The American democratic republic is under attack. Now that Donald Trump is once again President, he has wasted no time in implementing his completely reactionary agenda, referred to as Project 2025.
Barely one week into his second term, he has already made several attempts to ‘’terminate the Constitution’’, with his executive orders. As one Leftist journalist pointed out, ‘’Trump has provided ample ammunition for a third impeachment’’! This journalist is referring to the fact that, on ‘’day one’’ of his administration, he first violated the Fourteenth Amendment, nullifying birth right citizenship, by ordering the deportation of American citizens. Then, he ordered the state of California to amend their election laws. The penalty for not doing so, is to withhold federal money, for the severe losses the state suffered, due to the brush fires, within the city of Los Angeles. A clear example of ‘’election tampering’’!
It is noteworthy that twenty two states have gone to federal court, in an effort to stop Trump’s ‘’birth right citizenship order’’. A Leftist journalist documented this in a fine article:
‘’Today, a federal judge, who has been on the bench for forty years, and was appointed by Reagan, just told Trump, and his administration, and his DOJ lawyers, who went into court to argue in favour of that executive order, that it is blatantly Unconstitutional, and issued a temporary restraining order to block it’’. As the judge stated, ’’I have been on the bench for four decades. I cannot remember another case where the question presented was as clear’’.
A second Leftist narrator added that the same Judge ‘’scolded the Justice Department attorney’’, by stating that ‘’I have difficulty understanding how a member of the Bar can state unequivocally that this is a Constitutional order. It boggles my mind’’. The narrator then went on to state that he was ‘’Surprised that the judge has not sanctioned lawyers, really out of bounds for lawyers, a shocking thing to come up with’’.
Those two narrators, whom I just quoted, may object to being referred to as ‘’Leftist’’. They may prefer such adjectives as ‘’progressive’’, or perhaps ‘’democratic’’, in reference to themselves.
Regardless of the manner in which they choose to classify themselves, the fact remains that they have taken a progressive stand, in favour of defence of the American democratic republic. It is significant that they make no claim to being socialist. It is an indication of the breadth and depth of the mass movement, against the completely reactionary agenda of Trump and his handlers, the multi billionaires. It has now extended to the upper stratum of the middle class, the petty bourgeois.
This brings me to the subject of those who consider themselves to be ‘’Independent Socialists’’, of one shade or another. Such individuals may, or may not, be a member of a particular political party, or of a socialist organization, or both. Yet it is safe to say that all such self described Socialists, are progressive people, at least concerned with people in general, and with the democratic republic, in particular. We can work with such people, as they are honest, people of integrity.
It is reasonable to assume that the vast majority of self described Socialists, are intelligent, well educated members of the middle class, complete with University degrees. As that is the case, they are at least aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, as those theories are taught only in University.
More accurately, the scientific theories of Marx and Lenin are not so much taught, as distorted in Universities! As all Universities are ‘’bought and paid for’’, by the bourgeois, this is perhaps not too surprising.
Yet as those who refer to themselves as ‘’Socialists’’, are predominantly honest, I am convinced that they are prepared to listen to the ‘’voice of sweet reason’’. If nothing else, feel free to keep an open mind.
Bear in mind that Marx was, first and foremost, a Social Scientist. This is to say that Marx examined society from a scientific view point. The fact is that society develops according to certain laws, and not according to a haphazard assortment of random thoughts! Regardless of how pleasant those thoughts may be! And rest assured, the thought of socialism is indeed most pleasant!
Having said that, let us examine how Marx phrased it, in 1852:
‘’And now as to myself, no credit is due to me for discovering the existence of classes in modern society, nor yet the struggle between them. Long before me, bourgeois historians had described the historical development of this class struggle, and bourgeois economists the economic anatomy of the classes. What I did that was new was to prove: 1) that the existence of classes is only bound up with particular historical phases in the development of production; 2) that the class struggle necessarily leads to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat; 3) that this Dictatorship itself only constitutes the transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society.’’
It should be stressed, that Marx was concerned with something more than capitalism and socialism. Indeed, the ‘’historical phases in the development of production’’ led to something more than the ‘’existence of classes’’. It was only at the point that the ‘’development of production’’ led to a surplus, so that people were enabled to enslave people, a time referred to as ‘’civilization’’, that classes first came into existence. Slaves and slave owners.
Yet before civilization, in a time commonly referred to as the ‘’Stone Age’’, society still existed, albeit devoid of classes. At that time too, society developed, but still according to certain laws, based upon the ‘’development of production’’.
It was an American anthropologist, Lewis Henry Morgan, who wrote a book in 1877, titled: Ancient Society: Researches In the Lines of Human Progress From Savagery Through Barbarism To Civilization.
Morgan made it abundantly clear, in that book, that society develops ‘’as the product of successive enlargements of the sources of production, which were then reflected in changing family forms’’.
Marx most emphatically agreed! For that reason, he planned to write an article, based at least in part, on that book. He even wrote notes on that subject.
As Marx stated: ‘’Social relations are closely bound up with productive forces. In acquiring new productive forces, men change their mode of production, and in changing their mode of production, in changing the way of earning their living, they change all their social relations. The hand mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam mill society with the industrial capitalist’’.
Yet before he could complete that work, Marx died, in 1883. So his close friend, Friedrich Engles, carried on the work that Marx was able only to start.
As Engels stated, ‘’Marx had made it one of his future tasks to present the results of Morgan’s researches in the light of his own- within certain limits, I may say our- materialistic examination of history, and thus to make clear their full significance. For Morgan, in his own way, had discovered afresh in America, the materialist conception of history, discovered by Marx forty years ago, and in his comparison of barbarism and civilization it had led him, in the main points, to the same conclusions as Marx.’’
It should be noted that the ‘’gens’’, to which Engels refers, are commonly referred to as ‘’clans’’, in North America. Also, the title ‘’American Indians’’ is no longer politically correct, as they now prefer to be referred to as ‘’First Nations People’’.
That is somewhat incidental to the point that Engles was trying to make: ‘’According to the gens (clans) of the ‘’American Indians’’, organized according to mother right, he discovered the primitive form out of which had developed the later gens organized according to father right, the gens as we find it among the ancient civilized peoples. The Greek and Roman gens, the old riddle of all historians, now found its explanation in the Indian gens, and a new foundation was thus laid for the whole of primitive history.’’
It is significant that Engels referred to this as a ‘’definitive book -as definitive as Darwin’s was in the case of biology- on the primitive state of society’’.
This gave birth to the article that was written by Engles, titled, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. An absolute masterpiece, in my opinion. That is also the opinion of numerous scholars. Bear in mind that it is perhaps more accurate to say that it was written by Marx and Engles.
This is my own personal, less than subtle way, of stressing the fact that society develops according to certain laws, and not just under capitalism. As Engels stated, the same ‘’gens’’, or clan system, which developed in North America, also developed in Europe. The ‘’old riddle of all historians’’, the ‘’Greek and Roman gens’’, was explained by Morgan. Society developed, on different continents, according to the same laws.
Those same laws, concerning the development of society, also apply to civilization. The first classes, slaves and slave owners, gradually died out, and gave birth to the feudal system, with their more complicated arrangement of nobility, Kings and Queens, Knights, landlords, tradesmen and serfs. In turn, the industrial revolution gave birth to capitalism, with two new revolutionary classes, the bourgeois, or capitalist, and the proletariat, or working class.
Just as slavery gave way to feudalism, and feudalism gave way to capitalism, so too, capitalism will give way to socialism. It was Marx who proved this, through his thorough, scientific examination of society.
With that in mind, may I suggest that all Independent Socialists read another excellent book by Engels, that of Socialism, Utopian And Scientific. In that work, he draws a clear distinction between the Utopian Socialists, those who think that socialism is merely a good idea, but probably not feasible, and the Scientific Socialists, those who are aware that it follows from capitalism.
As well, I can also suggest the classics, such as The Communist Manifesto, and the Essential Works of Lenin. These include State and Revolution, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, and What Is To Be Done? Also, I highly recommend, Left Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder.
It is very likely that most, if not all, Independent Socialists are at least familiar with those books. Yet there is a big difference between the bourgeois distortion of the scientific theories of Marx and Lenin, and the theories themselves. Night and day, in fact!
The Democratic Socialists of America, DSA, has an excellent web site, on the internet. I am sure their goals are at least similar to the goals of all self described Independent Socialists, so I have decided to copy part of their web site:
Who we are
The Democratic Socialists of America is the largest socialist organization in the United States, with over 92,000 members and chapters in all 50 states. We believe that working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few.
What we do
We are a political and activist organization, not a party; through campus and community-based chapters, DSA members use a variety of tactics, from legislative to direct action, to fight for reforms that empower working people.
It is clear that they are a fine, progressive, Leftist organization. It is just as clear that they are completely misguided. The fact of the matter is that we live under a state of monopoly capitalism, referred to as imperialism, and as such, it is the multi billionaires who are in charge. There is no chance that the ‘’working people’’ can possibly ‘’run the economy and society democratically to meet human needs’’.
That point is driven home by a separate video, titled ‘’The Oligarchy’s Power Is Waking America’’.
The two narrators are clearly dedicated capitalists, by no means Leftist, but still, concerned citizens, complete with a democratic sense. They are of the opinion that the ‘’billionaires and CEO’s are trying to curry favour with Trump’’.
In this, they are mistaken. In fact, the ‘’billionaires and CEO’s’’ are the puppet masters who are ‘’pulling the strings’’ of Trump. They are the ‘’handlers’’, and Trump merely ‘’dances to their tune’’.
The narrators referred to these multi billionaires as ‘’current robber barons’’, in this ‘’second gilded age’’. It is merely a matter of ‘’following the money’’, to ‘’get to the monopoly’’, which is ‘’combined with data’’, so that ‘’American democracy is undermined’’.
The video is presented in a very convoluted manner, as the narrators are quite confused, but the point is valid.
It is significant that the narrators mentioned the existence of classes. They referred to the ‘’Oligarchy’’ as being members of a class of people, being ‘’zero point zero one percent of the population’’. This is to say that a small fraction of the population, one hundredth of one percent, controls more wealth than the ‘’bottom half of the population’’. The scientific term for this class of people is bourgeoisie, not oligarchy.
They also pointed out that just one of the richest men in America, put a quarter of a billion dollars into the election campaign of Trump. They refer to this as ‘’monopoly power wedded with politics’’. That is one way of putting it!
They then complain that the ‘’three richest men in the country’’, were ‘’standing in front of all Republicans’’, the elected leaders of the country! The narrators were of the opinion that those three multi billionaires were ‘’not there for working class Americans’’. Really? What was your first clue?
Even though this video is presented in a most disjointed manner, by two dedicated capitalists, it is clear that even they are concerned with the power of the monopoly capitalists. They even mentioned the existence of classes.
Conclusion
I consider all Independent Socialists to be my Brothers and Sisters, my Friends, my Comrades in Arms. I say this because all are honest, hard working, law abiding citizens, people who care about other people, especially the less fortunate. As do all Scientific Socialists.
For that reason, I have gone to considerable length to document the fact that the capitalists are, first and foremost, liars. All of their text books are filled with distortions, at best, and outright lies, at worst. It is simply not reasonable to expect anything better from them!
Even the best of the upper middle class, intellectual bourgeois scholars, cannot seem to ‘’think straight’’! First they state certain facts, then they become confused, and end up in a ‘’muddle’’, as Lenin phrased it. But then they are not capable of being honest!
By contrast, all Socialists, whether Independent or Scientific, are honest people. It is also safe to say that, all such Socialists have been misled by the capitalists, to one degree or another.
In particular, American bourgeois propaganda is intense! It sets the standard for lies and hypocrisy! Not too surprising, as the monopoly capitalists, the multi billionaires, the bourgeoisie, can afford to hire the finest liars and swindlers!
Do not be fooled! The fact is that monopoly capitalism is destined to give birth to Scientific Socialism! In the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat! That was proven by Karl Marx!
The capitalists are on the offensive! Those with tens, and even hundreds of billions, are determined to destroy the American democratic republic! They are ‘’wiping their feet’’ on the Constitution! Defying it at will! At the same time, reducing taxes on the members of their class! Trump is merely their puppet! Their Stooge! He puts Curly Howard to shame!
Now is not the time to ‘’play doormat’’! Now is the time to get active. If nothing else, re-read State and Revolution, by Lenin, this time with an open mind. He wrote that in preparation for the Great October Proletarian Socialist Revolution. We can use that to prepare for the approaching American Socialist Revolution.
Now is the time to transform yourself, to take the ‘’quantum leap’’, to graduate from an Independent Socialist, to a Scientific Socialist.
Time is not on our side. To paraphrase an old proverb, ‘’Time and Revolution wait for no one’’! Just as your ancestors did not wait for their Colonial leaders to give the ‘’go ahead’’, in 1776, so too, the American public of today, is not about to wait. The Second American Revolution could break out, at any time. The monopoly capitalists are about to ‘’force the issue’’!
No one knows which particular ‘’spark’’ will trigger a popular uprising, an Insurrection. We do know that the better prepared we are, the better the chances of success. Heaven help us if we fail!
That is where Scientific Socialists come in. It is up to them, ‘’conscious people’’, to provide the working people with the proper leadership.
Now the ‘’ball is in your court’’, so to speak. As you are aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, it is up to you to bring that awareness to the working class, the proletariat. There is no other way!
We will know that we are being successful, when certain slogans become common place:
Prepare For Insurrection!
Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
Scientific Socialism!
Revolution!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 