IT IS DANGEROUS TO CONTINUE THE DECEPTION OF THE PEOPLE
By Gavrielle Gemma
Since its founding, the Democratic Party has represented slaveholders and later a substantial section of the capitalist ruling class. There are, on occasion, divisions among the capitalists, but only on how to prevent the rise of class consciousness and maintain the exploitation of labor, imperialist domination, white supremacy, not to end it.
Friedrich Engels, the collaborator with Karl Marx, wrote many years ago that in fact, the appearance of liberal, bourgeois democracy was best suited to capitalism. While relentlessly pursuing the same goal of profit at any cost, it disguised its ends better and deceived and pacified the people more.
The nomination of Hillary Clinton disgusted a vast section of especially young activists who opposed the militarist, oil company and banking candidate and who had come to realize that the Democratic Party was not a party of the workers or the people, but controlled totally by and for the 1%, the same 1% that controls the Republicans.
Millions of workers and youth were ready to leave the Democratic Party. They were inspired by just the mention of the word socialism by Bernie Sanders, even though he was a Democratic Party candidate. But Sanders, despite Democratic Party corruption preventing his nomination, heartily endorsed the rotten Hillary Clinton. Supporters had fervently hoped if not nominated, he would run as an independent. We cannot forget this undemocratic decision and capitulation to the very forces he was condemning.
Even the possibility of a long overdue break with the parties of capitalism scared the establishment, and they went into overdrive to hammer in a message that only the Democrat Party candidates could save us from Trumpism.
Trump arose out of the crisis of capitalists who felt their empire and profits were crumbling. They wanted to quickly pursue an assault on the workers, as well as accelerate the theft of the budget to be turned over to the war profiteers and banks as their solution.
The Democratic Party aided this by building up the military and supporting, eagerly, genocidal wars for profits. After all, both parties serve the same masters. The Democratic Party method is to pursue the same aim but more gradually, and they have gone along with cuts to social programs over the decades. They have deported millions of immigrants, initiated policies of mass incarceration and impoverishment, especially of women. They have supported continuous imperialist war and carried out fascist coups in the Ukraine and Honduras. Meanwhile, not one single meaningful measure enacted against the lowering of wages and insecurity of the working class was undertaken. Resorting to imperialist war, coups, and sabotage flows from the capitalist need to exploit labor, expand markets, get cheap labor and resources through domination of other countries. Are these the forces that will Fight the Right?
It was exactly Democratic Party deeds that paved the way for the ruling class to take a chance on a more openly reactionary president who could drive the capitalist engine of destruction of the world’s working class at a faster, unfettered pace.
That Sanders’ program is not revolutionary, and that he himself has often gone along with imperialism is undisputed. But it is the movement that exploded that was so important. However, both the “establishment” Democrats and the “left” Democrats immediately began to perpetuate the deception that the reason for the hated Trump regime is all due to bad people getting in, and if only we elect “good” people everything will be fine. This is not only historically false, but dangerous. Some younger activists have been led to believe that all things bad began with Trump. If only we could go back to the Obama years, all would be well. The result is the social democrats are actively herding people back into the Democratic Party rather than out of it.
It’s certainly a good sign that voters pick a democratic socialist, a liberal, over a white nationalist, but nothing more. That should be a signal that these voters are ready to organize, not to wait for a new congress to be the savior. Progressives can all recognize the extreme white nationalism, anti-worker assaults and dictator-of-the-world desires of Trump’s program. We are all supposed to fight the right. But awakening forces are told to ally with fascist FBI directors and generals—indeed anyone who criticizes Trump. Will that really hold off the right? That has been attempted often in history with disastrous consequences.
In Chile in 1974, Salvador Allende, a socialist, was elected president. The U.S. and Chilean oligarchy teamed up to sabotage the economy and arm and train the generals. Allende tried to ally with the liberal capitalist class forces of Chile, rather than arming the masses for the inevitable fight to come. The result was that Allende was murdered and the U.S. installed a 30-year brutal dictatorship, murdering thousands and impoverishing more.
Another dire example in history was in Germany. Again, rather than arm the masses to fight fascism, a popular front with bourgeois elements was proposed which led to disaster. Of course, neither the Democrats or Republicans opposed Hitler while he was staving off revolution and threatening the Soviet Union. The U.S. only entered the war to make sure the U.S. ruling class got its share of colonies and influence after the Soviet Union had basically defeated the Nazis at a cost of 30 million people.
The first and greatest danger to the workers and oppressed is to deceive the people by lending support to catastrophic imperialist lies. The U.S. /NATO bloc has encircled Russia with nuclear bases and warships while installing a neo-Nazi government on its border. In an anything-that-attacks-Trump-is-good stance, Democrats focus on Russian election hacking and turning FBI despots into heroes. Some sections of the capitalist ruling class just want to do business with Russia; others want to colonize Russia and steal its vast resources. The capitalist class succeeded, cheered on by both capitalist parties in turning Eastern Europe into a U.S./NATO Colony, with U.S.-supported ultra-right-wing regimes. Both sectors of the capitalist class have nothing but evil intentions.
The danger in all this, and the danger in deceiving the workers, is that another major imperialist war may erupt, a war in which workers have no stake. The first things progressives must do is debunk U.S. propaganda and explain that the U.S. goes to war only for domination of markets, cheap labor and resources to gain profit at any cost. No U.S. intervention ever brings democracy or prosperity – only death, destruction, repression and poverty.
Nor does it bring security and prosperity at home.
Winning a seat in the capitalist government can be helpful if used to educate and organize the people as progressive change always follow mass struggle, not the other way around. But how can we move the workers past capitalist lies if social democrats collude in perpetuating them. The newly elected DSA member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set a terrible example by praising John McCain. McCain, from a military officer family, was a war criminal who bombed Vietnam mercilessly, promoted the invasion of Iraq and was a conservative and racist. An anti-war activist shockingly told me Ocasio-Cortez had no choice. If she didn’t join the chorus of flag wavers, she would be scorned in Congress. If political leaders only want to join the club and are afraid to risk their respectability, there will be no progress.
SUPPORT OF THE MILITARY GAVE RISE TO TRUMP
Moving from a civilian to military based economy strengthens the ultra-reactionary forces and makes them and the banks more dominant in politics. So the consistent Democratic Party support for imperialism and the military under Obama and before helped give rise to Trump.
Trying to separate the rise of a reactionary politician from developments in the capitalist economy leads nowhere. Hitler was supported by the world’s capitalist classes because they felt it was either fascism or revolution. Without their support, he would not have risen to power.
ANTI-IMMIGRANT POLICIES RAMPANT BEFORE TRUMP
During his term Obama was dubbed “Deporter-in-Chief”. But let’s go to the underlaying cause of the desperate migration of workers. It was under Bill Clinton that the NAFTA trade deal was signed displacing millions of Mexican peasants and workers and laying off workers here. Clinton said then “NAFTA means jobs.” But the Democratic Party is equally complicit in the wars and economic strangulation of other countries that have led to the global refugee crisis. To ignore this is to be complicit in deepening the crisis.
CARTER WROTE THE PATCO UNION BUSTING PLAN, REAGAN CARRIED IT OUT
UNIONS NEED TO STOP COLLABORATING WITH BOSSES, DEMOCRATIC OR REPUBLICAN PARTIES
Usually when you give money you expect something back from it. But unions continue to give millions of dollars, mostly to the Democrats who have given nothing back. The idea that progress can be made by collaborating with the bosses rather than fighting them is a tragic lie. Of course, the top echelons of labor have made out nicely. In the 1980’s, capitalists began a massive technological revolution using funds amassed through the labor of workers. But far from benefitting workers, they used these advances to lay off millions of workers in union industries, set up shops overseas, and wages have been sinking ever since.
The Democratic Party went along with it all. They made not one sincere attempt to even moderate the effects of the capitalist technological revolution. Similarly, while banks got $12 trillion in bailouts in 2008, not one meaningful measure was raised to bail out the people.
REFORM OR REVOLUTION
The liberals and non-profit professionals like to say that we revolutionary socialists are only about theory and not for improving conditions under capitalism. This lie serves them well. Communists have been among the most ardent fighters for equal rights, union rights and social programs by organizing mass movements. Once these gains are established, non-profits move in and make careers and salaries while weakening the hard fought victories.
But we are not only about reform because everything won can be taken away. Every day, 25,000 children in the world die from treatable, preventable disease inflicted upon them by capitalism. There is enough food to feed the world were it not in private capitalist hands. The planet must be saved from the capitalists who only see profits at any cost. We must stop the mass murder of millions by U.S. imperialist war. We can return to the workers here the product of their labor.
This can only happen by awakening the class-consciousness of the workers and oppressed, not only to fight now, but also to fight to overturn the entire rotten system and bring in genuine socialism and a peaceful prosperous world for all. To advance this we need to openly break with the capitalist Democratic Party and advance independent mass political organizations, including building a labor party of the working class and the oppressed.