Capitalist rule requires change. Liberals predisposed to “progressive” ideas praise pragmatism and denounce dogmatism. They disparage the idea of doing anything other than voting for the Democratic Party candidate as the way to foster a more just world. It is one of the most promoted fairy tales about capitalist politics. According to the myth, we live in a “democracy” because we get to choose whether the Democrats or Republicans are going to run the government; but what this really boils down to is that we get to choose which section of the ruling class is going to run the government and exploit the working people. Many people in America today are dissatisfied with both the Republican and Democratic parties recognizing that deep grievances may feature in the contesting candidates campaign speeches but that are forgotten the day after election.
The Democratic Party is more liberal as they believe in throwing the working class a few crumbs every now to keep them quiet. The Republican Party is more conservative and would rather use the stick than the carrot. But both parties represent the interests of the rich that own and control most of the wealth the working people produce in their offices, mines, factories, etc.. And they own and control the Democratic and Republican Parties, too.
It’s a pretty good system for the small group of immensely wealthy men who every four years convince the vast majority of the population – who all work their lives away making them rich – that they have the right to decide how the country will be run when in reality the only right they have is to continue to be exploited. It’s democracy for the capitalist ruling class, but dictatorship for the working class as under the “two party” system, the workers are excluded from politics altogether.
A political party represents of an economic class in the political arena, reflecting its interest. The Democratic and Republican Parties are the representatives of the capitalist class, and are the main tool by which that class maintains its domination and exploitation of the vast majority of the people. They have a number of characteristics in common: they are both made up of professional “politicians,” many inheriting their position by being part of a political dynasty. They’re structured entirely around winning elections, or in other words, doing a better job at fooling the people than the other party. The people have little or no say whatsoever in the policies of either party; they may be “registered” as Democrats or Republicans, but this is a mere formality. They are both financed directly by the capitalists they represent.
Socialists believe the working class can and must have its own political party, a party that will serve its own interests, not those of the exploiting class. Based on the Marxist theory of society, socialists understand that politics is essentially a war between the two main classes in modern capitalist society: those that work (the working class or proletariat) and those that exploit those who work (the capitalist class or bourgeoisie). They are engaged in a class struggle for political supremacy, a class war. The Democrats and the Republicans strive to defend and maintain capitalism. Socialists aim to end the dictatorship of the vast majority of the population by the tiny handful of exploiters. The socialist goal is to take away the factories and the land that the working class has built from these robber barons and the fruits of our labor, the immense social wealth we create each and every day, will be shared equally through a planned economy based on the needs of people rather than profit. We will have a society where the majority of ordinary people govern themselves rather than serve a small ruling class sitting pretty on top of the rest of society; in other words, we will have a society where democracy is a reality for the many and not a privilege of the few.
Regardless of how often militant strikes, boycotts, demonstrations, marches, and protests occur right now, as long as there is no working class party in existence, we cannot win. The working class needs its own political party. The daily struggles we are forced to wage each and every day just to survive can only lead to trying to cure a cancer with a band-aid. This is because these we only tackle part of the problem, not the system itself – which is the capitalist system. Our current resistance is like slap from an “open hand,” rather than the punch of a “clenched fist” – so it is not that difficult for the capitalists and their politicians to “break our fingers” one by one.
In order to deal with the roots of our exploitation, we must have an understanding of our whole social system – we must have a guide to our actions and our strategy. We can’t build an airplane that will fly if we don’t comprehend the laws of aerodynamics, and we can’t build a revolutionary movement if we don’t know the laws of society. Working people would like to see a complete shake-up and fresh alignment on the political scene. Unfortunately, they don’t know how to go about it. The World Socialist Party of the United States assists to offer an understanding of capitalist society. The bosses have two parties, it’s time working people had one and the progressives say we have to build an alternative politics - but only just not yet. If we are to break the Republocrat duopoly, to actually help rebuild social movements and build an alternative politics, it needs to be more than a one-time tactic of voting for a third-party candidate. It needs to be a deep, decisive and permanent separation, not merely the cynical rejection of right-wing politics. Instead of acting as recruiting sergeants for the Democratic machine and class-collaborationist politics, it begins with pressing for an understanding of the class-struggle and the ideas of Marx and Engels,
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