Over the last year there has been a great deal of talk in Washington about the need to grow the economy and create jobs. From the discussion you would think everyone; Republicans and Democrats are in favor of programs to accomplish these goals. There are constant cries from the pundits for more bipartisanship to accomplish these goals. So why is nothing happening.
With 46.5 million people in poverty in the United States today and 42.5% of African American children under five in poverty, there is a crisis for working people. With 2.3 million people in jail and 400,000 people being deported annually, poverty will continue to grow because their income is needed to keep their families out of poverty.
Since 2010, the recession has ended for the top 20% of the population as they have seen their incomes improve, for the rest, incomes have continued to fall, and there is no end in sight.
Nothing is being done about the situation except talk because the problem is the system of capitalism. The capitalist control the politicians, the press, the educational system and they will not allow any serious challenges to their system from within these ranks.
If an alternative is to develop, it has to come from those who are exploited by the system, not those who benefit from it.
Capitalism is a system based on the exploitation of labor. It can take many forms but in essence it means the surplus value workers produce by their labor is taken by non-producers who hold power and used for their benefit.
The alternative to this is communism where workers produce what they need and distribute it among themselves to meet their needs.
Of course the capitalist say this cannot happen. They use racism and sexism to divide the working class. They develop a culture which encourages individualism and greed to overcome workers need to help each other out.
We know it is possible to have a world where the needs of the world’s workers are met. The capitalist stand in the way of reaching this goal. We are building an organization, the Progressive Labor Party, to overcome the many obstacles the capitalist place in our way of building a word free of racism, sexism, nationalism and constant wars. A world without money or a wage system, where people work for the common good and have their needs met. We are building an international party, because conditions are even worse elsewhere in the world and we cannot do it alone.
We can learn a great deal from the working class movements of the 20th century. We can correct their mistakes and as Karl Marx said over 150 years ago, open a new era of human history. Join us in this effort.
Progressive Labor Party www.plp.org revolution500@gmail.com
