Disease, death and deprivation

 The reality is harsh and inescapable. Working people are more likely to live lives of greater stress and the result is a lower life expectancy even before the pandemic hit. This inequality is systemic and structural, and it is not accidental. These realities are pre-existing conditions that make us more vulnerable to the virus. They aren’t a secret, even though they are seldom discussed. Now the virus is bringing them to public attention once more. The question as always is whether anything will be done this time. After centuries of capitalism and in its continual carnage —we must make sure people’s views swiftly turns toward a more equitable future and a better society for all. Catastrophes and disasters  have brought people together across race, class and geography to demand a better world, one prepared to respond collectively to threats of all kinds. Our goal is worker solidarity. We are more educated. We have history to inform us. What we need now is a fundamental transformation that addresses the flaws and fissures of the profit system. The capitalist world, finds ways to exploit disasters while failing to meet human needs.

The capitalists’ deity – profit – always inflicts a toll upon the working class. The price and form vary but it still enslaves us to the accumulation of capital. Capitalism is at the root of this pandemic. The spread of global agribusiness, the  destruction of forests, the development of complex global supply chains that link the nations set the stage for this pandemic and others to come. We must end the capitalist economic system, sooner rather than later. Nothing less will bring good health and a better well-being for all. 

Only world socialism has any chance at all to halting the multiple social ills we face. We require to travel upon a radically new path and take revolutionary action. What we must see is not social distancing but people coming together.