Voice of Revolution

New Year’s Greetings from USMLO

Peoples Strengthen Resistance by Defending the Rights of All

2007 saw the continued, determined and growing struggle of the American working class and people for the rights of all and against imperialist war and the crimes of the ruling class, at home and abroad. Wherever the ruling class has attempted to criminalize and block the people, they have been met with vigorous resistance. The large majority wants the Iraq war ended now and they want all U.S. troops home now, so as to block all aggressive U.S. wars. The people have condemned Bush as a war criminal, a terrorist at home and abroad and are demanding that he be charged. They are standing firm against war on Iran and have stepped up efforts to build fraternal people-to-people relations — with the Iraqis, Iranians, Palestinians, Cubans, and with Canadians and Mexicans. Numerous trips have been made by American delegations to meet directly with the Iraqis and Iranians and make clear the anti-war stand of the people.

Americans joined Canadians and Mexicans in opposing the Security and Prosperity Partnership in Montebello, Quebec, just as we joined at Quebec City against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). These are part of continuing efforts by the U.S. to annex Canada and Mexico and secure all of Latin America for its war and empire. They are efforts to split the peoples so as to crush their resistance. But they are failing in this regard, as the peoples organize to strengthen their relations. And while the ruling class continuously tries to use its chauvinism to split Americans from the world’s people and divide the class inside the country, what is emerging is a united stand with the world’s peoples and a break with this chauvinism. The stand being taken is to defend sovereignty and reject U.S. aggression and interference; it is to defend the right to resist, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, worldwide. Together the peoples are bringing forward as their answer to the U.S. war of terrorism, our united stand that Security Lies in Our Fight for the Rights of All.

It is the honor of the immigrant workers to have once again established May Day as a day of action by the workers of the U.S. May Day 2006 and 2007 brought millions of workers from all nationalities into the streets, taking their united stand that an injury to one is an injury to all. These actions rejected the role of the workers as passive wage slaves and brought them forward into the political arena. 2008 will also see May Day actions that will advance the demands of the people that No One is Illegal! They will also be used to send clear messages to the presidential candidates that there will be no votes for candidates that are pro-war and anti-immigrant.

The ruling class also attempted to isolate and destroy New Orleans, long a center of resistance and internationalist spirit. These crimes too are being opposed, with the people of New Orleans joined by people coming from across the country to defend the right to return and rebuild and block the ruling circles from setting the example that they can outright eliminate public schools, public housing and whole populations. This battleground is being engaged and the peoples are organizing to emerge on top.

As we enter the 2008 presidential election year, the sharpening economic crisis and continuing threat of broader war bring great uncertainty. The conditions facing the people have brought to the fore the rotten character of monopoly capitalism that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, with the concentration of wealth and levels of poverty increasing.

False Promises of the Ruling Class

People have repeatedly seen what the promises of the ruling circles bring. Following the end of the Cold War, where the U.S. proclaimed itself the winner, there was to be a peace dividend. Reaganomics were to bring “trickle-down” benefits. Both have proven false. The policy of massive use of credit and deficit financing to escape crisis is bringing its results. These measures too have only intensified the economic crisis, with the U.S. dependent on massive financing from other countries, like China and Japan. The current credit and mortgage crisis is further contributing to the likelihood of a recession. The massive war spending, year after year, is also exacerbating the economic crisis, as these funds are continually taken out of the economy.

Imperialist globalization has both plundered the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America and meant that millions of industrial jobs have been lost in the U.S. The average wages of the new jobs are 50 percent less, forcing many more into poverty and debt. The minimum wage in the U.S. remained frozen for 10 years, with purchasing power at a fifty-year low. Even with the slight increase to $7.25 an hour by 2009, those working for minimum wage will still be below the federal poverty line, making only about $15,000 a year. An estimated 10 percent of workers, 13 million, make minimum wage. Many more make only slightly more. These conditions mean the majority of people using food pantries and soup kitchens are working families. In this land of plenty, homelessness has increased and now with the mortgage crisis, millions more are losing their homes with little ability to afford to buy new ones. The promise of the “American Dream” — a secure job and home — can no longer be delivered. These are the results the ruling class and their system imposed on the people.

Further demonstrating the failure of the system to provide for the rights of the people is the broad anti-social offensive by all levels of government. These brutal attacks are intensifying, with yet more cuts nationwide to healthcare, housing, education, pensions and the jobs of state and city workers.

This anti-social offensive of the ruling class is repeatedly being done in the name of “no money.” But governments at all levels are having great difficulty using this justification. Repeatedly, there are hundreds of billions for war. More than $480 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan alone, with levels now at more than $15 billion a month in direct war funding. These funds are in addition to the massive Pentagon budget of more than $450 billion yearly.

For just a few comparisons, it is estimated by the United Nations that about $50 billion a year, through to 2015 — which equals just one year of the Pentagon budget — would eliminate hunger worldwide. About $10 billion a year, less than one month of the Iraq and Afghanistan funding, would greatly reduce AIDS. The debts of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America could be canceled. Speaking inside the country, $480 billion could provide 8 million schoolteachers nationwide, or 3,500,000 affordable homes, which could eliminate homelessness, provide housing for New Orleans and more. Everyone can see that there is money — there is abundant wealth produced. The problem is not one of money, it is one of having a say. It is a political problem, where those who produce the wealth do not have power and do not decide how it gets distributed and consumed. People are rejecting the claim that there is no money and it is their striving to have a say that is coming more sharply to the fore.

Fraud of U.S.-Style Democracy

On the political front, the fraud of U.S.-style democracy has shown itself in the U.S. and wherever the bourgeoisie tries to impose it, like Iraq and Palestine. The legitimacy of U.S.-style democracy is in serious doubt. Since 2000, with the fraud of the first Bush election, the ruling circles could no longer justify their system on the basis of the popular vote. The very tyranny the U.S. Constitution was meant to block is being imposed, using executive rule on the basis of impunity and elimination of rule of law. The existing constitutional arrangements are being eliminated and those bodies charged with defending the Constitution, including the president, Congress and the courts, are not doing so. Congress has reduced itself to a consultative body instead of a decision-making body on matters such as declaring war and dealing with prisoners. It has joined in passing laws that strengthen the executive powers and contribute to the direction of fascism and war. This can be seen at Guantánamo, with its indefinite detention and torture of people who have committed no crime and are being charged with none. It can be seen in the USA PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act, the massive spying on millions of Americans without warrants, the elimination of habeas corpus and norms of due process. The so-called Homegrown Terrorism bill, passed overwhelmingly by the House, make radical thought a crime and even looking into radicalism a crime.

The courts have refused to close Guantánamo, as has Congress, and both have the authority to do so. As another example, massive police raids have taken place at workplaces and in immigrant communities, with people rounded up and sent off to jail, having committed no crime. Their children were often left stranded or alone by the government. Whole families are being put in detention camps that are essentially concentration camps. Whole communities are being raided simply because the government claims undocumented workers live in the area, or have family in the area. A climate of terrorism is being imposed and every effort made to isolate the immigrants and blame them for the problems of the economy. These actions are all contrary to the rule of law and so much so that even local police forces are refusing to participate in the raids.

Within their ranks, the crisis for the ruling circles is such that military generals are going public to oppose President Bush on the issue of torture and war against Iran. Navy lawyers at Guantánamo have publicly denounced the military commissions and the torture. Police at state and local levels are also refusing to submit. These show the serious problem the ruling class is having in developing arrangements for a unified military and military control of all the policing forces — an important part of imposing fascism and war. These conflicts will likely find expression in the various proposals put forward during the elections, including the efforts of the ruling circles to emphasize the need for unity, in their own ranks and as a demand to force the people to line up with their crimes.

Work of USMLO

These are but a few indications of the sharp crisis faced by the ruling class as the 2008 elections unfold. And while the ruling circles are attempting to present themselves as capable of bringing change, the fraud and failures of the past two elections, the failures of Iraq and before that Vietnam and Korea, the failures to provide the most basic rights of housing, education, and healthcare, the broad attacks on rights driving society backward — are making clear that it is not the ruling class and its parties that can bring change. It is the working class that is leading the fight for change and that is bringing forward its demands for rights.

The American working class is a revolutionary force, stemming from its position in society as the arising new class, whose emancipation requires the emancipation of all, its experience of struggle and more. The workers, together with the slaves themselves, battled and vanquished slavery. Alongside all the peoples of the world, the class battled and defeated fascism in WWII, and battled and defeated McCarthyism. Today our class is contending with a situation where they have made their voice heard loud and clear — they want an end to war and aggression, they want fraternal relations of mutual respect and benefit with the peoples of the world, they want an end to racism and the genocide of mass incarceration of African Americans. And like all peoples of the world, we face a situation where our fight is being waged, but we are blocked from power, from decision making. The democratic institutions of U.S.-style democracy are themselves blocking the path to progress. Political empowerment of the people is a problem faced by society as a whole, a critical battle to advance.

The U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization (USMLO) is calling on the working class and people and all those standing to resist to contend with this situation by being pro-active, by strengthening the fight for the workers own agenda for political empowerment and organizing to make this fight more effective.

USMLO has been implementing a program of work for political empowerment and building our weapons for this fight. In 2007, our local newspaper in Buffalo, Buffalo Forum, completed its sixth year of weekly publication. It maintained its character to provide local news, analysis, commentary and editorials and to do the same for national and international issues. Its distribution was extended on both the east and west sides of the city, where the population is mainly African American and Puerto Rican workers, and maintained at high schools, universities and workplaces. We are widely recognized as a principled and reliable force defending rights. We have also strengthened work among Arabs, particularly the youth, and assisted in reinvigorating discussion and strengthening the stand that security lies in our fight for rights.

The print edition of Voice of Revolution (VOR) completed one year of regular monthly publication, including a Spanish section of 6-8 pages. VOR is distributed nationally, including at all the major anti-war demonstrations, the May Day actions in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York as well as at conferences and events in Los Angels, Richmond, Virginia, and New Orleans. It is distributed in various cities, like New York City, Buffalo, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco and elsewhere.

This year also saw development of our Spanish webpage to stand together with our webpage in English. Both were regularly updated and are particularly appreciated for their stands and information, their representation of demonstrations and non-sectarian spirit. We have organized to be in the front ranks of the movements of the people and to consciously represent these movements in our reporting. This includes characterizing the actions and their spirit, ensuring photos representing the collectives present are taken and displayed, and putting forward analysis and demands that contribute to advancing the struggle. As well, in all of the publications as part of building the bulwark against reaction we regularly report on and reprint materials from all those standing to resist in various forms. This is contributing to strengthening the unity in action among all the various forces engaged in the fight.

Among the main slogans and content elaborated and popularized are materials on One Humanity, One Struggle, Fighting for the Fraternal Unity of the Peoples and the call to Step Up Resistance by Defending Rights. Analyzing and denouncing the “war on terrorism” and security measures and putting forward content that Security Lies in Our Fight for the Rights of All has also been a main feature. The work to reject the criminalization of dissent and criminalization of ideology has been an important part of this effort, as has the developing elaboration on the need for an anti-war government.

Our red flags have flown high in all the anti-war actions, on May Day, in defense of the rights of immigrants, Arabs, on the front lines in New Orleans, defending Puerto Rican independence and more. Our youth have become the main force carrying out these actions, including distribution, flags, and photography that represents the demonstrations.

As we now advance the organizing work in 2008, including in the elections, we stand as one with all those striving to give expression to what the working class needs and wants. We will work to deprive the ruling class of power by organizing to advance the agenda of the working class for politics of empowerment. We will continue to strengthen the non-sectarian spirit of the people by popularizing in our press the many efforts among the people to intervene in the elections in a manner that favors them. We will strengthen the fight against all efforts to divide and split the class by waging the fight against U.S. chauvinism and aggression. All of this work includes strengthening institutions, like our press, like discussion groups among the youth and workers, that address the needs and interests of the class.

Already, we can say that the strength of the movement is such that Democrats, in their effort to present as a force for change, have an African American candidate for president, a Mexican American, a women, an Alaskan, a southerner, all contending. There are several presenting themselves as anti-war and they are given a place. The slogans of the Democrats all center on change. The Democratic Party says “Democrats Leading the Way for Change.” Senator Barack Obama has as his slogan “Change We Can Believe In.” Senator Hillary Clinton’s is “Ready for Change, Ready to Lead.” These are all reflections of the strength of the peoples’ movements and their demand for change that favors them. The ruling circles are trying to occupy this space for change and block the working class from doing so.

The ruling class is striving for a champion for their interests, who can rescue the situation and lend the system credibility. They need a champion that can appear to be for change and for unity, while actually blocking the people from their drive to have their say — to have what they need and want be what the government actually does. We think it is important not to dismiss what is being said by the candidates. The program emerging in the course of the primaries and over this year will indicate how the ruling circles will contend with their own conflicts while advancing their common program for fascism and war. We will be providing information and analysis on these issues.

Our press will also focus on waging the ideological struggle against the efforts of the ruling class to force the workers to submit to the program of the ruling class. We will elaborate on the right to conscience and on the efforts of the ruling class to criminalize radical thought — as they are doing with current bills on so-called homegrown terrorism. We will investigate and engage the workers in discussion on the existing democratic institutions, why they are failing and the alternative needed by the people to build institutions that serve and empower them. An important part of this is countering the pressure of the ruling circles that the achievements of the people, such as all those outlined here, are nothing. In a situation where the pressure of the ruling circles is retrogression, to drive all society backward and bury us in chaos and bestiality, accomplishments of the kind outlined here are of great significance and a tribute to all humanity. We will speak to the advances that have been achieved in consciousness and organization, in building unity in action, and bring forward the analysis on the measure of our success and how to take it further. We will not permit the ruling class to push the people from their path of fighting together for the rights of all — for their empowerment and for a society that benefits all humanity.

It is our estimate that the elections present a bold opportunity for the working class and people to advance their fight for empowerment and rights by broadly discussing that it is the working class that must lead the fight for change and it can do so by advancing its own agenda.

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