It is rare to see opinion columns reveal class bias and imperial arrogance as clearly as Thomas Friedman's recent New York Times piece - boasting about Washington's success in robbing an extra $1.3 billion of surplus value produced by the toilers in Mexico, and transferring it to the coffers of loan sharks on Wall Street.

Friedman's views were seconded by Albert Gore during the recent vice presidential debate when he bragged about the higher-than-usual profit capitalist banks netted through the so- called bailout of Mexico after the 1994 collapse of the peso. Webster's dictionary defines such acts as usury.

Friedman revealed that the U.S. rulers feared the possible implications of events in Mexico at the end of 1994 and early 1995. When Washington forces a government in a semicolonial country to quickly ram draconian austerity measures down the throats of working people, labor resistance can get out of hand. With unemployment soaring, real wages declining, social services being slashed, and poverty levels jumping 30 percent higher in the course of 16 months, a popular revolt is possible. Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp cynically scored the Clinton administration during the vice presidential debate for gloating over their accomplishments in Mexico when the human toll was so high and at the same time so visible.

But what a relief for the bankers, landlords, and businessmen Friedman serves! "There should have been a revolution, but there was barely a demonstration," their faithful mouthpiece exclaimed.

What is the lesson for the owners of capital? If a frontal assault on the working class - allowing a higher-than-usual return on investment - is working in Mexico, without a major challenge to the rule of the bourgeoisie, why not go for more? After all, big business in the United States, and their competitors worldwide, have been unable to solve their chronic problem of declining profit rates. In fact, the curve of capitalist development continues its downward slide into deeper depression conditions; and interimperialist competition is stiffening, putting more pressure on the rate of return for capitalist investors. So why not consider more "Mexico bailouts"?

That's what the owners of General Motors Corp. are probably contemplating. That's what the government of France is mulling over.

Ford and Chrysler have just netted contracts stacked against the workers, while top officials of the United Auto Workers tout the agreements as "breakthroughs" for the union. GM pushed back with relative ease the United Auto Workers during the 17-day strike at Dayton, Ohio, in March. The auto giant, determined not to settle for merely the concessions Chrysler and Ford have won thus far, has now forced another walkout by 26,000 Canadian Auto Workers members.

And Paris is resolved to march toward a "common" European currency as an equal with Bonn - slashing social services in the process to meet the standards and deadlines set by the European Union. Some in the French ruling class figure, "Why not!" Prime Minister Alain Juppé's government is still standing even after big strikes and street protests last fall.

A growing and more vocal minority among the U.S. rulers and other imperialists are taking Friedman's point to heart, since no one among them has come up with another alternative to shore up profit rates.

If the "Mexico bailout" is a great capitalist success story, it is also the graphic portrait of what the profit system has in store for humanity.

But as the masters of Wall Street keep pushing their onslaught, the revolution Friedman fears will be on the agenda. Working people will get their chance to take power out of the hands of the exploiters and begin the struggle to replace capitalism with a system that puts human needs before profits for an already wealthy minority. In the meantime, joining every single skirmish - from the picket lines in Canada to the street protests in France - and presenting a communist perspective to fellow toilers must be the top priority for class-conscious workers.  
 
 
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