By James Thompson
As the government shutdown drags on and the debt ceiling looms nearer and nearer, a nervous nation and world wonder what is to become of them. Right wing fascists hold the government hostage while centrists quiver and quake at their theatrics. The drama from both sides receives maximum coverage on corporate TV.
Meanwhile, the working class wonders if there is anything that can be done to restore sanity to the nation.
Some may talk of “revolution” or “slow down” or “general strike.” This talk is counterproductive and is the wrong tactic at this stage in the struggle.
The first step in formulating a response to the tactics of the ultra-right is to recognize their skill and effectiveness in fighting the class struggle. For indeed, the government shut down and dithering about whether to raise the debt ceiling is nothing if it is not class warfare. It must be remembered that the government provides essential services to working people in spite of its primary allegiance to the wealthy. Working people benefit from Social Security retirement and disability programs and VA programs. Although flawed, these programs are extremely valuable to working people. This is precisely the reason that the Tea Party extremists want to shut these programs down. The wealthy are fighting the class war while telling working people through the corporate media that there is no such thing as a class war. Working people must recognize that the wealthy will fight the class war no matter what the response is from working people.
How should working people respond to this latest assault?
Some say the definition of insanity is continuing to do what you have been doing while expecting different results.
Working people should use the resources available to them to begin and continue a frank discussion of what is in their best interest. It is clear that years of blind faithfulness to centrist politicians has led the working class nowhere. It is also clear that smaller sectors of the working class have followed right wing politicians and this has come to nothing. There has been no organized left wing in this country since the 1930s for working people to follow. It is time for working people to organize their own political party to fight for their own interests without influence from the wealthy upper class. Social media and the Internet could be harnessed to provide forums for working people to express their views on the current crisis facing this nation. Strategy and tactics to meet the current crisis should be discussed immediately from the working class point of view.
As the discussion progresses, it should become obvious that workers should flex their muscles and exercise their inherent political power.
One way would be to organize mass protests and demonstrations in the nation’s capitol and in other major cities around the country. Participants in these actions should include massive numbers of Social Security recipients, VA benefits recipients and furloughed government employees and their families, friends and allies. Of course, such demonstrations should be multiethnic and include both men and women.
Simultaneously, maximum pressure needs to be put on the right wing members of Congress to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling immediately. Maximum pressure should also be put on the centrists to not cave in to the demands of the right wing to gut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans benefits and other programs that benefit working people. Demands to protect undocumented immigrants should be included in negotiations on behalf of workers. This is what is needed at this point in the struggle.
Even if the government shutdown is reversed and the debt ceiling lifted in response to the pressure from the public, the struggle should continue for working people’s interests. Indeed, as working people start to win political victories, progressive demands should increase.
Should the feckless politicians fail to reach an agreement to fund the government and lift the debt ceiling, a new assessment of that stage of the struggle should begin and new tactics will need to be devised to address the conditions at that time.
In addition to recognizing that there is a vicious class war being waged against them, workers need to recognize that there is an alternative to capitalism and it is socialism. Workers also need to recognize that working class unity is the most effective response to assaults from the wealthy classes. When united, workers can accomplish a lot. Working class unity defeated wealthy slaveholders in the US. Working class unity defeated fascism in World War II. Working class unity resulted in the public education system, public works programs during the Great Depression, Social Security, Veterans Administration, Medicare and Medicaid. Working class unity resulted in the end of the Vietnam War as well as the Korean War. Although the current crisis is very serious and possibly critical, working people have faced and overcome crises in the past and can work together to restore sanity in response to the current situation. Working people should remember that we outnumber them and that on a level playing field, our power will eventually surpass the power of the wealthy if we are united.
