Let’s reflect on this disaster: The NYT reports “It is an increasingly common path for a world confronting the deadly consequences of extreme weather brought on by man-made, and irreversible, climate change.”
Yes— man-made but by man operating under the rules and laws of the capitalist economic system. Every added oz. of CO2 and related gases brings us closer to the camel’s back. Here are three recent headlines on man’s response:
Shell sees refining profits nearly tripling, adding $1 billion to its bottom line.
Biden opens the possibility of more offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
President Biden Looks to Boost Oil Production - Bloomberg.com
It’s not Biden per se but our system. A Republican president would do the same— and that’s the rub, at least for Marxists. We all know what is at issue in the coming elections and we don’t want Republicans to take over— but Democrats are taking us down the same road, only slower.
Does Marxism have the correct understanding of the solutions to capitalist crises — i.e., socialism. Our movement is not strong enough to have any real influence in the outcome of the duel for supremacy between the Democrats and Republicans- if the Democrats and their allies can’t defeat the Republicans our widow’s mite won’t change a thing. Instead of making fools of ourselves chasing after Biden’s tail and supporting the monopoly capitalist oligarchs he works for against those who support the Republicans (often the same ones) we should be using the election time opportunities to propagate a proper understanding among the working class of their real position under the capitalist system and why socialism is their movement to embrace.
That means, simply, forget about the Biden vs whatever Republican dog and pony show of the ruling class and concentrate all our efforts on local organizing and local political struggle to begin building a real working class political base necessary for any Marxist movement. Let’s not hide our unique worldview under a bushel but live up to our vanguard role and proclaim it from the house tops (‘that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops’). This doesn’t mean not working with others, or insisting that others have to adopt all our views, it only means we work with others but also keep our own flags flying.
A recent example of this was the Poor Peoples demonstration in Washington a couple of weeks ago. Marxist groups participated in this popular front activity fully supporting its message and goals and at the same time displayed their own colors and symbols of Marxism. What better way to show that Marxism and Marxist-Leninist groups can work together with other popular progressive movements and the interchange of ideas can only help the Marxist movement as its move advanced ideology will gradually take root. The vanguard role must be earned not simply proclaimed — out of the ears of the closet and on to the roof!
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