Concerning Biden’s ‘’Farewell Address To the Nation’’

On January 15, 2025, President Joe Biden gave his ‘’Farewell Address to the Nation’’. As a great many working people were watching this ‘’Farewell Speech’’, and were very likely confused, this calls for an explanation. 

One of the professional narrators referred to this speech as being very ‘’dark’’, as it refers to an ‘’oligarchy taking shape in America’’. She mentioned that Biden is of the opinion that this oligarchy, has given rise to a ‘’dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people’’.

That is one way of putting it! The lengths some people will go to, in order to avoid any reference to the existence of classes!

True, an American oligarchy does exist. By definition, this is a ‘’small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution’’. This ‘’small group of people’’, which controls the country of America, are composed of a very few ‘’ultra wealthy people’’, as President Biden so delicately phrased it. This is to say that those people have wealth in the tens and hundreds of billions! Even that is not enough! They want more! They want to be trillionaires!

It should be noted that middle class people are well aware of this, as they are class conscious. It is working class people, proletarians, who are not aware of this, as conditions of life, of the proletariat, do not lead to the awareness of themselves, as a class, with their own class interests. 

As that is the case, and as I am mainly concerned with the working class, I should mention that the industrial revolution gave birth to two new classes. At that time, the merchants who lived in town, referred to as ‘’burghers’’, saw an opportunity to invest their money, and make a great fortune. They succeeded, beyond their wildest dreams!

In the process of investing their money, the name ‘’burgher’’ became transformed to ‘’bourgeois’’. At the same time, their money, or wealth in any other form, became known as ‘’capital’’. For that reason, the bourgeois also became known as ‘’capitalists’’, a name they generally hate, for some reason. They prefer to refer to themselves as ‘’entrepreneurs’’.

On the one hand, these freshly minted capitalists invested their money in building factories, mills, mines and such. This is now referred to as the ‘’point of production’’. They also invested in railroads and shipping lines, or the ‘’means of transportation’’. And of course, there were the banks, or ‘’financial institutions’’, possibly the most profitable of all investments. 

But then, as no class can live in isolation, a second class of people was created. This class, which has nothing to sell but their labour power, is referred to as the ‘’antipode’’ to the capitalist class. They are referred to as the working class, or ‘’proletariat’’. A second revolutionary class! And in fact, the only class that is consistently revolutionary!

The capitalists who are now referred to as the ‘’ultra rich’’, or ‘’monopoly capitalists’’, those with at least tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions, are now referred to as the ‘’bourgeoisie’’. 

By contrast, those with a paltry few million, or even a ‘’mere’’ billion or two, are referred to as ‘’middle class’’ or ‘’petty bourgeois’’. As the monopolies become ever stronger, ever more complete, the middle class is gradually being wiped out. Those few survivors, of the middle class, are now ‘’living on borrowed time’’. 

There is a reason that I mention this. It is important for the working people to learn certain technical terms. If we are not aware of this, then the capitalists will use our lack of knowledge against us.

It should be noted that the newly created, revolutionary capitalist class, turned into its opposite, completely ‘’reactionary’’, at the point when capitalism reached the stage of monopoly. This happened at about the beginning of twentieth century. This monopoly capitalism, the ‘’highest stage of capitalism’’, is technically referred to as ‘’imperialism’’. 

Even the highly respected, self proclaimed ‘’Independent Socialist’’, Senator Sanders, is now issuing warnings against the ‘’American oligarchy’’, rather than against the American bourgeoisie. Yet to refer to them as an ‘’oligarchy’’, is an improvement over the term which was common place during the Occupy Movement, of recent memory. At that time, they were referred to as the ‘’one percent’’. If nothing else, the word ‘’oligarchy’’ is a bit more accurate. A step in the right direction!

It is significant that President Biden does not write his own speeches. Instead, he has a professional writer compose his speeches. Biden merely recites those speeches, reading from a tele prompter. As he is very likely suffering from dementia, that is probably the best he can manage.

From the text, it is clear that the ‘’handlers’’ of Biden are concerned with the fact that the ‘’oligarchs’’ are about to seize power. This shows a certain democratic sense, on their part. They are concerned that the ”American Empire” is about to collapse. Their concerns are well grounded!

This fear is quite wide spread, among middle class intellectual narrators. Indeed, some are comparing this to the situation within the Roman Empire, at the time when Rome ceased to be a Republic, and instead, became a Dictatorship. It was the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. 

It is reasonable to expect a certain number of these middle class, somewhat progressive intellectuals, to see the ‘’writing on the wall’’, and to ‘’jump ship’’. It is clear that monopoly capitalism has ‘’had its day’’. There is no point in even attempting to ‘’patch it up’’, as Biden suggested. It is beyond repair.

In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels foretold this:

‘’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. Just as, therefore, at an earlier period, a section of the nobility went over to the bourgeoisie, so now a portion of the bourgeoisie goes over to the proletariat, and in particular, a portion of the bourgeois ideologists, who have raised themselves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole.

‘’Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product’’.

Without doubt, the ‘’class struggle’’ is now near the ‘’decisive hour’’. The suffering of the working class is at appalling levels. Countless people are homeless, the more ‘’fortunate’’ living in cars. Drug overdoses are widespread. Gang violence has led to mass shootings, almost on a daily basis. The police have been reduced to documenting the slaughter. Unemployment is epidemic, as there are simply no jobs. A sense of despair is the rule, not the exception. And the wealth of the multi billionaires, the bourgeoisie, is sky rocketing!

That is the very definition of a revolutionary situation! Now we can expect a ‘’small section of the ruling class to cut itself adrift, and join the revolutionary class, the class that holds the future in its hands’’. 

It is only reasonable to expect that this ‘’small section’’, will be among the most intelligent of the intellectuals. As the bourgeoisie is determined to wipe out the middle class, they have no future under capitalism. On the other hand, they have a bright future under Scientific Socialism, in the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Their skills in organization and administration will be in high demand. They will be paid accordingly.

To those middle class, somewhat progressive, more intelligent intellectuals, I have a little word of unsolicited advice. Act now! Do not wait for the ‘’axe to fall’’! Trump and his ‘’buddies’’ -the three richest men in the country!- are determined to ‘’force the issue’’! To provoke an uprising! Revolution!

Among other things, they plan to deport all illegal immigrants, along with their children, including those who were born in America! Even though such children are American citizens by birth, according to the Constitution, that makes no difference. As far as Trump and his ‘’ultra rich buddies’’ are concerned, the Constitution is a mere scrap of paper!

Further bear in mind that Trump recently told his supporters to vote for him, one last time! As soon as he is sworn into office, he fully intends to set himself up as ‘’President For Life’’! Dictator!

It has been suggested that Trump was ‘’merely joking’’. True, the man does have a sense of humour. His idea of being ‘’funny’’, involves mocking those who are physically or mentally handicapped! Take him at his word! He means what he says!

The collapse of the ‘’American Empire’’, is the least of your worries! That is a given! Of far more concern, is the attack on the democratic rights of all Americans!

Trump thinks that he can do whatever he wants, and get away with it. After all, he has been doing precisely that, all his life. Thirty four felony convictions, and no penalty! Who can blame him for thinking that way?

Yet Trump is about to receive a ‘’rude awakening’’! Americans are prepared to take only so much! They have a proud history of revolution! In fact, their country was founded on revolution! They call it the Revolutionary War! A Second Revolutionary War is about to take place! Donald Trump is about to learn, that which King George learned, many years ago!

At that time, the American Revolutionaries treated the ‘’Loyalists’’, those who supported King George, to the rather uncivilized practice of ‘’tar and feathers’’. This public humiliation, of those referred to as ‘’Tories’’, served to break the power, the ‘’spiritual bonds’’, of those people. It is entirely possible that such techniques will be used, once again, in the forth coming revolution. 

Time is not on our side! Trump and his ‘’ultra rich buddies’’, seem determined to ‘’force the issue’’! So be it! Embrace the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin! Bring this awareness to the working class! Take part in Councils! Train, arm and equip the members of those Councils! Be active! Do not wait for the multi billionaires to drive you into bankruptcy, and the ranks of the proletariat!

As well, do not neglect your intellectual friends. Encourage them to also become active. Challenge the 2024 ‘’Presidential Election’’, on Constitutional grounds. Fight the bourgeoisie on various ‘’fronts’’. Give them no peace!

Your correspondence should also contain certain expressions, which may become slogans:

Prepare For Insurrection!

Scientific Socialism!

Dictatorship of the Proletariat!

Revolution!