January 3, 2023. The day the new 118 Congress is to be sworn in. Or not! The first order of business is to elect a new Speaker of the House, strictly a formality. As there are only two mainstream political parties in the country, Democrats and Republicans, it is customary for the Party with the majority of seats in the House, to elect their leader as Speaker. Further, as the Republicans, or the GOP, Grand Old Party, as they refer to themselves, have a majority, then it should be ”cut and dried”. Not this time!
The GOP is every bit as divided as the Democrats! They need 218 votes to elect a Speaker, but have a ”razor thin” majority of only four Members! So if even four of their Members vote against their favoured candidate, which is Kevin McCarthy, then he will not be elected as Speaker. Yet on the first ballot, nineteen GOP Members voted against McCarthy! That automatically gave rise to a second ballot, which gave rise to a similar outcome.
This is considered to be serious, as the House cannot vote on any piece of legislation, until they first elect a Speaker! It is only the Speaker of the House who can swear in the next Congress!
Incidentally, the Senate does not have that problem, as it is the duty of the President of the Senate to swear in the next Senate. As the President of the Senate is the Vice President of the United States, that ”base has been covered”.
The journalists expected some conflict, within the House, as just before the House took a break, on December 23, there was some friction. Yet no one expected anything like this! ”Chaos and confusion”! Some Members of the House are referring to this as a ”Gong Show”, without exactly using the word ”Gong”. The journalists are referring to it as ”going down a black hole”! They suspect that ”their opponents smell blood”! At the same time, the journalists are careful not to mention the names of the ”opponents”, although they suspect that Donald Trump is behind this!
They report that over the Christmas break, and possibly for some considerable time before that, a ”core group” of ”right flank Republicans”, led by conservative members of the ”Freedom Caucus”, met frequently ”behind closed doors”, and promised to change the ”House Rules”.
No wonder they suspect that Trump is behind this! Perhaps now people are taking seriously the statements he made! In particular, Trump said that if he was charged, then people would see ”problems …the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen”. He was not joking!
Yet this is not terribly surprising, at least not to Marxists. It is safe to say that capitalism is in a state of crisis, or more accurately, in a state of numerous crises! I would go so far as to say that capitalism is in its ”death throes”! Marx let everyone know what to expect, in the Communist Manifesto:
”Finally, in times when the class struggle nears the decisive hour, the process of dissolution going on within the ruling class, in fact within the whole range of old society, assumes such a violent, glaring character, that a small section of the ruling class cuts itself adrift, and joins the Revolutionary class, the class that holds the future in its hands”.
That which is taking place now, in the ”Hallowed Halls of the House”, is simply part of the ”process of dissolution”, which is going on ”within the ruling class”. The politicians are merely the loyal and devoted servants of the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. And these, their most devoted servants, are squabbling among themselves!
Now we can expect a ”small section of the ruling class” to ”cut itself adrift”, and to ”join the Revolutionary class”, which is to say the working class, the Proletariat. After all, it is the Proletariat that ”holds the future in its hands”.
We can also expect this ”small section” to be supremely class conscious, and to bring this awareness of classes to the working class, the Proletariat. After all, only the most intelligent, among the ruling class, are able to see the ”writing on the wall”, are prepared to ”cut themselves adrift”, to ”abandon the sinking ship”. Make no mistake, capitalism has ”had its day”! The days of capitalism are ”numbered”! The vast majority of capitalists will not accept this! They will no doubt ”go down with the ship”! Fools! Their choice!
To the former capitalists who choose to join the Revolutionary forces, I have something to say: Welcome! Brothers and Sisters! Comrades! Join us in building a better world! The World Revolution is now raging! It will very soon set down in North America! You have a key role to play!
No doubt you have a University education, and are aware of the Revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin. Feel free to share this knowledge with the working people, the Proletarians. Stress the fact that at the time of the Revolution, the existing state apparatus must be smashed. Otherwise the leaders of the Revolution will merely take over that state apparatus, and set themselves up as the new rulers. A new state apparatus must be set up, in order to crush the capitalists, as they try to restore their ”paradise lost”. This is known as the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
Feel free to take part in Councils. Now is not the time for false humility! The fact that you have joined the progressive Revolutionary forces, proves that you are a leader! We need leaders! Get in touch with the leaders of other Councils, and work towards forming a true Communist Party, Dictatorship of the Proletariat! Bear in mind that Marx and Lenin were also middle class intellectuals!
As I write this, the Members of the House have voted no less than three times. Each time, a ”hard core group” of possibly twenty Republicans have consistently voted against McCarthy. Now the leaders are ”meeting behind closed doors”, in secret, hidden from the public, the very people they are supposed to be representing!
The journalists are reporting that the last time this happened was in 1923. At that time, no less than nine ballots took place, before a Speaker was elected. Even so, that was far faster than the previous time the House was deadlocked, in the ”eighteen fifties” At that time the country was deeply divided, on the verge of Civil War! For that reason, it took 133 votes, over a two month period, before a Speaker was elected! The country is just as divided now, as it was in the eighteen fifties!
The House has just agreed to shut down until tomorrow. The journalists are reporting the ”GOP In Open Revolt”, that ”All Business Is On Hold”. They are even reporting that ”some GOP moderates are laying the groundwork to team up with Democrats”!
Truly, this is an indication that we are ”near the decisive hour”, as ”the process of dissolution within the ruling class”, has truly assumed a ”violent, glaring character”. May the protesters now sing the Internationale! May the banners and posters now proclaim:
Revolution!
Scientific Socialism!
Workers of the World, Unite!
Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 