By Houston Communist Party

Republicans and their Tea Party sycophants have laid down a challenge to the working class never before seen in history. They are calling for a roll back in education, health care, law enforcement and any other public services which benefit all economic classes of our country. It is quite literally a “War on the workers” as illustrated by the song written by Anne Feeney. Meanwhile, we are embarking on another imperialist war in Libya.

To their credit, some of the ultra-right Tea Partiers and Libertarians have opposed these aggressive wars in the Middle East.

After 8 years of imperialist wars in the Middle East, most people understand that these wars are only for the benefit of the corporations and ultra-wealthy class. Profits for the wealthy have been skyrocketing while the working class has taken it on the chin as a result of these aggressive wars.

Real wages of working people have been stagnant since the 1970s. Higher education has been rolled back with extraordinary tuition hikes and cuts in research funds. Public education is under assault by the right wing like never seen before. Right wingers are proposing to increase class size and increase the emphasis on testing. Such test scores are easily manipulated and can be used effectively to harass teachers, reduce their wages and terminate them.

Massive demonstrations against the draconian budget cuts have been seen across the country. Little response has been seen from the right wing other than to ramp up the attack.

The working class has started the fight back. One push back needs to be on the legislative level.
One such push could involve demanding that the Federal Government levy a tax on the ultra-wealthy and corporations who have benefitted from the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya. Our government could impose an immediate tax on all individuals, groups and corporations who have benefitted from military activity in the Middle East.

We would propose a 90% tax on the ill-gotten gains that individuals, corporations and any other organizations have reaped from the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. This might include military contractors, munitions manufacturers, and private mercenary companies for a start. These funds could be used to fully fund public education, universal health care and support other vital social services beneficial for all classes of people. A 10% profit rate on blood and stolen resources as well as geopolitical posturing is extremely generous and more sensible people may want to scale this back. Any profit on the murder of the soldiers of our armed forces as well as the murder of innocent working people overseas may be seen as unfair by working people throughout the globe.

It was recently pointed out that GE reaped $14 billion in profits last year and paid no taxes. This is not an isolated incident. So far, the wars have cost the U.S. well over $1 trillion. It is time that working people demand that services that benefit the working class should be fully funded. Working people should fight with all their collective might the funding for aggressive wars in sovereign nations overseas.
We may not be fond of some dictator overseas, but it is not our business to intervene and try to push revolutionary change to benefit the interests of the U.S.A. Some people overseas may not be exactly pleased with the leadership of the U.S.A. now or in the past. Would it be OK for a foreign country to intervene in the affairs of our nation? We think not. Each country must pursue its own historical development and this should be possible without the intervention of a powerful nation seeking to impose its own needs on a smaller country.

cpusahouston@comcast.net

By James Thompson

It must be really confusing to be a follower of the right wing these days. Most of the Tea Party people, I imagine, would consider themselves to be Christians or Jews. Of course, this means that they were raised to believe that one should “love thy neighbor as thyself”, “do not kill”, “do not steal” and to “not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Traditional Christmas greetings declare “Peace on earth, good will to all men.” The Golden Rule teaches that people should “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” When Jesus came upon some people about to stone an adulterous woman, he declared, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first one to cast a stone at her.”

These lessons must really stick in the craw of those people who buy into the hate against immigrants, Obama, people of color, and any others they perceive to be different or less fortunate. It should be remembered that anger and hate are merely emotional defenses against fear. That is why the right wing does everything it can to stir up fear among the populace. When you can get someone really scared, you can control them in many ways and get them to agree with many things they would not agree to if they were in a calm state. Adolf Hitler was a master at this tactic and whipped some elements of the German people into a frenzy of hysterical hatred of who they identified as non-Germans. The Nazi state then used this as a justification for invading other countries, enslaving and slaughtering working people and stealing their wealth.

The contradictions that those on the right have to swallow these days must produce some awful mental heartburn. The paid for media, as seen on Fox News and embodied by the red faced, frothing at the mouth commentators like Glenn Beck, rails against communists, socialists, democrats, progressives, our President and lumps all these people into the same group. In fact, there are so many people they hate, their spokeswoman and leader of the moment, Sarah Palin, cannot even keep who they hate straight. In a kinder, gentler statement, she referred to North Korea as a U.S. ally. Maybe this means that Ms. Palin will truly become a leader and advocate that the U.S. expand its narrowing base of allies.

Back on the home front, the contradictions are particularly sharp and Texas is a good illustration of this. Although the right wing organizations in this country are funded by some of the wealthiest individuals and corporations the world has ever seen, it must recruit its foot soldiers from the ranks of the people who listen to the bombastic hate radio programs. These people are mostly working and poor people since there are so few wealthy people. Of course, the wealthy people would not want to get their hands dirty with the vile filth that spews out of the media they own, so they hand it over to working people, much like they have done through the history of mankind. The wealthy always manipulate working people to perform those tasks they find distasteful. In Germany, the international wealthy class, including many U.S. corporations, funded the Nazi Reich, and rewarded Hitler handsomely for doing their bidding.

In Texas, the right wing was just rewarded handsomely as well. Governor Perry, handpicked by George W. Bush (the most unpopular U.S. President of all time), was just re-elected in spite of his veiled advocacy of secession. That’s right, he talked of Texas seceding from the Union, which was just a recapitulation of the old Ku Klux Klan line based on racism, hatred and fear, financed by the wealthy and bought into by some workers. Once elected, he and his right wing cronies in the legislature announced they wanted to end Medicaid in the state of Texas. Medicaid, of course, is the publicly funded insurance program that provides access to health care for poor people. Once again, we see a policy based on fear and hatred of those less fortunate. Those who hate the less fortunate can only be thought of as cowards. Of course, the contradictions here are particularly trying. The Medicaid program is so pervasive that there is hardly a family in Texas that does not have some relative who is elderly, disabled, poor and is a recipient of this publicly funded health benefit. Working people in Texas who have supported Republicans must really find it distasteful that their interests are being so openly attacked by those they have supported.

In the run-up to the passage of what the right wing refers to as “Obamacare”, red faced, frothing at the mouth Republican politicians charged that President Obama was going to throw granny out of the nursing home to die in the street. Of course, if they end Medicaid, that is precisely what would happen to many grannies. Again, we see fear used as the tool of manipulation. The few working people who have lined up to support the anti-working people positions of the right wing must be suffering from a terrible case of mental vertigo as they try to justify these harsh measures which hurt their families, friends and neighbors.

Meanwhile all this hate is extremely profitable for the ultra-wealthy. Although we are in a horrible economic crisis, profits are continuing to rise. When white workers buy into hate of black and brown workers, they make it easy for the wealthy corporations to lower the wages of all people. Low wages are the fuel that drives profits into the stratosphere. When workers say nothing while jobs are shipped to the lowest paid labor markets in the world, corporations are jubilant. However, as unemployment rises, so does the misery of working people.

Wars rage across the globe, justified by hatred and fear. These wars suck up the taxpayer’s money at a rate never before seen in the history of mankind. This money could be used on people’s needs here at home, such as education and healthcare and rebuilding the infrastructure devastated by neglect and budget cutting. Tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations compound the problem, but the right wing uses fear and hatred to justify the unjustifiable.

It is no coincidence that Glenn Beck attacked this website for an article which was written advocating the nationalization of BP. The article called for the wealth of BP, which was produced by its workers, to be used to benefit the working people so egregiously harmed in the Gulf Coast. Shameful Texas politicians such as Joe Barton(R-Ennis), publicly apologized to BP for what he called the “shakedown.” He was referring to the Obama administration’s demand for compensation for the Gulf Coast from the corporation to help rebuild what was destroyed by its negligent and reckless safety procedures. Sadly, Barton was re-elected by working people in Texas.

As long as there are ultra-wealthy people, there will be struggle between the rich and poor. Many battles have been won by the wealthy, but the overall trend through history is for the progress of working people and the victories of the workers are many. The establishment of this nation was one of the first defeats of British imperialism. Slavery has been ended as well as indentured servitude. Nazism and Japanese imperialism were smashed. Women have the right to vote. There is freedom of religion in many parts of the world. Although we have suffered recent setbacks in education and healthcare in this country, many countries in the world today have universal healthcare and education and it will not be long before we have these services here. Racism and hatred are still around, but they are much less potent forces than they were in the past.

The progress of working people has always been resisted by the wealthy with everything they can throw at us. Goons, stool pigeons, red baiting, slander, rigged elections, propaganda, misinformation, lies, threats, thugs, racism, police, military and even nuclear weapons have been used by the wealthy to terrify working people and break down their will to unite and fight for their rights. However, the fight continues. We workers need to keep this in mind and remember “…I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” and “So the last will be first and the first will be last.” However, these are hollow words if workers ignore the words of Frederick Douglass when he said “If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” It is up to us workers to struggle for our rights and a better world in spite of the awful roar of the right wing haters.

PHill1917@comcast.net

How democrats and progressives squandered a great opportunity

By James Thompson

As election results roll in and the Republican party notches up a great victory for reaction, many people will probably ask, “How did this happen here?” How could an electorate fired up for progressive change just two years ago fall flat on its face? What did the Democratic Party do to lose the overwhelming support it received in the last election cycle?

Many will say that it is because fantastic amounts of money were unleashed to support the hysterical theatrics of the ultra-right as embodied in the Tea Party movement. This is, of course, correct. The recent “Citizens United” decision of the U.S. Supreme court will change the way elections are held until this anti-working class ruling is overturned. The ruling makes it possible for corporations to pour vast amounts of money into the campaigns of candidates who support their interests and the source of these contributions do not have to be disclosed to the public. Corporations can easily outspend working class individuals and organizations with ease. We saw this in this election with hateful right wing ads attacking anything that dared stand in the way of the interests of the ultra wealthy. Without a doubt, the mainstream media coverage of the elections focused on the nuttiest of the right-wing fringe. Certainly, money is always a problem where democracy is concerned.

However, there were some other factors that made it easier for the right wing to do their dirty work. Since Obama took office, the working class has been extremely polarized. Racism has raised its ugly head fueled by money from the ultra-right. Progressives for the most part have failed to meet the challenge of fighting racism in the last two years. Anti-communism has been unleashed once again through the voice of hysterical pundits and this has served to confuse the working people of this country. Anyone who falls to the left of Karl Rove on the political spectrum has been branded a “socialist” and many people fall for this since they don’t have a clue about what socialism really means. Socialists have failed to meet this challenge and have made little effort to clarify what socialism actually means.

Class-collaborationism has also returned. Some progressive organizations and political parties have failed to sharply criticize the Democratic party and its politicians on their policies which favor the wealthy class. Indeed, some have insisted on marching in lockstep with Obama and some of the reactionary Democrats in the name of unity of the working class. When the Obama administration and former President Clinton worked against the labor backed candidate in Arkansas, you didn’t hear a peep from the left. When Rahm Emanuel declared “F— the UAW!”, the left was no where to be seen or heard. These anti-labor stances were confusing to organized labor and working people in general.

In Texas, which is one of the most reactionary states in the nation, the elections can only be characterized as being chaotic and confusing. A friend of mine, an African American woman, told me that she was faced with an awful dilemma. She lives in Tom Delay’s old district where Anglo male Republican Ted Olson faced an African American Democrat female Kesha Rogers. Rogers advocates the impeachment of President Obama. My friend was forced to vote for the Republican candidate because he was more moderate than the Democrat. In my district, a right wing Republican only faced a minor challenge by a Libertarian candidate. No Democrat opposed him. In Dallas, Eddie Bernice Johnson, a progressive Democrat, is fighting for her seat. She is opposed by a right wing Republican African American male Baptist minister who is calling for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government if the Republicans don’t win control of Congress. All of these shenanigans are very confusing to voters being bombarded by attack ads every night on TV.

A friend of mine recently reminded me that when there is no tension between opposing forces, there can be no progress. Frederick Douglass said, “Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” This is what is missing today in the class struggle. Working class unity is needed to overcome the powerful influence of the corporations, but this does not mean following the Democratic party program to the letter. Progressives should support Democrats who fight for the interests of the working class and should support policies which favor working class interests. However, we should oppose with all our might any politician and/or policy which favors the interests of the wealthy. If we do this, we can answer the question “Which side are you on?” with a great deal of pride.

PHill1917@comcast.net

Check out this article by Sam Webb on racism at http://peoplesworld.org/ginning-up-racism-its-winners-and-losers/