There is probably no other question foremost in the minds of the American people. Trump has seen to that. So is he just the master show-man, reality TV celebrity gone political? Is he crazy? Or is there a method in his madness? Is he a fascist? Where is the country and the world headed with this master of chaos and instability in charge?
For millennia the ruling classes have rewritten history in their own image, so it appears that it is the “great” men of the time who really make history. So it is that Trump puts himself forward as the great maker and shaker of our time.
In truth, the world is in the midst of a vast and huge process of transformation. We note at this particular moment the exponential advance of the new electronic technology and its impact upon the economy. We see an acceleration of the efforts by the ruling class, from Bush to Obama to Trump, to grapple with and to maintain their hold on private property as polarization and crisis in the world has deepened.
Within the ruling circles both nationally and internationally a struggle is underway, grappling with changes in the world economy and geopolitics. The world order that has been in place since the fall of the Soviet Union, a unipolar ,hegemonic order dominated by the U.S. is being challenged by the rising of a new multipolar world order, which includes in particular the roles of Russia and China, as they rise to contend with U.S. hegemony. The overriding quality of the process is deepening polarization and instability. The ruling class fight for the development of a fascist world order and the conceptualization of a fascist world-view is necessary to carry out the program of the entire ruling class. It is here that Trump is playing his role. He is shaped as much by this world-historical process as he is a player on the stage of history.
In the name of economic nationalism, disguised as a championing of the interests of the working class, a massive assault is underway, directed precisely against the economic and social status of the workers, especially that new section that is being displaced and excluded by the new technology. Across the spectrum of society we see the acceleration of this process. Access to health care is being cut off, public schools are being destroyed, diverting funds into private and charter options, that will ultimately become education for the rich and nothing for those whom the ruling class no longer needs. The military budget is being increased, matched by the cutting of funds to the public welfare, including food stamps, Meals on Wheels, Planned Parenthood and others. Executive orders, that are designed to line the pockets of the corporations and the rich, roll back and cut environmental protections. Families are being torn apart as immigrant workers are especially targeted, and there is an exponential increase in the numbers being deported.
In response we see the massive development of a broad movement, that signals an approaching new stage in the subjective development of the new class of workers, who are being cast out of production. It takes the form of “Resist”, of fighting Donald Trump, but it goes much deeper than that. At its foundation, it is the fight to acquire the necessities of life that moves beyond resistance, and in that sense, is objectively against the fascist solutions of the ruling class.. The ruling class is making every effort to contain and divert the movement of the workers, particularly to divert it back into the Democratic Party. What is necessary is the development of an independent class politics not tied to either of the ruling parties, and breaking the bonds of reform solutions constrained within the system.
Delegitimizing of the media, delegitimizing of the courts, delegitimizing of the Congress – there is a systematic process of assault upon the basic institutions of the government – from fake news to the gutting of administrative bureaus – all designed to prepare the way for the acceptance of a State organized along fascist lines. It is a State that is fully merged with the corporations, bearing no responsibility to meet the needs of the people and serving only the interests of the corporations, with a massive military to impose its will upon the nation and the world, paid for with ballooning debt.
Trump’s “foreign policy” is revealing itself to be a continuation of a ruling class strategy, that in a time of deepening polarization and crisis, is being accelerated along the inevitable march toward global war. It is a recipe for prolonged wars designed to create even more instability and even more failed States. War is an objective part of capitalism; it is not a mere reflection of someone’s bellicosity.
The contending for power and control of the global economy is evidenced in the Syrian conflict, where both Russia and the U.S. each have their own plans to construct oil pipelines that will transverse Syria. The military presence of the various forces could easily spark war between them. The effects of the U.S. interventions in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and now Somalia serve to further destabilize and undermine the region.
Tensions are mounting as the U.S. moves closer and closer to confrontation with North Korea. No one doubts that the real target is China. The great fear is what such a conflict might lead to, and the possibility of nuclear war.
Peace is a life and death question for the masses of the world’s working classes, and for the rising movement here at home. We cannot go forward without it. We gain nothing by fighting against the workers of other countries. With class unity here at home and class unity with the workers of the world, we can create a world free from war, constructive rather than destructive, with an abundance shared by all. This can truly be a new world that workers make, and Trump will be a footnote.
May/June 2017 Vol27.Ed3
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
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