Photo showing US Democratic Party politician Bernie Sanders with his arms extended in a “what to do” gesture, with a red background. Photo: Links/file photo.
By Lenny Brody – Dec 18, 2024
The economic crisis of global capitalism and the political conditions in various countries are producing spontaneous rebellions around the world. The conditions for revolution are developing in many countries. However, the presence of revolutionary Marxist groupings that are in a position to facilitate and lead these upsurges are lacking to a large extent, particularly in the United States. Very few revolutionary groupings have a deep understanding of the current economic and political conditions and have widespread connections within the masses of people.
One of the foundational principles of revolution is the importance of knowing your enemy. Entering the class struggle without a profound knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of your enemy is to guarantee defeat, if not actually ending up aiding the enemy. At the same time, it is critical to “know yourself,” that is to know the state of the working class movement.
The political and military protection of global capital is primarily in the hands of the U.S. state apparatus. Thus it is critical for revolutionaries around the world to have a clear understanding of what is happening in the United States, both within the U.S. state and within the activity of the revolutionaries in the U.S. Currently, it is clear that the U.S. state apparatus is facing a serious political crisis. Differences between various ruling class groupings are quite sharp. The section that has overseen the development of global capital for the last 80 years, whose political dominance has operated through the Council on Foreign Relations, is in a fight for the continued control of the political situation in the U.S. The section operating through Trump and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement is threatening the current economic and political stability of the United States. At the same time, organizations of revolutionaries in the U.S. are very weak. The working class is quite divided along the lines of race, ethnicity and other factors, and is only beginning to build stable mass organizations that can begin to overcome these divisions.
A study of the history of the U.S. shows that since World War II, the working class of the United States has been controlled and manipulated by the Democratic Party. This was possible due to the relative economic stability of global capital. During the recent several decades capitalist production has been thrown into a fundamental, structural crisis. With the application of electronic technology to production, this labor-replacing technology has rendered growing sections of the working class increasingly superfluous to capitalist production. Under these conditions the well-known Democratic Party “coalition” is in the process of collapsing. Due to the economic conditions, organizations that in the past have influenced and controlled the working class through the Democratic Party are being abandoned by workers. The Democratic Party has been unable to offer any solutions to the capitalist economic crisis because it is a ruling class party controlled by a powerful section of the capitalist class. The fight by “progressives” to take over or move the Democratic Party to the left is increasingly running into a brick wall.
Dialectics teaches that all processes develop in stages. The path forward for revolutionaries lies first in organizing the most impoverished sections of the working class as the foundation for a powerful mass political party of the entire working class. The unity of this section of the class is the only basis for the broad unity of the entire working class. In the United States the working class has begun to enter an elementary, electoral stage of the class struggle. This electoral stage can be used as a platform to express the demands of the working class and facilitate its organization. This is not to say that political power can be won simply through the electoral process, but rather that moving through this stage will allow for the development of the further stages in the struggle for working class political power.
Progressive activists and Left organizers in the U.S. are trying to resist the rising MAGA movement. However, it is important to note that a number of the setbacks and defeats within the revolutionary process in history have come about by revolutionaries supporting one section of the ruling class in attempts to block a more “reactionary” section. In these situations revolutionaries abandoned or underestimated the importance of developing the political independence of the working class when making compromises with ruling class forces. Today, the fight to organize and educate the leading working class fighters, particularly those most impacted by the economic crisis, is of central importance.
The danger around the growing strength of a right-wing populist Republican Party is quite real. However, we should note that the historical Marxist definition of a fascist government is the replacement of capitalist “democracy” that is ruled by manipulation backed by terror, with an openly terrorist dictatorship of capital. Fascism is not simply cruel and oppressive policies. (See Georgi Dimitroff, “The United Front Against War and Fascism”) Furthermore, any move toward “fascism” today will be under significantly different economic and political conditions than in the 1920s and 30s.
A small but increasing section of the working class composed of all nationalities in the U.S. is beginning to support the Republican Party. While a subset of Republican support comes from openly white supremacist and Christian nationalist elements, it’s also true that the Republicans are gaining support by attacking the elites running the country and by talking about the economic problems faced by a majority of the people.
It is clear that no grouping within the capitalist class has a solution to the current crisis of capitalism. However, it is critical to understand how the different sections of the ruling class are moving to deal with the crisis. The Democratic Party leadership is trying to see how and if they can revitalize their Party. Some within the Party along with others are considering organizing a new party that will attempt to continue misleading the working class.
The Republicans are moving from a position of relative strength. Trump and people like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson are attempting to organize a “mass movement” behind their policies. JD Vance, his billionaire supporters and his think tanks are the well organized core of the Republican Party. These Republicans are seeking to replace positions in the government bureaucracy with their own cadre, positions that for decades have been led by the section of capital aligned with the Council on Foreign Relations. Only by understanding the political conditions facing the working class can revolutionaries be successful in organizing the most impoverished section of our class and eventually the entire working class.
Marxism is clear that the spontaneous upsurges of the working class cannot be successful without the leadership of a Marxist political party of revolutionary cadre. In the United States today, such a party can only be built by cadres who have a deep understanding of Marxism and the existing economic and political conditions confronting the working class. These cadres must also be an integral part of the vanguard fighters within the working class movement. Conditions for revolution are beginning to mature. These conditions necessitate the organization of a revolutionary Marxist party to guarantee the successful coming to political power of the working class.
LB/OT
Lenny Brody
Lenny Brody has been politically active for 50 years fighting in the interests of poor and working class people. He was involved in the civil rights movement in South Carolina and the anti Vietnam War protests during the 1960s. Since that time he has studied economics and theories of political change while continuing his political activism. Mr. Brody is a member of The University of the Poor and is working to build an independent political movement that will empower the poor and dispossessed victims of the current economic crisis.
