{"id":20261,"date":"2024-12-04T14:49:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T14:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uit-ci.org\/?p=20261"},"modified":"2024-12-04T14:49:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T14:49:33","slug":"a-new-era-in-the-us-results-prospects-and-the-tasks-of-the-working-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/2024\/12\/04\/a-new-era-in-the-us-results-prospects-and-the-tasks-of-the-working-class\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"A new era in the US: results, prospects and the tasks of the working class"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kaan G\u00fcnde\u015f, <\/strong>leader of the Workers’ Democracy Party (IDP) of T\u00fcrkiye.<\/span><\/p>\n

The world’s petty-bourgeois public and media are in shock. They are looking for the so-called \u00absecret\u00bb of how Donald Trump and his reactionary program won the US elections in the clich\u00e9d excuses of liberals. Now it’s time to write articles about the rise of \u00abpopulism\u00bb, the \u00abnatural\u00bb inclination of the \u00abwhite poor\u00bb to right-wing politics, Trump’s \u00abcharisma\u00bb, Kamala Harris’s wrong \u00abelection tactics\u00bb, how Russia \u00abinterfered\u00bb in the elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

But these clich\u00e9s cannot explain the Democrats’ defeat. Almost all polling companies were wrong by more than a margin of error, and Trump won by more than 3%. Trump won the majority of young men. Among first-time voters, Trump won by 9% over Harris (in 2020, Trump lost to Biden by 30% in the same sociological group). Trump won the majority of Hispanics in Pennsylvania, young people in Michigan, and Hispanic men in North Carolina. He doubled his black vote in Wisconsin. In the Democratic stronghold of New York, the margin was reduced from 25% in 2020 to around 15% in this election (the smallest margin between Democrats and Republicans in that city since 1988).<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans won critical states such as West Virginia, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, gaining absolute control of the Senate. The House of Representatives is also in Republican hands, albeit by a small margin.<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems that the Democratic Party\u2019s policies of imperialist aggression, assault on labor rights, ecological destruction, complicity in genocide, and hypocritical liberal identitarianism have prepared all the conditions for the triumph of the reactionism that Trump represents. Trump is not solely responsible for his victory: This victory is also an expression of how liberal reformism creates a social wreckage that is conducive to the growth of fascism.<\/span><\/p>\n

The world’s most undemocratic \u00abbourgeois democracy\u00bb<\/b><\/p>\n

Wyoming, with a population of 580,000, and California, with a population of 39.5 million, have equal representation in the US Senate. In short, one Wyoming vote equals 68 California votes. This arithmetic quite simply points to the following political reality: In American \u00abbourgeois democracy\u00bb, even the principle of \u00abone person, one vote\u00bb does not apply.<\/span><\/p>\n

The US electoral system keeps the representation of cities and industrial centers at extremely low levels, while the representation of rural areas is shown several times more than it actually is. The main reason for this undemocratic method is to ensure that the political orientations of urban workers and the industrial working class are reflected as little as possible at the ballot box.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Washington-based Cook Political Report, only 43 of the 435 Senate seats in these elections could change between parties through elections because the electoral system did not allow the other seats to change hands. In the 2016 elections, the Democratic Party won 12 seats in the Senate with 51 million votes, while the Republican Party won 22 seats with 41 million votes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The US financial aristocracy has established a dictatorial regime over the political system, similar to the one it established over economic resources and production relations. In these elections, 150 dollar billionaires made a total \u00abdonation\u00bb of 2 billion dollars for the elections. Similarly, it is seen that the amount of lobbying activities of various capital groups is approaching 1 billion dollars. This represents the highest amount spent by the capitalist classes for elections in US history to date.<\/span><\/p>\n

Palestine’s triumphant revenge<\/b><\/p>\n

With the Democrats led by Kamala Harris losing the elections and the disintegration of the liberal-social democratic coalition in Germany, it is now possible to say the following: Since the Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, no bourgeois government or party that was directly a partner in the Gaza Genocide in military and economic terms has been able to successfully pass the elections and tests it has entered. Erdo\u011fan in Turkey, the Conservative Party in England, Macron in France and the Democrats in the US have all been defeated in the elections they have entered. The government of the Zionist Scholz, a partner of the Gaza Genocide in Germany, has collapsed. In all these elections, the issue of Palestine’s struggle for freedom and being a partner in the Gaza Genocide was one of the current debates between the parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Michigan’s South Dearborn district, which has a dense Arab-Muslim population, Biden won a landslide victory by an 88% margin over his opponent in the 2020 elections. Harris lost this district to Trump in these elections. One of the most effective responses to Harris\u2019s line advocating continued arms shipments to Israel was this scandalous defeat for the Democratic Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

The working class has abandoned the Democratic Party<\/b><\/p>\n

In the 2020 presidential election, in which Biden and Trump competed, 54% of those earning less than $30,000 a year voted for Biden and 46% voted for Trump. Of those earning between $30,000 and $50,000 a year, 56% voted for Biden and 43% voted for Trump, and of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000 a year, 57% voted for Biden and 42% voted for Trump. Due to the influence of the union bureaucracies controlled by the Democratic Party apparatus, the working class had false democratic and economic expectations in favor of Biden during the 2020 election.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 2024 presidential election, in which Harris and Trump competed, this picture was reversed. Among those earning between $30,000 and $50,000 a year, 53% voted for Trump and 45% voted for Harris, while among those earning between $50,000 and $100,000 a year, 51% voted for Trump and 46% voted for Harris. The Democratic Party\u2019s vote fell by 4% among those earning under $30,000 a year. Among whose earnings are over $100,000 a year, the Democratic Party\u2019s vote increased by 10%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s brutal economic assault on the working class has led to a collapse in Democratic Party\u2019s voting rates in working-class neighborhoods and industrial centers. Fall River, Massachusetts is a district that Democrats have won since 1924 and in this election Trump won this working-class district by 3%. In another industrial center, Hidalgo County, Texas, Biden won by 17% in 2020. But in 2024, Trump beat his opponent by 16% in that district. Trump won by 2% in San Joaquin County, California, and by 11% in Mahoning County, Ohio (both of which are heavily working-class).<\/span><\/p>\n

During the 2020 election, polls showed that 16% of the country was experiencing \u201csevere economic hardship\u201d and 39% was experiencing \u201cmoderate economic hardship.\u201d Biden received votes from 69% and 59% of those groups, respectively. However, in the 2024 elections, those who said they were experiencing \u201csevere economic hardship\u201d rose to 22% and those who said they were experiencing \u201cmoderate economic hardship\u201d rose to 53%. Trump received votes from 74% and 51% of those groups, respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reasons for the Democratic Party\u2019s defeat: Strike bans, genocide, Wall Street guardianship<\/b><\/p>\n

The Democratic Party created the social conditions behind its shameful defeat.<\/span><\/p>\n

In December 2022, the Biden-led White House banned a railroad strike involving 115,000 workers. Biden organized the imposition of a collective bargaining agreement on workers that the unions rejected because it did not include paid vacation days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the Biden administration, labor\u2019s share of national income has fallen to its lowest level in U.S. history. In 2021, wages were supposed to increase by at least 4.7% nationally due to high inflation, but they fell by 2.4%. In the same year, profits at companies in the S&P 500 increased by 17.6% and CEO salaries by 18.2%. General Motors sold fewer vehicles in 2021 and 2022 than in 2019, but its profits increased by 50% in both years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biden, who announced during his 2022 campaign that he would fight to re-legalize abortion, which Trump banned, has refused to lease federal lands to abortion providers and repeal the anti-abortion Comstock Act. In June 2023, Biden made the following statement: \u201cI am a devout Catholic. I don\u2019t like abortion very much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the Biden administration, the price of the most basic foodstuffs has continued to rise due to inflation. Potatoes have become 65% more expensive, meat 50% more expensive, baby food 45% more expensive, water 41% more expensive, chicken 40% more expensive, bread 40% more expensive, and diapers 38% more expensive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Institutionalized racism has continued to intensify under Biden. Today, the average annual income of a white family is $188,000, while the average annual income of a black family is $24,000. This gap in income distribution between whites and blacks is a stark reflection of the racist nature of US capitalism, which was built on black slave labor.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it was difficult to own a home under normal conditions of US capitalism, it has become nearly impossible under the Biden administration. The 30-year fixed interest rate has reached 8%, the highest rate since 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s environmental policies have led to an increase in ecological destruction across the United States. According to a study published by Lancet, in 2021 alone, 2.5 billion labor hours were lost due to unseasonably hot weather. The drought that has scorched the southwestern United States continues to deepen. Storms, floods, and wildfires have caused the deaths of hundreds of urban poor and workers, while hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their homes and savings. The train disaster in East Palestine in February 2023 was the highest expression of the Biden administration’s ecological destruction policies. Biden’s policies supporting mining, construction, energy, biochemistry, and agricultural bosses have been effective in increasing extreme weather events and deepening their destructive power.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did Trump win? Is fascism in power in the United States?<\/b><\/p>\n

We see that Trump, who received 74.2 million votes in the 2020 elections, received 77,1 million votes in this election, in other words, he did not actually increase his votes at a qualitative level. However, it seems that the working class, laboring classes, blacks, women, youth and urban poor have severely punished the Democratic Party’s liberal plunder policy at home and its \u00abdemocratic genocide\u00bb line abroad. After all, the Democratic Party, which received 81.3 million votes in the 2020 elections, lost over 6,5 million votes and received 74,8 million votes in this election. The Democratic Party’s hypocritical and collaborative policy towards Trumpism increased Trump’s vote rate from 46.8% in 2020 to 49,9% in this election. In short, Trump did not win, but the liberal reformism represented in the Democratic Party suffered a heavy defeat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Surveys conducted with voters after the voting process show that the votes given to Trump were not given for his anti-democratic program, misogyny and nationalist economic policies aimed at deepening labor exploitation. According to these polls, 84% of voters support expanding social health insurance, 82% support imposing a wealth tax on the rich, 75% support halting the rise in rental costs, 70% support building social housing for the poor, 61% support raising the minimum wage to $17 per hour, 64% support cancelling all medical debt, 59% support eliminating university tuition fees, and 57% support removing legal barriers to union membership.<\/span><\/p>\n

These demands, which are supported by the working classes in mass, herald the emergence of important social and political struggles under the Trump regime. The only way to defeat Trump\u2019s anti-worker, anti-woman, reactionary, capitalist government is through the struggle of the working classes that will mobilize around these demands in mass, not the Democratic Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s first term in power was shaken by mass women\u2019s mobilizations, militant strikes, and the George Floyd Uprising. Unless these social struggles are crushed, Trump will have no chance of establishing a fascist regime in the US. Therefore, it is politically incorrect to say that fascism has come to the US with Trump\u2019s election victory, because those who say this are also saying that the workers\u2019 movement, the women\u2019s movement, and the anti-racist movement have been defeated. However, these movements have not been defeated; on the contrary, they are growing stronger, as can be seen in the class movement\u2019s continued organization of mass strikes. However, all these facts cannot be an excuse to underestimate the threat that Trump represents.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the construction of a socialist mass workers\u2019 movement against the Trump government<\/b><\/p>\n

Trump acts as a representative of a powerful imperialist oligarchy and the US political elite. During the election race, Trump received large \u201cdonations\u201d from the wealthiest capitalist families. Mellon, Uihlein, Adelson, Griffin and Yass are just a few of these oligarch families. Tech billionaire Elon Musk was directly involved in Trump\u2019s campaign. Another oligarch, Jeff Bezos, was negotiating with Trump for the continuation of state subsidies flowing to his company in 2025, while he was declaring his \u201cneutrality\u201d through the Washington Post newspaper that he owns. Peter Thiel and Larry Ellison have also joined the group of ultra-rich aligned behind Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the coming period, the American political superstructure is at risk of a political counterrevolution. These oligarchs advocate the reorganization of American society and politics on a reactionary basis, parallel to their economic privileges. The main goal of the Trump government will be to deepen the economic interests of the bankers, the Wall Street aristocracy, the energy and technology oligarchs, and to make despotic architectural changes in the American political superstructure in accordance with these economic interests. To achieve this goal, Trump has to wage a deadly war against the working class.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump had already declared this during his election campaign. In his polemics with his bourgeois brothers in the Democratic Party, he often said the following words: \u00abRather than the threat from Russia and China, I would like to draw attention to the following. The real enemy is inside: the leftist lunatics.\u00bb Trump has repeatedly pointed out that the real threat to US imperialism is not outside, but inside. By the enemy inside, Trump undoubtedly means the US workers’ movement, especially the political workers’ movement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We must remember that just as the US imperialist classes are the command staff of the world counterrevolution, the US industrial proletariat is the vanguard and center of the world revolution. In this context, the defense of the US labor movement against the Trump government and the oligarchic political counterrevolution is not only an internationalist but also a <\/span>national<\/span><\/i> duty. That is why we advocate the construction of an independent workers’ party, the first nucleus of which will emerge from the coming together of independent union and left movements. This will be a giant step in the construction of the revolutionary socialist leadership of the US workers’ movement.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kaan G\u00fcnde\u015f, leader of the Workers’ Democracy Party (IDP) of T\u00fcrkiye. The world’s petty-bourgeois public and media are in shock. They are looking for the so-called \u00absecret\u00bb of how Donald Trump and his reactionary program won the US elections in the clich\u00e9d excuses of liberals. Now it’s time to write articles about the rise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1002],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20262,"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20261\/revisions\/20262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uit-ci.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}