USA

The US Supreme Court’s assault on abortion rights threatens to strip millions of their basic freedoms overnight. Biden and the Democrats have done nothing to defend women against these attacks. Only mass class struggle can offer a way forward.

The Supreme Court has sent shockwaves across the USA with its plans to overturn the case of Roe v. Wade, threatening to plunge society back into barbarism when it comes to women’s rights. This attack must be fought with mass, militant action.

A year after being elected, Joe Biden has failed to deliver on any of his promises. The Democratic President, his party, and the capitalist system he represents offer no future for the working class. We must build the forces of Marxism.

The last month has seen a wave of strikes in the USA, with workers across the economy taking action over pay and conditions. Consciousness is rapidly changing, and the class struggle is sharpening. The working class needs fighting leadership.

The US Supreme Court has voted to uphold a new Texas state law that drastically limits access to legal abortions. This attack on reproductive rights – under threat from the rotten capitalist system – must be met with working-class resistance.

On this day 20 years ago, Al Qaeda terrorists shocked the world by bringing down the Twin Towers. Two decades on – after waging a long, bloody war – US imperialism has been humiliated in Afghanistan, opening up a new era of instability.

Workers at major game developer Activision Blizzard have begun to organise and take action against harassment and discrimination. To kick sexism out of the tech industry, we must kick out the bosses and fight to put workers in control.

There are many illusions in Joe Biden, including on the left. But while he might not be as openly reactionary as Trump, he is no friend of working people. He is still the leading representative of the same brutal, oppressive capitalist system.

Derek Chauvin’s conviction marks a new stage for the class struggle in the USA. The Biden administration cannot solve the problems facing US capitalism or American workers. Only revolutionary struggle offers a way forward.

Joe Biden was sworn in as US president yesterday, surrounded by armed troops. The establishment are pinning their hopes on the new administration to pull US capitalism out of this period of chaos and decline. But the writing is on the wall.

Trump has been banned from Twitter after he encouraged supporters to storm the Capitol building. While there is a gratifying irony in this, Marxists must soberly consider the implications of this move by the Big Tech capitalists. 

This week, a mob of Trump supporters invaded Capitol Hill. These dramatic events are exposing the total impasse of US capitalism. But the real insurrection must come from the working class: the only force that can transform society.

Biden beating Trump in the White House race is no surprise. Just a few months ago the Commander in Chief was forced to hide in a bunker from the most massive protest in US history. What is surprising is that the result was not a foregone conclusion.

Biden has won – to the delight of the establishment, and the relief of ordinary Americans fed up with Trump. But US society remains polarised. And Biden represents the same bankrupt politics that led to Trump’s rise in the first place.

Joe Biden is on course to become the 46th President of the USA. But while cheers can be heard on Wall St., there is little enthusiasm amongst workers for the new White House occupant. Nor will Trump and his ilk go quietly into the night.

US election night has come and gone, but there are no clear results. Trump has all but declared victory, while Biden has called for patience. The general picture is one of deep polarisation, with bourgeois democracy in an utter mess.

Elections are approaching in the USA, and voters are faced with the dire ‘choice’ of Trump or Biden. Neither will serve the interests of the working class. Workers must mobilise to kick out Trump and kick out capitalism!

President Trump has attempted to whip up panic around the Black Lives Matter protests, in order to portray himself as the ‘law and order’ candidate in the upcoming elections. But this desperate move is a sign of weakness, not strength.

The ruling class, under pressure from the enormous Black Lives Matter movement, have given minor concessions. However, nothing will fundamentally change until we do away with this rotten system and the state apparatus that maintains it.

Alan Woods comments on the uprising in the USA, which was sparked by the police murder of George Floyd, and has become the catalyst for an explosion of anger by the downtrodden in America. What is the way forward?

A split is developing at the top of American society over how to deal with the mass movement, as Trump’s crackdown adds fuel to the fire. Workers in the USA cannot rely on either Trump or Biden – they must rely on their own strength.

Anger has exploded across the United States in response to the recent police killing of George Floyd. This time workers and youth are drawing more radical conclusions, declaring “this ain’t a riot, it’s a revolution!”

Bernie Sanders is out of the race, a punch to the gut for many who hoped his campaign would offer a way forward. But it’s also a turning point. For millions, this will be the last time they try to work within the two-party system of the capitalists.

The Democratic primary campaign is now a two-horse race between Sanders and Biden. Just as in 2016, the Democratic party establishment will do everything to hold Sanders back. The creation of an independent workers’ party in the USA is urgently needed.

The rotten nature of American capitalist democracy was exposed at the Iowa caucus this week. This charade shows, once again, the need for a workers’ party in the US.

The impeachment of Donald Trump reflects the desperation of the American capitalists who have no control over the erratic president. However, this farce will do nothing to advance the interests of American workers, who must organise against capitalism.

Recent shootings in the USA have shone a light on far-right extremism and the role of reactionary politicians like Trump in whipping up racism and bigotry. Both Trump and these shootings are symptoms of the rotten capitalist system.

Bernie Sanders has officially thrown his hat into the ring and put himself forward to be the Democratic Party candidate for the 2020 presidential election. But if we want a “revolution against the billionaire class”, we need a mass socialist party.

The dramatic ‘standoff’ between US President Donald Trump and the Democrats over border policy is a cynical charade between two parties that represent one and the same class. We need a socialist alternative.

The US government remains shutdown as the standoff between President Trump and the Democrats continues. The working class should use their power to keep society running in their own interests.

Alan Woods responds to the myths about socialism being spread by Trump’s team. Their desperate slanders reveal that the US ruling class is worried about the increasing support for radical ideas amongst workers and youth.

John Peterson from Socialist Revolution in the USA examines the upcoming midterm elections and the battle that has taken place over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Trump’s UK visit this week will draw thousands onto the streets in opposition to his disgusting policies. But many of these are just a crude continuation of his liberal predecessors.

The massive victory for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the recent Democratic primary in New York has raised the hopes of many socialists in America. But can the Left really take over the Democratic Party?

The US President’s explosive strategy in terms of foreign policy is a reflection of – and a contributing factor towards – the collapse of the existing global status quo.

Donald Trump has taken another step on the path towards a trade war, announcing large tariffs on Chinese goods. The US President’s latest measures reflect the fears amongst the American capitalists towards Chinese competition.

On the back of yesterday’s State of the Union speech, Josh Holroyd takes a look at the chaos sweeping through the White House. Donald Trump is both a product and a source of unprecedented instability in the system.

Two hurricanes have hit the south east of the USA in the last two weeks. The total death toll has surpassed one hundred. Hundreds of thousands of households have lost everything. Hamid Alizadeh looks at these devastating weather events and the systematic factors behind why they have caused so much damage to the lives of ordinary Americans.

Like Katrina and Sandy before it, Hurricane Harvey in the USA has once again revealed the rotten results of capitalism’s prioritisation of profits over people. What Harvey shows is that the system cannot effectively deal with catastrophe. In fact, capitalism itself is the catastrophe.

We publish here an article by comrades from the IMT USA, who discuss the way forward in fighting the far-right in the wake of the white supremacist, neo-Nazi march in Charlottsville, Virginia, last weekend. The consciously organised working class, in the form of a mass socialist party, could stop a burgeoning fascist movement in its tracks.

The trial involving Martin Shkreli has ended. He is the entrepreneur who bought the rights to a cheap life-saving drug for the treatment of AIDS and cancer and increased its price 5,000%. Shkreli has shown the real morality of capitalism, where profit is king and to hell with everything else.

The Trump administration faces its biggest crisis yet following a string of major political scandals. Having fired the FBI Director, James Comey, the President himself is now embroiled in accusations that he and his team have links to the Kremlin. The overall result is an unprecedented level of instability for the US Establishment.

The Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress suffered defeat as their proposal to “repeal and replace Obamacare” disintegrated. Historically speaking, a new President has the most momentum in his first 100 days. Trump has been president less than 65 days—with no victories and now a major defeat.

In certain conditions, all things can turn into their opposite. Prior to the arrival of its latest resident, the White House had long been a symbol of the immense stability and confidence of the USA’s political regime. As Josh Holroyd explains, today it stands at the centre of an almighty political crisis.

In just a few days, Trump has set his stamp on US and world politics, economics, and relations. Already, his Islamophobic, anti-immigrant policies – in particular – have sparked mass protests across America and internationally. This is what is meant when we talk of sharp and sudden changes being on the order of the day.

And so begins the Trump era: with worldwide protests, pessimism, and polarization – full of combustible material, to put it mildly. The most anti-worker administration in decades has formally taken possession of the White House, and an avalanche of austerity and attacks on the working class is on the order of the day. A turbulent period of class struggle lies ahead.

As with many other trends in our crisis-ridden capitalist world, the term “alt-right” meteorically arose from obscure corners of the internet to one of the most discussed political phenomena in the US and elsewhere. But what is the real strength of this racist and reactionary movement? And how do we fight back against it?

We publish here two articles by comrades in the US section of the IMT about the recent American elections. In the first, John Peterson looks at the completely unrepresentative nature of American democracy, which is designed to maintain real power in the hands of the ruling class. In the second, comrades from Socialist Appeal USA propose a programme to fight Trump and his reactionary ideas.

On Wednesday 9th November the “free world” woke up to find it had a new leader: Donald J. Trump. The establishment and its parties were shaken to the core. But this phenomenon is not confined to the United States. As the Economist stated, in reference to Francis Fukuyama and the fall of the Berlin Wall: “History is back—with a vengeance.”

On 9th November, spontaneous protests erupted across America in response to the US election results. While liberal apologists despaired, the instincts of the radicalised youth came alive. This is the Sanders movement 2.0, no longer attempting to transform the Democrats, but pouring into the streets, refusing to accept a society in which racism and unemployment are allowed to fester.

Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections is a political earthquake that makes Brexit look like a minor tremor in comparison. We publish here videos from Alan Woods and Rob Sewell, in which they discusses the anti-establishment mood lying behind Trump’s win and the implications for America and the rest of the world.

Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections is a political earthquake that has shattered the entire global Establishment. Trump is not the problem, however, but a symptom of a more general malaise in society. The system has broken, and the American Dream has become a nightmare for millions. John Peterson of Socialist Appeal USA analyses “America’s Brexit”.

The world waits with bated breath as the “leader of the free world” is selected. The Election 2016 campaign has been like no other seen in the US for a century or more. Voters are trying to make up their minds as to “which candidate they hate less”. As John Peterson of Socialist Appeal USA comments, the US elections have destabilised the already chaotic world situation even further.

Around the world, millions of people are waiting nervously to find out whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will become the most powerful person in the free world. Whoever wins, the election result is not the end of the process; for Marxists, the work is just beginning!

As the US presidential candidates prepare for their final debate, it is now clear that the Establishment has made its choice: Hillary Clinton is the favourite of the bankers, industrialists, military brass, and even key leaders of the Republican Party itself. The role of the detestable Donald Trump has been to make the hated Hillary more palatable.

On Sunday evening, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees met again for another televised debate. The liberal media’s most hated buffoon and “Killary” Clinton took center stage to “debate” the issues confronting the US and the world. Both were a faithful representation of the senile and decrepit capitalist system.

Alan Woods examines the recent opening presidential debate in the USA, where Trump (the billionaire) and Clinton (backed by the billionaires) fought it out. Whether Trump or Clinton win eventually will not make any fundamental difference to the lives of ordinary Americans – both represent the interests of big business.

In a couple of months time, Americans will go to the polls to elect the new president of the United States. But the “choice” facing American will be over which unpopular crook and liar will get to rule them on behalf of Wall Street for the next four years. This is not a choice – it is an undemocratic imposition by a political system set up and controlled by the two-party establishment in defense of capitalism.

With the crowning of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate, the 2016 US election cycle appears to have come full circle. But, what we have passed through is not a circle, but a contradictory spiral of development. While Sanders’ surrender to Clinton will inevitably lead to a temporary ebb, the course of US politics has been changed forever.

Earlier this week, Bernie Sanders formally endorsed the Democratic establishment candidate Hillary Clinton for president. In doing so, Sanders has disappointed many of his supporters, who saw in him a refreshing and radical break from the status quo. What is the way forward for revolutionaries in America now that the race is between Clinton and Trump?

The results are in from the final state primaries and the outcome is no real surprise. With the media, the Democratic Party machine, and big money behind her, Hillary Clinton is to be the party’s nominee. Sanders’ strong showing, however, is proof that millions do not want to settle for Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump.

Today sees Americans in a number of states vote in the primaries for the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. In this recent editorial for Socialist Appeal USA, John Peterson analyses the result of last week’s New York primary, in which Bernie Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton, and points the way forward for those seeking a fundamental change in US society.

Though it still remains mathematically possible that Sanders could win the Democratic nomination, his chances are much slimmer after the results of March 15. We believe it’s time for his supporters to take a sober and serious look at how the momentum and enthusiasm his campaign has generated can be carried forward.

In the second part of his analysis of the US elections, John Peterson of Socialist Appeal USA examines the role of identity politics in the Democratic candidates’ campaigns, and outlines the perspectives for the movement of the American working class.

Mass enthusiasm and interest in the Bernie Sanders campaign has swept the entire planet. The political pendulum, which had swung so far to the right, is beginning to swing dramatically in the opposite direction, reflecting the deep-seated discontent that has been slowly but surely percolating beneath the surface.

America is going through the biggest political upset in living memory, perhaps longer. Never has the American Establishment, having lost control over the situation, been in such a state of confusion. Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist Appeal, looks across the pond to the radical mood that is developing around Bernie Sanders.

The landslide victory of Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary produced shock waves. After narrowly losing in Iowa, Sanders beat Clinton by a margin of more than 20 percentage points in Tuesday’s election. This result has produced bewilderment among the commentators. It was something that was not supposed to happen.

The Iowa Caucus results are in. Bernie Sanders, who identifies himself a socialist and calls for a “political revolution against the billionaire class”, was defeated by Hillary Clinton by a mere 0.3%. Millions of Americans are desperately looking for a way out of the crisis and Sanders has filled the vacuum on the Left.

After increasing outrage around statements made by billionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump, many have asked: is Trump a fascist? In this article from Socialist Appeal, USA, we look at who Donald Trump is, what he represents, and how to fight back against his reactionary ideas.

After years of monotonous two-party ping-pong, American politics has started to get interesting. Just a few months ago, the presidential election was shaping up to be a snoozefest between yet another Bush and another Clinton. However, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump—and above all, the American electorate—had other ideas.

In this epoch of capitalist crisis, it is only a short step from an amorphous striving for basic rights and modest reforms to drawing fully revolutionary conclusions. From the Greek referendum to Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president of the USA, it is clear that a process of radicalisation is taking place across the world, as people look for a genuine alternative to the status quo.

Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party candidate for president of the United States, has attracted huge crowds and generated enormous enthusiasm across the country. He calls himself a socialist and urges a “political revolution against the billionaire class.” What does Sanders’ campaign reflect and represent? And how should revolutionary Marxists approach it?

With the heinous murder of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, USA, the #BlackLivesMatter movement came roaring back to life. These once-routine and largely unrecognized murders are now churning up powerful forces long dormant in the womb of society. John Peterson of Socialist Appeal USA comments on the increasingly radicalised mood in the United States.

The death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, USA is just the latest in a string of police killings of black men to hit national headlines. But it seems that it may mark the end of a national ebb in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. As things heat up in the coming months, an important question must be asked: what is the way forward for the movement against racism and police brutality?

A grassroots upsurge has swept the US over the past few weeks, its sudden eruption marked by huge marches last weekend on the East Coast and by smaller, broadly based protests across the length and breadth of the country. These protests have popped the lid off a widespread, simmering popular discontent in the USA and given it focus.

A recent report from the US Senate about the use of torture by the CIA outlines the most hair-raising villainies that have been committed in the name of “democracy”, removing any remaining doubts that one might have about the degenerate rottenness of US capitalism and imperialism. These are not “commie lies and propaganda,” but come straight from the horse’s mouth.

Francis Fukuyama, who upon the fall of the USSR famously declared “the end of history”, now says that America “suffers from the problem of political decay in a more acute form than other democratic political systems.” In plain English: capitalism and its institutions are in big trouble.

More than a month after the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black youth from Ferguson, USA, the police officer who shot him multiple times remains free and safely in hiding. Michael Brown’s killing was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” opening up a new stage in the changing consciousness of young Americans.

What if they held an election and nobody came? In some ways, the 2014 midterm elections in the USA were very much like this. Just 36.6 percent voted. The main capitalist parties—the Democrats and Republicans—do not deal with real issues related to the lives of the overwhelming majority of the population. This is true bourgeois democracy. That is, democracy for the top 1% or 2%, but not for the rest of us!

The shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown has let loose the pent-up anger and frustration of ​b​lack youth in the otherwise quiet working class St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. The US National Guard have now been called in to quell the protests. These events above all show that huge pressures are building up in US society, just one scratch below the surface. We publish here an analysis from Socialist Appeal USA.

Given the lack of opportunities for political expression in the US, even off-year elections provide important insights into where things stand politically and in which direction they are moving. Frustration with incumbents and disgust with “politics as usual” has reached record highs. This is an unprecedented situation with profound implications for the future. It is not simply this or that politician or this or that party in the doldrums; the entire system is being questioned. It is in this context that the 2013 elections give us yet another snapshot of the changing mood in America.

For 16 days, the world waited with bated breath as the US government was shut down and teetered on the brink of default. At the eleventh hour, a deal was rammed through both the Senate and the House and signed by Obama, thus averting the immediate crisis. What is the meaning of all this? What are the ramifications for American politics and the capitalist system itself? John Peterson of Socialist Appeal USA reports.

In the final analysis, the US government shutdown over parts of the federal budget and Republican opposition to “Obamacare” is a reflection of the insoluble contradictions of capitalism. In a follow up to yesterday’s article, we publish here an in depth analysis of the economic and political background to the current shutdown and potential default in the USA.

With sections of the US Federal Government now in shutdown and the possibility of default looming, we publish here an article by John Peterson of Socialist Appeal USA, who comments on the deep divisions that are opening up with the US capitalist class and their political representatives.

Can capitalism be made “responsible”? What’s wrong with capitalism and the idea of making profits if we can convince the capitalists to then put their money to good use? We publish here an article by Mark Rahman from Socialist Appeal, USA, who looks at the question of philanthropy and highlights the contradictions and limitations of any reliance on the generosity of the capitalists.

Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad, goes the saying. It is an apt description of the warring factions of the US political establishment, especially the Republicans, who are engaged in a ferocious battle over the government budget, and to hell with the consequences. This fiscal “war” between the Establishment parties threatens near paralysis in the world’s largest economy

The tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut has prompted a public outcry and heartfelt mourning across the country. The media will surely be flooded with every minute detail of the killer’s life in the coming weeks, and the issue of gun control will once again come to the fore. But what will not be seriously discussed is the root cause of shootings like this, and why they have become so commonplace.

$6 billion and over a year of
campaigning later, and it would appear that the status quo remains.
Obama is still the president; the Democrats control the Senate; and the
Republicans control the House of Representatives. On the surface,
"nothing has changed."

With the long-running Republican Party primaries finally winding down, it looks like millionaire front-runner Mitt Romney will face President Obama in the November elections. Not surprisingly, the topic that will likely dominate the elections is the economy. One area where Obama and Romney have already begun debating is over the auto industry. But are the two parties’ policies really that different?

“Marx was right!” For Marxists, this is not a particularly profound revelation. We have long known that the German revolutionary’s analysis of capitalism was as fundamentally sound as the capitalist system itself is fundamentally unsound. But let’s face it: for decades, we’ve been in a small minority, fighting against the stream and against the odds. After spending a long time in the “wilderness,” that is beginning to change. The fact that the more serious capitalist economists are forced to admit the correctness of ideas they once ridiculed is an important symptom of a transformation in public consciousness./(Editorial for Socialist Appeal […]

On October 25, people on the streets
were confronted by hundreds of riot police launching anti-riot grenades.
Plumes of tear gas rose as protesters fled from the rubber bullets of
the police. The scene we have described was not in the streets of Tunis,
Cairo or Homs, but occurred in the streets of Oakland, California in
the United States. On that Tuesday, the police forcefully evicted the
occupation taking place in Oscar Grant plaza, renamed so after the
police killing of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Eve 2009 in the city of
Oakland.

USA: The mainstream media has made much ado
about the fact that #OccupyWallStreet does not have a unified, cohesive
message. In trying to belittle it, they smugly point out that the
occupy movement is an amorphous and heterogeneous mix of people. Every
shade of political opinion and ideology is present: Makhno anarchists
and Ron Paul libertarians; Trotskyist socialists and New Age
neo-hippies; Anonymous and Zeitgeist; atheists and hard core believers;
the homeless and those who have quit their jobs to become full time
protesters against unemployment.

Last week Wall Street was rocked by a mass demonstration of over 15,000 people
protesting against “corporate greed.” The crowd jammed the square and
stretched for blocks along Broadway. This unprecedented protest was a
manifestation of the mood of anger, bitterness and frustration that has
been accumulating for years in American society, which had already
previously erupted in the big demonstrations and walkouts in Madison,
Wisconsin, culminating in the occupation of the Capitol.

“Enough is enough! We are the 99%!”
This is the sentiment being expressed by the brave youth now occupying
Freedom Plaza in New York City, just a few feet away from Wall Street.
This is the pent-up feeling of millions—no—billions of people around the
world. Enough unemployment! Enough war! Enough poverty! Enough
discrimination!"  The Wall Street campaign is growing – here is what the US Marxists have to say.

A deal to
raise the debt ceiling has now been reached, after weeks of incredible
fear-mongering on the part of both bosses’ parties and Wall Street, and
will reach the President’s desk by the deadline on August 2nd.  The
contents of the final agreement remain rather vague, but the broad
outline is enough to make clear what it means for workers in the U.S.

As ratings
agency Moody’s considers the possibility of cutting the US AAA debt
rating, concerned that the US could default on its debt obligations, we
publish a recent editorial statement of the US Socialist Appeal on the
forthcoming wave of massive cuts in public spending in the United
States. As the article points out, “the capitalists must impose a new
normality on the U.S. working class. The crisis of their system means
that small cuts or adjustments are no longer enough. The hatchet is out
now…”

Wisconsin, USA: Weeks after Governor Scott Walker’s
union-busting bill was introduced, mass demonstrations by public and
private sector workers, students, and community supporters continue,
and the spirit of class struggle is spreading across the country.
100,000 demonstrated in Madison on Saturday. The only way to defeat
Walker is to mobilize the full power of the labor movement, starting
with an all-out one day general strike in Wisconsin and to mobilize
labor for mass demonstrations and solidarity actions around the
country!

Does private healthcare work? According to the Tories it does. However, we only have to look at the state of play in the USA to see the grim reality as this article from the US edition of Socialist Appeal shows.

In the recent midterm elections, the
Republicans made a dramatic comeback after their electoral routing just
two years ago. They gained several governorships, seats in the Senate,
and took full control of the US House of Representatives. How was this
possible?

Recently, TV and talk radio have been obsessed with stopping the
construction of an “Islamic Center and Mosque” which will be located
two blocks away from where the World Trade Center used to be. The right
wing, including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and NY
Republican Gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio, have seized on this
issue, attempting to gain political support…What Gingrich, Lazio,
Reid and other right-wing commentators are practicing is a well known
method known as “divide and rule.”

Marxists in the US have just finished discussing and agreeing a new perspectives doument on the ongoing crisis of the system in America. Given the importance of what happens in the most powerful capitalist country on earth, we are reproducing that document for UK readers. 

The nation of Haiti was hit with a
devastating earthquake. The governments of Cuba and Venezuela responded
within hours with medical brigades, firefighters, fuel and supplies,
and there has been massive sympathy, generosity and volunteerism from
workers around the world. What a difference compared to the response
from the United States. The U.S. government has pledged assistance
in the way of one hundred million dollars – less than is spent on the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in just two days.

Just one year ago, in the midst of the meltdown on Wall Street,
millions of Americans, many of whom had never voted before, came out
for Barack Obama, energized by his message of hope and change. His
victory marked a turning point in U.S. politics, a clear rejection of
Bush’s blatantly anti-worker and imperialist policies. The streets
overflowed with joy and the promise of a new era. Around the world,
cries of “yes we can!” could be heard as a collective sigh of relief
swept the planet. The Bush years were over! Surely things would now get
better! But what is the reality?

With our own NHS once again under attack, not least from the Tories who see huge profits for their big business
chums in the private healthcare sector once they are back in office, many health workers have been
looking at the debate taking place in the USA over the future of their
healthcare system. Paul Poposky from In Defence Of Marxism takes a stateside look at how things are actually shaping up and whether Obama is delivering on his election promises.

The U.S. has elected a new president,
Barack Hussein Obama. Along with the dramatic turn in the economic situation,
this marks a definite turning point in the history of the country and of the
world. Big illusions have been created that Obama will provide “change”. What
American workers have voted for is an end to policies that benefit the rich,
but Obama does not represent real change. In the coming years workers will
learn from real life experience that what is required is a genuine voice of the
US working class, and that can only be a mass party of labor.

Elections can reveal a lot about a country, and the fast-approaching
U.S. presidential election is proving to be no exception. Above all,
the current election shows just how much working Americans need their
own political representation. This fact is expressed and cynically
taken advantage of by Barack Obama’s campaign slogan: “Change We Can
Believe In.” Even the “old guard” represented by John McCain has had to
raise the idea of change in his campaign rhetoric.

Millions have hoped against hope that Barack Obama represents real
change. But these sincere hopes were dealt another blow with the
selection of Senator Joseph Biden from Delaware as Obama’s vice
presidential running mate. Biden has had a long career in politics, and
is often portrayed as a “liberal.” However, a brief look at his
policies only goes to show the sorry state that bourgeois liberalism
finds itself in!

After years of Bush’s open-ended war on working people at home and
abroad, many on the “left” are desperate for an alternative. For many,
that alternative is Barack Obama, a Democratic Senator from Illinois. However,
far from being a “progressive” alternative, Obama is at his core a
typical representative of the bosses’ political parties.

Last Saturday, October
20th, hundreds of thousands workers and youth marched through the
streets of Rome, called out by the main left papers to put pressure on
the Prodi government to change its policies in favour of working people.