United States: Class War 2024 – the tasks of communists in the coming election

As the 2024 election heads into its final stretch, the newly founded Revolutionary Communists of America has launched a coast-to-coast campaign to counter the cynical cesspool of bourgeois politics by injecting a much needed class-struggle perspective.

[Originally published at communistusa.org]

Class War 2024 is a declaration of war on both parties of the ruling class, and a banner for rallying the new generation of class-conscious workers and youth who want nothing to do with these capitalist parties. Above all, it is a call for class independence—the recognition that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can genuinely defend or advance the interests of the working class, and that the fight to create a mass party of our own is the only way forward for the US labor movement.

Based on their experience of life under capitalism, ever-wider layers of American workers are drawing radical conclusions. Alongside the many millions who already identify as communists, there are millions of others who reject both ruling-class parties and want to see the entire system overthrown. The aim of the Class War 2024 campaign is to connect with that mood and equip the communist generation with the political tools it needs to begin sinking roots in every workplace, on every campus, and in every working-class neighborhood.

What is the class war?

As the billionaire investor Warren Buffet famously said: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

The class war is raging all around us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Every time we ask for a raise, every time we’re fired, and every time we go on strike. It will continue as long as there are classes and exploitation, whether we’re in a boom or a slump, in an election year or not.

The Communist Manifesto explained that for thousands of years, the oppressors and the oppressed have “stood in constant opposition to one another, carrying on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight.”

As Trotsky put it: “The class struggle is nothing else than the struggle for surplus-product. He who owns surplus-product is master of the situation—owns wealth, owns the state, has the key to the church, to the courts, to the sciences and to the arts.”

Class War 2024 is the RCA’s opening salvo / Image: RCA

Under capitalism, this is expressed in the struggle over surplus value—the wealth generated by the workers during the labor process beyond what they receive back in wages, benefits, or other deferred wages or bonuses. The more of that surplus that goes to the workers, the lower the profits are for the bosses, and vice versa. It’s as simple as that.

Class War 2024 is the RCA’s opening salvo in this war, and we are confident that in the coming historical period, the workers will be on the winning side of this equation.

2024 is ripe for class-war politics

Living standards for US workers have fallen steadily by nearly every measure since the end of the post–WWII economic boom over half a century ago, regardless of which party is in power. This downward decline has accelerated since the devastating economic collapse of 2008. By some measures, the total job losses from that crisis totaled 30 million—approaching the carnage of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Most of today’s workforce was raised in the aftermath of that crisis, with the awareness that their future prospects would be worse than those of previous generations. A 2017 study titled “Financial Health of Young America” found that Millennials own half as much net wealth as Baby Boomers did when they were young, and median income for the same age is now $10,000 lower—a 20% decline.

Far from being tamed, inflation has done its damage. As noted by the New York Times: “The American economy no longer has the reserves of strength that helped carry it through the recent turbulence. Families no longer have a buffer of cash built up during the pandemic, or pent-up demand to spend it. Businesses no longer have a backlog of jobs to fill or shelves to restock.”

This downward trend in living standards lies at the heart of the widespread sentiment that society is in decline, and that neither party represents our class interests. As a result, poll after poll reveals a widespread rejection of the ruling institutions of US capitalism, including its twin political parties.

Last year, Gallup reported that a record 63% of US adults believe “a third major party is needed” because they don’t feel represented by either the Democrats or Republicans. In May, a poll conducted by Siena College Research Institute found that 69% of registered voters believe the US political and economic system needs “major changes” or “needs to be torn down entirely.”

That same month, a survey by Blueprint Institute reported that 65% of 18-to-30-year-olds believe “nearly all politicians are corrupt, and make money from their political power.” Only 7% disagreed with this statement. It also found that 64% of voters aged 30 and younger agree that “America is in decline,” and 48% say “it doesn’t matter who wins elections, nothing changes.”

All of this shows the tremendous potential for a mass, class-independent party that truly represents the working class.

Bernie and the rise and fall of DSA

Eight years ago, American politics was transformed. The 2016 presidential election brought out all the accumulated hatred of the establishment that had been building since 2008. Donald Trump’s right populism emerged alongside the “political revolution” of Bernie Sanders’s left populism, offering two avenues for expressing the deep-seated rejection of the status quo.

On the left, Sanders railed against the billionaires, vowed to confront the power of the banks and monopolies, and made the word “socialism” mainstream for the first time in generations. On the right, a celebrity real-estate mogul proclaimed himself champion of the “silent majority” against the Washington “swamp.” Both were viciously attacked by the mainstream media, and both saw their popularity skyrocket. But Sanders bent the knee at the Democratic National Convention, shamefully endorsing Clinton to combat Trump as the “greater evil.” The left-wing outlet for mass discontent was slammed shut, while Trump defiantly stood his ground and clawed his way into the Oval Office.

In 2020, Sanders had even more support. The ruling class had already lost their grip on the GOP. Now, they were in danger of losing their other political pillar to a firebrand using class-war rhetoric. CNN host Michael Smerconish summed up the worries of the ruling class: “Can either Coronavirus or Bernie Sanders be stopped?”

On “Super Tuesday,” the ruling class orchestrated an unprecedented maneuver to sideline Bernie through the coordinated withdrawal of eight other Democratic candidates who all backed Biden as the establishment favorite. Sanders succumbed to the pressure yet again and backed Biden. Once again, the so-called “left” rallied around the party of Wall Street, ceding the anti-establishment field to Trump.

In Bernie’s wake, the “democratic socialist” label pushed tens of thousands to get organized in the Democratic Socialists of America. DSA had always been a class-collaborationist, reformist outfit, but it was in the right place at the right time, and its ranks swelled with honest socialists who wanted to do something productive after Bernie’s betrayals.

Unfortunately, this energy was squandered. Instead of channeling the anti-establishment momentum toward the creation of a new independent party of the working class, the “liberal-socialist” leadership of DSA doubled down on the dead-end tactic of running soft left candidates on the Democratic Party ballot line. Far from offering any hint of opposition, people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the “Squad” embraced the Democratic Party and fell into line, tarnishing the “socialist” label in the process.

The dead end of “lesser evilism”

Disguised as “pragmatic,” common-sense politics, lesser-evilism has long propped up the domination of the two main parties. For lack of an alternative, the working class was chained to the ruling class’s most dependable political tool for decades. But in 2016, it was no longer clear to a layer of workers that Clinton and the Democrats were the “lesser of two evils.” The result was the victory of the alleged “greater evil.”

The soft left’s capitulation to the Democratic Party made Trump’s ascent inevitable / Image: public domain

Obama’s betrayed promise of “hope” and “change” paved the way for Trump. The soft left’s capitulation to the Democratic Party establishment, combined with the class collaboration of the labor leaders, made his ascent to power inevitable.

Four more years of crisis and failure under Biden led us to the grotesque spectacle of the Republicans posing as the party of “everyday Americans.” The gaping political vacuum left by the labor leaders and the so-called left has allowed a fraud like JD Vance to step forward as a self-styled spokesman for the working class against Wall Street. His views are a monstrous distortion of class politics, cynically designed to blame immigrant workers and “the left” alike for the problems of the US working class, while promoting economic nationalism and religion as the solution.

Vance’s own career illustrates the twisted version of “class” politics that has emerged in the absence of the real thing. As recently as 2016, he was a darling of the liberal establishment for opposing Trump from a Rust Belt perspective. Yet, Vance is anything but a symbol of class struggle. On the contrary, the Yale-grad-turned-Silicon-Valley-investor got his start in politics under the wing of the pro-Trump tech billionaire, Peter Thiel, who provided millions for Vance’s 2021 Ohio Senate campaign.

Vance launched that campaign after reversing his anti-Trump stance to become the most hard-line MAGA champion in Washington. His outlook is shaped by the same self-interested ambition as Trump’s, and not by any desire to “do right” by the working class. He simply saw which way the wind was blowing, and cashed in—both literally and figuratively—on the rising tide of Trumpism.

Central to the right wing’s phony class rhetoric is the attempt to paint the communist movement as part of the “deep state” establishment, academia, and the legal system. “In the past,” Vance wrote in his foreword to a book by far-right author Jack Posobiec, “communists marched in the streets waving red flags. Today, they march through HR, college campuses and courtrooms to wage lawfare against good, honest people.” In the same vein, Trump has taken to branding Kamala “a bumbling communist lunatic” at his rallies.

The Republicans’ crude attempt to red-bait a party like the Democrats shows the need for the real communist movement to take to the streets and openly declare our irreconcilable opposition to both rotten parties of the capitalists!

The Democrats change horses in midstream

With 2024 looking like a repeat of 2020, a mood of pessimism loomed over the race. Although Trump’s base was jubilant after Biden’s debate debacle, and in raptures over God’s plan for their candidate after the failed assassination, most prospective voters could hardly believe that these were the only two options available.

Then, Biden dropped out. More accurately, he was forced out of the race by party tops like Pelosi, Schumer, and Obama, combined with concerted pressure from a gamut of billionaire donors, who had decided they needed a new horse in the race. Although Biden initially dug in, insisting that “only God himself” could convince him to drop out of the race, the powers that rule the Democrats had made their minds up. The POTUS himself was no match for this pressure.

The liberal media fell over itself to celebrate Biden’s replacement, with the New York Times rejoicing that “Ms. Harris has upended the fundamentals of this election,” and that she was “riding an extraordinary wave of momentum.”

It was quite the turnaround in a political career that, just four years earlier, appeared to be over. Let’s not forget that the 2020 Democratic primary race was one of the most crowded in history, with 16 candidates in the mix. Harris was so unpopular that she dropped out even before the Iowa caucus.

Harris became the nominee by default after Biden’s humiliating plunge / Image: Joe Biden, Flickr

In December 2019, the same New York Times that today showers Harris with praise called her exit from the race a “deflating comedown … after weeks of upheaval … disarray among her allies … months of low poll numbers … and missteps that crippled her campaign.” They speculated that she even risked losing her Senate seat, given her financial troubles and poor showing. She may well have been a forgotten figure had Biden not fished her out of the wreckage to be his running mate. Four years later, after Biden’s administration took a humiliating plunge, she became the Democratic nominee by default.

Would Kamala be better than Trump 2.0?

Breathing a sigh of relief at the change of face, the media has gone into overdrive about the “new energy” and “positive vibes” of the new ticket. “Democrats are smiling again,” reported the New York Times, in an article chronicling her “campaign fueled by joy.” Bloomberg chimed in with more good news for the beleaguered Democrats: “Harris energizes Gen Z voters who planned to sit out the 2024 election.”

All of this merely expressed the mood of relief among the liberal bourgeoisie and their middle-class supporters, who until recently saw no way of stopping Trump’s triumphal march back into the White House. Their “path to victory” is essentially the same as Trump’s in 2016—to court a small number of middle-of-the-road voters in a handful of swing states. While until recently, Trump was considered the lesser evil in relation to Biden, Harris is now considered by at least some voters to be the lesser evil in relation to Trump.

However, beyond the barrage of cheery headlines, did swapping the Democratic candidate fundamentally change anything? After supporting one of the least popular administrations in US history, is the prospect of moving the current Vice President from her West Wing office into the Oval Office any reason for celebration?

People tend to see what they want to see in a candidate, and the prospect of another Trump victory has understandably stampeded a layer of the electorate back into lesser-evil apologism for the Democrats—never mind the broken promises on fracking, police violence, abortion, and universal healthcare. But this too shall pass, because neither party can solve the core problems faced by the working class.

No matter who sits in the White House, all the decisions that really affect our lives are taken in corporate boardrooms and implemented by an army of career politicians, lawyers, and bureaucrats. While Trump was in office, the wealth of US billionaires increased by $2.2 trillion (77%). Under Biden, their wealth has grown by another $2.6 trillion (88%).

For anyone who has watched the US-backed genocidal slaughter of Gaza with horror, the replacement of one warmonger with another is no occasion for “joy.” Despite her supposed “tone shift” toward Israel, Kamala's campaign has left no doubt that “she does not support an arms embargo on Israel” and will “always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.” And if anyone dares mention the plight of the Palestinians, Kamala has a ready-made response to shut them down: “If you want Trump to win, then say that, otherwise I’m speaking.”

The replacement of one warmonger with another is no occasion for joy / Image: Benjamin Netanyahu, Twitter

Neither candidate offers an alternative to imperialist militarism. Tens of billions have been sent to Ukraine and Israel since October 7, and even more may be forthcoming. Trump says he opposes further aid to Ukraine, but this has nothing to do with working-class internationalism and everything to do with narrow economic nationalism. No matter who wins, the proposed US military budget for 2025 is no less than $850 billion—money that could instead be used to provide quality housing, healthcare, and education for millions. A mere $40 billion annually could end world hunger.

This is why we have launched Class War 2024 as a complement to the Revolutionary Communist International’s worldwide campaign against militarism and war. Foreign policy is an extension of domestic policy—and vice versa—and the best way to fight imperialism abroad is to fight capitalism here at home.

A Trump victory would unleash a mass wave of struggle and open big opportunities for the communists. He cannot deliver a better life for the working class, and those who vote for him will eventually be very disappointed. Until recently, this seemed the most likely perspective. Given their mid-campaign shift, the Democrats may succeed in stopping Donald Trump at the polls. But they cannot stop Trumpism, which is rooted in the distorted class anger over the capitalist crisis.

Electing Harris won’t meaningfully raise workers’ income, lower the cost of housing, or address the climate crisis. It won’t ease the horrors faced by the immigrant population, or the racist police violence that terrorizes Black and Latino workers. It will not guarantee access to abortion for all those who need it. It will be yet another government that answers to the shareholders of the Fortune 500, spending billions on wars, while the majority’s standard of living continues its decades-long downward spiral. Unless and until a mass working-class alternative is built, the Democrats’ inability to change anything fundamental will lead inevitably to the return of the “other” evil.

The majority deserves better. It’s time for class-conscious workers to get organized. Class War 2024 is a step toward that goal.

The task of communists in 2024

What concrete tactics flow from the perspectives outlined above?

The working-class majority deserves better than a ping-pong between two capitalist evils / Image: RCA

Our starting point is the recognition that a segment of society is wide open to an unabashedly revolutionary program: there are millions of people in the US today who want to see the end of capitalism and the two parties that prop it up. Huge swathes of this layer openly identify as communists, even though they currently see no mass party to rally around or vote for. To give this class-conscious layer its proper name, this is the vanguard of the working class.

The basic task of communists in the US today is to gather the most advanced elements of this vanguard—the most determined, clear-sighted, and energetic members of the communist generation—into a party that can become a recognizable point of reference on a national scale. This can only be achieved on the basis of maximum ideological clarity and a systematic campaign of propaganda and agitation around a revolutionary program.

The basic message of the Class War 2024 campaign is as follows:

1. If you don’t feel represented by either the Democrats or the Republicans, you’re not alone. Tens of millions in this country feel the same way, but we are currently scattered and unorganized.
2. The two ruling parties don’t just represent “the establishment,” “the elites,” or “the swamp” of politicians in Washington; they represent the capitalist class. The entire political system is in the hands of Wall Street, the bankers, and the Fortune 500 monopolies.
3. The fundamental conflict in our society is not the culture war or the partisan divide, but the class divide—the fight between the overwhelming majority who work for a living and create all the new value in the economy, and the huge banks and corporations who profit from extracting surplus value from our labor.
4. We must reject the endless cycle of “lesser evil” politics, and fight for a class-independent mass party of the workers: our own party, fighting for our own program, and our own interests, free from the influence of the capitalists. In other words, we must build a genuine communist party.
5. This is the aim of the Revolutionary Communists of America. To build up the forces we need to bring these ideas into every workplace, campus, and working-class neighborhood, we need to build the RCA.

Armed with this message, our task is to engage in a dialogue as widely as possible with as many people as we can find who are open to these views. While we are not yet big enough to reach the entire ranks of the advanced working class, we must start where we can.

We must raise our banner and spread our program by every means at our disposal. Class-conscious workers are everywhere; the only limits on our ability to find and discuss with them are the limits of our own boldness and creativity. Canvassing, door-knocking, selling The Communist, postering, stickering, social media, public events, street rallies, picnics, breakroom meetings, campus tabling, leafleting, yard signs, flyering doorsteps, doormats, and windshield wipers are all valid tactics. But above all, Class War 2024 is about conveying revolutionary ideas and the importance of getting organized.

The methods of Class War 2024 are fully in the spirit of Bolshevik-Leninism. A century ago, Lenin advised the communists in the US to approach politics in a fundamentally different way from the methods of bourgeois parliaments:

The Communists in Western Europe and America must learn to create a new, unusual, non-opportunist, non-careerist parliamentarism; the Communist parties must issue their slogans; real proletarians, with the help of the unorganized and downtrodden poor, should scatter and distribute leaflets, canvass workers’ houses and the cottages of the rural proletarians and peasants in the remote villages (fortunately there are many times less remote villages in Europe than in Russia, and in England the number is very small); they should go into the most common taverns, penetrate into the unions, societies and casual meetings where the common people gather, and talk to the people, not in learned (and not in very parliamentary) language; they should not at all strive to “get seats” in parliament, but should everywhere strive to rouse the minds of the masses and draw them into the struggle, to hold the bourgeoisie to its word and utilize the apparatus it has set up, the elections it has appointed, the appeals it has made to the whole people, and to tell the people what Bolshevism is in a way that has never been possible outside of election times (not counting, of course, times of big strikes, when, in Russia, a similar apparatus for widespread popular agitation worked even more intensively). It is very difficult to do this in Western Europe and America, very, very difficult; but it can and must be done, for the task of Communism cannot be fulfilled without effort; and our efforts must be devoted to fulfilling practical tasks, ever more varied, ever more closely connected with all branches of social life, winning branch after branch and sphere after sphere from the bourgeoisie.

Despite the renewed pressure to back the party of the class enemy, a colossal undercurrent of class anger lies just beneath the surface, and the objective conditions for such a campaign have never been more favorable. Where the liberal socialists have failed to chart a path forward, the communists will lead by example. The more we hone our ability to transmit our intransigent class independence, the better equipped we will be to conduct the kind of work that will be demanded of a mass communist party in the future. History is calling on the communist generation to step forward and show what genuine class politics looks like.

Forward to Class War 2024!