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I was honored to have been asked by the Alliance of Mid East Socialists <https://www.allianceofmesocialists.org/> to make a presentation on a panel they organized at the Left Forum in Los Angeles on Nov. 4. Here is a slightly expanded version of that presentation. Nowhere in the world is the crisis of capitalism – as well as the crisis of the working class – felt more intensely than in Syria. That crisis is felt all the way around the world, including in the United States, where it actually played a role in electing the most reactionary president this country has seen at least since the US Civil War. Therefore, the working class movement – no less socialists within that movement – cannot ignore that crisis in Syria. We must find a way to relate to the struggle against both the Assad regime and the Islamic State and similar forces. However, in order to do so, we have to start by understanding the state of affairs – the objective situation – in which we are working here. *Crisis of both US capitalist and working class* The mainstream of the US capitalist class has largely lost control over its own presidency. This represents the greatest crisis in US capitalism in many, many decades. However, we also have to recognize that the US working class is also in crisis: Now, when it is needed more than ever, the US working class barely even exists as an independent, cohesive force in society. Confusion reigns. That is expressed, for example, by the fact that it is estimated that about 30% of union members voted for Trump. Membership participation in the unions – the only mass organizations of the US working class – is at an extremely low level and alienation from the unions is massive. The union leadership is closer to the employers than ever since the pre-1930s, as expressed by one local union leader here in Oakland who openly said that we have no choice but to remain as “slaves to the financiers”. A local leader of the laborers’ union even said that he could not say his union would oppose building Trump’s wall on the border with Mexico since it means jobs for his members. And this was a Latino leader in a largely Latino union local! *Socialist Movement* This confusion within the US working class is part of the basis for the confusion within the US socialist movement. The great majority of that movement has adapted to the low level of activity within the unions by turning towards the “progressive” union bureaucrats instead of addressing the membership, even if that membership is not active yet. In doing so, they have lost sight of the entire premise for their own existence: That the liberation of the working class is the task of that class itself. Or, put another way, that the working class is the subject, not the object, of history. See whole article: https://oaklandsocialist.com/2017/11/19/working-class-solidarity-and-the-struggle-in-syria/ -- "No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them." Assata Shakur Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
