Build a Real Challenge to Capitalism in the Trump Era

Steering Committee of the International Marxist-Humanist Organization

Summary: The political realities that brought Trump to power are part of a worldwide trend reflecting the next stage of capitalism, struggling to reinvent itself yet again in the face of new economic and social realities– Editors

THE POLITICAL REALITIES that brought Trump to power are part of a worldwide trend reflecting the next stage of capitalism, struggling to reinvent itself yet again in the face of new economic and social realities. While Trump came to power on the wave of a backlash against the dominant face of capitalism known as neoliberalism, his ascendance also exposed the shortcomings of a left predominantly focused on opposing neoliberalism rather than capitalism as a whole.

IN THIS MOMENT, TRANSFORMATIVE THINKING in the face of a new, openly authoritarian, virulently racist, and overtly misogynist capitalism exemplified by the Trump victory is of paramount importance. However, we will not succeed in transcending this moment without a recommitment to studying and understanding what brought us to this point.

ACKNOWLEDGING THE DISAFFECTION felt by white workers, we need to find ways to reach out to them, but without any concessions on issues like Black Lives Matter, revolutionary feminism, LGBT issues, environmental justice, defense of immigrants, and opposition to Islamophobia.  This is not impossible, but it is a hard road nonetheless.  At several turning points in our history, U.S. working people have in fact united across racial lines in sustained movements for radical change, among them the leftwing Populist Movement of the 1890s in the southern states, the industrial union movement of the 1930s, or the rank-and-file auto workers strikes and plant occupations of the 1970s, which was preceded by a Black workers movement.

ALSO SIGNIFICANT ARE THE GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS of this moment, whether Trump’s reckless intention to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, or the imperialist saber-rattling against Iran. Trump has also made clear that he supports a number of Russia’s positions, including its imperialist annexation of Crimea.  Trump also shares Putin’s extreme Islamophobia and support of the murderous Assad regime.  Rejecting Putin and Trump’s labeling of all Syrians who resist Assad as “terrorists” cannot be separated from the fight against anti-immigrant racism and Islamophobia at home.

WHILE IT IS TRUE THAT PUTIN INTERVENED in the US election in the same way that the CIA has done in Latin America, it is no less a violation of democracy when the tables are turned on people of the U.S.  This too is part of a pattern, as Russia has been supporting politicians similar to Trump for several years, like the neofascist National Front in France or the anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic Orban regime in Hungary.

Given all that is facing us and the need for the left to reorganize its thinking, we invite you to join with us as we continue to work towards an alternative to Trump and the rightwing onslaught that looms over us. Theorizing and expressing an alternative to capital’s rule — as it carries us toward an ecological and social abyss — is the project of our age and it is the mission of our organization.

See also our other post-US election articles:

Trump’s Election: Capitalism’s Dangerous Turn Toward Open Racism and Misogyny — by Peter Hudis

The Trump Election: Mourn, Reflect, and Organize — by Kevin B. Anderson

Protests in Los Angeles since the election: Thoughts of a Young Marxist-Humanist — by Leo E.

Join us at upcoming events:

LA: Jan 22, Community discussion on 150 years of Karl Marx’s Capital. (Facebook event link)

Chicago: Feb 13 and 27, Environmental Crises: Resistance and Alternatives. (Facebook event link)

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