Students have the capacity to spark a political upheaval within the working class, but to advance effectively, the leading role of the latter is essential. Although the working class did eventually join the movement to some degree, their involvement has largely been as a mass rather than as a class and an organized political force.
There’s absolutely no point in denying reality. At the time of this writing, Trump has won the presidency, the Republicans control the Senate, and the House of Representatives’ results are still being counted.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton demonstrated her contempt for Trump’s then-overwhelmingly white supporters by labeling them “the deplorables”— rather than trying to acknowledge the source of their anger: the gross inequality of the economic status quo. Eight years later, with Trump’s support bigger in virtually every demographic group, it is impossible to ignore the economic despair that drove voters away from the Democrats…
In the seven swing states that will determine the electoral college votes, surveys show the race to be tied or within a point or two for either candidate.
The Boeing strikers voted, by a 64% majority, on October 23 to reject the company’s latest contract proposal. This is a significant development in the most important workers’ struggle in the country today.
Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian assistance and repeated attacks on aid convoys have sparked catastrophe in the Palestinian enclave.
Even though serious bourgeois newspapers have gone into hysterical overdrive about Sinwar’s killing, it’s not going to fundamentally change the situation. Of course, the killing of a central leader is a serious blow to Hamas. But Hamas is a mass organization; other leaders will be selected.
The strike is now in its fourth week and appears to be holding the line. Picket lines are lively and well attended. Food, wood, and other picket line supplies are being provided. There is $250 a week strike pay. Members of other unions have been joining the line to express solidarity. The highly technical nature of the work will make finding sufficiently trained scabs hard.
Capitalism has transformed the vast wealth of petroleum and minerals in the Middle East into a curse for its people. The existence of Israel is akin to a cancer on the body of the region, grafted to ensure the continuation of imperialist yoke and dominance. The entire Arab ruling elite is complicit in this imperialist project. The Palestinians have no friends, no sympathizers except for the oppressed and exploited people of the world.
Recent days have made it clear that Hezbollah’s perception of “mutual deterrence” between it and the Zionist state did not sufficiently take into account the unequal nature of this deterrence (a miscalculation similar to Hamas’s, albeit much less serious), and that its perception of the commitment of its sponsor in Tehran to defending it was also illusory, as Iran responded to the repeated attacks that Israel has been launching directly against it only once, last April, and in a manner that was almost more symbolic than harmful.
If we look at the migrant crisis from outside the realm of grubby electoral politics, we see that the current crisis is the product of decades of U.S. imperialism and domestic political dysfunction. Decades of neoliberal economic “reform” have helped to destroy whole sectors of the Central American economies.
If Israel is to be successful in its historic aim of removing all Palestinians “from the river to the sea”, it needs a new shot in the arm. The dynamism that followed October 7 has run its course. A reboot is needed. This is the number one reason for the recent attacks on Hezbollah and Lebanon.
We live in dangerous times. While the traditional, mainstream parties that the working classes across the globe may still be able to pull off an election victory, they have continued to decline in the face of confident far right masquerading as “working class” parties.
As always, the Democrats hope that the fear of Trump and Project 2025 will be enough to hold their supporters in line. But the fact that Trump continues to lead among people who say that the economy is their main concern, and that concerns about inflation—which hits lower income people the hardest—is still top of mind, both work against the incumbent vice president.
There is something in the air. You can feel it in something as simple as the amount of honking as people drive by picket lines. This was certainly the mood last summer. But this momentum needs new fresh events and struggles to sustain itself.
