The election and actions of Donald Trump have given rise to a broad debate about the future of our country. The millions who are marching and speaking out in defense of their basic right to survival are demanding that the government come to their aid. There is a growing awareness that there is a difference between the interests of the few and the interests of the many. They are calling for unity, defending democracy and the higher morality in protecting those who suffer. As the old forms of achieving a better life are being rapidly destroyed, one question is coming to the fore: Which way?
All the working class movement can rely on is an understanding of where history is going, and, on that basis, a strategy to achieve a vision made possible by conditions today.
This vision of a better life, free from want and exploitation, is deep in the heart of American history. This struggle has often been corrupted, diverted and thwarted, yet the ruling class has been unable to kill the aspirations of the American working class, regardless of their color, their nationality, their sex or their faith. It has been fought for by generations of workers in opposition to the ruling class, ever since there was an America.
The article, “From the Editors: An Epoch of Social Revolution” provides a much needed perspective that explains the world historical moment we are living through and the resulting social and political upheavals that are following in its wake. It summarizes many of the general themes that thread themselves through the articles in this issue. It shows the revolutionary impact of labor-replacing technology and the creation of a new class of workers that hold the potential to lead humanity to a new society. It points out how the struggle to hold the government accountable for providing the basic necessities of life, when combined with the lessons learned in that struggle, further develops the thinking and consciousness of our class. It shows how a cooperative, communist society is the only solution to the demands of the workers.
“The Special Revolutionary Role of Women” shows how the recent succession of marches and protests, beginning with the massive women’s marches throughout the country and the world, are a powerful, catalyzing force. It points out how these women’s demands are the result of their historic oppression as women and also the expression of their position as workers.
These responses have been global, because the processes underlying them are global. Production without labor means distribution without money. A new class of workers is forming and cutting its teeth on this reality. “Globalization and Internationalism” shows that this class is global, and, as we respond to the new conditions created by globalization, we have to see internationalism in a new light. While we build understanding and solidarity with the peoples of the world, U.S. revolutionaries’ internationalist service is the struggle against our own corporate State and the struggle for the establishment of a cooperative society.
As the workers fight for their basic necessities in every arena, revolutionaries must show them what is at the root of their problems and what the path is to resolving them. Our cover article “Next Steps in the Fight for Housing as a Human Right” explains that making the right to housing a reality requires grappling with the question of who owns it and exactly what those ownership rights include. As our class begins to direct its demands to the federal government, they combine the scattered struggles against individual landlords, banks and corporations, and focus them into a political struggle against the State. Such national demands raise the issue of which class the State serves, broadening the battlefield where class consciousness can be taught.
The movement is filled with fine organizers and courageous fighters. They know their work. The growing calls for unity and the inevitable grappling with the worsening conditions of the people are bringing forward a vision for America once again. There is a growing debate of how to make this vision a reality, what forces do we need, where do we focus, how do prepare not only for the daily battles, but also how to prepare for those that are coming.
Strategy must determine the one first step that is indispensable to the success of all else. “Class Unity Decisive in Fight for New Society” explains that without unity on the basis of common economic conditions, the workers will not be able to achieve their goals. Their basic demands for food, clothing and shelter are the foundation upon which the entire rotten system can be overturned. In spite of worsening economic conditions, nothing can be accomplished until the American people hold a vision of where they want to go and what they want to be. Creating and imbuing them with such vision is the overriding task of revolutionaries and the foundation of our organization and our press.
March/April 2017 Vol27.Ed2
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
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