Today’s Americans follow the news of coronavirus infections and deaths like other generations followed casualty reports during world wars, and the coronavirus pandemic actually IS part of a worldwide war between classes. It is killing more people in this country than any other, and in the elections, most voters blamed Donald Trump. Yet, the ruling class is still in power, and the working class can only defend its own interests by renewing the struggles for healthcare, housing, the abolition of brutal police forces, and other basic needs.
The rhetoric of blame is no substitute for real political consciousness. When the pandemic began, Trump blamed China, denying any responsibility for the rapidly rising toll of infections and deaths. By May 8th, the Morning Consult reported that “Nearly 3 in 4 Americans Blame the Chinese Government for America’s High Death Rate.” After the first presidential debate on September 29th, Trump fundraiser Blair Brandt claimed, “the Chinese Communist Party has biologically attacked our President” and the ranking Republican on the House Subcommittee for Intelligence and Counterterrorism, Mark Warner, said, “China has now officially interfered with our election” (CNN, October 3, 2020).
But the American people are not stupid. Their anger turned against Trump’s administration as they learned how it had defunded and dismantled the federal government’s pandemic response systems, failing to ensure sufficient masks and other Personal Protective Equipment. By October 5th, the University of Chicago newspaper UChicago News reported “78% of Americans believe that U.S. government policies caused the COVID-19 crisis in the country.” However, losing confidence in Trump did not automatically produce political consciousness, since the study also found that “Only 39% of Americans say the vaccine should be made immediately available to other countries.”
Our tiny but enormously powerful ruling class maintains control by manipulating some of the working class to blame and fight each other instead of uniting to solve common problems. Ruling class propagandists blame the high infection and death rates suffered by Black and immigrant workers on their personal behavior, not on their being concentrated in the most dangerous workplaces and housing. That allows many government and union leaders to look the other way as “essential workers” suffer more than the workers they represent.
Other advocates for the interests of the capitalists blame the pandemic’s growth on the whole public for its “consumerism,” conveniently ignoring the influence of corporate marketing. For instance, the New York Times video “Who’s to Blame for the Pandemic?” tells viewers globalization of the production of goods they buy has helped spread viruses between countries.
In fact, human interaction across borders doesn’t only diversify the pool of pathogens; to a much greater extent, it diversifies populations, cultures, and ultimately our resistance to diseases. The real issue is whether governments actively protect human health during such processes.
Whether they call themselves “liberal” or “conservative” more people are blaming the government for not protecting their health and economic survival. On October 8th, The Texas Tribune reported, “Texas business owners and unemployed residents feel like federal leaders of both parties are playing political games with their financial lives.”
Jacque Miles, a laid-off 54-year old woman facing the loss of her home, said that “They all get to go home to their nice big house and eat their nice big meal, and I’m eating macaroni and cheese for the 10th time this week.” Texas’ Restaurant Association President Emily Knight said that when Congress did act, the aid program was insufficient because “Eight weeks of help for a seven-month problem seems incredibly unreasonable.”
Even conservative workers are blaming the government. In Arizona, Kristin Urquiza’s father died feeling betrayed by the president whose pandemic advice he had followed. Kristen started the group Marked By COVID to collect stories of those who have died, and their website says: “Our governments at the federal level and in many states have done nothing to manage the pandemic, in many cases encouraging behavior that is accelerating the spread. Their inaction has already killed thousands and is needlessly putting millions more at risk.”
The Democratic Party rushed to put Urquiza into its Convention to focus blame on Trump. But to achieve its goals, Marked By COVID will also have to fight Democratic officials who protect capitalists from the group’s demands such as “[building] a safety net for people impacted by COVID, including providing financial support for non-essential workers to stay home and granting essential workers paid sick leave and hazard pay [as well as protecting] workers’ rights to a safe workplace by opening only when it’s safe. This includes holding employers responsible for decreasing risk as much as possible in essential workplaces.”
Revolutionaries must not blame every worker who once voted for conservative Republicans or Democrats or who misunderstands how the ruling class uses color and nationality to divide the workers from each other. As they begin to fight for the same needs that other workers are fighting for, it creates a real basis for learning who is trying to weaken their struggle. That is a strategic opportunity for revolutionaries to develop their political consciousness about which class they belong to and which class they must take power from for the good of humanity.
Published: November 25, 2020
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