Starve the beast.

California Students Fighting Back

The movement of the working class in the 1930's, the black revolt and the women's revolt in the 1960's forced US capitalism to make concessions. It was forced to set up medicaid, medicare and social security. This was money it wanted to put directly into its stock markets and various swindling schemes and investment. But it was forced to set up social programs instead. It has been trying ever since to do away with these programs. From Reagan on it has stated that its objective has been to take away the gains of the 1930's and the 1960's.

The problem was and is that these programs are popular with the US working class. So US capitalism and its representatives came up with a scheme to get rid of these programs. They called it: "Starving the beast." That is to run government finances in such a way as there would be huge deficits and then they could claim there was no money for these programs. They created these deficits in the main by cutting taxes on the rich and the corporations. Since Reagan this has been what they have been doing. So now US capitalism has this unprecedented budget deficit and it can no longer afford these programs. So they have done it, they have "starved the beast." But they now have a a different problem, a political problem a problem of the class balance of forces.

Starving the beast really means taking from the working class concessions which it won over the past decades. However the working class is not happy about the thought of this. Lose their medicaid, medicare, their social security, no they are not happy about this. So having cut the taxes on the rich and the corporations US capitalism can correctly point out that the country is in debt as never before and cannot afford these programs and they must be cut. There is no alternative they preach to cutting these programs. (Of course they leave out any talk of the squandering of hundreds of billions on military spending, that is the production of destructive scrap metal) So having made any talk about cutting the military spending a crime they have prepared the ground in terms of the financial arguments. The country is in massive debt. So now get on with it. Cut these programs. After all this was the whole point in starving the beast. But wait, they are not getting on with it. Why not? Bush ran the country into unprecedented and unsustainable debt rather than do away with these programs. Why was this? Obama will do the same.

It is here we come to the political issue and the balance of class forces. US capitalism knows that if it moves to get rid of medicaid, medicare, social security it will face a mass movement of opposition to such attacks. It will mobilize and radicalize the working class. And in particular older sections of the working class who have in the main been inactive in the past decades. Even supporting the capitalist policies. Marx said that sometimes the movement in order to be pushed into struggle needs the whip of the counter revolution. What does this mean?

If the union leaders who control the workers' organizations of millions would only lead we could have a mass movement of the working class taking on US capitalism and fighting for an alternative. But these leaders are wedded to capitalism, they have good perks and living standards for themselves from capitalism, they think it is totally excluded that the working class can build an alternative society. So until the day comes when an alternative is built in the workers movement and this is strong enough to threaten their position they will not lead. So what is likely to happen is that Capitalism will screw up its courage and try and go after medicaid, medicare, social security. Or that a much worse collapse than 2008 will happen and these programs will start to tip over the cliffs edge. In this situation there will be a mass movement of the US working class.

It is important not to get confused. The tea baggers, the right wing non stop propaganda on the capitalist mass media, the lack of any mass strikes, these dominate the scene. But they do not reflect the deeper reality of things, the balance of class forces. What we see on the surface results from two things. The refusal of the union leaders with their millions of members to lead, in fact their use of their organizations with their millions of members to crush any struggle. But also the fact that US capitalism as yet has not gone after the major programs such as medicaid, medicare, social security, that is, the gains made by tens and tens of millions of workers over the last decades. They are afraid to take this action. Because to do so would force to the surface the real balance of class forces and bring about a mass movement of the US working class and with this a transformation of the consciousness of the US working class.

For activists this is very important. It is easy to think that there is no hope. But we need to see that US capitalism does not think this. It is very aware that from its point of view it has to deal with its debt and deficits. It is very aware that this means taking on the US working class head on. But it keeps postponing this because it fears the power of the US working class. Bush put this off for his entire eight years. Obama will do the same. It will only be faced up to and maybe even not then when a major slump and or collapse of the dollar takes place. The US working class are going to come under the lash of the crisis of the US capitalist system. When it does it will draw conclusions, it will rise to its feet, it will fight as it did in the past. Anti capitalist activists and socialists like the organizers of this blog will then have a mass audience.

A recent poll showed that almost 40% of Americans up to their mid thirties favored socialism over capitalism. This is when there is no mass force campaigning for socialism. This is when US capitalism has not yet launched the major assault it must on the gains of the working class such as medicaid, medicare, social security and so on. This is when their wars and occupations have not yet come back to haunt them.

The conditions that led to the near collapse in the US and world economy in 2008 are still with us. A new and most likely worse collapse lies ahead. This can cause confusion initially, it can even briefly stun the US working class, but very rapidly the US working class will conclude that it has no choice but to change its ways and organize and fight. In this situation the great battles and traditions of the 1930's and the 1960's will be back with us.

Look at the struggle in California now to defend and expand education and to make the rich and the corporations pay for the crisis of the state's funds. On March 4th strikes or actions of one kind or another are already planned in over 100 locations. Yes over 100 locations. This is a great movement in one of the largest economies in the world. This movement is to defend and expand education, make the rich and corporations pay for the education and states deficits, tax oil and gas, end the wars and occupations abroad and use the money to fund education and services, and for education not incarceration, This is a great movement. Support is coming from other states and countries. This might be the beginning. Or it might be the sign of things to come. Whichever it is, US capitalism has run up an unsustainable debt in its fear of confronting its own working class over the programs they have won such as medicaid, medicare and social security. They cannot put this off for ever. When they have to confront this crisis they in turn will be confronted by movements like that which is now developing in California, only much greater.