice. But if Trump has his way, all Americans will be relieved of the burden of voting.
This has given rise to an extremely rare case of converging interests, of two opposing classes, that of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie want to remove Trump from office, as they see that he is a threat to their method of rule, while the proletariat wants to remove him from office, as he is a threat to democracy, if not to all of humanity.
As a result of this, for the moment -strictly for the moment- the two classes have a common goal! Now it is up to the proletariat to support the bourgeoisie in their effort to stop this madman!
This is not quite as remarkable as it may first appear. There are times throughout history, when classes who are the bitterest of enemies, come together, and work together towards a common goal. Of course, as soon as that goal is reached, they go back to attempting to destroy each other.
An example of this happened in America, in 1861. At that time, the country was in the process of splitting apart. The capitalists of the north were determined to invest their capital in the south. The slave owners of the south were determined to block this industrial development. As the capitalists are anything but stupid, they decided that the best way to destroy the southern slave owners, was by emancipating their slaves. No slaves, no slave owners. Of course, the slave owners took a dim view of this approach.
As is well known, the tension rose to the point that the ”south”, or at least eleven states which practiced slavery, separated from the union. That left five other states, referred to as ”border states”, which also practiced slavery, and were also considering separation.
As a means of ”damage control”, agents of the north approached the slave owners of the border states and promised them that they could keep their slaves, as long as they assisted the north in crushing the southern rebellion. The slave owners of the border states agreed to this, and the ”rest is history”, as is the common expression.
The war ended in 1865, the Confederacy was defeated, and shortly afterwards, slavery was abolished in America. A section of the slave owners assisted the capitalists in destroying the slave owners!
A similar situation took place in Russia, immediately after the October revolution of 1917, in which the first socialist republic was established. At that time, Russia was still at war with the Central powers, including Germany. In fact, the German forces were advancing into Russia, and Lenin knew he needed help. With that in mind, he asked the country of France to send in demolition experts, to assist the Russians, to at least slow down the German advance.
As France was also at war with Germany, they agreed to assist in this objective. Even though the French capitalists hated Lenin, and everything he stood for, they agreed to help. So the officer in charge of the French detachment of demolition experts met with Lenin. Of course they shook hands and pretended to like each other, even though each could quite cheerfully have strangled the other. Shortly afterwards, in March of 1918, Russia was able to secure peace with Germany, and of course that was the end of the alliance between Russia and France.
Now we have a similar situation, in that the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, are asking the working people, the proletariat, to assist them in stopping Trump. The working people should do just that. In the process of stopping Trump from ”tearing our democracy down”, they will go beyond voting, they will be ”taking an active part in democracy”.
Just as the American capitalists used the slave owners to destroy the slave owners, so too the American workers can assist the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, in stopping Trump and in the process, destroy the capitalists, the bourgeoisie.
In the process of stopping Trump from destroying democracy, the working people will be taking an active part in democracy! At the same time, the Marxists, the Communists, can make it clear to people that the real problem is the class of people whom he serves, of whom he is a member, that of the monopoly capitalists, the bourgeoisie.
With that in mind, I can suggest that all Americans join the two political parties, Democrats and Republicans, as card carrying members. As such, you can decide the candidates to run for any and all political offices. I can also suggest that everyone vote in the upcoming election.
As well, it is up to conscious people, those who are aware of the theories of Marx and Lenin, to form a proper Communist Party, in order to lead the working class. Those who have been most politically active in the recent past, which is to say the women and students, will have to resume their activity, but on a wider scale. The members of the public have to be made aware that the problem is the capitalist, the bourgeoisie, and not just Trump. The solution is in revolution and the subsequent Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
Let people know that the current democratic republic is set up by the capitalists, for the capitalists. They, the bourgeoisie, are in charge, and fully intend to remain in charge. It is democracy for the bourgeoisie, a dictatorship over the proletariat. The one and only way for the working class, the proletariat, to emancipate itself, is through revolution. The capitalists must first be overthrown and then crushed, under the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. Such a dictatorship means democracy for the working class, the proletariat, but a dictatorship for the bourgeoisie.
It is to be hoped that when this takes place, the men will be motivated to also take part in the revolutionary motion. No doubt as the revolution grows and spreads, ever more people will be swept up into the movement.
Now is the time to take action. Be creative. Harass the capitalists wherever and whenever possible. Allow them no peace. March on their offices, homes, banks and restaurants, their resorts, where they plot and scheme to stab each other in the back, and remain in power. Make their lives supremely miserable, and preferably do so in an entertaining manner, one which also raises the level of awareness of the working class. The best way to educate people is to entertain them at the same time.
Allow the posters and banners to proclaim:
Workers of the World, Unite!
Scientific Socialism!
Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!
Victory Or Death!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 