The election of Donald Trump : Unity and organisation to combat increased racism and jingoism !

The media had fixed their sights on Hillary Clinton as the new President of the United States and looked on in disbelief as Donald Trump was elected. How could a racist, misogynist millionaire who plays the anti-system card beat Clinton, the choice candidate of the big bourgeoisie, the media corporations and senior officials, destined to become the first woman President of the USA ?

It is impossible to talk about these elections without looking back at the legacy of the Obama administration, remembering how, even in France, they managed to convince people that his election would mark a turning-point. But, as was bound to happen, he ended up endorsing the American imperialist policy of aggression, raining down indiscriminate unmanned air-strikes over Pakistan and Afghanistan, murdering hundreds of innocent civilians and relaunching military interventions in the Middle East. And Obama’s boasts of bringing down unemployment should be weighed against a huge increase in job insecurity and a drop in wages. Students too are now more heavily in debt. Despite the Obamacare reform, there are still millions without health insurance. Two and a half million undocumented migrants, mainly from Latin America, have been expelled during his term of office. In fact, the US government has expelled more migrants under Obama than ever before ! Finally, Obama has covered up racists murders committed by the police : while Black Americans demonstrated demanding justice, Obama appealed for calm and to confide in the State… Hiding behind the figure of a Black President, the repression of Afro-Americans has continued as brutally as ever.

Just like in France, in the USA large sectors of the population, from the petite bourgeoisie to the working classes, have retreated into jingoism and racism, hoping to find salvation by joining forces with imperialism against Afro-Americans, Muslims, migrant workers and dominated countries. That is the reason behind the vote for Trump and for Le Pen : a chaotic blend of revolt and acceptance of mainstream thinking. But there can be no salvation in supporting imperialist policy, in dividing the people, in pitting the workers against one another, because in the end the only ones that stand to gain are the bourgeoisie. While the bourgeoisie may sometimes attempt to play different groups off against each other, it will not hesitate to turn ruthlessly against them when it comes to protecting its own interests.

Above all, Donald Trump will mean that the big bourgeoisie will continue to hold power in government, pushing forwards with the USA’s hegemonic imperialist agenda and strengthening the reactionary forces, with Afro-Americans, migrants, women and LGBTI+ people in the firing line. We have already seen how his election has brought with it a wave of racist violence. As the USA loses its footing as the dominant super power, Trump plays up to the most reactionary elements. Like any practiced bourgeois politician, he has taken advantage of the hopes of certain sectors of society in order to ensure the perpetuation of the capitalist economic and political regime and its overhaul. Which is exactly what Obama did before him by playing instead on progressive hopes.

In the same way that Obama represented the hope of the national minorities, the progressive petite bourgeoisie and the working class with migrant backgrounds, Trump is also getting ready to jettison those who voted for him. Who could possibly think that he’s going to get the American working class back into work ? Who could possibly think that he will be able to restrain financial capital, inseparable from industrial capital for a long time already, and lead the dance ? Trump is himself a big capitalist who has made his fortune out of real-estate speculation and textiles made in China. The new President has already appointed staunch representatives of the big bourgeoisie to key positions. His Vice-President, Michael Pence, is a homophobic and misogynist Christian hard-liner, a member of the House of Representatives for over 15 years, supporting free trade and opposing raising the minimum wage. The new White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, is an attorney and Chairman of the Republican Party. The majority of the prospective government candidates for office come from the ‘elite’, i.e. the big bourgeoisie, senior officials and the professional politicians who have always governed the United States.

What happens next is a foregone conclusion. Trump knows that restoring American industry will inevitably mean bringing American worker’s wages into line with Mexican workers. His measures against migrant labour from Latin America will not bring jobs for American workers, instead plunging migrant workers into even greater job insecurity and poverty in order to heighten their exploitation, whilst at the same time increasing internal competition. Just as in France, broad sections of US capitalism rely on the labour of undocumented workers.

Capitalism is the true cause of unemployment, through competitiveness and the pursuit of profits which force the capitalists to cut jobs, replacing workers with machines… with or without migrant labour. The response from the working class can only be solidarity and unity between workers and peoples in order to break the bonds of competitiveness and individualism with which the bourgeoisie seek to shackle us : fighting for work for all, working less and differently.

The healthcare act under the previous administration known as Obamacare will not be repealed as Trump pledged, not out of compassion for the poor workers, but because Trump follows the advice of the big companies who have cashed in on this reform that provides State-funded subsidies to finance the private medical insurance that companies take out for their employees.

And while Trump claims to be opposed to American military intervention abroad, his virulently anti-Muslim rhetoric throughout the election campaign clearly paves the way for yet more military interventions. In order to keep its place as a super power, American imperialism will relentlessly continue to pursue its wars of aggression.

Some people are now saying that Americans are fools for electing such a rabble-rousing President. Believing that Obama was going to make radical changes when he was elected was equally naïve, but still many people in France did ! Trump has been elected in the wake of the dashed hopes pinned on Obama. The masses turn to the different solutions that the electoral circus has to offer, desperate to find one that will solve their problems, unable to see beyond the limits of the system, whilst at the same time falling prey to reactionary bourgeois ideas.

The turnout was only slightly over 50%, which shows that both in the USA and in France people are losing faith in the bourgeois institutions, with many people mistrusting both candidates. The people and the working class are not merely lulled by the reactionary siren songs : they are above all disorientated and disheartened. There is a determined, combative revolutionary and democratic movement in the United States with a long history of struggle and harsh criticism of this imperialist society. The working class and the proletariat, oppressed Afro-Americans and Latinos, women and LGBTI+ people are up and fighting and will not be held back by the victory of an ultra-reactionary presidential candidate. They have our full support.

The day after the elections, thousands of people, especially young people, took to the streets of America shouting ‘Dump Trump’, revealing the vitality of the grassroots struggles which have been growing continually over recent years in the US on various fronts, such as the Black Lives Matter and the minimum wage movements.

At the end of the day, there is only one solution both at home and abroad : regardless of the results of the election circus, salvation can only come from the conscious organisation of more and more sectors of the proletariat. In this task, Communists must take their rightful place and organise the most aware elements of these struggles. That is the task that we have set ourselves !

OCML Voie Prolétarienne, 17 November 2016

La déclaration en français : ICI