Vol. 80/No. 11      March 21, 2016

 

‘Workers need revolution, not judicial reform’

 
The following editorial appeared in the Feb. 27, 1937, issue of Labor Action, the paper of the Western Federation of the Socialist Party, which James P. Cannon edited at that time. An excerpted section is quoted in the accompanying commentary by Maggie Trowe.

We have nothing against any plan to “liberalize” the United States Supreme Court. But we are one hundred per cent against the ridiculous illusion that the addition of a half dozen more exponents of the capitalist system to that judicial body will do away with the class struggle or materially affect the relationship between the workers and their exploiters in any way whatever.

The Supreme Court, like all other political and judicial institutions in modern society, is a class instrument, pure and simple. The conservative attitude of the court is not derived fundamentally from its composition, nor from the age of its incumbents, but from the nature of its essential function as a protecting barrier of the system of private property and private profit. Roosevelt, the “reformer,” avowedly stands for the maintenance of that system just as ardently as do the nine old men on the Supreme Court bench. The quarrel between them is merely this: What is the best, most effective and economical way to protect the system of private property in the impending social storms?

The whole dispute is essentially the affair of the rulers of America and their political representatives. To us it appears that Roosevelt, with his liberal demagogy and his policy of minor concessions to take the edge off the harsh collisions of the classes, is a more effective champion of the capitalist cause than the nine old fossils muttering into their beards. The most wide-awake and far-sighted elements of the money crowd think so too. That is why they supported him in the last election — along with the labor leaders, the old guard Socialists, the Communists and the great mass of duped workers. …

The question is solely a question of power. The development of the workers’ power to attain their historic aims — the abolition of capitalism and all its institutions, including the Supreme Court — that is the real business of the intelligent workers.

Let the bosses and their dupes argue the fine points of judicial reform. What the American workers need is a revolution.
 
 
Related articles:
Start with the class struggle, not capitalist laws, courts
Letter from a reader
 
 
 
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