The current political situation in America can perhaps best be described as insane. If it was in the form of a work of fiction, critics would dismiss it as too ridiculous. It appears to be a mixture of comedy and horror, two forms of entertainment which do not go well together. Yet the actions of Trump and his administration would be laughable, if they were not so tragic.
It is estimated that an additional forty million people will soon be homeless, yet this is a matter of supreme indifference to Trump and his supporters. Their only concern is that he remain in power. The country is also facing another possible government shut down at the end of the month, but that too does not concern Trump.
As well, the current death toll, as a result of the Corona Virus, is approaching 200,000. By the end of the year, that number is expected to more than double, to over 400,000. That is certainly not a joking matter, but Trump sees it as an opportunity, as a means of staying in power. The virus has given rise to the necessity of ”social distancing”, as a means of containing the spread of the virus, so that most Americans plan to vote by mail. With that in mind, Trump has taken steps to ensure that the mail does not get delivered on time, so that he can declare the election a fraud. As well, he is encouraging citizens to vote twice, once by mail and once in person, an action which is completely against the law. That too could lead to the election being declared invalid, which is precisely what he wants.
Such actions are completely devoid of principle, an abuse of power at best, supremely contemptible, but not entirely irrational. By contrast, his suggestion of ”Men in Black”, an ”entire plane load of looters, anarchists and rioters”, of ”thugs wearing black uniforms”, leads people to question his sanity. Trump is also suggesting that his opponent for the presidency, the former Vice President, is ”controlled by people you never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows.”
As if that is not bad enough, he is also a believer in ”QAnon”, Apparently, ”Q” is a high level, anonymous, government insider, an individual who is ”running an international Satanic pedophile child trafficking ring and controlling the world”.
To think that the man who is spitting out this nonsense is the American president!
More or less as a result of this insanity, numerous former members of his administration are either facing charges or are already in prison. Many other current members of the same administration will soon be joining them. One of the convicted felons has just written a book, which is already a best seller, even though it is not yet in print. Yet members of the press have received advance copies, so we know what it says.
The author, a self described ”fixer” for Trump, was his former lawyer and advisor. He was apparently a close confidant of Trump, long before Trump became president. Critics say that he was the closest thing Trump had to a friend. This is reasonable, as Trump is not the sort of person who is capable of forming friendships. He is too self absorbed for that.
The fact remains that in this book, soon to be published, he refers to Trump as a ”racist, a bully, a predator, a con man, a swindler, completely corrupt”. He further states that ”Trump can’t be trusted” and ”You shouldn’t believe a word he utters”. He also claims that Trump is determined to ”leverage power to the maximum level possible”. With that in mind, he accuses Trump of flattering the Russian president, Putin, with a view to building a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Of course the White House is not taking this lying down. They have pointed out that the author of that book is nothing less than a disbarred lawyer, a federal inmate, convicted of no less than nine charges, including lying to Congress. This comes as no great surprise to anyone, as only liars and crooks are qualified to work for Trump.
The author of the book does not deny being a liar, but maintains that he lied only at the direction of, and for the benefit of, Donald Trump. But then he was caught in those lies, tried and convicted. Of course, at that point Trump ”threw him under the bus”, as Trump cares only about himself and his immediate family.
The journalists are also reporting that at the time Trump was in France and scheduled to visit a cemetery containing the remains of American servicemen killed in the line of duty, he refused to go as he was afraid the rain would expose his bald spot. When asked about this, he mentioned that he could not go because he had to call his wife, in America. The journalists found this hard to believe as his wife was, at that time, with him in France.
In addition, a highly respectable magazine is reporting that Trump has also referred to military veterans as ”suckers and losers”, as they ”don’t know how to exploit the system and get out of serving”. Clearly he has only contempt for those who serve their country, including those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. He managed to avoid the nuisance of spending time in the military by being granted deferral due to ”bone spurs” on his feet. Money may not buy happiness, but it certainly buys almost everything else.
Trump has responded to these serious accusations against him, by attacking the lady who owns ”controlling interest” in the magazine which made these allegations, a ”billionaire philanthropist”, as someone who ”does not know her place”. Trump is determined to make her rue the day she spoke ill of him!
As if that is not bad enough, a second book is soon to be published, written by a former FBI agent, who is suggesting that Trump was being investigated on suspicion of being a ”Manchurian Candidate”. That is a rather oblique way of referring to someone who is suspected of being a Russian agent. It is entirely possible that the agent was fired for pursuing that line of investigation.
Yet there are two sides to every coin, so to speak. Or as the social scientists refer to it, there are two sides to every contradiction. The press is accurately reporting the news, but from the bourgeois point of view, of course. That is one side of the coin. The flip side of the coin, the proletarian side, is the fact that people are rising up, demanding change. The Black Lives Matter movement is growing and gaining strength. People of all colours and ethnic backgrounds are now marching, against violent police repression. Professional sport games are being cancelled. The protesters in Portland are standing their ground, even under extreme pressure. The Kentucky Derby is being harassed by protesters. The protests are spreading to other cities and even around the country. They are even spreading to other countries.
Perhaps of more significance, no less than three separate republics have already taken shape. As yet, they have not declared independence and formed socialist republics, but soon that will happen. On the east coast, which is one of the population centres of the country, seven states have come together. On the west coast, three states have come together, also population centres. Then in the midwest, the industrial heartland of the country, seven more states have formed a coalition. Without doubt, very soon other states will come together and form other coalitions, the nucleus of independent socialist republics.
Now the federal election is less that two months away, and the journalists are counting down the days. I have deliberately chosen to quote precisely the words they are using, in order to make a point. The journalists are clearly concerned, as they are patriotic Americans who love their country. They are also convinced that Trump is the problem, and that voting him out of office is the solution. Except that Trump is not the problem, the problem is capitalism, and as long as the capitalists, the bourgeoisie are in charge, nothing of substance will change.
There is only one solution to the problems created by capitalism, and that is to convert it into socialism. That is only possible through a revolution and the subsequent Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. The bourgeoisie has to be overthrown and crushed, as otherwise they will return to power, as they have in Russia and China. There are certain conditions that are necessary for a revolution to take place.
As Lenin put it, ”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.” He refers to this as the ”fundamental law of revolution”. (italics by Lenin)
As that is the case, it is clear that the American ”upper class”, in this case the bourgeoisie, can no longer rule in the ”old way”, which is to say the two party system. Trump has no intention of stepping down, regardless of the results of the federal election. After all, the man is not entirely stupid. He knows that as soon as he is no longer president, he will be charged and convicted of numerous crimes, both state and federal, and spend the rest of his life in jail. Unless of course, he is convicted of treason, in which case he could face the firing squad.
As for the ”lower classes”, in this case the working class, the proletariat, they have ”had enough”, they are ”fed up”. They are no longer content to ”live in the old way”. They are tired of being unemployed and homeless, living in poverty, watching their fellow Americans sicken and die from the virus, while the ”one percent” live in the ”lap of luxury”. They are demanding change. This is the very definition of a revolutionary situation!
So now, on the one hand, we have the ruling class, the bourgeoisie, squabbling among themselves, not sure of how to proceed. They just know that they cannot rule in the old way, under the two party system.
On the other hand, we have the working class, the proletariat, those who are facing massive unemployment and homelessness, resulting in extreme poverty. This in addition to the virus which is decimating the country. They just know they cannot live in the old way.
It is for these reasons that I am convinced the revolution is about to take place, and that it has every chance of success, that it can ”triumph”. Which is not to say that it will magically be ”triumphant” by itself. It is going to require a little effort on our part.
With that in mind, I can only suggest that time is ”not on our side”, if you will excuse the expression. Trump has made it clear that he fully intends to remain in office, regardless of the results of the November election. In fact, he has stated that he plans to remain in office until he decides to step down. That is one of the few honest statements he has ever made! On this one point, and on this one point alone, we can believe him.
Trump no doubt plans to set himself up as a monarch, perhaps King Donald the First, of the House of Trump. Instead, he is about to receive a rude awakening.
The American people will not stand for this. We can count upon them to stand up and defend their democratic rights. It is very likely that a full blown revolution will be set in motion. Remarkably enough, we can expect the American people, the working class, to rise up in protest, along side the American capitalists, the bourgeoisie.
Such an alliance -although rare- is not unprecedented. In early 1917, in Russia, a similar alliance took place, in that the common people of Russia, workers and peasants, came together with the Russian bourgeoisie, in opposition to Czar Nicholas. It resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy, in February – March of that year. Immediately after the abdication of the Czar, the alliance was ended. Several months later, on November 7 -new style calendar- the bourgeoisie were overthrown by the workers and peasants, led by Lenin and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. It should be noted that at that time, such was the name of the Communist Party.
Now here in America, we can expect the working class to first assist the bourgeoisie in defeating Trump. That will give them fresh confidence in their ability to enact change. As soon as Trump is deposed, the bourgeoisie will attempt to disarm the working class, as they are well aware of the danger of armed workers. Then we can expect the working class to defend their democratic right to bear arms, as is guaranteed in the Constitution. The freshly energized proletariat will resist this new assault on their rights, and we can expect the workers to carry the revolution forward, as happened in November of 1917 in Russia, and overthrow the bourgeoisie.
That being said, it is not reasonable to expect the workers to overthrow the capitalists and establish the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, without a little help from their leaders. That is where conscious people come in, Marxists, true Communists. That is the very thing that is lacking. Without the leadership provided by a true Communist Party, the success of the revolution is in doubt.
This brings us to the role of leaders, or at least proper leaders, which is to say scientific socialists. In other words, Marxists, as they are the only true leaders of the working class, the proletariat. Those who claim to be socialists but not Marxists, are really utopian socialists, and whether they know it or not, are in the service of the capitalists, the bourgeoisie.
As for those who are skeptical, may I suggest you give consideration to the opinion of Engels, who recognized three forms of the great struggles of the working class, that of the economic, the political and the theoretical! In fact, it was Lenin who pointed out that the ”role of vanguard can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by an advanced theory.” (italics by Lenin)
This is to stress the necessity of the creation of a Communist Party. It must be created. It is the duty of conscious people, which is to say Marxists, to create a true Communist Party, as otherwise the revolution will likely not succeed.
The reason for this is quite simple. The working class is not aware of itself as a class. This class awareness must be brought to it from an outside source, from middle class intellectuals. Anyone who scoffs at the importance of the class awareness, at the revolutionary theories which can only be brought to the working class, by a true Communist party, ”means, whether one likes it or not, the growth of influence of bourgeois ideology among the workers”. (italics by Lenin)
Lenin goes on to say that ”The working class spontaneously gravitates towards socialism, but the more widespread (and continuously revived in the most diverse forms) bourgeois ideology spontaneously imposes itself upon the working class still more”. For that reason, it is up to Communists to combat bourgeois ideology with proletarian ideology.
In addition, we can expect the American empire to break up, to split into independent socialist republics, as happened in Russia. Three American republics have already taken shape, and no doubt more will soon follow. This may happen only after the socialist revolution which overthrows the bourgeoisie, or perhaps before that. As yet, we have no way of knowing. We do know that the capitalists are completely reactionary, dead set opposed to revolution and socialism, and supremely reluctant to part with their wealth and power. That is the reason they have to be crushed under the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
As for those who object that there already are several Communist parties in the country, I can only respond that you are mistaken. There are several parties which claim to be Communist or socialist, but none of them are Marxist. This serves to confuse the working people, as is no doubt intended. So in the interest of distinguishing ourselves from the social chauvinists, I am suggesting that the name of the party be Communist Party, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. As all social chauvinists avoid any mention of the term Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, as if it were an infectious disease, that should help to clarify the situation.
In addition to the usual Marxist slogans, may I suggest an additional one:
American Communist Party, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 