The Worker, Vol. 35, Number 1
Congress Approves $741 Billion Military Spending for 2021
On January 1, Congress secured its military appropriations plans by overriding a presidential veto. The finalized military budget includes $35 billion more than the request made by president Trump in February. About 10% of the budget is designated for current "hot wars." The rest is for training of foreign armies, for deployment of ultra-sophisticated BMD systems, for development of infrastructure for space-based and land-based military basing, for nuclear weapon modernization and other "peacetime" operations.
One might ask, why is it that at a time when all the Democratic and Republican politicians are screaming that there is not enough money in the treasury to fully fund basic social services, they can easily come up with billions in extra military appropriations?
The answer can be found in the simple fact that the capitalist politicians place the interests of the U.S. corporate empire above the interests of the people. The $700 billion military budget approved every year by Congress both guarantees super-profits for the military arms contractors and also provides the corporations and banks with the personnel and hardware to maintain their empire from Latin America to the Middle-East and Asia. The capitalist know that their empire of oil, minerals, and other raw materials, as well as their "cheap" exploited labor supply, is maintained through military might. They also know that as the resistance of the oppressed nations and peoples develop, they can find no alternative but to expand their military and repressive overseas apparatus.
The American people must step up their opposition to the militarization of the economy. We must recognize that the gargantuan Pentagon budget not only drains the country's resources but the generals are stockpiling weapons with the intention of using them. We must demand an end to the aggressive U.S. foreign policy and instead of enriching the Pentagon arms merchants, the monies in the public treasury be used for needed social investments to benefit the masses of American people.
To get rid of the cancer of militarism, which is literally devouring our country and our economy, we must get rid of the outdated, exploiting capitalist system. The aim and organization of economic life must be to guarantee the rights of the people and the all-around progress of the country, not to maximize profits for a few.
One might ask, why is it that at a time when all the Democratic and Republican politicians are screaming that there is not enough money in the treasury to fully fund basic social services, they can easily come up with billions in extra military appropriations?
The answer can be found in the simple fact that the capitalist politicians place the interests of the U.S. corporate empire above the interests of the people. The $700 billion military budget approved every year by Congress both guarantees super-profits for the military arms contractors and also provides the corporations and banks with the personnel and hardware to maintain their empire from Latin America to the Middle-East and Asia. The capitalist know that their empire of oil, minerals, and other raw materials, as well as their "cheap" exploited labor supply, is maintained through military might. They also know that as the resistance of the oppressed nations and peoples develop, they can find no alternative but to expand their military and repressive overseas apparatus.
The American people must step up their opposition to the militarization of the economy. We must recognize that the gargantuan Pentagon budget not only drains the country's resources but the generals are stockpiling weapons with the intention of using them. We must demand an end to the aggressive U.S. foreign policy and instead of enriching the Pentagon arms merchants, the monies in the public treasury be used for needed social investments to benefit the masses of American people.
To get rid of the cancer of militarism, which is literally devouring our country and our economy, we must get rid of the outdated, exploiting capitalist system. The aim and organization of economic life must be to guarantee the rights of the people and the all-around progress of the country, not to maximize profits for a few.
Let's Shoulder the Task of Fighting on a Common Platform for Our Common Interests
The program of the Workers Party aims at providing consciousness and direction to the many partial economic struggles being waged by the people. We see the necessity to develop the widespread economic discontent into a conscious political movement – a political movement which can break the monopoly of big business over the policies of government and the economic life of the country. The aim of this political struggle is to make the economic interests of the masses of people the dominant priority of the society.
Our experience going amongst the broadest sections of the working masses is that the vast majority know, as we do, from everyday experience, that the rich are in the driver's seat while the workers and people are disempowered. Many people zero in on the way in which the agenda of government is pre-set by the Democrats and Republicans with the help of the monopoly-controlled mass media. They know that this is a fundamental issue which concerns the basic character of our society and who the government is working for. And they know that things are getting worse, not better.
We say that the decisive question is to put forward and develop the program – the agenda – which serves the needs of the masses and to develop the theoretical elaboration of this agenda. The decisive question is, what is the way out, what is the solution?
The basic political fact of life in our country is that, while both the objective contradictions and the aspirations of the people demand fundamental social change, the subjective conditions – the consciousness and organization of the people – are lagging behind.
The Workers Party says straightforwardly that the future of our country lies with the political project that arises from collective life of the people. So when we say that the working class must face up to any and all problems which arise in the course of organizing itself, we are saying that the one and only task is to assist in developing the consciousness, organization and independent program of these collectives and of the people as a whole.
We say that the workers must 1) never lose sight of the main thing and 2) that we must get to the root of problems in order to solve them. The main thing is the necessity for the workers to lead the way in opposing the anti-social agenda of the capitalists and the aspirations and drive of the workers to create a new and better society.
The Workers Party is a collective – the organized political party of the working class – which is devoted to solving the problems of advancing the working class movement for emancipation. In working out our program and tactics, we start from the drive of the working class to emancipate itself and all humankind from capitalist exploitation and oppression. We aim at nothing less than creating a new socialist society in which the working class itself is the leading and decisive force. At the same time, on the basis of this revolutionary outlook and agenda, we go about solving problems in a stepwise manner, based on our own strength and the concrete conditions facing the working class.
We call upon all the workers and people to take an active attitude and join with us in this collective work to solve the problems of building the independent working class movement.
The root problem in terms of the disorganization and division which exists in the workers' ranks boils down to the influence of capitalist ideology and politics. Keeping these two things in mind – the drive of the workers to build the new and the necessity to oppose the influence of bourgeois ideology and politics – we say that the decisive problem to be solved is to build the alternative — to give life to the independent class program and politics of the workers themselves.
Developing such a nation-wide political movement – a struggle of class against class – is the decisive element in terms of achieving solutions to the pressing practical problems of life — the problems of jobs, of wages, of health care, education and so forth. The outcome of this political struggle will determine the character of our society and its economy – whether it remains oriented first, last and always towards maximizing profit for a small group of exploiters or whether it is oriented towards guarantying the needs and rights of the masses of people. Going against the agenda of “putting big business first” and implementing the agenda of guarantying the economic rights of the people is the only way to resolve the prolonged crisis which is holding back the economic and social development of our country.
The starting point for organizing on the basis of this agenda is to be political. Real politics concerns the relationship of the various classes and sections of the population to the political power. Real politics for the working class and people can only mean developing our own independent movement with the aim of gaining the political power for ourselves. Developing such an independent movement is the way to end working class marginalization in the political life of the country and for the workers and people to become the active and leading force guiding our country forward.
Our experience going amongst the broadest sections of the working masses is that the vast majority know, as we do, from everyday experience, that the rich are in the driver's seat while the workers and people are disempowered. Many people zero in on the way in which the agenda of government is pre-set by the Democrats and Republicans with the help of the monopoly-controlled mass media. They know that this is a fundamental issue which concerns the basic character of our society and who the government is working for. And they know that things are getting worse, not better.
We say that the decisive question is to put forward and develop the program – the agenda – which serves the needs of the masses and to develop the theoretical elaboration of this agenda. The decisive question is, what is the way out, what is the solution?
The basic political fact of life in our country is that, while both the objective contradictions and the aspirations of the people demand fundamental social change, the subjective conditions – the consciousness and organization of the people – are lagging behind.
The Workers Party says straightforwardly that the future of our country lies with the political project that arises from collective life of the people. So when we say that the working class must face up to any and all problems which arise in the course of organizing itself, we are saying that the one and only task is to assist in developing the consciousness, organization and independent program of these collectives and of the people as a whole.
We say that the workers must 1) never lose sight of the main thing and 2) that we must get to the root of problems in order to solve them. The main thing is the necessity for the workers to lead the way in opposing the anti-social agenda of the capitalists and the aspirations and drive of the workers to create a new and better society.
The Workers Party is a collective – the organized political party of the working class – which is devoted to solving the problems of advancing the working class movement for emancipation. In working out our program and tactics, we start from the drive of the working class to emancipate itself and all humankind from capitalist exploitation and oppression. We aim at nothing less than creating a new socialist society in which the working class itself is the leading and decisive force. At the same time, on the basis of this revolutionary outlook and agenda, we go about solving problems in a stepwise manner, based on our own strength and the concrete conditions facing the working class.
We call upon all the workers and people to take an active attitude and join with us in this collective work to solve the problems of building the independent working class movement.
The root problem in terms of the disorganization and division which exists in the workers' ranks boils down to the influence of capitalist ideology and politics. Keeping these two things in mind – the drive of the workers to build the new and the necessity to oppose the influence of bourgeois ideology and politics – we say that the decisive problem to be solved is to build the alternative — to give life to the independent class program and politics of the workers themselves.
Developing such a nation-wide political movement – a struggle of class against class – is the decisive element in terms of achieving solutions to the pressing practical problems of life — the problems of jobs, of wages, of health care, education and so forth. The outcome of this political struggle will determine the character of our society and its economy – whether it remains oriented first, last and always towards maximizing profit for a small group of exploiters or whether it is oriented towards guarantying the needs and rights of the masses of people. Going against the agenda of “putting big business first” and implementing the agenda of guarantying the economic rights of the people is the only way to resolve the prolonged crisis which is holding back the economic and social development of our country.
The starting point for organizing on the basis of this agenda is to be political. Real politics concerns the relationship of the various classes and sections of the population to the political power. Real politics for the working class and people can only mean developing our own independent movement with the aim of gaining the political power for ourselves. Developing such an independent movement is the way to end working class marginalization in the political life of the country and for the workers and people to become the active and leading force guiding our country forward.