State of world in crisis

More historic than President Barack Hussein Obama's Jan. 20 Inaugural Address was the mammoth, spontaneous and joyful celebration by millions assembled on the frozen mall in Washington, D.C., and around TVs in gatherings from Times Square to countless homes. The emotional celebration of the swearing in of the first Black man to the presidency of the U.S. swept up tearful celebrants of all races and ages--from World War II veterans, to those who had fought the battles of the Civil Rights Movement, to youth who had known none of that history--many who had never even voted before.

Not designed to be a "State of the Union" speech, the Address established at the beginning "that we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood"--a great understatement of the situation everyone knew from their own lives before it was itemized: a war massively opposed from its beginning; an economy on the way to outright Depression; "homes lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered"; "health care too costly, schools failing too many"; and every day bringing evidence of the ways the very existence of the planet is being environmentally threatened.

The emergency nature of the "state of the union" that demanded immediate action was the mammoth problem of ever-escalating unemployment. That it had soared to 7.2% by December is not a question of statistics, but of human lives. More than 11 million men and women were looking for work in vain, and another eight million were settling for part-time work. And if you included another 1.9 million who had given up looking, you confronted an actual figure of 14.5%.

Yet a week after inauguration, companies announced a shocking 55,000 more jobs gone in a single day--20,000 cut at Caterpillar, 8,000 at Sprint Nextel, 7,000 at Home Depot, and 18,000 if Pfizer completes its purchase of Wyeth. Only a few days later another 20,000 were gone at Caterpillar. And none believed this would be the end of the acceleration.

TODAY'S MYRIAD CRISES

The myriad nature of today's global crises was reflected in what Obama chose to address the very first day after his swearing in--from freezing Bush's executive orders on the environment and labor relations, to meeting with military leaders to discuss the speed of withdrawal from Iraq. Perhaps considered the most newsworthy was the notice he finally paid to the horrendous war Israel had been waging with tremendous human destruction in Gaza. His calling of four Middle Eastern leaders was immediately critiqued for its disregard of the nearly universal condemnation of the Israeli government's attacks on the people of Gaza, attacks so brutal that they could be called crimes against humanity. (See Lead, this page.) It is not only the "State of the Nation," but of the world that is in need of emergency care.

What becomes clear is that the crises are so deep and so total that only the deepest uprooting of the system of capitalism that gives rise to them can respond to the fundamental changes that the American people are demanding, and that has turned all eyes first and foremost to the global economic crisis.

TODAYNESS OF MARX'S CAPITAL

There is no way to understand today's global economic crisis other than the way Marx's greatest theoretical work, Capital, marched onto the historic stage, as it did in the mid-1970s when his analysis of the law of motion of capitalism to its collapse became not only theory but fact. It was the point at which there was a structural change in capitalism, with constant capital (machinery) overwhelming variable capital (living, employed labor--the only source of value). The resulting decline in the rate of profit was followed by investment nearly stopping, while unemployment soared. That point of capitalism's development is what ensures the collapse of the system we are seeing today.

While there are great differences between now and then, and even greater differences between today and 1933 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt confronted a recognized world Depression, FDR's efforts then--as Obama's are now--were dictated by the goal of saving capitalism. But it took World War II to pull the U.S. out of the Depression and save capitalism.

Today the situation is so grim that youth are joining the armed forces at the risk of their lives to get work. And, under the impact of worsening economic developments, workers are planning demonstrations in Washington. At the same time, although the masses can be counted on to keep trying to push Obama to the Left, he has continued to convincingly demonstrate his intent to save capitalism, as seen in many of his appointments and pronouncements and in his proposed stimulus legislation.

FDR's creation of the New Deal was an effort to ward off the potential revolutionary situation at that moment. None are calling today such a moment. But that very fact is where the importance lies of the new relations promised by the numbers of white workers who broke beyond their concerns with race to vote for Obama. It is here where we can see the importance of creative new labor struggles such as the sit-down strike and victory of the workers of Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago. And it is all these developments that underline the meaning of the new series of discussions we have undertaken as "Confronting Today's Crises: the Marxist-Humanist return to Marx and the revolutionary abolition of capitalism."

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