jeudi 28 octobre 2010

THERE IS HOPE FOR A FUTURE

vol. 3. no. 10, November 1-15, 2010


Si vous désirez lire en français: http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/

You will find below the link to l'Humanité in English, a selection of articles from the daily communist newspaper published in Paris (France).

Guess what, we will start with bad news and end up with optimism and hope for a future!

“A paternalistic concern for ‘what’s going to happen to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq’ without the U.S. occupying their countries shows how far imperialist assumptions have infected sections of the US peace movement. [...] On the other hand, the U.S. Peace Council, affiliated with the World Peace Council -the largest peace movement on earth-, distributed at a peace meeting in Washington (October 3rd , 2010) a statement that says grosso modo: ‘We must foreground the demand for an immediate unconditional end to the U.S. occupation wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. The trillions of dollars devoted to war industry profits feed more than 1,000 extraterritorial U.S. military bases around the world as well as U.S. and U.S.-backed occupation and wars against Palestine, Colombia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Somalia and Yemen, threats to Iran and Democratic Korea, and the deployment of Special Operations forces in a total of about 75 countries...”
The US Marxist writer, James Connolly, wrote that “Stalin, interestingly, [believed] that ‘it is possible that in a definite conjuncture of circumstances,’ the fight for peace’ will develop here or there’ into a fight for socialism. [...] ‘a movement for the overthrow of capitalism.’ In any case, the peace movement’s anti-militarism opposes the war industry, ‘the “business” best adapted to the extraction of the maximum profit’. The peace movement therefore, even without Marxist-Leninist leadership, objectively tends to undermine modern monopoly capitalism – as long as the peace movement [...] consistently and vigorously objects to imperialist aggression.” (J.V. Stalin, Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. (1952).
(Photo Internet: Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union).

The CPUSA’s electronic bulletin People’s World reported (October 27th, 2010), in relation to the so-called US hawks, pervading the USA in the 1980s, “right-wing extremists and the most reactionary sections of monopoly and financial capital ganged up against the working class, racially oppressed, women, youth, seniors, and other social groups”, the core of the peace movement then and now.
Those were the years of Ronald Reagan era; People’s World goes on: “The wealth of the top income tiers ballooned, while income for the lower tiers either stagnated or plummeted”.
In 2008, President Obama was elected; democratic-minded people and movements backed him. It was the victory of a “loose coalition of diverse forces”. Speaking of two visions about the power at White House, the journal says: “which vision will come out on top and when that will happen is not clear”.
One thing is sure: the CPUSA’s leadership does not intend to fight on its own to advance new policies for the working class.
USA is a typical capitalist country
As stated in the New York City Metro, “since resigning as speaker of the House 11 years ago, Newt Gingrich, the most powerful Republican, has officially been a private citizen...” Speaking about US history, he hammers out: “Following World War II, the left in America romanticized about many ideas put forth by Moscow, and turned a blind eye to the fact that Stalin has already slaughtered millions of his own people and was now subjugating much of Eastern Europe. Just four years later, the Soviets detonated a nuclear weapon...”
Of course, he is lying and exaggerating. Everybody knows that USA was the first power to use the atomic bomb, against Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the WWII, while Japan was already on the verge to capitulate without it. In describing Stalin, Gingrich uses the old Nazi clichés.
(Photo Internet: Newt Gingrich is using the classical clichés of the Nazi regime about Soviet Union; here is "maybe" his favourite mentor on the far right, Adolf Hitler, accompanied by Joseph Goebbels on the left).

In fact, he is more concerned with the well-being of the U.S. well-to-do. He pursues: “Republican candidates must continue to explain their plans for [cutting taxes] and reforming government”.

In February or March 2011, we will know if he runs for President in 2012.
The electronic journal Change.org informed us that a rally was organized in Washington, DC at the end of October whose “aim is to show the country that when it comes to politics and civic discourse, the majority of Americans are interested in sane, calm discussion rather than shrill, angry shouting.”
On the other hand, the Fed declared the same day that the authorities will inquiry in the manner that mortgage societies expelled from their homes, people unable to face financial obligations. This is no joke; so many people just don’t find a job. “The national unemployment rate remained unchanged for September, at 9.6%, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on October 8, 2010. Approximately 14.8 million workers are without jobs as the economy continues slow growth.”
In terms of money, those are the charts (in June 30, 2009) in thousands of dollars for total deposits: a) Bank of America, 817,989,321; b) JP Morgan Chase Bank, 618,124,000; c) Wachovia Bank, 394, 189,004; d) Wells Fargo Bank, 325,417,000; e) Citibank, 265,947,879. And the list is long and impressive.
Now, we could overview the situation of General Motors. The New York Times (October 26th, 2010) recalls that: “For most of the 20th century [it] was the biggest company in the most important industry in the world.” During the bankruptcy process, “the [US] federal government holds nearly 61 percent of the new company, with the Canadian government, a health care trust for the United Auto Workers union and bondholders owning the balance. [...] In April 2010, G.M. repaid its government loan, as sign things could be turning around. Soon afterward, it said it earned $865 million in the first quarter, its first profit since 2007, with revenue up 40 percent, to $31.5 billion, and a positive cash flow of $1 billion. In June, GM increased output at most of its American operations. Sustaining this progress, G.M. said in August that it earned $1.3 billion in the second quarter, its strongest financial performance since 2004.”
For the CPUSA’s current leaders, the workers may reckon on the Obama Democratic Party. But the New York City Metro reported, always at the end of October, that “Democratic Senate candidate and current West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin has said he didn’t fully understand the bill (on Health Care, Ed.) at time of passing. Stammering out a hasty retreat, Manchin explained his concerns: ‘Knowing the existence as far as how reaching it had been, as far as – and onerous- I would have [voted against it], he said’”.
The last word belongs to People’s World: “French workers angry about pensions and more”. The author notes that labour and left activists’ protest in France goes beyond the issue of pension reform. In fact, “polls show that if the election were held today the left would win”.
There are two conclusions here: first, the CPUSA should not be afraid to stress that the labour and left activist are united in the“Intersyndicale
(All-Unions Movement) that gathers major unions, including the communist-led General Confederation of Labour (CGT). The unions are supported by political parties and movements such as the French Communist Party and the Pôle de Renaissance communiste en France (Communist Renewal in France).
(Photo PCF: October 2010 Demonstration in Paris, France).

The other lesson: the CPUSA must come back on the forefront of the US workers’ battles for jobs, decent housing and racial equality between Black and White workers; and this is the basic starting point for the working class movement in USA; a country as capitalist as anywhere else in the world.
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