Democratic challenge to Republican president George Bush in 1992. But as Paul Le Blanc explains in the article below, the crisis of the US system goes deeper than the two pro-capitalist parties can answer.*
PAUL LE BLANC
HE presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Bush have been described as a period of "conser-
. vative-capitalist overdrive" by an influential maverick conservative analyst,
Kevin Phillips, in his book The Politics of
Rich and Poor. He means by this that it has been a period in which the government has tilted in a less democratic and less social reformist direction, adopting policies more overtly favourable to the big business elite. In such a period, higher profits are made by capitalist enterprises, some of which become consolidated and more powerful than ever, and opportunities for becoming rich open up for a narrow layer of capable entrepreneurs and managerial elements. At the same time, he notes, economic imbalances and inequalities grow rapidly, and the great majority of people bear the brunt of the painful excesses of capitalist enrichment.
Phillips has documented impressive similarities between this period and previous capitalist heydays such as the Gilded
Age of the late 1870s to mid 1890s or the
1920s. Noting that *the wealth share of the top 1% of Americans had increased from
27% to 36% at the end of the 1980s" Phillips points out that ""downward mobility"
emerged as a real fear within the US work force, white-collar and blue-collar alike"
and that "many families found themselves emptying savings accounts and going into debt, often to meet the soaring price of home ownership or to put a child through college... For much of Middle America...
the Reagan years were troubling and ambiguous as the contrast intensified between proliferating billionaires and the tens of millions of others who were gradually sinking."
Phillips goes on to warn that the immediate future of US politics could well repeat the pattern of the earlier "capitalist heydays" — the rise of radical-populist and militant working class social protest movements. The first of these, from the ary Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), forcing bourgeois politicians of both the Democratic and Republican parties to become champions of so-called "Progressive" reform.
The red decade
The second period of popular insurgency, the so-called "red decade" of the 1930s, saw the massive unionization drive among industrial workers that challenged the power of the corporatist capitalist elite, sending the Democratic Party of Franklin D. Roosevelt scurrying to implement radical reforms in order to preserve the capitalist system. Phillips anticipates the possibility of a similar leftward political tilt in the foreseeable future.
The US ruling elite is itself divided over how to deal with the problems of the 1990s.
Global economic restructuring has genSuch developments have posed questions about the industrial strength of the coun try as a whole and about the economic power of the United States in the world economy — especially with the growing competition from Western Europe and Japan. What is more, the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR appears to make the immense (and expensive) concentration of US military power somewhat superfluous, further undermining the validity of the "Amerithe 1970s, and is projected as being only 25% during the 1990s.
Sectors of the US ruling class, gathered around George Bush, have committed themselves to preserving their position through continuing the policies of imperialist resurgence advanced by Reagan. Seeking to overcome the "Vietnam syndrome", US policy-makers have been inclined to play "hardball" with upstart leaders in the Third World such as Qadaffi in Libya, Noriega in Panama and most recently Saddam Hussein in Iraq. This is part of a larger strategy to secure US domination over these areas, a strategy seeking to clear away any nationalist or revolutionary obstacles to US corporations having access to the Third World's riches, cheap labour and investment opportunities.
Outflanking Europe
The US war in the Persian Gulf was designed in part to use US military power as a lever to shore up declining economic clout, outflanking European and Asian competitors. However, as André Gunder Frank has suggested: "without an adequate economic base, military power is insufficient to keep a great power afloat. On the contrary, the foolish use of its military power may instead sink that [super]
Such insights are not the monopoly of leftists - they have also been voiced by worried spokespersons of the loyal bourgeois opposition. To date this loyal opposition has been relatively ineffectual. Much of it is concentrated in the Democratic Party, accurately termed by Phillips as "history's second most enthusiastic capitalist party". Democratic Party liberals and doves can be expected to offer lukewarm resistance, at best, to political, economic and military efforts designed to protect the death squad dictatorship in El Salvador, crush the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and bring down the government in Cuba. And, despite populist demagogy, the Democrats have no solutions to offer US working people in the face of deteriorating living standards.
The Bush administration was undeniably successful in making short-term gains with the Gulf war, but this has not overcome certain stubborn facts:
• A significant minority of the US pop* Paul Le Blanc is a member of the Fourth Internationalist Tendency, an organization in sympathy with the Fourth International in the United States. This article is based on a report he gave to a meeting of the Fl's Unit- 25 ed Secretariat in October 1991.
----- pull-quotes on this page -----
war
International Viewpoint #217 • November 25, 1991
USA ulation consciously and actively opposed the Persian Gulf war from beginning to end, vigorously organizing impressive demonstrations and educational activities, and indicating a capacity Chad the war lasted longer) of creating and mobilizing an anti-war majority, as occurred during the Vietnam war — and this anti-war force remains as a potentially active element in US society;
• The inequalities, corruption, oppression, class tensions, exploitation and growing social problems that were creating mass discontent in the United States before the Gulf War remain as great as ever, and insurgent forces are continuing to grow among workers and the oppressed;
• The nature of imperialism promises to continue to impact on the peoples of the Third World (and soon on the peoples of Eastern Europe) in a manner that generates anti-imperialist struggle and political radicalism that will provide an ongoing challenge to the "new world order", and therefore generate strains in the present US power structure;
• It is unlikely that the ruling classes of such countries as Japan and Germany will simply accept US hegemony, or that the flexing of US military power will be able to effectively counteract the decline of US economic power;
• A protracted world capitalist crisis, manifest in innumerable ways over the past decade (massive unemployment and under-employment, growing debt, declining living standards, the collapse of social programs, even famine) persists and threatens to overwhelm the plans of bourgeois policy makers.
"Collapse of Communism"
One of the salient "victories" for world capitalism appears to be the so-called "collapse of Communism" gration of the Stalinist bureaucratic systems in Eastern Europe and the USSR. But the devastating effects of the reintroduction of capitalism will undoubtedly stimulate (and have already begun to stimulate) a renewal of the kinds of mass protests that brought down bureaucratic tyranny.
The de-stabilizing impact of such developments on the "new world order" may be matched by the impact they have on the consciousness of growing numbers of US working people. Events in eastern Europe and the USSR provide stirring models of people "taking democracy into their own hands", carrying out mass actions against parasitic elites in a manner that some working people in the US may at some point feel inspired to emulate.
The composition of the US working class is changing in important ways. During the 1970s, a total of 38 million industrial jobs were lost to runaway shops, 26 the creation of new jobs meant the net jo plant shut-downs and cutbacks - toug
### TONIGHT THE PRESIDENT
ANNOUNCED HIS PLAN... HE CALLS IT THE GEORGE _ BUSH TV DINNER. loss was only a little more than a million. On the other hand, the newer jobs tend to involve lower-paying employment. It is important to note that in 1989 the number of blue-collar workers was higher than ever — 31.8 million. But the blue collar sector of the workforce now represents 27.1% of the total, a decline from 34.5% in 1950, and the rate of decline is increasing more rapidly than before. The whitecollar sector represents just over 50%, about half of which suffers from very low incomes of clerical, sales and service workers. In fact, about 85% of the new jobs created in the 1980s were concentrated in this low-wage white-collar sector. There has been a significant expansion, also, of temporary and part-time jobs, with even lower wages and no benefits. Almost 20% of US employees have no health insurance, and 40% are not covered by any pension plan.
The general decline in working-class living standards has had a profound impact on the consciousness of the class. Younger workers in particular face greater possibilities of unemployment, or at least greatly reduced opportunities than enjoyed by their parents and grandpar ents. Already, 22% of U.S. children live in poverty, and given today's job market this is certain to increase, since about 40% of all 18 year olds are entering the labour market with only minimal skills.
White males serving as their family's only breadwinner were, as a category, traditionally seen as a privileged layer of the working class, yet their median income fell by 22% between 1976 and 1984. It would be quite difficult, obviously, for a family to survive on such a reduced income. There is often a need in working-class families wishing to avoid poverty to
•.•TO FEED THE MILLIONS OF HUNGRY CHILDREN IN
Z AMERICA.
SOUND BITES FOR
EVERYONE. secure a second income.
More women workers
This is related to another development in the same period - the growing importance of the female sector of the working class, accounting today for about 45% of the labour force. In 1900 only 6% of married women worked for pay; by 1987, 56% of married women were wage or salary workers. According to a September 1991 New York Times report, there has also been a growth of child labor, much of
At the same time, a majority of the working class is non-white in many parts of the country, as Blacks, Hispanics and Asians (many of them recent immigrants) become an increasing proportion of the workers in both industrial and nonindustrial enterprises. This sector of the working class remains the most oppressed of all. For example, almost one-third of all Blacks live in poverty (as opposed to only 11% of whites). When the September New York Times report on U.S. labour says that increasing numbers "of full time workers, notably single mothers... earn so little that they qualify for food stamps" available for those living below the poverty line, it should be added that a majority of these are African American. There is also the unemployment rates among Blacks are double those of whites.
The working class does not exclusively, or even primarily, express itself through the trade unions. Less than 15% of all workers are in trade unions, and less than 10% of private sector workers are orga nized. The often bureaucratized leaderships of the unions and of the social movement organizations rarely demon-
----- photo credits and running heads -----
Carol* Simpson 0199
November 25, 1991 • #217 International Viewpoint strate a clear sense of working-class consciousness - but elements of them, in order to keep pace with the moods and perspectives of their membership, have recently shown some inclination to move in more militant and socially-conscious (in some cases even class-conscious) directions than previously.
As has been the case from the beginning of our history, one can find within the U.S. working-class a contradictory mix of reactionary and progressive elements. It is not difficult to find racism, super-patriotic chauvinism, sexist bigotry and homophobia, illusions about capitalism and about bourgeois politicians, and so on. Much of the working class is divided against itself, and sectors of it are susceptible - especially as the social contradictions intensify — to right-wing ideology. But now, more than has been the case for decades, there is potential for a massive leftward shift in the American working class.
The weakened state of the U.S. trade union movement is reflected not only in the decline in membership but also in the fact that real wages declined by 8% in the decade of the 1980s, and in some cases by more than 20%. At the same time, there are impprtant stirrings. The independent fight by Austin, Minnesota packing-house workers several years ago was one of the first vigorous fight-backs, although it was defeated. The militancy of the United Mine Workers of America in the Pittston strike of 1989 generated enthusiasm and a spirit of solidarity throughout the working class, and the resulting victory has strengthened class-struggle currents in the labour movement over the past two years. Challenging the conventional wisdom that strikes are an outmoded tool, union members in a variety of local struggles are showing an inclination to use strikes, picket-lines, and also civil disobedience against court injunctions in order to defend their rights.
In the face of the obvious bankruptcy of the bureaucratic conservative "respectability" and class-collaborationism of the AFL-CIO leadership, union members and even some union leaders are turning to a more socially-conscious and radical variant of trade unionism. In some unions dissident caucuses reflecting the new moods are making headway - for example, Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the New Directions Caucus in the United Auto Workers, dissident networks in the railworkers unions around the independent newspaper Straight Track, and other militant caucuses such as the one called "Hell on Wheels" among New York City transit union members, and so on.
Black Workers for Justice
Also significant is the positive response of many established unions to the project of Black Workers for Justice, a modest yet militant union organizing project with significant roots in parts of the largely nonunionized South.
There is growing interest in international labor solidarity, although the positive examples are still extremely modest. The national leaders of some unions have cautiously challenged U.S. foreign policy, and the old CIA-labor ties, in Central America. And most recently, union members have taken action against the agreement" advanced by the capitalist governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. These modest developments have significant implications: if working-class internationalism in the U.S. expands from the fringes into the mainstream in the coming period, this could mean an independent foreign policy of the labor movement that could contribute to a growing trend of class indepen-
The absence of a coherent and nationwide independent working-class politics is today seen by growing sectors of the trade union movement as a serious deficiency. Significant numbers are indicating support for the kinds of positions being articulated by a leader of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, Tony Mazzocchi, who said; cating majority or near-majority support among union members in many areas for independent political activity.
There are other stirrings of independent political action as well. In the AfricanAmerican community, a high percentage of Blacks have drawn quite radical political conclusions.This was reflected in the political campaigns of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition which, despite the fatal contradiction of being bound up in the Democratic Party, created a pole of attraction to the left of all other mainstream politicians of the two capitalist parties. Recently, a former top strategist of the Rainbow Coalition, Ron Daniels, has broken with Jackson over the question of being tied to the Democratic Party. Mass struggles in defence of abortion rights
The National Organization for Women has recently helped lead mass struggles against reactionary attacks on abortion rights. This organization has also solidarized with other struggles, and took a consistently anti-war stand during the Gulf conflict. A majority of the NOW membership, and a central component of its leadership, have taken a position in favour of a new political party based on a far-reaching political platform of social and economic reform.
Another important factor in US politics today is the existence of a broad-based milieu of left-liberal and radical activists, many of them relatively young and a growing number part of a resurgent wave of politicizing students. These have been to the fore in Central American solidarity,
USA
ERRATA - South Africa and
TWO errors made their way into the article on South Africa "Apartheid's Transitional Programme" by Peter Blumer, in /V 216.
• On p. 23 at the end of the last paragraph "the 1960s" read "the 1970s".
• On p. 24, the first sentence of the third paragraph from the bottom of the middle column ("South Africa exports...") should read:
"Some 14% of this country's exports are made up of manufactured products and 70.5% of mining products. Of its imports, on the other hand, 36% are manufac machines and equipment."
AND two more mistakes were made in the resolution "Socialist position on Yugoslav Crisis which was published on pp. 16-17 of IV 215.
• The first sentence of the second point should read The
Fourth International] "supports a sovereign confederation of multinational states"
• At the end of the fourth point there should be an additional sentence reading: "Such an intervention would, furthermore, constitute a precedent strengthening the pretension of the European Community institutions to become the supreme judge of the continental order." * the movement against the Gulf War, and the anti-apartheid movement. Such activists have also been in the forefront of struggles to defend abortion rights, a censtruggle in the United States at present, as well as anti-racist campaigns and student protests.
In the 1990s there is a real possibility of creating an independent working people's party, based on sections of the union movement, sections of the Black movement, sections of the women's movement, and attracting important layers of radical activists, college youth and politicized young workers. There is no guarantee this will happen, but there are clear stirrings leading in this direction. In addition to this, there is a general proletarianization of the population, accompanied by radicalization, deepening working-class consciousness, and political militancy. Regardless of precisely how the different "new party" developments unfold, there are opportunities for building socialist consciousness and a socialist movement de sade cant proportions over the coming 27 decade. *
The CIA and asylum
NETHERLANDS / PHILIPPINES erlands.*
Ms. Dales had to admit that other refugees in the Netherlands had been contacted by the BVD. As a representative of Amnesty International put it, the whole procedure of demanding asylum has been put in question by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior. What refugee will agree to
AT A TIME when the rights of refugees are under threat throughout Europe, a sinister Incident has taken place in The
Netherlands. On October 31, 1991, a representative of the