The following statement is from John Studer, chairman of the Socialist Workers Party National Campaign Committee.
Efforts by the Donald Trump administration to open negotiations with the governments of North Korea, Russia, Iran, China and the Taliban in Afghanistan are aimed at advancing the class interests of the U.S. capitalist families. Washington is also pressing Palestinian leaders and the government of Israel to join them in holding talks. The White House seeks to dial down conflicts and gain a greater measure of stability favorable for the U.S. propertied rulers.
The unintentional result of these moves, if successful, will be to create better conditions for the working class — if we organize to take advantage of them.
Every week Socialist Workers Party members seek out discussions with fellow workers on their doorsteps about what the changes unfolding in the world open up and the course forward the party presents.
SWP candidates and their supporters explain that Washington’s moves make it easier for workers to discuss and debate, organize and fight; to gain some combat experience against our own ruling classes; to forge the unity we need to counter the national, racial and religious divisions the rulers try to use to pit us against each other; to organize a course toward independent working-class political action.
The rulers face a growing political crisis worldwide, as the institutions they hammered together out of their victory in the second imperialist world war — NATO, the EU and others — are shattering.
The steps the White House is taking around the world stem from this crisis, and from the fact that the U.S. rulers’ power is declining today at the same time that it remains the dominant imperialist power. This is underscored by their inability for decades to win any of the wars they’ve started.
For decades their profit rates have been declining, and they’ve responded by trying to squeeze more and more out of workers and farmers. But today growing numbers of workers are looking for ways to fight back effectively.
As party members talk about these developments with fellow workers on their doorsteps, we discuss how what we face is grounded in the immoral capitalist system, which exists by expropriating the wealth we produce. We debate what we can do about it. The SWP finds greater interest in the course we advance — building the labor movement; fighting for government-funded health care and retirement pay for all; amnesty for all 11 million immigrants in the U.S. to build working-class unity; prosecuting and jailing cops who brutalize and kill workers; and defending women’s right to choose whether to have an abortion.
We explain this requires building a revolutionary working-class party that can lead millions in the fight to overthrow capitalist exploitation and oppression and build a workers and farmers government.
Party members debate the issues posed for the working class that arise from the political crisis that is tearing apart both the Democratic and Republican parties. This involves fighting efforts to restrict political rights advanced by liberals as they try to drive the president from office — attempts whose real target is the working class, who they increasingly fear.
If this perspective sounds good to you, join the SWP campaign!