[....] DEI programs were a source of perks and class advancement for the middle-class layers who ran them, and used them to deepen racial and class divisions. They are the opposite of the affirmative action programs set up in the 1970s that opened the door to the hiring of Black and women workers into jobs they’d been excluded from, gains that grew out of the Black-led movement that overthrew Jim Crow segregation.To shrink the bloated size of the government bureaucracy, the administration offered a buyout package to some 2 million government employees. They were offered their full salary and benefits for eight months if they left their jobs.The five most senior FBI bosses were fired Jan. 31. The Justice Department is considering getting rid of the 2,400 spies who carried out the FBI’s Jan. 6 inquiry, along with thousands of recently hired snoops.This isn’t a plan to cut back the FBI, rather the target is those agents who took responsibility for the Democrats’ assault on constitutional protections in their partisan drive to go after Trump and his allies. The capitalist state will retain its number one spy agency....[....] The size and scope of today’s modern capitalist state, replete with invasive welfare corps, spy agencies and huge military forces, has its roots in the rise of monopolies at the dawn of the imperialist epoch in the early 1900s.The world’s dominant ruling classes needed a larger state apparatus to pursue their conflicts over the redivision of the world’s markets and resources, conflicts that would eventually lead to two imperialist world wars. An expanding capitalist state was also required to suppress rising revolts against colonial domination and, above all, to shield the rulers from revolutionary struggles by workers and their allies.No capitalist government — Democratic or Republican — will break up what the imperialist rulers have put in place.As part of this expansion, there has been a proliferation of bloated federal agencies, with growing powers to monitor, interfere with and administer the lives of working people. Trump wants to trim some of these agencies, especially those used by Biden, Obama, Bill Clinton and others, as well as those used to target him and his supporters. For good measure, Trump also cut off the federal government’s $8.2 million worth of subscriptions to liberal mouthpiece Politico.What Trump and Musk project as “smaller government” is nothing new under capitalism. Their view is that trimming away at the government bureaucracy will leave the regulation of society to the workings of the capitalist system. But this won’t help working people either.Karl Marx, the founder of the modern communist movement, explained that only when the working class holds power can social relations be transformed and millions among the exploited and oppressed begin placing their stamp on the priorities of society.Marx spelled this out in response to the establishment of the world’s first working-class government, the Paris Commune, in 1871.“The Commune,” he wrote, “made the catchword of bourgeois revolutions, cheap government, a reality by destroying the two greatest sources of expenditure — the standing army and State functionarism.”They were replaced by the organization of the millions of working people themselves. The fight for workers power in the U.S., the only road to make that possible, is what the Socialist Workers Party exists to promote.
Mu
Saturday, February 22, 2025
What does Trump’s war against ‘big government’ mean for working people? – The Militant
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Israel’s fight to prevent a new Holocaust is at a new stage – The Militant
[....] the simple fact is every hostage should be released immediately, ceasefire or no ceasefire.
UK officials cover up years of gang rapes of working-class girls – The Militant
[....] refusal to investigate complaints about the abuse was often done under the guise that responding would be “Islamophobic.”
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Saturday, February 8, 2025
SWP campaign: All politics is class politics – The Militant
[....] Washington, the weakening but still dominant imperialist power, uses both free trade and protection to advance the U.S. rulers’ efforts to outsell their rivals. Karl Marx, the founder of modern communism, explained that whichever trade policy capitalist governments pursue, workers “go to the wall” either way....
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Tuesday, February 4, 2025
USAID: Shedding Tears for Killers
Woke liberals are keening over poor USAID. How can anybody be against international development!
But USAID has worked hand in glove for decades with the most violent antilabor organizations on earth, first of all the CIA. Together they have smashed unions, overthrown elected governments, created and trained death squads, and instructed police forces worldwide in hideous methods of rape, torture, and murder.
Development? USAID has consistently undermined any development that didn’t sufficiently advance the interests of its US corporate masters. Consequently, people starved.
Trump’s budget cuts are child’s play. One day laboring humanity will level all the institutions of imperialist repression and salt the earth where they stood.
Tip to USAID thugs: Today you’re worried about layoffs, but those might be a godsend. Eventually those who remain will be worrying about their trials.
Above, 1966: CIA & AID officers tried to defeat the Vietnamese revolution. They helped kill 3 million people, but the Vietnamese won the war.
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Israel, the Holocaust and Oct. 7 pogrom – The Militant
I stand by this editorial, in the current issue of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 - February 10, 2025 - 100%. Read it and share it widely!
"...𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐰-𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Jew-hatred and pogroms are an integral part of the permanent social convulsions and wars of the imperialist epoch. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐚𝐳𝐢-𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐉𝐞𝐰-𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 [my emphasis]. This is the lesson of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust.
"...Today that fight is centered in Israel, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐉𝐞𝐰-𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝. This deserves the wholehearted support of the working class and the unions.
"Israel’s defense is weakened by the fact that it is a capitalist country and it relies on backing from U.S. imperialism. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 '𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜' 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 in their overriding drive to advance their economic, political and military interests.
"𝐀 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭. The current ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is inherently unstable as long as the conflict between Israel and Tehran’s 'axis of resistance' remains unsettled. 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐈𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚."
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