EDITORIAL
A tale of two demonstrations
On Dec. 17, in many cities across the country, two different
kinds of demonstrations were held. They did not reflect the
left-right split that occurs on most issues. Both were
organized and attended by those on the progressive side of the
political spectrum.
That was one day after the U.S. government launched yet
another high-tech war against Iraq. It was also the day that
the House of Representatives had been scheduled to take a vote
on whether or not to impeach President Bill Clinton--a vote
that was postponed for 24 hours because of the war.
One group of demonstrators denounced Clinton and the U.S.
ruling establishment for their racist, imperialist assault on a
country already ravaged by sanctions.
The other demonstrators supported Clinton against the
Republican attempt to remove him from the presidency.
Workers World Party helped build many of the anti-war
demonstrations across the U.S. In the pages of this newspaper
the Party had advised the progressive movement not to get drawn
into the quagmire of the impeachment struggle, which is pure
bourgeois politics at its worst. While it is obvious that the
Republicans as a party are further to the right than the
Democrats, both are political instruments of the super-rich
capitalist class of this country. Both are enemies of the
working class and all the oppressed, here and around the
world.
We pointed out that not only has Clinton helped push through
much of the Republicans' Contract on America--such as welfare
"reform," cuts in social services, more money for the
military--but he is even more likely to capitulate to the right
in his weakened state. The way to fight the program of the
right wing is not by bolstering Clinton but by organizing an
independent and militant struggle of the workers and all the
oppressed.
Among the different parties on the left, the one that stands
out as totally committed to supporting the Democrats on
impeachment is the Communist Party USA. Its newspaper, the
People's Weekly World, has urged in front-page headlines to
"Vote Nov. 3! Your life could depend on it" (Oct. 10, 1998),
"On November 3, Vote" (Oct. 31), and in the same paper,
"Hillary Clinton calls for turnout to defeat the GOP Nov. 3."
In the Oct. 10 issue, the newspaper's centerfold was devoted to
a poster with a large American flag and the slogan: "On Nov.
3--Stop the Republicans."
The PWW claimed "Victory!" (Nov. 7) after the election
because the Democrats won five seats in the House of
Representatives. It argues that impeachment would be akin to a
right-wing coup d'etat and therefore must be prevented at all
costs.
History has shown again and again the fallacy behind such
reasoning. In fact, the CP itself for a brief period beginning
in the 1970s renounced its previous position of supporting the
Democrats, only to fall back again into the camp of the
imperialist "lesser evil." In 1984, several prominent
progressives declared support for Democratic presidential
candidate Walter Mondale even while "holding their
noses"--saying they had no choice because another Reagan
administration would lead to fascism.
The mass progressive movements in this country--labor, civil
rights, women, lesbian and gay--have for many, many years been
allied with the Democratic Party. But this is no reason for
those who call themselves communist or socialist to panic and
fall in line. It merely shows that much work remains to be done
to establish the political independence of the working class
and all its allies. After all, if those who claim to be leaders
only follow, who can blame the masses for political
backwardness?
Until the progressive movement breaks free of the bourgeois
two-party system, the capitalist rulers will be able to divert
the class struggle at home into imperialist war adventures
abroad without any opposition from Congress--as happened with
the invasions of Panama, Grenada, Somalia, the bombings of
Sudan and Afghanistan, and now another assault on Iraq. The
only anti-war, anti-imperialist voice was in the streets, while
the elected liberals held their tongues. We even had the
grotesque spectacle of Republican leaders criticizing the
attack--not for its objectives, but because of the
timing--while the Democrats were defending it.
Those on the left who have thrown their support behind
Clinton and the Democratic Party say it's to stop the
ultra-right. And so they wound up on demonstrations backing
Clinton at the very moment that his planes and missiles were
blasting Iraq. It must have greatly amused the ultra-rightists
of the oil companies and the military-industrial complex.
If anything showed the importance of a clear class analysis,
it was the events of Dec. 17.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
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