Responsibility.

It is obvious to all that capitalism is in an extreme crisis, that it threatens the living standards of all of us and the very existence of the planet. The responsibility for confronting capitalism lies above all with the labor leaders. They control the giant workers organizations, the unions. However these union leaders are totally cowed by capitalism, totally committed to capitalism, cannot see any alternative to capitalism, and as a result they refuse to mobilize the working class in a movement for an alternative socialist society. In fact it is worse, any force that rises in the working class which wants to struggle these leaders repress and sabotage. They do so in the interest of keeping their collaboration with the employers and their capitalist system intact. These leaders have forfeited the right to lead the working class movement. They have to be removed and with them their pro capitalist policies. 

However the problem does not end there. What about us, the activists, and those of us who want an alternative,  those of us who are critical of the system and of capitalism. What are we doing? The labor leaders will never move until there is a movement in their ranks that is so powerful that it threatens their control of the organizations they pretend to lead. So then, we have to build this alternative. This alternative will come about in two ways. One is the system will go into such crisis that the mass of the working class will be forced by events to conclude that they must act and a new movement will be born. But this is not all. Those of us who see the need for an alternative, who want an alternative must also act and act now. It is not right to wait until the movement erupts from below. If we do not act now and prepare a new leadership the new movement will be captured and derailed by the same type of labor leaders who control and derail the present movement. 

So what is to be done. Activists and those of us who see the need for an alternative must prepare ourselves. This means a number of things. We must be active in struggle in our workplaces, neighborhoods, schools and colleges. Out of these struggles we must build organizations of struggle. We must link these together around a series of demands such as a $15.00 minimum wage or $5.00 an hour wage increase whichever is greater, free education, health care, affordable housing for all, an end to war and occupation, and end to inequality. We must also link this to the need to end capitalism and replace it with a world wide democratic socialist system. And we must act to fight for this program through direct mass action.  As part of this we must move to build the independent organizations of the working class, the unions and a mass workers' party. 

It is not enough to complain about the labor leaders even though every word said about their refusal to lead is correct. We have to see that we too have responsibility. We must get active. We must organize in our areas. Anybody who is not organizing a fighting revolutionary group in their neighborhood, workplace, school or college is part of the problem not part of the solution. Anybody who is not studying capitalism and why it does not work, who is not studying socialism and why is has to be fought for, anybody who is not studying the history of our own working class movement, anybody who is engaged in this study and is not organizing around these issues is part of the problem, not part of the solution. 

Which are you? Part of the problem or part of the solution? Contact us here on our blog, contact us here at LMV. Organize and study along with us. Become part of the solution, not part of the problem. Sean.