DETROIT — The theme of the August 24, 2013, 50th Anniversary March on Washington rally is “Rally for Jobs and Justice.”
While capitalism was expanding in 1963, it is contracting now. It is causing more conflict between the “owning class” and the workers. Conditions are worse and very different now than they were 50 years ago.
According to economic reports, 53% of all American workers make less than $30,000 per year. More than 100 million Americans are enrolled in government “means tested” welfare programs. In 1950, one out of 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today it is one out of six. The U.S. Census cites 146 million American as being poor or low-income. In contrast, the wealthiest one percent has a greater net worth than the bottom 90% of Americans combined. Forbes states that the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans.
It is important to note that the capitalist system (the foundation of these problems) is undergoing a crisis because the privately owned technology (computers and robots) is replacing human labor. This is permanently wiping out jobs, and the result is there aren’t enough people with money to buy everything that is produced, so the economy is collapsing. On top of this, those who are becoming permanently unemployed are a threat to the system, because their needs can no longer be met by capitalism. Therefore, the ruling class is on the offensive to protect it’s private property. The brutal and savage attack on welfare recipients was the format for increasing the assault on the rest of the working class.
Governors in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota led the charge, culminating with President Clinton’s “welfare to work.” In addition, the rulers and their cronies are attacking the work force by diluting the Voting Rights Act to reduce its impact to zero power. Having “emergency managers” take over many cities further negates the peoples’ votes. Sequestration plans currently in effect (based on an agreement between the Democrats and Republicans in Washington D.C.) are having disastrous consequences for an increasing number of people. Social Security and Medicare, long thought to be untouchable, are on the table, impacting millions of Americans.
Workers are more receptive to new ideas today than they were 50 years ago. They are beginning to see that the current economic system is in contradiction to workers’ needs. They can be alerted to the fascism we are facing and the form it is taking. They can be urged to reject the calls by the ruling elite and its cronies that “we are all in this together.” It’s time to call for nationalization of the banks and corporations in the interest of the people. The schools and healthcare should be publicly owned. The corporate government took over the corporations and banks when it needed to in order to protect their profits. The people should be able to nationalize the corporations to make them serve the people’s needs.
