Author: Gerald Mcisaac

The world of capitalism is being rocked by twin crises. The corona virus is sweeping the world, causing wide spread sickness and death. The most highly developed countries have responded by declaring a state of emergency, closing their borders, placing their citizens under a ”lockdown”, in that most people are not allowed to leave their homes, unless it is for an emergency or to buy groceries. Even then, all must practice ”social distancing”, keeping a respectful distance from others. Only ”essential personnel” are allowed to keep working, such as hospital staff and ”first responders”. The idea is to contain the spread of the virus. The effectiveness of this policy varies from one country to another.

The countries which recognized the threat of the virus and immediately took steps to contain it, suffered the least amount of sickness and death. By contrast, the most highly industrialized countries were slow to respond to the crisis caused by the virus. The capitalists who are in charge of such countries were most reluctant to place their countries in ”lockdown mode”, as that is ”bad for business”, or as they are so fond of saying, ”harms the economy”. By that they mean their profits will suffer.

Naturally, of all countries, America was perhaps the slowest to respond. So now they are paying the price, with a half million people who have been confirmed to be infected with the virus, and twenty thousand dead. The vast majority of these fatalities have been seniors.

In addition, all capitalist countries are now entering a depression, although most bourgeois economists are denying this. As Lenin put it, ”it is in their interest to do so”. Such economists come out with glowing predictions, which are far removed from reality. The alternative is to tell the stock holders the facts, in which case their bosses, the corporate directors, will find some one who is more agreeable. The European Union is on the verge of collapse. None of the bourgeois economists are prepared to admit this, just as they deny that numerous countries are facing bankruptcy. Denial is the ”order of the day”.

A similar situation existed towards the end of the First World War, in that the most industrialized countries were in a state of crisis. As Lenin put it, ”Europe’s greatest misfortune and danger is that it has no revolutionary party. It has parties of traitors…and servile souls…But it has no revolutionary party.” (italics by Lenin) He goes on to say that ”a mighty, popular revolutionary movement may rectify this deficiency, but it is nevertheless a serious misfortune and a grave danger.”

At that time, the Marxists of the day fully expected the Russian revolution to spread to other countries of the world. May I suggest that one reason it did not, is that the ”grave danger”, the lack of a ”revolutionary party”, was at least partly responsible for this. May I also suggest that we suffer from a similar ”misfortune”, and not just in Europe.

The fact is that people need leaders. This is especially true of the working class, the proletariat, as members of that class are not aware of themselves as a class. This gives the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, a huge advantage. It is the duty of conscious people, Marxists, to bring this awareness to the working class. Further, the most advanced members of the working class must be raised to the level of Marxists.

This is a ”tall order”, but no where near as difficult as it used to be. The breakthrough in modern communications, that which I refer to as the internet -for lack of a better word- has given the working class a powerful tool. The members of the public are far better educated now than ever before. In particular, various popular television shows have exposed the inner workings of the political system. True, these are works of fiction, but based on fact. The writers of those shows know precisely what they are doing. We are grateful to them.

No doubt there are a great many working class people who are now politically active, as a result of the revolutionary motion. I write this article with those people in mind. Welcome, my brothers and sisters, my comrades!

It is very likely that most working class people are somewhat confused by the people on the Left, by which I mean those who claim to be socialists, independent socialists, Marxist-Leninists or Communists, among other things. But then it is confusing. Which is not to say that the ”revolutionary” theories they spout is new and original, because it is not. It is merely a rehash of the same old garbage which was blurted out many years ago, and Lenin had a few choice words for those who endorsed this revisionist nonsense.

During the time that Lenin worked, that which we refer to as Marxism or Communism was referred to as Social Democracy, as it was considered that those who strive for socialism also strive for democracy. That is quite clear and simple, yet there is nothing so simple that bourgeois intellectuals cannot complicate. Social Democracy is no exception.

At that time, a number of bourgeois intellectuals, those who claimed to be Marxists, but were in fact revisionists, which is to say that they were determined to revise the revolutionary theories of Marx, distinguished themselves by coming to the fore front of the revolutionary movement which was then sweeping the country. A similar situation is taking place today. Lenin had a few words for these imposters, those who claim to be Marxists, but are not. As that is the case, perhaps it is best to check in on the lad.

In fact, Lenin wrote What Is To Be Done? with those frauds in mind. As it is so important, I have decided to quote it at some length. The revisionists were of the opinion that ”Social Democracy must change from a party of the social revolution into a democratic party of social reforms…The possibility of putting socialism on a scientific basis and of proving that it is necessary and inevitable from the point of view of the materialist conception of history was denied, as also were the facts of growing impoverishment and proletarianization and the intensification of capitalist contradictions. The very conception, ‘ultimate aim‘ was declared to be unsound, and the idea of the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat was absolutely rejected. It was denied that there is any difference in principle between liberalism and socialism. The theory of the class struggle was rejected on the grounds that it could not be applied to a strictly democratic society, governed according to the will of the majority, etc…Thus, the demand for a definite change from revolutionary Social Democracy to bourgeois social reformism was accompanied by a no less definite turn towards bourgeois criticism of all the fundamental ideas of Marxism” (italics by Lenin)

Lenin went on to say that this ”trend” in Social Democracy is nothing else than a ”new species of opportunism”. (italics by Lenin) For those who are new to the revolutionary movement, I should explain that the word means unprincipled. Further, it has been my experience that those who strive to revise the theories of Marx tend to be completely devoid of principle.

Today few people can deny the ”growing impoverishment and proletarianization and the intensification of capitalist contradictions”. Certainly the millions of workers who are being laid off can testify to that! In addition to their jobs, they are about to lose their life savings, their houses, cars and everything else they have worked all their lives to attain.

By the same token, the small business owners, the middle class people, the petty bourgeois, are equally well aware of the fact of ”proletarianization”, as they are being ruined by this crisis in capitalism. Their businesses are closed, never to reopen. They have been forced into the ranks of the proletariat.

As for the ”intensification of capitalist contradictions”, it is clear for all to see that the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, are thriving! Now more so than ever, they are indeed living in the ”lap of luxury”. Countless people are sick and dying, so the price of medical equipment has gone through the roof! Simple face masks are now selling for ten to twenty times the usual price! Medical personnel and first responders, those who are placing their health and even their lives on the line, are being gouged!

Not only are the capitalists reaping ”windfall profits” as a result of the virus, they are also stealing countless billions of tax payer dollars and giving it to themselves and the corporations which they own. They justify this with the rationale that such corporations are Too Big To Fail. Clearly the rest of us are Too Small To Succeed!

It is vitally important that true Communist parties be formed in all the industrialized countries of the world, and not just in Europe. The reason for this is quite simple: The success of the revolution depends upon this!

As for those who are skeptical, who think the working class can spontaneously revolt and establish a socialist republic, may I suggest that you could not possibly be more mistaken. As Lenin put it, ”Without a revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement…the importance of theory… is still greater for three reasons…our Party is only in the process of formation, its features are but just becoming outlined, and it has not yet completely settled its accounts with other tendencies in revolutionary thought which threaten to divert the movement from the proper path…what at first sight appears to be an ‘unimportant’ mistake may give rise to most deplorable consequences… the second reason is that the Social Democratic movement is essentially an international movement…It also means that a movement that is starting in a young country can be successful only on the condition that it assimilates the experience of other countries…The third reason is that the national tasks of Russian Social Democracy are such as have never confronted any other socialist party in the world…the role of vanguard can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by an advanced theory.” (italics by Lenin)

In the same work by Lenin, he went on to quote extensively from Engels. As he put it, ”Engels recognized not two forms of the great struggle Social Democracy is conducting (political and economic)…but three, adding to the first two the theoretical struggle.” (italics by Lenin)

We are now faced with a similar situation, in that the most industrialized countries of the world, including America, are suffering from the ”grave danger” and ”serious misfortune” of not having a proper Communist Party to give the working class the guidance it so desperately needs. It is absolutely essential that each and every country form its own Communist Party. As for those countries which are cursed with political parties which claim to be Marxist, but are in fact revisionist, may I suggest the name of the party be Communist Party, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, or CP, DOP. In this way, the true Marxist parties can be distinguished from the revisionists, as no Marxist revisionist acknowledges the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.

The Communist Party of each country can then focus on raising the level of awareness of the working class, the proletariat. The most advanced workers can be raised to the level of Communists. They in turn will lead the less advanced.

As Lenin pointed out, regardless of the strength of the revolutionary movement, it will not lead to Social Democratic, which is to say Marxist or Communist consciousness. ”This consciousness could only be brought to them from without. The history of all countries shows that the working class, exclusively by its own efforts, is able to develop only trade union consciousness…The theory of socialism, however, grew out of the philosophical, historical and economic theories that were elaborated by the educated representatives of the propertied classes, the intellectuals…the founders of modern scientific socialism, Marx and Engels, themselves belonged to the bourgeois intelligentsia.”

I should add that this ”trade union consciousness”, this awareness of the working class, or at least the more advanced members of the working class, that there is ”strength in numbers”, is as far as the working class can go, by itself. The political revisionist parties which demand only paltry reforms, such as an increase in wages and working conditions, are referred to by Lenin as ”Economists”. It is characteristic of such people that they ”worship” the spontaneous revolutionary movement, and oppose the non-labour ”socialist intelligentsia”, event though they claim to be members of the socialist intelligentsia! That is a marvel of intellectual gymnastics!

I have no doubt that each country will soon rectify the ”grave danger” and ”misfortune” of not having a true Communist Party. Just bear in mind that, as Lenin put it, ”all subservience to the spontaneity of the labour movement, all belittling of the role of the ‘conscious element’, of the role of Social Democracy, means, whether one likes it or not, the growth of influence of bourgeois ideology among the workers. All those who talk about ‘exaggerating the importance of ideology’, about exaggerating the importance of the conscious element, etc., imagine that the pure and simple labour movement can work out an independent ideology for itself, if only the workers ‘take the fate out of the hands of the leaders’. But this is a profound mistake…Since there can be no talk of an independent ideology being developed by the masses of the workers in the process of their movement, the only choice is: either bourgeois or socialist ideology. There is no middle course…to belittle socialist ideology in any way, to deviate from it in the slightest degree means strengthening bourgeois ideology.” (italics by Lenin)

It is my personal opinion that the Russian revolution could not have succeeded without the leadership provided by Lenin. It is further my personal opinion that the revolution did not spread beyond the borders of Russia, because of the ”grave danger” and ”misfortune” of the lack of a Communist Party in other countries.

No doubt skeptical readers will question why the spontaneous movement, the movement along the line of least resistance, lead to the domination of bourgeois ideology? As Lenin responded, ”For the simple reason that bourgeois ideology is far older in origin than Social Democratic ideology; because it is more fully developed and because it possesses immeasurably more opportunities for being distributed.”

There can be no doubt that the current crisis in capitalism has given birth to a truly revolutionary situation, not just in Europe but also in America. Or especially in America, as the tension is extreme. The revolution could break out any day, but without a Communist Party to provide direction, it is bound to fail! The current pack of imbecilic leaders would only be replaced by a new pack of thieves and liars. Capitalism would continue, despite the change of faces.

Under these circumstances, I am convinced that there is nothing more important now than the formation of a Communist Party, in each industrialized country. I consider this to be the ”key link” in the chain, as Lenin refers to it. With that in mind, as an answer to my question of Now What To Do?

Create a Communist Party

Capitalism has just given rise to no less than two crises, which are happening at the same time. The corona virus is sweeping the world, leaving death and devastation in its wake. At the same time, the capitalist world is now entering a Second Great Depression. More death and destruction!

As Lenin pointed out in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, ”Crises of every kind -economic crises more frequently, but not only these- in their turn increase very considerably the tendency towards concentration and monopoly.”

The twin crises we are currently experiencing are providing us with very clear cut examples of this. In the last three weeks alone, an estimated 17 million workers filed for unemployment insurance benefits. Countless small businesses are shut down, the vast majority of which will never reopen. Even after the country recovers from the effects of the corona virus, the depression will continue. The major businesses, the monopolies, the ”chains” of super markets, airlines, railroads, hotels, mines and mills, for example, are open for business now and will continue to remain open. The only difference is that now, they do not have any competition from the small business owners. The monopolies are now stronger, more complete. Those whom the capitalists have deemed ”Too Big To Fail” will thrive, while the rest of us, those who are Too Small To Succeed, will go the way of the dodo bird.

This is to the advantage of the monopoly capitalists, the billionaires, the Sacred Six Hundred, the bourgeoisie. They own these corporations, and have already given themselves trillions of dollars of tax payer money. For the benefit of those who are not aware, I will point out that a trillion is a thousand billion! The crisis continues to intensify. The small business owners, the middle class, the petty bourgeois is being wiped out. As Lenin put it, ”it is the petty bourgeois that every war and every crisis ruins and destroys first”. Yet they are not the only ones who are facing ruin.

Millions of workers, proletarians, are losing their jobs, soon to lose their houses and everything else they own, including their life sayings, forced into bankruptcy. And the bourgeoisie? They are rolling in wealth! They have never been richer. Those who used to have billions now have tens of billions! This is truly ”the best of times, the worst of times”.

This is another way of saying that the situation is revolutionary. The suffering of the common people, the members of the public, is severe and about to become ever more intense. The capitalists expect us to suffer through this depression, much as our grand parents suffered through the first great depression. Possibly they are not aware that we are not our grandparents. We are far more aware than they ever were. We are not about to put up with the this crap, as our grandparents did. Perhaps we should let them know this!

The internet, movies and popular television shows have helped to educate the members of the public. Now it is up to conscious people, Marxists, to further educate the working class, to raise their level of awareness, to explain to people the existence of classes, of the necessity of revolution and the subsequent Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. We currently live under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The capitalists are in charge and fully intend to remain in charge. The only alternative is the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. As we live in a class society, there is no third alternative.

We can learn from the Russian revolution, as it was similar to the current situation, but there were also important differences. Three quarters of the Russian population was composed of peasants, most of whom had no education. As most of the country was not highly industrialized, it was different from the current American situation. As Lenin put it, ”In such a country it was quite easy to start a revolution”. On the other hand, in such a country, carrying through the revolution is exceptionally difficult. Or as Lenin phrased it, ”it was easy for the Russian revolution to begin but difficult for it to take further steps.”

Lenin went on to compare the Russian revolution to that of highly industrialized countries, within Europe. ”The European revolution will have to begin against the bourgeoisie, against a much more serious enemy and under immeasurably more difficult conditions. It will be much more difficult for the European revolution to begin. We see that it is immeasurably more difficult to make the first breach in the system that is holding back the revolution. It will be much easier for the European revolution to advance to the second and third stages.” That is because ”the degree of organization and solidarity of the proletariat there is incomparably greater.” He went on to say that ”It is more difficult to start a revolution in West European countries because there the revolutionary proletariat is opposed by the higher thinking that comes with culture, and the working class is in a state of cultural slavery.”

That which applies to Western Europe also applies to America, but with an additional difference. In respect to America, there is one more detail which has to be taken into account. As Lenin also stated, ”The trade unions have never embraced more than one fifth of the wage workers in capitalist society, even under the most favourable circumstances, even in the most advanced countries… only a small upper stratum were members, and of them a very few were lured over and bribed by the capitalists to take their place in capitalist society as workers leaders. The American socialists called these people ‘labour lieutenants of the capitalist class….who were bribed and bought by it.”’

The point is that there are members of the working class, within America, who are quite well paid, ”bribed” by the capitalists, those who may or may not be union leaders, but quite content to serve their masters, the capitalists. To these ”labour lieutenants of the capitalist class”, may I suggest that you ”mend your ways”. You are probably not aware of the fact that you are about to become a target of the revolution. Feel free to ”convert”, as otherwise the experience of the revolution will make you wish you had. If there is one thing we find more contemptible than the capitalists, it is their belly crawling boot lickers.

Now to the American women, my female comrades, I can only say that you have proven yourselves to be excellent organizers. That is fine, as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. Those of you who are not aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin have to ”brush up”, to educate yourselves. Those of you who are aware of the revolutionary theories have to put it into practice. Face the fact that capitalism has had its day, it is in its death throes. There is no way out of this crisis, this depression. The world will never again be the same.

Now is the time to step up, to distinguish yourselves as revolutionary leaders, to follow in the footsteps of Rosa Luxembourg. She was a fine revolutionary, one who devoted her life to the cause of revolution. She refused to compromise her principles, never became a revisionist, never betrayed the working people. It was for that reason that she paid the ultimate price, was murdered by the reactionaries. May her sacrifice be an inspiration to women around the world!

To American men, my comrades, may I offer similar advice. Now is no time to march for paltry reforms -not that it ever was- but to march for the revolution, to overthrow the capitalists, the bourgeoisie. Join your women folk, protect them, prepare to do battle. They call us ”rednecks”, so embrace the term. Wear red kerchiefs, perhaps over your nose and mouth, to prevent the spread of the virus. Do not allow fear of the virus to divert you from the greater enemy, the bourgeoisie. March to destroy capitalism. March for your women and children. March for scientific socialism. March for the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!

The single day death toll in the country, as a result of the virus, has reached a record 1,800, bringing the grand total to over 13,000. The virus is decimating the country, causing terrible suffering. The families of those who are dying in hospitals are not allowed to visit them, as the fear is that such visits could lead to more spreading of the virus. As a result of this legitimate concern, such patients are forced to die without being surrounded by family. Further, the family is then forced to arrange a funeral with very few mourners, due to the rules concerning social distancing.

In the midst of this devastation, the journalists are reporting a ”glimmer of hope”, a ”light at the end of the tunnel.” They report that the ”curve is flattening”, that we are ”reaching the apex”, that the anticipated death toll ”may be less than the anticipated 150,000”. Perhaps they think the families of the victims of the virus may take some comfort in this!

As soon as someone dies, it is up to the coroner or Medical Examiner to determine the cause of death. The one and only way to determine if the deceased had the virus, is to administer the test for the virus, which can be done, after death. All too often, this is not being done. The test kits are not available!

The president of the Wyoming Coroners Association stated that testing procedures for the dead are limited, and doubts that ”we will ever know the true impact on fatalities from covid, both for the living and the dead.”

The coroner of Arkansas Clark County was somewhat less polite, when he stated, ”Bodies aren’t tested for covid19. Period.”

The coroner in Douglas County, Colorado, has been begging for test kits. As she put it, ”If you die in my county, I will not know if you died of covid19.”

The coroner in Chester County, Pennsylvania, was a bit more diplomatic when she stated ”Testing has been so restricted and test kits so unavailable, I do not think we really know the scope of the infection or virus related deaths here.”

Coroners all across the country are expressing a similar frustration.

The simple fact is that no one knows precisely how many people are dying as a result of becoming infected with the virus. For that matter, no one even knows how many people are becoming infected with the virus! The hospitals are filled to capacity and beyond, with patients being placed in the hallways. Many people who are sick are being turned away from the hospital, if only because they appear to not be in a life threatening state. There is no time or place for such people. Such patients frequently die at home.

This helps to explain the ”flattening of the curve”, the ”apex of the virus”, the reason fewer people are dying than was anticipated. The infection and death of a great many people is not being reported!

This frustration is shared by the medical workers, the first responders and the delivery service workers. The medical system is at the point of collapse. In one case, two nurses were expected to care for twenty six patients, ten of whom were on ventilators. It is absolutely not reasonable to expect two nurses to provide quality care for patients, under those circumstances. Such examples are by no means isolated incidents. They are common place.

Recently in Detroit, the night shift emergency nursing staff refused to work and demanded more nurses be brought into their overrun emergency room. The hospital administrators in turn told those nurses to either go to work, or go home. A few of them did go home, and the day shift nurses were ordered to continue working, for a twenty four hour shift!

The head of the Michigan Nurses Association spoke quite clearly when she said ”A tipping point is reached where the best thing any RN can do for their patients, their families and their coworkers is to speak out rather than remain silent…it is only a matter of time before more actions like this occur. It is absolutely essential that hospitals start working with nurses and stop silencing our voices.”

In this she is absolutely right, in so far as ”speaking out” is the ”best thing any RN can do”. On the other hand, there is no way the hospital administrators are about to listen to the nurses, nor are they about to ”stop silencing” their voices. The hospital staff is in the service of the class of people who run the country, the capitalists, the billionaires, the Sacred Six Hundred, the bourgeoisie. These people are imperialists, and as Lenin put it, ”Imperialism is reaction, right down the line”. As that is the case, we can expect nothing progressive from these people.

Some of the delivery workers, those who supply the hospitals with medical supplies and are classified as essential services, are already on strike. Any day now, the hospital staff will join them, as they reach the ”tipping point”, the point where people cannot take any more, where they say ”enough is enough”. They are risking their health and even their lives, without proper protective clothing to wear, a shortage of medical equipment, over worked so that they simply cannot perform a proper job, and disrespected by the hospital administrators. There are limits.

This anticipated strike action, on the part of the medical workers, could well be the beginning of a full scale revolution. It is not just the medical system that is at the stage of crisis, set to collapse. The whole system of capitalism is in crisis, although it is doubtful that the capitalists are aware of this. Even if they are aware, they are not about to acknowledge this. As that is the case, perhaps we should draw it to their attention. It is the least we can do. We owe them so much, and it is high time we got even!

The virus has spread around the world, and this is just the start of the Second Great Depression. Even after the virus has run its course, or at least the first wave of the virus, the depression will remain.

It is to be hoped that the current situation will serve as a ”call to arms”, that conscious people, those who are aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, will come together and form a revolutionary Communist Party, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. It is also hoped that all Americans will put aside their differences and join the two mainstream political parties. As well, the leaders of the Women’s March and the Student Protest Movement should once again stage massive protests, this time in support of our heroic medical professionals and against the system of capitalism. They have done it before and they can do it again.

As for the groups who are determined to force through paltry reforms, feel free to face the fact that such reforms are not about to take place. It is time for people of all backgrounds to come together, regardless of race, religion, creed, belief or class heritage. Bear in mind that Marx and Lenin were middle class intellectuals. It is such people who are obligated to bring the class awareness to the working class, the proletariat. Intellectuals are not to be scorned!

On the contrary, it is up to workers, or at least the most advanced members of the working class, to raise their level of awareness to that of the level of intellectuals! Feel free to earn the mantle of working class intellectual! The revolutionary writings of Marx and Lenin are readily available, as is the internet. Make use of these tools, as it is in your best interest.

I most passionately hope that Americans will once again become active, as they have in the past. After all, they have a revolutionary history, of which they can be most proud. March with banners, this time proclaiming class content, calling for scientific socialism, an end to capitalism, the defeat of the billionaires, the Sacred Six Hundred, the bourgeoisie. The beginning of the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.

I will close this article with suggestions for my usual slogans, as it gives people a place to start:

Workers of the World, Unite!

Scientific Socialism!

Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!

The country is entering the Second Great Depression, that which is expected to be even more severe than the Great Depression of the early twentieth century. The hardship is compounded by the pandemic of the corona virus, so that people are referring to this as a ”double whammy”. In desperation, people are looking for leaders. They are appealing to their democratically elected leader, and in particular the president of the United States, Donald Trump. He takes no responsibility for the crisis which is sweeping the country.

One writer in particular, a true starry eyed optimist, stated that Trump is facing a ”problem that can’t be solved with his usual bag of political tools, obfuscation, denial, deflecting blame and misinformation”. If only that were true!

In fact, Trump denies ever having met with medical professionals in January, in which he was warned of the danger of the corona virus. He was advised of the necessity of containing the virus, of isolating infected areas as well as the individuals who are infected, of preparing for the out break of the anticipated pandemic, of stocking up on medical supplies and giving people warning. This he denies, just as he denies clearly stating, on February 25, ”We are very close to a vaccine”. In fact, the medical professionals are convinced that such a vaccine is at least a year away.

He also stated, on February 28, ”Its going to disappear one day, its like a miracle, it will disappear, it will go away.” He went on to speculate that ”warm weather will kill the virus”, despite the fact that there is nothing to suggest that the weather will have any effect on the virus. Then on March 7, he said that ”anyone who wants a test for the virus can get one”. Such is hardly the case, as to this day, such a test is not widely available.

As Trump recently stated, he ”takes no responsibility for this virus”. The lack of preparation, the ”empty shelves”, he has nailed on the previous administration. The fact that he has been in office for over three years is conveniently overlooked. The journalists who point this out to him, in turn face his wrath and scorn. This is especially true if that journalist is a female. Trump has little patience for women who do not ”know their place”!

This brings us to his top political adviser, his son in law, Jared Kushner. He occupies a ”special post” inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The duties of this ”special post” are carefully not specified. Those who work inside the White House refer to him as the leader of the ”Slim Suit Crowd”.

What ever his official duties may or may not be, we are grateful to Kushner for clarifying the position of the Trump administration, concerning their attitude towards the individual states. As Kushner stated so clearly -if not eloquently- ”The notion of the federal stockpile was, it’s supposed to be our stockpile. It’s not supposed to be the states stockpiles, that they then use.”

There we have it, folks. Jared Kushner has just drawn a clear distinction between ”us”, or the ”federal’, and ”they”, or the individual states! The individual states which comprise the United States are of no consequence! The ”stockpiles” of the ”federal” are not to be used by the states! The United States are no longer ”United”, merely a miscellaneous assortment of individual states which cannot ”use” the ”federal stockpile”!

To think that most Americans were of the impression that America, by which they meant the United States, was just that! A group of states which were united in purpose, brought together under one federal government, a single country. Such is hardly the case, at least according to Jared Kushner.

It is very likely that the ”us” to whom Kushner refers, is nothing other than himself, his father in law, Donald Trump, and the other billionaires in the country, the Sacred Six Hundred, the super rich, the members of the class of people whom are technically referred to as the bourgeoisie. They rule the country, and have donated hundreds, if not thousands, of billions of dollars to the major corporations which they own. These corporations are considered to be ”Too Big To Fail”, as opposed to the numerous small businesses, which are considered to be Too Small To Succeed. For that matter, countless common people are now losing their jobs, houses and life savings, but we too are Too Small To Succeed. We do not count.

Now the latest absurdity from Trump is that ”We see light at the end of the tunnel”. Such is hardly the case, for as Dr. Fauci, his top medical adviser put it, ”This is going to be a bad week… We are struggling to get it under control”. The Surgeon General clearly agrees, as he expects the ”week ahead to be the hardest and saddest.” He also says ”we are facing a crucial two week period…a Pearl Harbour and a nine eleven moment…with a lot of deaths.”

As a journalist just reported, precisely a month ago, the death toll from the virus was precisely eleven. Now, one month later, the death toll is ten thousand! All this talk of the ”peaking of the virus”, of ”flattening the curve”, is just that. Talk. The virus continues to spread, making countless people sick and killing a great many. Further, as thousands of people are desperately sick, kept alive on ventilators, most of those people will soon die, as soon as they are removed from ventilators.

This stands in stark contrast to Trump, the ”eternal optimist”, who is suggesting the use of an untested drug. As he put it, ”What do you have to lose?” In answer to the question, the president of the AMA replied, ”You could lose your life.”

To this day, ninety six percent of the country is placed on ”stay at home orders”, or at least forced to exercise ”social distancing”, so that people leave their homes only when absolutely necessary. In other words, thirteen million people are still moving around, spreading the virus! Trump refuses to exercise his executive authority and force the whole country onto ”stay at home” orders. As a result of this, ever more ”hot spots” continue to appear.

The state of New York has been very hard hit by the virus, with nearly half of the deaths in the country occurring in that one state. Yet when the governor of the state called up the White House and requested more medical equipment, including face masks and ventilators, he was told that he did not know what he had in his own state inventory! Other governors, of other states, have reported similar conversations.

The medical personnel, including first responders as well as hospital staff, are putting their lives as well as their health on the line. In return, they are asking for proper protective gear, such as face masks, as well as hazardous duty pay. In response, the government authorities are telling them ”now is not the time”. Bear in mind that ”now is the time” to bless the biggest, richest, most powerful corporations with mountains of money, tax payer money no less, but the same people who dole out this money have no time to listen to working people!

To all working people, I can only say that now is the time to act! We do not have the time to wait for the virus to run its course. By that time, millions of people will be homeless, as well as unemployed. We have to take action now, to march, as the women marched across the country, at the time Trump was inaugurated, three years ago. The students also marched, in protest of gun violence. Now all Americans, of all walks of life, have got to come together, put aside our differences, and overthrow the system of capitalism, destroy the bourgeois state apparatus and establish the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!

Now is the time for scientific socialism! It is the billionaires, the monopoly capitalists, the bourgeoisie, who are responsible for this disaster. They are using this as an opportunity to line their own pockets! The problem is not one of Trump or Kushner, but of the class they represent, the bourgeoisie! The whole class must be destroyed! In the process, we can expect the country to break up, as the empire collapses, as working people set up a democratic republic, of the people, by the people and for the people, the working people , the proletariat!

May I suggest that when people march, in order to overthrow the government which protects the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, the people should wear face scarfs, if nothing else. Face masks are not always available. After the revolution, after we crush the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, under the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, then we can focus on dealing with this virus which is decimating our population.

The same people who organized the women’s march, as well as the students march, must once again become active and organize once again, only this time with the goal of overthrowing the bourgeoisie. All citizens should be encouraged to join the two mainstream political parties, as card carrying members. All conscious people, those who are familiar with the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, should focus also on forming a proper Communist Party, one which advocates the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. In this way, the Party will be able to distinguish itself from the revisionist parties.

It is to be hoped that this depression and virus will serve as a ”wake up call”. The people are desperate for leaders. Feel free to rise to the occasion.

The United Nations has now referred to the Corona Virus as ”the most challenging issue the world has faced since World War 2”. It has spread around the world, with the number of reported cases now over one million, with 54,000 fatalities. America is the country with the most reported cases of the virus, with almost a quarter million infected and 6,000 dead. The American health care system is in danger of being overwhelmed.

The medical professionals anticipate running out of equipment within a few days. Hospitals in all fifty states are being forced to ”bid against each other”, in an attempt to buy the medical equipment they so desperately need. This includes not only ventilators, but also personal protective equipment, such as face masks, so as to give the staff a measure of protection from the virus. As the situation becomes ever more desperate, the price of all such medical equipment continues to rise.

The capitalists refer to this as the ”law of supply and demand”. The greater the demand, the higher the price of the items which are available, so they do their best to limit the supply, possibly hoarding such things as face masks, in order to increase profits. As a result of this, the fact is that countless people are getting sick and many of them are dying. This is of no concern to the capitalists. They are only concerned with their profit, their ”bottom line”. This pandemic, which is sweeping the world and causing untold suffering, they see as an ”opportunity”. Make no mistake, they are taking full advantage of this ”opportunity”, making money ”hand over fist”.

New York City is currently considered to be the ”epicentre” of the outbreak in America, with the hospitals and medical staff stretched to the limit. The New York Fire Department, as ”first responders”, is reported to have 3,000 members out sick, mainly as a result of being exposed to the virus, in the performance of their duties. In addition, the president of the New York Nurses Association pointed out that ”it does not matter how many ventilators we have, if we are dead”. That girl has a way with words!

The American military is not indifferent to the suffering of the citizens, and has graciously sent a military hospital ship, the Comfort, to New York City, to help relieve the pressure. The only stipulation is that the ship will only allow patients who are not infected with the virus to be treated. In that way, hospital beds in the city will become available for those who are infected with the virus.

The patients who are identified as candidates for transferral to the Comfort must first be tested, to see if they have the virus. It takes several days to get the test results, and most hospital patients are released after four or five days. So by the time the test results are produced, the patients are usually released. As a result of this, the Comfort, which has a thousand beds and has been docked in New York harbour for three days, has possibly twenty patients. The medical staff within the city do not refer to this ship as the Comfort. They refer to it as the ”Floating Joke”.

The press reports that certain hospitals are filled to capacity and even overflowing, with patients being placed in hall ways. The doctors are referring to the situation as a ”medical war zone”. There is a palpable sense of despair and frustration within the medical community. The medical crisis is expected to intensify, as the infection rate has not yet reached a ”peak”, to use the popular term.

It is just a matter of time, and probably a short time, before the health care system in the country is overwhelmed. Even now, there are people who are infected and very sick, yet refuse to go to the hospital. They choose to remain at home and die surrounded by their families, as opposed to going to the hospital and dying alone. The sad fact is that people who are placed on ventilators have only a twenty percent chance of recovering. This means that of every five people placed on ventilators, only one is likely to survive. The other four can be expected to survive for days or even weeks, on ”life support”, but almost certainly die once the machine is removed.

This is not to say that patients should be denied ventilators, or anything else they need. It is to say that many of the ventilators which the federal government has in storage are in need of repair. The mayor of New York City is of the opinion that the federal government should ”step up” and provide more assistance, before more people die needlessly. As the highest single day increase in deaths and hospitalizations has just been reported, there is no time to lose.

As the ”federal government” to which he is referring is led by President Trump, no less, this ”assistance” is not about to take place. There are still ten states which have no ”stay at home” rules, so the folks in those states are continuing to travel and gather, to their hearts content, and spread the corona virus. These states are considered to be ”rural”, sparsely populated, so that the health care system in such areas are not on a par with that which is available in ”urban” centres. It is anticipated that any outbreak of the virus will quickly overwhelm the few hospitals which are available.

For that matter, it is just a matter of time before the medical system all across the country breaks down. In other parts of the world, there are reports of victims of the virus dropping dead in the streets, as the hospitals are filled to capacity. Now the press is starting to face reality and reporting that the virus is anticipated to be with us for months and not weeks. After that, it is the opinion of medical experts that we could then be faced with a ”second wave”. Possibly they anticipate that the virus could ”mutate”, and return with a vengeance.

It is worth noting that world wide, the death rate for those infected with the virus is roughly five percent, while in America the death rate is around half, at perhaps two point five percent. The medical care in the country is clearly superior to other parts of the world, and those who are kept alive on ventilators, if only for a few days, are not classified as fatalities. That helps to keep the fatality rate at an artificially low level. As the medical system in the country becomes ever more overburdened, we can expect that number to grow.

In the midst of all this devastation, President Trump has a well established set of priorities. He has called up the leaders of Russia and Saudi Arabia and expressed his concern over the price of oil! He wants them to limit their production of oil, as the low price of oil is adversely affecting the stock market. Americans are getting sick and dying, and Trump is worried about the price of oil! It is strange, but perhaps not too surprising, that the Kremlin is not aware of this call!

The medical professionals, the ”first responders” and the delivery workers, those who are providing desperately needed equipment to those who are in need, in turn need our support. They are risking their health and even their lives, in order to assist those who so desperately require help. To such people I can only offer my most sincere thanks.

With that in mind, and considering the fact that we are now entering a depression, may I suggest that it is high time people take action. The internet and modern communications, by which I mean various digital devices, have provided us with valuable tools. We would be fools to not take advantage of them. We are not our grandparents, we are more aware now than they ever were, and we should act accordingly.

Recently, the American women and students have proven themselves to be excellent organizers. They have managed to arrange protests across the country. Those protests were mainly focused on Trump and gun violence. Now it is once again necessary to protest, the difference being that this time such protests must not be limited to one issue. People must ”broaden their horizons”, and focus on destroying the whole system of capitalism.

As for those who find that somewhat unreasonable, feel free to face the facts. The country is entering a depression, even broader and deeper than the Great Depression. The country is ”head over heels” in debt, and cannot possibly come out of it. Equally without doubt, the capitalists fully intend to try, possibly by provoking a war with Iran. Millions of working people, proletarians, are now losing their jobs. As well, millions more small business owners, middle class people, petty bourgeois, are losing their businesses, facing bankruptcy. They too are unemployed. All are about to also lose their medical coverage and their homes. Many will be forced to live in their cars and even under bridges. As Sargent Friday of Dragnet fame was fond of saying, these are ”just the facts”.

It is also a fact that there are over 600 billionaires in the country, and they are profiting from this depression! The ”Economic Stimulus Package”, otherwise known as ”Corporate Welfare”, has served to enrich them. The federal government has chosen to bless those chosen few, those who own businesses which are Too Big To Fail, with vast sums of money, hundreds of billions. This money was collected from American taxpayers, those who are Too Small To Succeed. Bear in mind that these Sacred Six Hundred are members of a class which are technically referred to as the bourgeoisie. They run the country, and are only concerned with ”lining their own pockets”. They can and must be destroyed.

With that in mind, may I suggest that the ”army” of women and students has just received ”reinforcements”, in the form of those who have recently been ruined by the bourgeoisie. Of course, I am referring to the former small business owners, newly created proletarians. No doubt many of them are quite bitter -who can blame them?- as their dreams of becoming successful and even of joining the ranks of the bourgeoisie, have been completely crushed. Practically overnight, their life savings, their years of hard work, have been flushed down the toilet.

Those same people are now being offered small business loans. To accept those loans would only prolong the agony, driving those people ever deeper into debt. This is a depression, and in a depression, there is no room for any small business. Further, there is no way out of this crisis in capitalism. Face the fact that your businesses are gone and not coming back.

Now is the time to cast away the dreams of success, to transform that bitterness into determination, to face the fact that capitalism has had its day, that revolution and socialism is on the horizon. The world will be a far better place without capitalism!

Join the ranks of the women and students, those who have marched for change, in the past. As formerly successful business people, you have valuable knowledge and skills, which can be of great service to the working class. Most of you are aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, especially that of the necessity of scientific socialism, which includes the smashing of the existing state machinery and establishing the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. Feel free to bring this awareness to the working class. You can speak from experience, so working people are more likely to listen to you.

Time is not on our side, as the revolution waits for no one. It will break out when it breaks out. People are bound to rise up spontaneously, and are in desperate need of class consciousness. That is where middle class, conscious people can be of great service. As it is my most fervent belief that the best way to reach the vast majority of people is with slogans, may I suggest:

Workers of the World, Unite!

Scientific Socialism!

Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!