Capital rules through its two parties: Democrats and Republicans
https://themilitant.com/2021/06/26/capital-rules-through-its-two-parties-democrats-and-republicans/
July 5, 2021
Laura Gray cartoon in Militant, July 29, 1944, of bosses cracking whip
over Republicans, Democrats, as they rush to do bidding of capitalist
rulers.
Laura Gray cartoon in Militant, July 29, 1944, of bosses cracking whip
over Republicans, Democrats, as they rush to do bidding of capitalist
rulers.
One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for July is Letters from Prison
by James P. Cannon, a founding leader of the Socialist Workers Party. He
and 17 other leaders of the SWP and the Minneapolis Teamsters union were
framed up under the thought-control Smith Act and jailed in 1944 for
opposing Washington’s imperialist aims and entry into the Second World
War. Cannon’s letters take up questions of program and perspectives key
to preparing a communist party for the explosive labor battles that
would erupt after the war. The excerpt is from Letter 82, written from
the federal prison in Sandstone, Minnesota, on Aug. 9, 1944. Copyright ©
1973 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.
BY JAMES P. CANNON
Who is the “J.M.” who writes from Chicago about the two-party system?
Just judging by his lack of manners alone I would take him to be an
over-educated college boy who “majored” in “iconoclasm.”
There are differences in the Republican and Democratic parties, in my
opinion, though not in the sense that J.M. takes as his point of
departure — that the Republicans are more “reactionary” than the
Democrats. This is an illusion entertained by many workers and fostered
by the bulk of the labor bureaucracy, the Social-Democrats, and the
Stalinists. The Militant does well to center its fire on this illusion;
this is the main point, and should be the burden of our agitation. Big
capital rules through the mechanism of the two parties as far as
fundamental issues are concerned, but not always directly in response to
their unanimous commands.
There are deep conflicts of interest as well as differences of opinion
in the ranks of the capitalists. The two parties, which are in reality
two big factions of a unique two-party system united on fundamentals,
and the numerous factions and cross-currents within them, reflect these
conflicts and differences. The big capitalists on the whole are more
class conscious than the workers, but they are by no means omniscient in
judging their own political interests. They don’t always know what is
best for them; and as The Militant correctly observes, they are not
notably grateful to politicians who have served them best in a given
situation.
Nov. 12, 1938, Socialist Appeal, as Militant was called then, campaigned
for a labor party as road forward from 1930s industrial union strike
wave. James P. Cannon, right, Socialist Workers Party national secretary
and one of 18 SWP members and Minneapolis Teamsters framed up and jailed
for organizing labor opposition to U.S. rulers’ drive to enter second
imperialist world war. They were sentenced day Washington declared war.
Top, Cannon, second left, leads defendants to courthouse, Dec. 31, 1943,
to serve prison terms.
Nov. 12, 1938, Socialist Appeal, as Militant was called then, campaigned
for a labor party as road forward from 1930s industrial union strike
wave. James P. Cannon, right, Socialist Workers Party national secretary
and one of 18 SWP members and Minneapolis Teamsters framed up and jailed
for organizing labor opposition to U.S. rulers’ drive to enter second
imperialist world war. They were sentenced day Washington declared war.
Top, Cannon, second left, leads defendants to courthouse, Dec. 31, 1943,
to serve prison terms.
These Oliver Twists always cry for more with an animal instinct. And
they are not a bit squeamish about their methods of getting it. Their
ruthless criticism, obstruction and sabotage of the Roosevelt
administration — undeterred by the plaintive bleats of the “liberals”
and labor fakers that they were hurting the “war effort” — have to be
understood as methods of pressure to compel Roosevelt & Co. to do things
their way.
It is not an unreasoning “opposition,” as the labor fakers represent it.
Results have shown that their brutal “opposition,” which put Roosevelt
in his place as their servant, has been far more effective than the
lackey-like support of the labor leaders offered to Roosevelt as the
master. Why should he pay for support that he can get for nothing?
The classes are not homogeneous, and neither are the two big class
parties. There are differences of origin — this ought to be the starting
point in the analysis of every organism — differences of tradition,
composition, sectional interests, political machines with their own
special interests to serve, different techniques and methods of demagogy
to hold various strata of the population in line. These are important
factors worthy of notice by the political analyst. But one can lose his
bearing entirely if he does not recognize their secondary character.
They complicate the political situation in which the big capitalists
have to manipulate the masses in order to assure their firm rule. But in
the absence of an independent class opposition on the political field
they will continue, as in the past, to solve the problem without too
much difficulty.
What is their fundamental method? It is the two-party system. Which
party do they support? They support both. And what is even more
important, both parties support them in all fundamental questions. It
could not be otherwise under the present political scheme.
The petty bourgeoisie (including the farmers) cannot play an independent
role in politics; and the workers — under the Murray-Green policy — have
renounced it. In this situation the presidential election becomes a
diversion and a safety valve, not a class fight. I would like to see
this question treated in an FI [Fourth International magazine] article.
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Capital rules through its two parties: Democrats and Republicans
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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--
Irvin D. Yalom “Truth," Nietzsche continued, "is arrived at through
disbelief and skepticism, not through a childlike wishing something were
so! Your patient's wish to be in God's hands is not truth. It is simply
a child's wish—and nothing more! It is a wish not to die, a wish for the
eveastingly bloated nipple we have labeled 'God'! Evolutionary theory
scientifically demonstrates God's redundancy—though Darwin himself had
not the courage to follow his evidence to its true conclusion. Surely,
you must realize that we created God, and that all of us together now
have killed him.” ― Irvin D. Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept