By Richard Mellor in California
We have stated many times on this blog that US capitalism is in a political, social and soon-to-be economic crisis, and Bernie Sanders winning the New Hampshire and possibly Iowa primaries, has just made matters worse for the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party can hardly be called a party in opposition and has little to offer the US workers or middle class who have suffered declining living standards, no matter which party was in power. Millions of Americans have become so disgusted with the political situation in the country that close to one hundred million people abstained from the political process in 2016.
It is hard to tell at this point what will happen nationally, as Iowa and New Hampshire are 90% white and hardly representative of the US demographically, and ‘moderate’ Democrats, Buttigieg and Klobuchar also did well in New Hampshire. Buttigieg received the same number of delegates as Sanders. It appears early on that Joe Biden’s days may be numbered and he did himself no favours this week referring to a young woman who asked him a question as a “lying dog-faced pony soldier.” Elizabeth Warren’s chances also appear to be dimming. When Biden drops out, as a candidate with brains would so there’s no guarantee there, and the rejection of Buttigieg by the black population occurs, which is considered likely, it is hard to say who will benefit most from their supporters. It could well be Bloomberg.
Democrats the most powerful capitalist party
By winning New Hampshire, if Sanders’ successes continue, the power in the Democratic Party could be faced with a situation where they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. The Democratic Party is the most powerful capitalist party on the planet and under no conditions does it want the social democrat Bernie Sanders as its candidate for president. If no candidate emerges with a majority of delegates in this first round of voting, the Democrats may have a ‘brokered’ convention in July, in which case the so-called ‘super-delegates’ end up determining the candidate. The super-delegates are basically the party bosses [but voting delegates]: party officials, governors and the like.
A Sanders defeat at the hands of the super-delegates in the convention, after a very successful campaign, will engulf the Democratic Party in further turmoil; this is particularly so if Sanders’ momentum continues and it becomes clear that he is the only candidate who could defeat Trump. I should add that Michel Bloomberg, the former Republican turned Democrat, and one of the richest men in the US, spent some $300 million over the past month or so on political adverts and the US capitalist class can surely trust him. A victory for Bloomberg, especially if it is through a brokered convention, will further damage the party and deepen the political crisis of US capitalism.
Exciting but volatile times
But even if Sanders ends up as the Democratic Party candidate for president and if he defeated the present degenerate in the White House, there would be very little Sanders could do. We have just witnessed an impeachment trial where the Democratic Party was unable to force the US Senate to agree to hear witnesses during the proceedings.
While a President Sanders as may be able to make some small gains by Executive Order, or prevent some damaging legislation through the veto, most of his platform will be blocked not only by Republicans in the Senate but many Democrats who will join them. And we should keep in mind that Sanders and other left-wingers in the party have made it very clear that they will support the Democratic Party nomination no matter who it is.
We are living in exciting but volatile times. Almost no-one would have predicted that the degenerate, racist and sexual predator Donald Trump would win in 2016. So I share these thoughts here with the understanding that things could turn out quite differently; such is the nature of the times. I am just attempting to gauge what might happen. My history and Trump’s rise have taught me to be much more conditional. I think this situation is so volatile and the US body politic so rotten that anything can happen and the anger in US society runs so deep, that the working class can enter the scene in a major way at any time. It is on the minds of millions of people here in the US that even if he lost the election, he may refuse to leave. He said this much during the debates in 2016.
A history based on plunder and violence
The most important factor is the US working class. Our history in this country is explosive. The working class in the United States has never had a political party of our own, at least at the national level, and a consequence of this is that any gains workers have made have been won through direct action in the streets, workplaces and communities. These struggles have been met with extreme violence on the part of the US ruling class. The true history of the modern nation state we call the United States is a history based on plunder and violence.
Capitalist democracy has been forced to concede universal suffrage. Not to the entire working class at one time, but it has conceded it and we have a choice between candidates from one of their two parties. Racism, or social exclusion based on colour, has not helped the working class movement in the US. We won the right to vote, so it is important to defend that right. But we have won precious little from the
If we look at all the social legislation that arose in the 1930s as well as the 1950-60s, we must remind ourselves of what was happening on the ground. Massive strikes, factory occupations, the growth of radicalism, thousands of workers taking over their workplaces and the formation of the CIO improved conditions for million of workers including black folks, who faced huge obstacles in the more conservative AFL.
Huge battles of the 1930s
These events, what was a huge uprising of sections of the US working class, is what led to the social legislation in the 1930s. US capitalism merely codified what was already taken in the streets and workplaces of America. I haven’t researched it, but my guess is that prior to the huge battles in the 1930s and the end of World War II, American workers did not refer to themselves as middle class as they do today.
The 1950s and 60s and the black revolt is what led to changes aimed at alleviating some of the more brutal aspects of racism in the United States. The white racist ruling class feared this black revolt, especially the youth that played such an important role in it, and took measures to get it off the streets and in to the courts that they control. They also opened some doors previously closed to African-Americans and allowed a middle class to develop that could act as a buffer between them and the revolutionary potential of the black working class that could encourage them to work within the system. But in some ways little has changed in that regard, confirming Malcolm X’s argument that “You can’t have capitalism without racism.”.
All was not well before Trump
The US elections in 2020 are all about defeating Donald Trump. The call is to vote for any Democrat no matter who it is. In other words, to put back into power the very same people responsible for where we are today. All was not well before Trump and it is crucial to remember that this degenerate is almost an accident of history, a product of capitalism in crisis, a decaying system. We should recall the scene when the choice of US capitalism to lead Venezuela was greeted in the US Congress by a standing ovation by both parties, while on his return home he was met with protests and called a traitor by workers. Both Democratic and Republican parties care little about democratic rights.
As myself and others have stated on this blog, the meteoric rise of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), with a membership of some 60,000, offers an opportunity of an alternative to the status quo. Unfortunately, the DSA leadership has thrown its weight behind Sanders and the Democratic Party. Many of the youthful well-intentioned middle class members of DSA are out there, registering working class people to vote for the Democrats; this decision by the DSA leadership is a disaster. There is no way forward for the working class through the Democratic Party. The lesser-evil policy in US politics is a proven failure at best while prolonging our agony and the same time undermining any movement toward independent political action and channelling any potential mass direct action movement into the Democratic Party rendering it harmless.
Bosses will not stop offensive on living standards
No matter who is president after these elections, US capitalism’s war on its own workers and middle-class will continue. I do not believe the hundred million Americans who chose not to participate in the 2016 elections are all right wing racists; they have simply given up. But they cannot escape the crisis of us capitalism.
As I used to say to my co-workers who complained about the low level of activity in the unions, we have one major ally and that’s the bosses; they will not halt their offensive on our living standards or their war against the workers of the world. Bernie Sanders’ New Deal policies are utopian in the present era and while a genuine mass movement from below could win some concessions they will only be temporary. In this era of globalization, capitalism has no new deal and is incapable of halting environmental catastrophe; that is certain.
US will not be exempt from world struggles
We have seen huge battles and protests around the world, as a global resistance to the madness of the market is beginning to take shape. We will not be exempt from these developments in the US The recent outbreak of the coronavirus has shown how connected the world economy is and how integrated the nations of the world are.
The closing of factories in China due to the outbreak of the virus is threatening an already fragile global economy and US tech companies are particularly vulnerable and have called for China to reopen them. And despite the shifting of the industrial working class from the west to Asia, capitalism cannot be overthrown without the US working class settling accounts with its own ruling class.
As far as the Democratic Party, perhaps we will see a split after this election. Unfortunately, there should have been a split long before. Sanders chose not to take that road and instead has acted as the “Pied Piper” for the Democrats. The Russian Revolutionary Leon Trotsky pointed out some 80 years ago that the crisis facing the working class was a crisis of leadership. That is as true today as it ever was.
The right wing bureaucracy that sits atop organized labour in the United States, bears a great deal of responsibility for the rise of Trump, the decline in trade union membership, and the subsequent declining living standards. And it is inevitable we will see increased turmoil within organized labour and the Democratic Socialists of America as the crisis of US capitalism deepens.
For serious working class activists and socialists in our communities, and our unions, it is not our job to save capitalism from itself. And as far as Sanders claim that he will “unite” the party he has embraced, that is his failing. “The way to defeat Trump is to unite the working class, not the Democrats!”
February 13, 2020
From the US socialist blogsite, Facts for Working People. The original can be found here.
