The growing political polarization in America is being expressed in the elections. Increased dangers and growing opportunities are developing in the midst of the irresolvable economic crisis of capitalism. In the face of the fascist program of the ruling class, the workers are increasingly putting forward their demands for the government to meet the growing needs of the people.
One example is found in Flint, Michigan, where local community organizations are finding common cause and are petitioning for a common solution to the water crisis. They are demanding that the government provide Medicare for all 100,000 residents, poisoned by water from the Flint River. Flint residents are also demanding that Flint be declared a federal emergency disaster zone, enabling residents to receive federal disaster relief.
As the cover article, “The Poisoning of Flint: A Public Health Crisis” points out, it is clear to many that Medicare for All should be applied to all residents of Flint immediately. Residents in Libby, Montana, the site of a deadly airborne asbestos contamination, have already used a provision in the Affordable Care Act, to guarantee Medicare, with no time limits, to all who lived in that northwest section of Montana during the exposure. The families of Flint deserve no less.
Another example is how a section of the working class is using the message of the Sanders campaign, which appeals to the democratic and economic aspirations of the people, as a vehicle to fight for its concrete demands. This new, working class political motion is beginning to take shape, expressed by growing demands that the government provide the necessities of life to those in need. Out of necessity, these subjective expressions of objectively revolutionary demands are beginning to take root.
“From the Editors: The Meaning of the Elections” defines an America today where ninety-five million American workers are permanently unemployed. They are no longer even included as being a part of the work force. In a wage-based economic system, a worker with no job means no money. No money means that the worker and his or her family has no means to obtain even the basic necessities of life: food, water, shelter, education and health care. A growing section of the workers are being forced to fight for their very lives.
Just as the Sanders campaign and the situation in Flint are expressing the political unity of a section of the workers, the hitherto unknown breadth of equality of poverty is creating the basis for real class unity throughout the country. As “New Class Demands Distribution According to Need” shows, the intellectual grasp of unity must be fought for. The unraveling capitalist system and the growing equality of poverty that is the basis of the unity of the class is the reality that revolutionaries rely upon. The new class can only achieve their goals by fighting for a society in which all people can benefit from the abundance that robotic production promises.
“Elections 2016: The Fight for the Basic Demands of the Class is the Fight against Fascism” shows that regardless of who wins the election, the bourgeoisie is step by step imposing a fascist order on society. “Fighting the right” is the natural impulse of well-intentioned people. However, this tactic no longer fits the conditions of today. Today, fighting for the basic demands of the class, fighting for the program of the class, is the fight against fascism. This requires us to focus on the fight for the immediate demands of the workers by insisting that the government provide for our basic needs.
The rising demand that the government resolve the problems of the people, and the open discussion of socialism are developments of extreme significance. “Which Way for the American People?” points out that in the 2016 elections the idea of socialism has been embraced by many people. These views represent a sense of what the world can be. They are fueled by the enormous loss of jobs and the consequent lack of education, health care, and general well-being. The Sanders’ message of political revolution has drawn hundreds of thousands of people to his rallies, and millions of people to vote for him in the primary as a vehicle to fight for these things.
“The Tasks of Revolution and the Mission of the LRNA” is to create an organization that can be a lightning rod for revolutionaries. The movement for food, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities of life is objectively headed in the direction of communist revolution. The aim of the LRNA is to become an organization of revolutionaries inseparably connected to this spontaneous movement. The LRNA’s mission is to unite the scattered revolutionaries on the basis of the demands of the new class, to educate and win them over to the cooperative, communist resolution of the problem.
July/August 2016 Vol26.Ed4
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
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