Daily News Digest November 10, 2016

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Daily News Digest November 10, 2016

 The Trump electoral victory is Representative of the Constant Attack Upon the Working Class Since 1948 and The Default and the Treacherous  Roll of the Trade Union Bureaucracy By Roland Sheppard

An Example of the Degeneration of Capitalism

The majority of the American people opposed both Clinton and Trump. The Majority of the People are worse off under Obama’s austerity during his stay in office.

Trump won because he filled a vacuum of leadership in opposition to the austerity program of the United States. Hillary Clinton lost because she was a part of the austerity program.

The following quotes explain the default of the trade union bureaucracy.

If the organized workers become fully conscious of their combined power and learn to use it in their own interests, no power inside this country or outside could stand up against them. Instead of the bosses dictating terms to the workers, they could, as they should, dictate terms to the bosses. Even today, in scattered strike situations, detachments of workers demonstrate their invincibility. They sweep forward against the bosses, against administration “troubleshooters,” against military men, and even against their own top leaders, to win their demands. The employers feel the enormous power of the workers and often assess it more accurately than the workers or their leaders. The bosses know that, by themselves, they cannot curb labor nor deny its demands. From all sides now the employers are summoning allies to their aid: government officials, defense commissioners, arbitrators, preachers of patriotism, army officers and, most important of all today, their lieutenants in the ranks of labor itself: Green, Hillman, Murray, Tobin, Lewis, and their staffs. The function of these labor lieutenants and their policy of class collaboration is to lower the self-confidence of organized labor, to underestimate its strength, to keep it from independent class action, and to weaken its will to struggle and to win. — Fourth International, January 1941, American Labor and the War

One must accentuate especially the role which Jack London attributes to the labor bureaucracy and to the labor aristocracy in the further fate of mankind. Thanks to their support, the American plutocracy not only succeeds in defeating the workers’ insurrection but also in keeping its iron dictatorship during the following three centuries. We will not dispute with the poet the delay which can but seem to us too long. However, it is not a question of Jack London’s pessimism, but of his passionate effort to shake those who are lulled by routine, to force them to open their eyes and to see what is and what approaches. The artist is audaciously utilizing the methods of hyperbole. He is bringing the tendencies rooted in capitalism: of oppression, cruelty, bestiality, betrayal, to their extreme expression. He is operating with centuries in order to measure the tyrannical will of the exploiters and the treacherous role of the labor bureaucracy. — Leon Trotsky, Trotsky and the Iron Heel His Observations on the Famous Novel

The last labor upsurge (Post World War II Labor Upsurge) in the United States occurred over 50 years ago in the late 1940s, The workers were victorious in their struggles to regaining their standard of living that was lost during the war and its ‘wage price freeze. (Which was supported by the Communist Party as part of their defense of Stalin’s policy of subordination of the class struggle to the Defense of the Soviet Union.)

The response of the ruling class was to amend the National Labor Relations Act, with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, (The Slave Labor Act) to give the employers a ‘level playing field’ in their relations with labor. The right wing of the labor bureaucracy, taking advantage of the class collaborationist policies of the Communist Party, used this law to expel any opposition, to their class collaboration policies, from the leadership of the trade union movement. In the process, they consolidated their power, which has continued to the present time.

The Results of Taft-Hartley Act

After the 1981 defeat of the PATCO strike, the trade union bureacracy openly adopted the policy of being in partnership with the boss. This ‘partnership with the boss’ was silently used to support the ‘lesser evil’ Democratic Party. Every tax ‘reform, since John Kennedy has been an increase in taxes of the working class and a decrease in taxes for the rich. (Robinhood in Reverse) In the interests of subordinating the working class to the needs of the boss and the Democratice Party, they refused to defend the working class.

Both the policy of ‘lessor evil’ and the declared ‘‘partnership with the boss’ polices of the United States Trade Union Bureaucracy, and their counterparts in the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement , etc., have led to the recent quick economic decline of working people, and small businesses, in this country.

Being ‘partnership with the boss’ means:

• That they cannot campaign for the taxation of the rich, but rather they support the ‘lessor evil’ Democratic Party, which has either proposed/voted for every ‘tax reform’, since Kennedy, to reduce the taxes of the rich at an expense of tax increases for the working class and small businesses — a ‘Robin Hood in Reverse’ Program, which has brought forth the largest transfer of the national wealth in American/World history, from a majority of the population to a small percentage of the country’s wealthiest families.

• To bail out the rich and hope for a few pennies to trickle down to the working class, the oppressed minorities and the poor. This happens in the context with an all out attack upon the social gains that were won by the working class Trade Union struggles in the 30s and 40s and the civil rights movement of the 60s.

• That you cannot opposed the US wars and war spending abroad, to bring the money home to put people to work.

• What has been the response of these bureaucracies to these ‘Robin Hood in Reverse’ policies? They proposed that we vote for ‘Progressive’ Democrats, the political party that has been in the forefront of these bipartisan ‘Robin Hood in Reverse’ policies.

• These bureaucrats cannot oppose the austerity attacks upon the working class, Blacks and oppresed minorities, and Native Americans by the 1%.

• In order enforce austerity the 1% has begun to use the Iron Heel against Blacks oppressed minorities, and Native Americans. When Blacks oppressed minorities, and Native Americans stand up to the Iron Heel, the Trade Union Burearucrcy has supported the 1%!

Even though the majority of the people fed up with the government being in partnership with the Banks and Wall Street. The rich, were able to seize this opportunity, by vacuum of leadership due to this default of leadership,  to use this unjust taxation and their Media Monopoly for their plundering attacks on government spending for social security, social welfare, and education, etc..

Just as the rich created the illusion of a mass movement for Obama as a ‘change’ candidate in 2008, they created the illusion of a mass movement  for the ‘change’ Tea Party.

In order to regain what has been lost and win equal rights for all, we must stop supporting those who are oppressing us — the US capitalist class and their Democratic and Republican political parties. And go back to what made all movements powerful — opposing all capitalist parties and relying upon ourselves to build our own economic and independent political power.

That means organizing in our own interests as the working class majority and the oppressed national minorities to unite the protectors of humanity’s habitat, anti-war fighters, all those opposed to the injustices of capitalism, to stop the unending ‘war on terrorism’ and the war on our standard of living.

For the good of the working class, it is time for the leadership of the social movements to resign or be replaced along with the ‘partnership with the boss’ and created a partnership with the oppress minorities — their natural allies! To begin anew the policies that won our basic rights in defense of our standard of living — through our own actions, independent of the tiny 1% minority, that own this country and the Democratic and Republican Parties.

If we are to survive we must overthrow these bureaucarcies and build a revitalize labor movement that could  take our opposition to the streets! Use our wealth, not to support Democrats, but to start our own national newspaper and media formations, to counter the Media Monopoly and its lies, in defense of the rich. We will then able to act in our own interests and build our own political party in opposition to oppression by the rich, as the Sons of liberty did at the original Boston Tea Party in opposition to British Capitalism. To build a movement can oppose capitalist rule.

The Declaration of Independence declared that “All Men are created equal”, With “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And that “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”  It our duty overthrow this unjust rule of the 1%.

Since austerity, global warming, and atomic destruction are now a global concern, it requires all of humanity to act collectively, in our overall interests for our survival as a species, to correct the problem and to remove the obstacle of capitalism. It requires a society where humanity has social, economic, and political control over the entire environment. Such a society, a socialist society, is needed to ensure that all decisions affecting us and the environment are under the democratic control of humankind so that the production of goods will be done for the needs and survival of humanity instead of the production and the destruction of humanity and other species for profit.

With common ownership of the means of production, and common control and protection of all property and wealth, science and society will be in harmony with the ecosystem and humanity’s future.

With these goals we can begin to build an effective movement. As we continue to organize against capitalism and its destructive course, we can and will transform the world

Images of the Day:

Latuff Cartoon Quotes of the Day:

Always Remember that Social Security is not bankrupt — The government is bankrupt. The government has robbed $trillions from the Social Security Fund to pay off its debts — Roland Sheppard

“It’s the economy, stupid”  Obama’s real, not his imagined legacy after 8 years in power is the root explanation for the result. As Martin Wolf of the Financial Times outlined before the vote: Yet, the scars left by the crisis, which include diminished confidence in the probity and competence of the financial, intellectual and policymaking elites, also came on top of older ones. Real median household income increased by 5.2% between 2014 and 2015. But it remains below pre-crisis levels. Indeed, it is below levels reached in 2000 and has even fallen relative to real GDP per head consistently since the mid 1970s. This performance helps explain the tide of disillusionment, even despair, revealed so starkly by this grim election. Not surprisingly, inequality has worsened markedly. Between 1980 and the most recent period, the share of the top 1% in pre-tax income jumped from 10% to 18%. Even after tax, it rose by a third, from 8 to 12%. The rise in compensation of chief executives, relative to that of workers, has been huge. The US has the highest inequality of any high-income country and has seen the fastest rise in inequality among the seven leading high-income economies. The divergence among these countries suggests that rising inequality is far more a social choice than an economic imperative. Closely related to the rising inequality has been a decline in the share of labor in GDP from 64.6% in 2001 to 60.4% in 2014. Workers have not only suffered from declining shares of the pie. Just as significant is the steady rise in the proportion of men aged 25 to 54 neither in work nor seeking it from about 3% in the 1950s to 12% now. Even France had a higher fraction of prime-age men in jobs than the US every year since 2001. Since 1990, the US has had the second-largest increase in male non-participation in the labor force of all members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. After 2000, the declining trend in non-participation of prime-age women also halted. The proportion of US women in this age category in employment is now among the lowest of all the members of the OECD.”  It is no accident that Trump’s message got an echo in the rust belt and beyond. The Midwest in particular was hit hard by the crisis, and former Democratic strongholds like Michigan and Wisconsin, along with rust belt Pennsylvania and Ohio went for Trump. Without a clear lead from the labor leadership, the effects of capitalist globalization are being rejected impressionistically and nationalistically, with a backlash against immigration, China, etc. — America’s Brexit: To Fight Trump, Fight Capitalism! Thus ends the “School of the Democrats.”

Video of the Day:

A Wake Up Call For People in America Real News panelists offer their final thoughts on what will come next after election nigh

 U.S.

Democrats, Trump and the Ongoing, Dangerous Refusal to Learn the Lesson of BrexitThe parallels between the UK’s shocking approval of the Brexit referendum in June and the U.S.’s even-more-shocking election of Donald Trump as President last night are overwhelming. By Glenn GreenwaldAmerica’s Brexit: To Fight Trump, Fight Capitalism! Thus ends the “School of the Democrats.” What once seemed unthinkable—akin to an episode of the Twilight Zone—has become a surreal reality. As Hillary’s “blue wall” of “secure” states came tumbling down, tipping irreversibly in The Donald’s favor, the media pundits tried to maintain their composure, but they were clearly shellshocked—along with millions of others. by John Peterson

Donald Trump is moving to the White House, and liberals put him there Hillary Clinton was exactly the wrong candidate: a technocrat who offered fine-tuning when the country wanted to take a sledgehammer to the machine By Thomas Frank

Don’t Mourn Hillary’s Loss by Joshua Frank

Environment:

Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:

Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:

Freedom Rider: Dump the Democrats for Good Donald Trump, the white nationalist that claimed to oppose the corporate establishment, appears to have won the U.S. presidency. But, “even the victory of the openly bigoted Trump poses an opportunity to right our political ship.” The Democrats were not “our” party, but the party that thought they owned us. Their “rejection must be complete and blame must be laid squarely at their feet” for raising those chickens that have come home to roost. by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley The Anatomy of Crisis and the Decline of US Empire There are multiple dimensions to the crisis that afflicts U.S. imperialism. The latest election is evidence of a crisis of legitimacy for the ruling parties. Americans are estranged from a government that spies on every one its citizens – and on the rest of the world, too. “Unemployment, poverty, racist state repression, and war are all the system has to offer.” Unable to escape a 40-year economic slump, the U.S. instead plots the destruction of its rivals. by Danny Haiphong Margaret Flowers’ Retrospective on Running as a Green for the U.S. Senate The major parties are more concerned with preserving their duopoly than with defeating each other. So-called “progressives” help preserve duopoly rule, failing “to understand that as long as they are complicit with the Democrats, they have no power.” Most people are actually more Green than Democratic in their views, but “have a hard time comprehending that there are more than two parties,” according to Green candidate Dr. Flowers. by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Adebayo Black American Anti-Imperialism: an Invisible Subject for the New York Times To read the foreign policy pages of the New York Times is to enter a world of whiteness. “Whites are the only ones who are presumed to have an opinion on such issues that is worth mentioning.” Although Black America is the nation’s most anti-imperial constituency, foreign policy is considered a white preserve. Blacks “serve the function we have always served: subjects of imperialism, scapegoats for repression, but not shapers of foreign policy.” by Bryan K. BullockClinton Is the Most Dangerous Person Alive – An Interview with Edward S. Herman The just-concluded election revealed as much about the corporate media, which has broken every rule of journalism to support Hillary Clinton, and the fraudulence of much of the American Left, which turns out to have no real problem with war or capitalism, than it did about the candidates, themselves. Edward Herman is an exception, a genuine man of the Left. He says “a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for war with Syria and Russia.” by Ann Garrison In Chicago, Teachers and Black Lives Matter Activists Partner to Build a Bigger Movement When the Chicago Teachers Union goes on strike, it doesn’t walk alone; Movement 4 Black Lives organizations have their back. And, when young Black activists campaign against police terror, the teachers union is with them. When it comes to the school-to-prison pipeline, the teachers and Black Youth Project 100 are on the same side. by Leah Fried When Slaveholders Controlled the Government—An Interview with Matthew Karp In order to downgrade the centrality of slavery to the development of the United States and global capitalism, mainstream historians attempt to depict the slaveholding classes as provincial actors. However, the slave owners were the most powerful people in the country. “Southerners imagined—and worked to build—an American republic whose foundation was slavery.” They wanted a strong United States, with a strong military, to protect slavery. by Timothy Shenk The Deteriorating Situation in Ethiopia The minority ethnic regime in Ethiopia now faces multiple rebellions. The regime’s foreign friends are part of the problem. “Faced with increased intrusion into their lands by so-called international investors, by displacement and by the breakdown of their social fabric, Ethiopians are mobilizing to resist.” The once formidable government coalition “is beginning to unravel.” by Yohannes WoldemariamLabor:

Economy:

Wells Fargo: Big Oil’s Biggest Banker The courageous stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline, led by indigenous nations and especially the Dakota and Lakota people of the Standing Rock Sioux, has sprouted a divestment campaign targeting the pipeline’s major creditors.  A September report by Food and Water Watch noted that 38 banks have financed the companies building the pipeline, most notably Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), which owns a controlling three-quarters interest in the so-called Black Snake. by Will Parrish

World:

Nato puts 300,000 ground troops on ‘high alert’ as tensions with Russia mount ‘We have seen a more assertive Russia implementing a substantial military build-up over many years,’ Nato secretary-general says By Gabriel SamuelsHealth, Science, Education, and Welfare: