It took 100 years, but Henry Kissinger finally died on 29 November 2023, age 100. Few people today know him, specially teens and those in their 20’s. But in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, Henry Kissinger was a powerful U.S politician in the service of American imperialism. He was a National Security Advisor and Secretary of State until 1977. Kissinger was a deep supporter of U.S imperialism, but cared little for anti-communist dogma, he was willing to work with Maoist China to weaken Stalinist Russia. He was a pragmatic imperialist and honoured by all American presidents for his services to imperialism. Workers and poor can only hate this man, who lived too long while so many died young due to his actions!
Ask a teen today about Kissinger and he/she/them will not know him. Even those in their 20’s will never have known the name Henry Kissinger. Those who lived in the 1960’s and 1970’s, will never forget the name of the man, who’s actions had huge impacts on the politics of the USA. Kissinger and president Nixon both agreed to drop more bombs on North Vietnam then was dropped on Nazi Germany. Due to these terror attacks, the capital city of Hanoi was heavy damaged. Kissinger also organised the illegal bombing of Cambodia.
The biggest defeat for Kissinger came in April 1975. North Vietnamese forces overran the American puppet regime in South Vietnam. With the defeat of the anti-communists, Vietnam was reunified under the banner of Stalinism, a deep setback for Washington DC and Kissinger personally. Despite this, Kissinger kept supporting right-wing dictatorships around the world and turned a blind eye to the massive human-rights abuses, while the USA gave money and weapons to these dictatorships. To strengthen the western camp, Kissinger made deals with Maoist China.
Until 1972, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) was isolated internationally. Western imperialism supported the ROC (Republic of China) on Taiwan as the only representative of China. Mao’s government was isolated from the Stalinist world since he denounced the Soviet-Union as ”social-imperialist” after 1956. Henry Kissinger flew to Beijing and restarted diplomatic relations between the Chinese mainland and the USA. The anti-communist ROC on Taiwan was abandoned and Washington DC accepted the PRC, as the only legitimate government of whole China.
While the Soviet-Union and its allies were under trade embargos (like Cuba and Vietnam), the People’s Republic of China was able to buy American products like civilian aircrafts, this was only possible thanks to the diplomatic work of Henry Kissinger. In Africa, the Secretary of State worked closely with the totalitarian regime of Mobutu Sese Seko. Kissinger said that the dictator of Congo/Zaire was their biggest success story in Africa. He praised Mobutu, who murdered around 200.000 opponents of his regime!
Henry Kissinger deserves to be hated, but all American presidents praised him. From Nixon to Bush, Clinton to Obama. This is because Henry Kissinger played a major role in strengthening the power of American imperialism during the Cold War, this is why this old killer was praised. Revolutionary socialists will not mourn his death. Henry Kissinger was responsible for so many crimes, the list includes:
• Cambodia: Hundreds of thousands massacred in secret bombing by the US Air Force. This resulted in the coming to power of the Khmer Rouge and its killing fields, where this horrific regime slaughtered millions of Cambodians.
• Vietnam: Two million Vietnamese were killed over eight years of imperialist war being waged on its people.
• Chile 1973: Tens of thousands of workers, socialists, trade unionists, and young people were murdered and tortured after a CIA-backed coup brought Augusto Pinochet to power.
• East Timor 1975: Kissinger gave a nod to the Suharto dictatorship to invade East Timor after winning independence from Portuguese imperialism. 300,000 East Timorese would be slaughtered over the next 24 years.
Although Henry Kissinger had no political power after 1977, he remained a die-hard supporter of American imperialism. Presidents listen to his advice and he said to George W. Bush that the USA must win the war against Islamic fundamentalism. Again, Henry Kissinger failed to see that Islamic fundamentalism is a reaction to the brutal politics of western imperialism in the Islamic world. Kissinger must have felt terrible when another American puppet government fell in April 2021.
Despite his high age, the old supporter of imperialism never stopped working for the western world. Even in 2023, he met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York City. Kissinger once opposed Ukrainian membership in NATO. However, just before he died the old imperialist changed his mind and wanted Ukraine to join the imperialist bloc against China/Russia. We know that this will not end the conflict as Russian imperialism already says it is fighting NATO. Kissinger was never a man of peace. He supported dictatorship, oppression, murder, terrorism, all in the name of ”defending American freedom”.
Revolutionary socialists call on workers to reject the legacy of Henry Kissinger and fight for a socialist world free from imperialism and capitalism. This is the only way we can truly defeat the modern war hawks who learned much from Kissinger. Socialism is the only alternative out of poverty, insecurity and war. Henry Kissinger fought his whole life against us and it will be our greatest honour to keep fighting, until both western imperialism and eastern imperialism (China and Russia) are destroyed and replaced by socialist societies under the control of the working class!
Leftist reformists have the tendency to betray the working class over and over. We see this with social-democracy, but also with moderate leftist leaders like Bernie Sanders in the USA. Sanders tried to run inside the right-wing Democratic Party and was defeated twice. Now Joe Biden is running for president in 2024 and no Democrat is opposing him. The old centrist is not challenged, why? Because they all fear the far-right Republican Party. Even Bernie Sanders has already backed Joe Biden before the whole election show has started. This means that working class people, will be told by leftist reformists to vote for another right-wing president to stop the far-right.
Donald Trump could win the nomination for the Republican Party. His far-right ideology is in full control of the Republican Party since 2016. The old conservatives are all kicked out or have sided with the far-right agenda of Donald Trump. Many Republicans used to believe in the rule of law and democracy. But since 2016, more and more Republicans are elected with ideas that stand in opposition to democracy. These new Republicans wish to enforce a dogmatic right-wing agenda that opposes woman’s rights, LGBTQI rights, workers rights, the environment and the fight to stop climate change. Republicans openly sponsor theocratic and totalitarian ideas. This is why leftist reformists keep calling us to vote for neoliberals to stop the far-right, instead of fighting for a socialist alternative.
Bernie Sanders did the same in 2020 when he called for a vote on Joe Biden. Revolutionary socialists opposed this as we do not think that Joe Biden is an improvement over Donald Trump. Yes, Biden has returned the White House under more ”stable” control, but the USA as a whole is still ruled over by the capitalist class of types like Trump and Biden. Leftists reformists always tell us that we must stop the far-right by voting or supporting the ”lesser to two evil”. This is what we saw in 2016 and 2020. Bernie Sanders told us to vote for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden to oppose Donald Trump. In 2024 he will again call for a vote on a president who is not a leftist and who is very much a supporter of the 1% and the ruling class!
What does that tell us? American workers need a political alternative. They cannot just keep voting for that right-wing Democratic Party only to oppose the Republican Parry. We have seen that Donald Trump used populism to win in 2016, that failed again in 2020, but many working class Americans are angry as inequality keeps on rising. Over 50% of all Americans do not have enough money to survive a month win-out a pay-check. The Republican Party blames migrants, Muslims, leftists and liberals for that. The reality however is that the capitalist system is to blame, a system that is supported by both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
This is why Bernie Sanders is wrong again. We cannot trust Joe Biden and it is time that the American left-wing starts fighting for a genuine socialist alternative to the Democratic Party. It is very possible that in 2024 we will call for a vote on the Green Party again. The greens are not the workers party the USA needs, but their program is far more leftist then that of the Democratic Party. Sanders is not the only reformist who has betrayed us. Since elected on the ticked of the Democratic Party, members of the so called ”Progressive Squad” have submitted themselves to the leadership of the Democrats. Reformists likes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) failed to reform the Democratic Party from within!
Ilhan Omar is perhaps the only member of the Progressive Squad who dared to oppose Joe Biden on Ukraine, while AOC and other progressives all voted in favour of every hawkish pro-war measure. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has signed onto a bipartisan letter to the president which has no anti-war message and which actually leaves open the possibility of direct U.S. military intervention into the war in Ukraine. Revolutionary socialists therefore conclude that the elected leftist reformists failed as we knew they would. The inability of the Progressive Squad to fight the capitalist establishment, comes from their inability to see that you cannot reform a system that is corrupt and build for one class only.
This is why social-democracy in Europe is today part of the capitalist establishment. Social-democrats across Europe are losing elections and have lost the trust of working class people. In Austria, a leftist alliance around former green youth and the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) resulted in a surprising victory. In cities like Salzburg, the KPÖ Plus alliance won 11% of the votes and in Graz the KPÖ Plus is the largest party in the city council. Capitalist commentators are still shocked that Austrians would vote for a party that used to be Stalinist. They fail to see that working class people turn towards the KPÖ Plus alliance because their members dare to say that the system does not work and that something must be done.
The Democratic Socialists of America are stalling and could lose members, if they fail to move beyond the Democratic Party. DSA has round 94.000 members, they are the largest socialist party in the USA. But because they do not run in opposition to the Democrats, DSA could lose many young members if they do not build up a socialist alternative. Also we must not forget that the Democratic Socialists of America are not a unified force. There are many pro-capitalist members who are social-democratic (like Bernie Sanders) and revolutionary socialists who oppose capitalism. DSA members are not even accountable to socialist ideas and when elected can work with the establishment against the working class.
For 2024, Americans need a alternative to Joe Biden and possibly Donald Trump. We cannot trust leftist reformists like Bernie Sanders calling on us to vote for the neoliberal Democrats over and over. The Progressive Squad has failed in reforming the Democratic Party and are now fully in line with the party leadership. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez still has the support of many working class people in her district. But sooner or later, these working class people will become disappointed. Yes, the Republican Party is a danger to the working class. But the alternative is not the Democratic Party, no matter what reformists like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez keep saying for years to come.
Tucker Carlson, the most far-right nationalist propagandist at Fox News has been fired. Carlson was the most popular right-wing commentator on the capitalist network since 2017. He replaced Bill O’Reilly, who was the most popular commentator before him. Carlson started to flirt with right-wing nationalism and the far-right during the Covid-19 pandemic. But his downfall came in 2023 when he claimed the U.S elections were rigged in favour of Joe Biden. Carlson said on his program that the voting machines of Dominion Voting Systems were to blame. The company retaliated by suing Fox News for allowing Carlson and others to spread misinformation. To save their capitalist skin, Fox News agreed on paying Dominion over 787,5 million dollars and Tucker Carlson was kicked off the air.
The now former propagandist of Fox News did not start out as a far-right nationalist. Tucker Carlson used to be a mainstream capitalist commentator. He used to work for CNN, NBC, MSNBC before joining Fox News in 2009. Carlson needed to undergo a change of character in order to become the most popular program on the far-right network. He abandoned his bourgeois-liberal profile and embraced right-wing conservatism after 2009. Tucker Carlson was a Democrat between 2006 and 2020 and joined the Republican Party only three years ago. Carlson however always campaigned for the Republicans and Republican-affiliated causes during his time as a Democrat.
Six years ago, Bill O’Reilly was fired from Fox News after he was forced to pay millions, to settle a lawsuit regarding sexual harassment claims of six women who worked for him. After O’Reilly was kicked out, Tucker Carlson took his position as the most popular Fox News commentator. Like Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson spread the most reactionary poison and he was paid millions to do so. Fox News is not a genuine news network. Like all other capitalist ”news” outlets in the USA, it protests the ruling class and the capitalist system. But Fox News has gone much further. It is the official propaganda network of the Republican Party, never criticizing the far-right direction of the party and its supreme leader Donald Trump.
Among the conservative part of the working class, Tucker Carlson got more and more support. This is due to his far-right populism and wild claims which are partly true. He has said often that the U.S system is broken and that both Democrats and Republicans are to blame. But at the same time his solutions are nationalistic and racist. Like all Republicans, Tucker Carlson blames migrants, Muslims, leftists and liberals for the decline of the USA. The very economic system that exploits millions and causes poverty Carlson never attacks. His pseudo-populism allowed him to grow among some (conservative) tv viewers. The problem is that these Americans fail to see how Tucker Carlson (like Donald Trump) is part of the ruling class. He is a millionaire, with a personal wealth of 420 million U.S dollars.
Fox News allowed all his racist far-right nationalist rhetoric because he brought in commercial money. But the downfall came when Carlson attacked Dominion Voting Systems which fought back. The company claimed that Carlson was spreading lies and misinformation about their products and they sued Fox News for it. In order to stop the legal battle, Fox News agreed on paying over 787 million dollars to Dominion. After doing so they kicked Tucker Carlson out, because in the end he cost them a lot of money. Revolutionary socialists say that this shows how big money controls all of our media.
We say that the media should not be under private nor state ownership. The media and their means of production (studios, printing machines) should belong to society and open to all ideologies. Right now, the system only grants access to those who can pay. It is no wonder that in the two party dictatorship that is the USA, only capitalist political parties get television access, third parties are completely ignored. Most Americans only know the Democratic Party and Republican Party, this is due to the capitalist media which only covers candidates from these two parties. During the last presidential election in 2020, the two parties of capitalism spend over 14 billion dollars on the media.
Tucker Carlson is gone, but not silenced. Like Bill O’Reilly he has the millions to set up a political show of his own. There are enough far-right networks, but Fox News is the biggest and the one with the most reach. What working class Americans need is a network that works for them. We need socialist media in the service of the class struggle. This is almost impossible under capitalism, because those with money control what most working class people think. Independent digital media is competing with television, but for millions it remains still the only source of information for now. Fox News has enough propagandists to succeed Tucker Carlson. Soon there will another far-right show promoting white nationalism, racism and the idiotic idea that Donald Trump won the election.
Fox News is not informing its viewers on things that matter. The network is build to mislead and to act as a propaganda arm of the Republican Party. Capitalism does not want workers to know the reality, that it is a system build for a small minority only. It works very well for those who own the economy, for the millionaires and billionaires like Tucker Carlson and Bill O’Reilly, who were paid so much money to spread their anti-worker, pro-capitalist poison. Socialist Alternative (ISA in the USA) has said it clearly in 2011, when Fox News was caught up in a earlier scandal:
In the U.S., five huge corporations – all household names – control the majority of all forms of mass media, as documented in The New Media Monopoly, by Ben Bagdikian. The corporate media can’t be relied upon to provide fair and honest news. We need to build independent media sources for workers and youth from the bottom up, like Justice newspaper, SocialistAlternative.org and internationalsocialist.net. We also need a society in which the media are not controlled by a handful of huge corporations, but instead democratically controlled, with access to all points of view rather than viewpoints manufactured by tycoons and politicians.
George W. Bush, the 75 year old war criminal misspoke. He wanted to attack Putin for his wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Ukraine. Instead the former invader of Iraq said: ”wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq” while meaning to say Ukraine. This show us that the former imperialist President of the United States of America knows very well that he committed a unjustified and brutal act against the Iraqi people. An act that resulted in the fact that the Republic of Iraq today has moved closer to Iran and away from the USA.
Many may have forgotten the Bush era. Between 2001 and 2009, George W. Bush ruled the White House. His administration launched the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush said that anybody who was not with him, stood against him. His imperialist plans failed as both the Kabul government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was never democratic nor popular and the Iraqi government was almost overrun by a fundamentalist terror group in 2014. Because Barack Obama carried out the same imperialist plans, the effects of George W. Bush are still visible today.
The American imperialists lied to the world in March 2003. They claimed that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction. Also they said he was working with Al-Qaida of Osama Bin Laden. In reality the regime of Saddam Hussein opposed Islamic fundamentalism. Hussein saw himself as divine and although flirting with Islamic symbolism after 1991, he kept his country mostly secular. After the terror attacks in New York, American imperialism decided to finish what the father of Bush in 1991 did not do, removing Saddam Hussein from power.
Removing the tyrant was easy. But what the imperialists did not understand was that Iraq is not a unified country. It was kept together by the dictatorship of the Ba’ath Party. Iraq is made up of three groups, the Sunni-Arabs, Shia-Arabs and the Kurds. Although the northern Kurdish region was more or less independent since the 1990’s, Sunni and Shia Muslims hated each other. Hussein was a Sunni and gave his group the political power while oppressing the Shia majority. After 2003, the Shia Muslims took power angering the Sunni minority.
The whole situation exploded in 2014 when a small Sunni terrorist group was able to capture 1/3 of Iraq. This Sunni group was known as Islamic State of Iraq led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. After capturing Mosul they declared an Islamic caliphate. This radical Islamic empire was supported by many fundamentalists who always dreamed of a theocracy. Over 50.000 foreigners joined the Islamic State between 2014 and 2017, only to see their empire collapse under the united efforts of working people, specially in Syria where the Syrian Democratic Forces destroyed IS forces.
Iraq defeated Islamic State, but it remains barley unified. The Kurds still want independence, although their capitalist government does not dare to leave Iraq. Sunni Iraqi’s still face discrimination while the Shia Iraqi’s have moved closer to Iran and its politics. George W. Bush created this mess when he invaded that country to steal its wealth. Because that was the real reason why the Americans moved in. They wanted Iraqi oil, it is no surprise that any government after 2003 choose to base its politics on the capitalist system and market forces.
Between 800.000 and 1,3 million Iraqi’s died between 2003 and 2011. For American taxpayers the War in Iraq cost around 1,9 trillion U.S dollars. This is because the American government took massive loans to pay for all soldiers and weapons to be send there. 4,507 American soldiers died, 17,690 Iraqi security forces were killed in the 12 years between the start and the final American soldier leaving Iraq in 2011. American imperialism returned to Iraq in 2014 to fight Islamic State and over 2.500 soldiers are still in the country. That war against IS led to the deaths of 69 U.S soldiers.
Vladimir Putin has carried out a brutal invasion of Ukraine. But American imperialism is very hypocritical in denouncing it. Imperialists like George W. Bush invaded countries to steal their wealth and install puppets of their own. The puppets of American imperialism are long gone, Iraq is now closer to Iran and the puppet regime in Kabul was overthrown by the Taliban in August 2021. Save and protected by the administration of Joe Biden, George W. Bush can speak and walk freely. But the working class of the world will never forget who:
Launched a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq in March 2003
Since the start of 2022, western imperialism claims that Russia will invade Ukraine. Proof of such is not given by the imperialists in Washington DC and Brussels. Russia claims that they are not invading Ukraine, but the USA is saying that an invasion of the former Soviet republic is imminent. The Americans have not been able to provide anything that could indicate that the Kremlin wishes to conquer Ukraine. Should Vladimir Putin decide to invade, he risks serious damage to Russia both military, financially and socially. Although the Russian Army could conquer all of Ukraine, the costs would be very high.
Despite 8 years of a pro-western government, working class Ukrainians are still suffering from low wages, deep inequality and capitalist barbarism. Since the 1990’s, only a few rich (like former president Poroshenko) benefited from the return of capitalism. At the end of the 20th century over 55% of all Ukrainians were living in poverty, thanks to the capitalist politics of ex-Stalinist leaders like Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma. They privatized the Soviet Ukrainian economy and created a wild west for capitalists to exploit millions
Kuchma ruled Ukraine from 1994 until 2005. Like Kravchuk before him, Kuchma sold off billions to greedy capitalists and created poverty for millions. Both men were members of the elitist Stalinist caste of parasites, who ruled Soviet Ukraine. They changed colours after the failed 1991 Soviet coup in Moscow. Kravchuk and Kuchma embraced the bourgeois symbols of the first capitalist Ukrainian state and installed them as state symbols on 24 August 1991.
Today in early 2022, the number of Ukrainians living with low incomes is around 45% of the total population. Covid-19 has hit the country hard, but even before the virus came millions had to struggle each month due to low incomes. The capitalist system and the corrupt government are to blame. Oligarch president Petro Poroshenko used anticommunism and Ukrainian nationalism to hide the fact that his politics only benefited the superrich. He lost the election in 2019 to a comedian.
Now the western imperialists are trying to provoke the Russian bully. This is not a good idea since Moscow is all about keeping NATO from closing in on them. The Kremlin is paranoid and might resort to violence in order to keep NATO out, they already took Crimea and parts of Donbass. Among ethnic Russians in Ukraine, there is support for Putin because the Kremlin has build a massive propaganda machine around them.
Crimea under Ukraine was neglected and under control of pro-Russian politicians long before the Euro-Maidan. The peninsula was not given much attention by the capitalist rulers in Kiev. Ethnic Russians felt abandoned and betrayed. They voted for pro-Russian candidates in elections like Viktor Yanukovych, despite that these figures always worked with oligarchs against ordinary workers. Since Ukraine lacks a genuine left-wing opposition, the Communist Party of Ukraine was often said to be left-wing.
This is however not correct! The Communist Party of Ukraine fully supported the capitalist government of Yanukovych (2010-2014) and sided with the Kremlin in almost all foreign manners. Like the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Communist Party of Ukraine is a social-conservative party that stands against women’s rights, gay-rights and migrant workers. For them the state-capitalist model of the Communist Party of China is the way forward. Proofing to us revolutionary socialists the anti-Marxist nature of the CPU.
Now the western world is sounding the drums of war against Russia. This is clear indication of modern day imperialism fight against each other for control. Western imperialism faces off eastern imperialism. With eastern imperialism we mean the state-capitalist dictatorships of Russia and China, who are the dominating force in Asia. We revolutionary socialists say that peace cannot be build by forces loyal to imperialism. Not the USA, Russia, China, EU, NATO or even the United Nations.
Peace can only be created by ending the very system that is driving the drums of war each time and that is capitalism. The enemy is not the Russians nor the Americans, the enemy is not the average Russian soldier or Ukrainian soldier. The enemy of working class people are those who control the means of production, who own television networks and mislead working class people. We talk here about people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg. Together these capitalists own over 1.000 billion U.S dollars in wealth, while 689 million people live in extreme poverty on less than 1.90 U.S dollars a day!
As International Socialist Alternative explains:
“The main enemy is at home,” German revolutionary Karl Liebknecht said in 1915. He meant that the working class of one country should not fight against the working class of another country, because they have the same interests, while they have nothing in common with their own ruling class. It is for this reason that members of the ISA, whether campaigning against western imperialism in the US, or facing arrest in Russia for opposing the Kremlin’s role in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine are all united in opposing the calls for war over the Ukraine, refusing to support either Russian or Western imperialism, or Chinese, German, or any other imperialism, and calling for united working class struggle against the warmongers and the capitalist system they represent.
Ukrainian workers are pushed into this new Cold War. The USA is sending troops to eastern Europe, while the Kremlin has surrounded Ukraine with 130.000 troops. Russian soldiers are also stationed in Belarus were dictator Lukashenko welcomed them. He said that Belarus would stand with Russia in any conflict. He has little choice since the dictator has isolated himself and can only turn to Russia to aid. Meanwhile western viewers are told each day that Russia is about to attack Ukraine.
In Russia, the state controls most media outlets and does not tell the story that way. They portray Russia as under siege by foreign forces. Ukraine is portrayed as ”failed” and under ”foreign” control. Russians are so mislead into thinking that an attack on Ukraine is justified to defend Mother Russia. The reality is that Ukraine is not a puppet of the west. Its government is pro-western but it is not part of NATO. We socialists say true peace cannot be build by capitalist politicians in service of a minority of owners.
We demand the full nationalization of the war industry and the the overthrow of the ruling political elites and their replacement by democratic structures of the workers and oppressed. Ukrainian workers must link up with Belarusian and Russian workers to fight against their common enemy. The very capitalist system that is pushing for war and death. As the German revolutionary: Karl Liebknecht once said, capitalism is war, socialism is peace.
Western workers must reject the war drums of the USA and the EU. Opposing the national European governments and their ”support Ukraine” line. Supporting the corrupt Ukrainian government is not helping its working class. Sending western arms to Kiev is not ending the war, it is only fuelling the Russian state propaganda about ”Ukraine under foreign control”. Therefore we revolutionary socialists take no side. We reject western imperialism and eastern imperialism, no support to Biden or Putin.
A capitalist war always means profit for the owners of the war industry. Billions were made during the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military industrial complex grew very rich between 2001 and 2022, because the USA used billions in tax money to buy expensive weapons. Many young American soldiers died in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to defend the freedoms at home. They died because American imperialism wanted to steal the wealth of nations like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Russia has been rearming itself since 2008. Billions are wasted each year by the Kremlin to build up the Russian Armed Forces. Although the poverty level is lower in Russia compared to Ukraine, the inequality is very high. The Russian 1% control 71% of all monetary wealth. This oligarchy is able to own so much because Vladimir Putin (who is part of this rotten state-capitalist model) allows it. Putin does not care about ordinary workers, he lives in luxury like all capitalist exploiters of the world!
The Kremlin is not afraid to go to war. But going fully on the offensive to capture a whole nations is new to them. They only attacked Georgia in 2008, because the Georgians attacked pro-Russian separatists who are under the protection of Russian ”peacekeepers”. Invading the separatist held parts of Donbass is a possibility. The so called ”people’s republics” in Donetsk and Lugansk are a façade and client states of Russia in all but name, much like Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.
Workers of the world must reject the war propaganda and stand against the capitalist system that will profit from a war. The peace movement must be build up by working class people with no illusions that the current rulers will care. They cannot trust bourgeois pacifists who do not see that capitalism is the main reason for wars. Workers of the world have always been sacrificed by warmongers and the military industrial complex. This is why the working class has nothing to lose but their chains.
The American vice president Kamala Harris has told potential migrants from Guatemala not to come to the USA. She said this in her visit to the Republic of Guatemala. Kamala Devi Harris is not a representative of the U.S working class. She is a iron prison warden, chosen by Joe Biden because she is not a progressive. The only reason she has come to Guatemala is to tell its right-wing president that the USA does not like it when its population is trying to flee to the ”land of the free”. The very reason why all these people try to build up a live in America is because of massive poverty and no hopes in Guatemala, which is ruled by corrupt politicians, capitalists and violent street gangs. Also the USA created this massive migration because it has always supported neoliberal politics in Guatemala.
The Republic of Guatemala is a small Latin American country on the southern border of Mexico. On 29 December 1996 a 36 year old civil war between the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity and the corrupt capitalist government came to an end. Although the leftist rebels demanded social changes, they never came. Guatemala remained on the path of neoliberalism, austerity and capitalist politics. With the war over, millions of poor working class Guatemalans tried to escape poverty by fleeing to Mexico in hope of entering the USA. For them, America is seen as the land of freedom and wealth. This propaganda is spread by the lie that the USA is the ”land of the free”.
Those who have entered the USA often do so illegally, because legally most would not be granted entry. This is why most of the 10,7 million illegals are from Latin American countries. Right-wing Americans blame them for almost anything. In reality it is the capitalist class who is to blame. Because they exploit millions of these undocumented workers and pay them slave wages. Since they do not dare to protest, most work for very low wages and under constant fear of getting arrested by ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The United States of America is to blame for the fact that 10 million undocumented workers have entered their country. During the 1950’s until 1980’s, American president’s from Eisenhower to Reagan gave political and military support to corrupt anti-Communist dictatorships. In the Republic of Guatemala, Eisenhower ordered the CIA to overthrow the government of Jacobo Árbenz in 1954. The criminal CIA then created the Mano Blanca (White Hand), a far-right terror group that hunted down and killed leftists, trade unionists and anybody the Guatemalan military government called ”communist”.
In December 1996 the civil war came to an end. 160.000 ethnic Mayan’s had been murdered by the army and far-right. In fact 93% of all civilian executions were carried out by government forces like the Mano Blanca. Although the USA portrayed the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity as ”violent communist”. In reality they were the violent ones, by arming the Guatemalan army and its terror groups. The end of the civil war did not changed anything. Demoralized by the lack of change and the collapse of their role model (Stalinism), the rebels could not build a socialist alternative.
Kamala Harris blames the Guatemalan migrants, but she does not wish to understand why millions flee Latin America. She and her political party are to blame, both the Democratic Party and Republican Party have called on Latin America to carry out neoliberal politics in the 1990’s. Both liberal and conservative Americans politicians demanded that countries like Guatemala embraced free market fundamentalism. Almost 25 years after the end of the civil war, we can conclude that this failed economic model is the very reason why so many flee Guatemala.
Now Harris goes to Guatemala and speaks to a president who does not represent the interests of ordinary working class people. Alejandro Giammattei is a ethnic white male and comes from the small minority who have ruled the country since 1839. White decedents from Spanish colonialists are the ruling political class, while coloured and ethnic Mayan’s are side lined. This is seen in the voter turnout during the second round of the presidential elections. Only 41% came to vote for Alejandro Giammattei, his votes came from the white minority. He won 1,907,767 out of 8,150,221 registered voters.
What Guatemala lacks (as all of Latin America) is a socialist alternative. The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity is still there, but it does not offer a way forward. They are divided and still praise people like Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and leaders like Daniel Ortega who are not socialist. Right-wing forces seem splintered with over nine right-wing political parties active in parliament. However with the support from four centre-right parties, there are now 13 political parties on the pro-capitalist spectrum. When we add the centre-left to that spectrum we see that that 16 political parties support capitalism in Guatemala.
You do not stop the flow of migrants by calling on them to accept poverty caused by a system you advocate. In fact the USA has been build on migrant and slave labour. Yet neoliberals and neoconservatives blame undocumented workers and have created ICE in 2003 to hunt them down. Revolutionary socialists stand in solidarity with all those who flee poverty created by capitalism. We reject hypocrites like Kamala Harris and Alejandro Giammattei. These right-wing politicians want to divide the working class and offer us only hate. Our alternatives are clear, we need:
The disbandment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Stop the exploitation of undocumented workers by American capitalists
The USA must accept that they are co-responsible for the migration wave
Neoliberal economics must be halted and replaced by socialist ones
A democratic economy under control of the working class in both America and Guatemala
A voluntary socialist federation of the America’s as part of a future united socialist world.
The court in the American state of Washington has allowed a right-wing recall against socialist council woman Kshama Sawant to go on. The right-wing campaign ”Recall Sawant” is now allowed to start gathering signatures to demand a recall of the only revolutionary socialist elected into a public office. Kshama Sawant is fighting for workers interests since 2013 in Seattle. She is not loved by the capitalist establishment and Democratic Party politicians. Since removing her by using democratic means failed, they now use a recall campaign to silence her. Sawant is a loud politician and this is not loved by the ruling class who wish for politicians to be quite and loyal to the establishment.
”Recall Sawant” claims it is not right-wing and not fuelled by anti-socialist ideals. They claim that they are only concerned about the actions of Sawant as she fights against the system, loudly and openly. They say that:
Council Member Sawant has used city resources to promote a ballot initiative and failed to comply with public disclosure requirements.
Council Member Sawant has endangered the safety of city workers and other individuals by admitting hundreds of people into city hall while it was closed to the public against state orders during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Council Member Sawant led a protest march to Mayor Jenny Durkan’s private residence, the location of which Councilmember Sawant knew was protected under state confidentiality laws.
On issue 1 the ”Recall Sawant” campaign is hiding behind electoral laws when she spend 2.000 dollars of public money. While billions are wasted by capitalist politicians, the right-wing recall campaign is worried about 2.000 dollars. Yes, the courts who defend the system agree with them on this issue that Kshama Sawant broke the law. But that is the problem. When a revolutionary politician is fighting for workers rights, he/she will come into conflict with the laws of the establishment.
Also the courts did not find mayor Jenny Durkan of Seattle guilty of braking the law, when she used police brutality against Black Lives Matters. Yet they were horrified when Kshama opened the doors to City Hall in June 2020, for a general assembly (with protesters wearing masks) to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and to defund the police. When capitalist politicians use police brutality and attack workers and their families they are never subjected to a capitalist funded recall campaign.
On issue 3, the ”Recall Sawant” campaign is again hiding behind capitalist laws. Families of victims of police brutality, who organized that protest asked Kshama to speak at their event. This was because they are frustrated that Mayor Durkan has taken no action to hold police accountable, for the deaths and brutality that have happened under her watch. Kshama has stood consistently with the families of Charleena Lyles, Che Taylor, and Herbert Hightower Jr. to fight for justice. But since she spoke at a rally in front of the mayor’s house, the capitalist state now calls that a ”violation of the address confidentiality program”
The organisers of the ”Recall Sawant” campaign also dare to claim that they are ”progressive” and not right-wing. They even tried to portray themselves as ”ordinary”. Reality is that they are funded by major capitalist interests like Martin Selig, Merrill Lynch Senior VP Matt Westphal and the billionaire Nordstrom family. In late March 2021, the ”Recall Sawant” spread 40.000 flyers with a racist picture of an angry brown women (Sawant). Using stock photo’s to portray themselves as a ”diverse mix of working people and seniors”, the right-wing campaign is hiding behind a progressive façade to win popular support.
Behind them is also the capitalist media, which has portrayed Kshama Sawant as a ”loud angry woman” and ”paid by forces outside Seattle”. Many donations that Sawant received are from outside the city as many American workers donated to defend the only revolutionary socialist elected. Sawant fights against major capitalist forces like Amazon, owned by billionaire and capitalist exploiter Jeff Bezos. The same Amazon that spend 1,5 million dollars to elect a capitalist friendly city council. They failed in District 3 as Sawant triumphed over the liberal candidate supported by Jeff Bezos.
Last time Sawant won her re-election, but capitalism is powerful and able to spend millions on misinformation and lies. Sawant is under siege because of her activism and revolutionary propaganda. She is not your typical politician, who works silently behind doors. There are many in Seattle who do not like her. They do not like a Indian born woman who stand up loudly to the injustice of capitalism supported by the Democrats. But for ordinary workers and victims of capitalist exploitation, Kshama Sawant is the only genuine voice in the city council.
This is what the ”Recall Sawant” campaign wants to destroy. They want to remove a politician who is not for sale. In doing so they hind behind a progressive liberal façade of ”concerned citizens”. However reality is that the recall campaign is paid by capitalist interests just as Sawant’s last opponent was paid by Amazon. Since the Republican Party is very weak in Seattle, the ruling class turns to progressive liberals to be their voice against socialists like Sawant. Here we see the true face of people who claim to be ”leftist”, but when faced with a socialist they side with the establishment.
If the majority of working class people do not fall before the lies of the recall campaign, then Sawant can triumph. Fighting against the system is never easy. The recall campaign has the support of the courts, the media and the whole capitalist establishment at their side. Kshama Sawant can only rely on working class Americans in Seattle. She is supported by some trade unions, but with her opponents portraying themselves as ”progressive” and ”liberal”, it is possible that some will be fooled into thinking they are genuine.
Fighting as a genuine socialist against the Republican Party is already difficult enough. But in Seattle the enemy is the Democratic Party and the so called ”progressive liberals”. Because no matter what titles they use, in the end they are pawn of the capitalist system. The ”Recall Sawant” campaign can use the laws of the capitalist state against Sawant, but their goal is to remove a revolutionary fighter that has fought since 2013 against the establishment. District 3 may need to vote again and Kshama Sawant is the only voice for working class people against the power of capitalism in the city.
Big business and the right wing are furious about the impact of socialist politics and social movements in Seattle and the inspiring example it has set for working people around the world. They are now trying to use the courts and their deep pockets to overturn socialist Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s 2019 re-election and the historic victories she has spearheaded: the Amazon Tax, the $15 minimum wage, the first-in-the-nation ban on using chemical weapons against protesters, and landmark renters rights laws like the ban on winter evictions. Just as with the police under capitalism, we know that working people and oppressed communities cannot rely on the courts for justice.
It is no accident that this Recall Campaign against Councilmember Sawant explicitly cites her support for the Black Lives Matter movement and the Amazon Tax in the articles of recall, while also making numerous false claims that she broke the law. Unfortunately, thanks to the inherently undemocratic recall procedures in Washington State, Kshama will never get the chance to defend herself in court against these false charges, and there is no requirement that the charges be proven true in order for the recall to be allowed to go on the ballot. We cannot afford to sit by while one of the most effective leaders for working people in the nation is undemocratically and dishonestly driven from office by a right-wing, corporate-funded campaign. Thank you for joining us and progressive leaders and activists from around the world to build the Kshama Solidarity Campaign and defend against this attack on all working people!
Only three more days and then we will know if the Trump 2016 Magic remained strong enough to give that capitalist exploiter in the White House another four years in office. Donald Trump won the 2016 election on a populist agenda. Talking directly to the working class, he won their support in many key states. It allowed him to get a majority of delegates in the Electoral College. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and would have been President of the USA in any other western nation. But in the USA the majority of votes does not count. The majority of delegates in the Electoral College matter. Now after four years of Donald Trump it is time to see if the people of the USA are willing to go another four years, with this representative of the ruling class.
The United States democracy is deeply flawed and not even democratic. We say this because the Americans copied the British district system, a system in which the winner takes all. In the USA, the number of actual votes does not really matter. Key states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, and Maine can decide the final victory of either a Democrat or Republican. Since the USA is a capitalist two party dictatorship, only the candidates of the Democratic Party and Republican Party are given media attention and access to polls. The voices of candidates not part of either parties is ignored in American elections.
In 2016, Donald Trump entered the race as a outsider, a populist speaking directly to working class Americans. Trump pointed out the deep mistrust towards establishment politicians like Hillary Clinton. He claimed a Trump administration would bring back jobs who were lost due to capitalists moving their production work to either China or Mexico. Unlike typical Republicans, Trump was bombastic, rude and direct. Because many working class Americans have this misguided picture of rather believe a capitalist exploiter like Trump over a career politician, they fell for his talk about Making America Great Again.
Revolutionary socialists knew that a lying piece of shit like Donald Trump would not care about ordinary workers. His cabinet is filled with corporate scum, greedy right-wingers who made sure the ruling class was give preferential treatment. To make sure the Republican Party wins again in 2020, Trump and his team have gone far in trying to hinder the democratic process.
Trump claims that mail in voting is “out of control”
Trump is fear-mongering about election fraud
Trump is signals to his far-right vigilante supporters like the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” to intervene on election day.
Republicans are working overtime to find ways to steal the election through voter disenfranchisement, obscure legal challenges and outright dirty tricks
Many leftists will once again vote for the Democratic Party candidate: Joe Biden. Leading members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have also opted to vote Democrat again. Revolutionary socialists reject the Lesser of Two Evils game. Because this is how the elections in the USA are always between a neoliberal right-wing party and a neoconservative right-wing party. This circle must be broken, it is vital that leftist stop voting purely on Democrats only to stop far-right Republicans. What America needs is a socialist alternative, a workers party that fights for the interests of working class Americans and not the ruling class as most elected Democrats do.
Bernie Sanders offered millions an alternative in 2016 and 2020. However he failed to move beyond the Democratic Party. Even radical-leftists like Noam Chomsky are calling for a vote on Joe Biden, all because they fear Donald Trump. Although we understand their desire to see Trump gone, voting for Joe Biden will give us just another capitalist president, another old white male working for the establishment. Trump maybe not a career politician, but rich people like him buy politicians like Joe Biden. If millions of workers would vote for Howie Hawkins of the Green Party, then Trump would be defeated and Americans would have a true left-wing president.
With only 363,119.47 dollars in donations, Howie Hawkins is no way near the millions spend by Donald Trump and Joe Biden. It is even estimated that many progressive and left-wing Americans will not vote for him out of fear of seeing another four years of Donald Trump. If Joe Biden wins in the next three days, then what? Trump maybe gone, but his replacement will be a typical capitalist president, the vice-president of Barack Obama. All his pseudo ”left-wing” propaganda will be put aside for centrist pragmatism. Meaning that Biden will be loyal to capitalist law and order as he has always been. Let us not forget that Donald Trump is the product of the Democratic Party.
Because millions were deeply disappointed by Barack Obama. They only gave him a second change in 2012 because none wished for a return to the Bush years (2001-2009). But many working class Americans felt betrayed by Obama, who promised change and did not changed anything. When Hillary Clinton became candidate of the Democratic Party over Bernie Sanders, it was seen as a coup by the Democratic establishment. We knew in 2008 that Obama would not deliver change, we knew that the Democratic Party would never choose a populist leftist like Sanders. We were right in 2016 and 2020. The Democrats are not leftists and despite the victory of some progressives, the mainstream Democrats are pro-capitalist, pro-establishment. This we seen in the selection of Joe Biden as their candidate.
The Trump 2016 Magic was the result of massive anger among white working class Americans. These workers decided to cast their vote on a man who’s whole life is one big Public Relations campaign. Trump is no success story, he is not a billionaire and not among the superrich. He is a millionaire, but only due to his father’s wealth. Trump build an image of himself as the successful entrepreneur. Yet the reality is that he has gone bankrupt many times. Even now it is reveled that he did not pay any income taxes. Also the capitalist exploiter that is the President of the USA is 1 billion dollars in debts, borrowed to finance his assets.
Lost future earnings from calling Mexicans rapists
On 3 November 2020, millions of Americans will be voting for the president of their choice. Some will vote Trump out of ignorance, others will vote Biden out of fear. We have seen what Donald Trump did in only four years, so it is clear that our voting advice would NOT be for the Republicans. At the same time we also do NOT call for a vote on Joe Biden and the Democrats. The Lesser of Two Evils game must come to an end. If leftists keep trusting Democrats then nothing will change in the USA!
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