Written by CMPL
Wednesday, 01 September 2010
The vast majority of people living in the United States are part of the working class: people who depend on wages and benefits linked to their jobs to support themselves and their families. And yet, we to have our needs overlooked by those in political power. The reason is clear: the richest one percent of the USA owns more than the bottom 95% of the population, and they want to keep it that way. These rich individuals and corporations use their wealth and influence to ensure that the government passes and enforces laws that defend their interests, not the interests of the majority.
Sick and tired of Bush and the Republicans, millions of Americans poured onto the streets during the 2008 election with a burning desire for change. They sincerely hoped that Obama’s policies would be fundamentally different. But the results are in: more of the same. As Dennis Van Roekel, President of the National Education Association put it: “This is not the change I hoped for.”
The fact is, both the Democrats and the Republicans are controlled by the tiny minority that lives off the wealth it gets by exploiting the workers. It should therefore come as no surprise that despite this or that difference on this or that issue, they promote and implement policies that benefit the interests of their largest financial contributors. Without a mass political party of our own to defend our interests, workers are forced to fight against the attacks of big business with one hand tied behind our backs.
For these reasons, the Workers International League has decided to launch a Campaign for a Mass Party of Labor (CMPL). Our purpose in launching this campaign is the following:
1. Explain the need for the labor movement to break with the Democrats and Republicans, run independent labor candidates, and build a mass labor party based on the unions.
2. Connect this idea with the struggles of workers and youth.
3. Show how a mass labor party could change society for the benefit of the working class, which makes up the vast majority of the population.
We invite all those who agree with us to join and help build the CMPL. If you would like to learn more about the CMPL, click here.
RENEGADE EYE
12 comments:
i agree 100%. most folks do not realize that this is indeed what has happened- america is a fiefdom for the super powerful interests. if you look at the entire system of ours and the way that it is structured, local is out- multinational is in. while we live in america, this is a global issue. it's why so many people feel so frustrated and don't quite know why or what to do about it.
so, i agree with you 100% and i intend to click and learn more about your movement. my dad was union until the day he stopped working. countries with a functioning labor movement don't see what we have morphed into.
Betmo: I've been advocating a labor party for years.
This group isn't the labor party, but the stimulus of it.
You'd be more compatible with a labor party, than the Democrats.
Hi Renegade,
Have I told you that I finally began dancing tango???? I'm in love!
saludos libertarios,
marie
Corporations are owned by their stockholders which are working folks like you and me.
So much for the 1% owning 95% of the wealth.
Nice propaganda but blatantly misleading.
Marie T: I think in the US, we believe all Argentine people, dance tango. In Argentina they think everyone in the US is a swing dancer.
I knew you were dancing tango, because of Facebook.
Roman: See this. Owning stock is not owning the company.
Wow Ren,
15 pages of numbers and charts but looks interesting. I'll print it out and try to give it a read. Very dry and definitely not "beach" reading material. I'll let you know very soon just how valid the author's conclusions are.
Thanks for the link.
OK I scanned the report by the professor and the conclusion is that the wealthiest 1% do NOT in fact own more than 95% of the rest.
I know I'm nitpicking here but the 2007 Total Net Worth (latest) shows that the top 1% controlled 34.6% and in the category of Total Financial Wealth they controlled 42.7%. Still high but not as sexy as reported in CMPL post.
Also noteworthy is the fact that these figures are basically similar to those back in 1983.. some 27 years ago. It's too bad that there are not reliable studies going back further in time.
I would bet that way back in time, the 1% owning more than 95% was, in fact, a reality.
See this
It figures Michael Moore would somehow be involved in publicizing
this "tricky" and "confusing" statistic. Politifact's Truth-o-Meter points to about the 75% mark on the mostly true guage. Reluctantly, I agree but anyone bothering to research the fine details will have strong doubts. I can readily see why the actual wording of the stat needed a combination wordsmith wizard and statistical reasearcher.
Roman: Moore is not dishonest. He isn't a great theoretician.
His problem is that he is a Democrat.
The skewed distribution of wealth is actually a secondary issue. The primary issue has always been the modes of slavery that are engaged in Society.
Wage slavery is still slavery. The goals haven't changed: the instrumentalist development of wealth that benefits a small minority while people are immiserated and our ecological crisis continues apace, and is increasing expotentially. The core logics are diseased.
Arguing for a labor party in the US is a non-starter given the idological hegemony. Austerity is the name of the game, and the plan is the slow immiseration of the subordinate classes. The do and will obey.
Until the cultural and progressive left start organizing the subordinate classes, and the folks on the bottom begin to organize themselves, one should expect little change.
However, the externalities and the lack of long-range planning on the part of US elites will create an impossible set of circumstances for the subordinate classes.
Hunger and homelessness will work as an impetus toward structural change.
History is written from the bad-side, from disasters that ruling class managed structures cannot manage. This is how real change happens.
The extenalities are a mother fucker. They have a wAy of never going away.
Passive consumerism is deeply etched on the human psyche in the logic of capitalism. On the evolutionary level, it is a long-range loser.
That capitalism is an utter failure isn't even worth debating at this point. The momentum of the submeged and discounted destruction thus far cannot be avoided.
Slave Revolt: I think neither grave conditions or privileged conditions mechanically cause revolt. If you were right, India would have a revolution daily.
I think the economy is on L movement.
Revolt happens in periods of transition between periods.
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