Republicans Gaslight White Workers: Elections ‘What is Class” ?
Elections: What is Class?
Republicans
Gaslight White Workers
White Workers have No Interest Separate from All Workers
At its convention on July 15 to18, the Republican Party pronounced itself “the party of the white working class.” But exactly, What is Class anyway?
Work or Starve: Under capitalism, you either own the technology used to create wealth, or you work for a wealthy person or a corporation. Or you don’t work at all. Every person in the working class, regardless of skin color, religion, nationality or gender, faces exactly the same dilemma: how to survive a system that exploits human beings for private profit.
Are White Workers Special? White workers have absolutely no interests separate from every other group in the working class. Yet politicians who openly push fascism tell white workers that they should unite with billionaires who attack their basic needs. Divide and conquer based on skin color is as American as cherry pie.
Is the Ruling Class our Friend? The billionaire ruling class has opposed every increase in the minimum wage, opposed COVID support to essential workers, and politically pushed for states to adopt “Right-to-Work” laws, where unions have even fewer rights. They also protected the Sackler family from prosecution when it became clear that these pharma billionaires pushed opioids and committed mass murder in Appalachia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and communities across America.
Class and the Government: One essential characteristic of any social class is its political influence over the state, the organization of power that controls people and regulates the economy. In the U.S., the capitalist class openly controls both major parties through legal bribes and Dark money. Congresspersons spend half of every day raising money for the next election. Wall Street financial giants have invested millions in the fascist Project 2025, which is far more than a program for the Republican Party. It is a program for politicians at every level of government.
Dark Money: “Charitable investment accounts run by finance giants like Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab, and Vanguard — signal a new stage in the dark-money takeover of the political system. Wall Street is now helping the nation’s elite funnel vast amounts of cash to extremist causes with zero transparency or tax repercussions — and it’s spending millions lobbying Congress to keep it that way.”1
Is there a Ruling Class? Yes, there is a ruling class that controls the state to guarantee its self-interest. Yes, that class is made up of capitalists and billionaires who rule and have ruled since before the American Civil War. Yes, that class controls both the Republican and Democratic Parties.
Is there a Working Class? Yes, there’s a working class that does not have the political power to advance our most basic human needs. But there is a way for the working class, who are the majority, to capture state power:
“Victory cannot be won without class unity based on exposure and rejection of the white supremacy and hetero-patriarchy so deeply rooted in the structure of the American economy, politics, and history. In the practical struggle, people are uniting from below. The growing equality of misery is forming them into a social force. We rely on this developing practical unity to build conscious political understanding. Victory cannot be won until we gain the political power necessary to defeat fascism and organize the cooperative society we need.” 2
Let’s talk!
2. https://lrna.org/program-m/
Let’s talk. Contact us at ……. https://lrna.org/contact-us/
“The battle is a class struggle because the ruling class is the enemy of humanity and the earth itself. The program of the workers who are being displaced is showing the way. We in the League welcome and will join with every effort to unite around the demands of the revolutionary class and secure the imperiled future of life on earth.”
Program, the League: https://lrna.org/program
This is a series of articles are intended to encourage a dialogue with developing revolutionaries. We highlight issues of the day and areas of special interest to new revolutionaries to provide an action guide.
Please make your thoughts known by commenting at the end of the article.
7/19/24
=======================