In capitalist societies, elections like the recent U.S. midterms serve two critical purposes for the bosses. First, they resolve disagreements within the ruling class before the need to resort to violence. Second, they help to mask the true nature of the profit system—a capitalist dictatorship—and to keep workers tied to that system with the illusion that they can decide how it works.
The fallout from the November 8 elections reveals that ruling-class disputes—both within the U.S. and among the globe’s imperialist rivals—are becoming less and less controllable. The insurrection in Washington in January 2021 was a sign of things to come. As the U.S. economy deteriorates, as bosses in China continue to rise and authorities in Russia destabilize Europe, the U.S. bosses soon may be unable to rule in the old way. In a desperate attempt to save their failing system, they’ll need to turn to more open fascism as they move toward world war.
Over 100 million workers felt compelled to cast their votes in this capitalist dogfight, a near-historic midterm turnout. The rotten myth of liberal democracy remains a stubbornly powerful force. In reality, workers have no stake in the capitalists’ fight. All bosses routinely unleash racist terror on workers in the U.S. and worldwide. All are willing to sacrifice millions of our working-class sisters and brothers in wars to keep their profits and power. While the bosses and their media use lies and scare tactics to win votes for one side or another, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) has been organizing workers for over 50 years so that we can dump every one of these fascist capitalists, fake leftist or right wing , and run society for the needs of our class.
U.S. rulers: both factions in disarray
The election results exposed the volatility swirling around the U.S. ruling class. The bosses’ media were predicting a landslide victory for the Small Fascists, the domestically oriented capitalists who are fronted by Donald Trump and seek to organize mainly dissatisfied white workers. But while Republicans regained a majority of the House of Representatives, their margin was far narrower than projected. After catering to the erratic Trump for the last six years, the Small Fascists are in disarray. This time around, his endorsed candidates lost most of their high-profile elections (CNBC, 11/9). Rupert Murdoch, the Small Fascist owner of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, labeled Trump the Republicans’ “Biggest Loser” (WSJ, 11/9). Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a more disciplined racist and sexist, easily won reelection. Though DeSantis spouts the same garbage as Trump, he seems more reliably committed to sustaining the illusion of “free and fair” elections.
Meanwhile, the Big Fascists of finance capital, mostly Democrats who aim to organize the multiracial working class to fight for U.S. imperialism, retained their slim control of the U.S. Senate. But a closer look reveals that their position is far from secure. In House races nationwide, Republicans outpolled Democrats by more than three million votes (Cook, 11/9). The Democrats lost support among Black and Latin voters (CNN, 11/9). Their Racist-in-Chief, Joe Biden, is 80 years old and without a clear-cut successor for the presidential election in 2024.
China and Russia: more advanced fascism
By contrast to the disunity and dysfunction of the U.S. ruling class, China President Xi Jinping deals ruthlessly with renegade bosses or workers who step out of line. He routinely expels members of China’s fake “Communist” Party. In 2021, three of the largest Chinese tech companies were investigated for “graft.” After Alibaba chairman Jack Ma took issue with the state’s criticized financial regulations, he was temporarily blocked from putting his company on the Chinese stock market (Washington Post, August 2021).
In Russia, critics of Vladimir Putin tend to end up in jail or dead. In August, when Lukoil chairman and Ukraine war critic Ravil Maganov reportedly fell from a hospital window, he became the eighth Russian energy executive to die ‘mysteriously’ this year (CNBC, 9/2). Both Xi and Putin understand that they must impose rigid discipline on the ruling class to maintain fascist control over the working class.
“Protecting democracy”= building fascism
In the U.S., as the Big Fascists prepare for World War III against their imperialist arch-rivals, they are doing what they can to convince a broad section of the working class to join a mass patriotic movement. After failing to guarantee women’s right to abortion, they used the Supreme Court’s sexist decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to convince angry workers to vote for Democrats. Moreover, the Big Fascists unleashed the FBI to investigate the 2021 attack on the Capitol and the Jan. 6 Committee to charge at least 955 people in one of the most documented crimes in history (Insider, 11/22). This same legal beast will also be used on progressive fighters against capitalism.
Not only that, their pleas to “save democracy” from Trump and the Small Fascists drew millions to the voting booths in November, resulting in the second highest midterm turnout among 18-to-29-year-olds over the last 30 years (The Hill, 11/9). Always ready to hide their racism behind identity politics, they are bragging about the record number of Muslim candidates elected (Guardian, 11/26). These maneuvers represent a deadly trap for workers!
The Big Fascist liberals aren’t the lesser of two evils—they’re the greater evil. From Bill Clinton to Barack Obama to Jim Crow Joe Biden, Democrats are the architects of racist mass deportations and racist mass incarceration. They’ve deployed racist drone bombings across Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Behind their crocodile tears and phony shows of compassion, they are callous mass murderers.
There is no lesser evil; fight for communism!
For the international working class and the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party, the chaos engulfing the U.S. ruling class is both a great danger and an enormous opportunity. The bosses will continue to fight among themselves and ensnare millions of workers who are won to support one side or the other. But we also have the opportunity to show that capitalism offers us nothing but death and destruction—and that workers have a communist alternative. It’s an opportunity to point out that voting for one lying, racist politician or another every two or four years has nothing to do with real political power.
Workers will gain real power only when they smash the profit system and control every aspect of society, as they did after the two great revolutions of the 20 century. In the Soviet Union and China, politics was part of everyday life. Workers made historic advances in healthcare and education without ever going to the polls. They created a new society without campaign slogans or political stooges and parasites. Unfortunately, the Soviet and Chinese communist parties kept facets of capitalism, a mistake that ultimately led to the reversal of their tremendous gains on behalf of the working class. PLP celebrates the history of communist achievements, recognizes past mistakes, and organizes for a communist revolution that will sweep away capitalism and its illusions of democracy. Join us!