Editorial, Workers World, November 6, 2024
The November 5 election has happened, and the outcome is known worldwide. The most vile, disgusting, white supremacist, xenophobic, transphobic, ableist, misogynist, rapist, neofascist — the list goes on — will return to the White House in January.
These results have no doubt produced a wide range of emotions, be they despair, demoralization, frustration, fear, numbness, anger or feelings there are no words for. This is completely understandable.
A number of factors contributed to the loss by Vice President Kamala Harris to former president Donald Trump. The Democrats had absolutely no program to address very real concerns — a top concern of many voters polled — about a stagnant economy and a cost of living that has gone through the roof. There has been no letup in the U.S./Israeli genocide being committed against the Palestinian people under a Democratic administration. Why vote for four more years of this?
Still, it is painful to ponder that someone as despicable as Trump was able to fill the void, seemingly with ease.
This year’s election results will require a great deal of thoughtful Marxist analysis in the weeks and months ahead. We have to have a historic, scientific and dialectical view regarding the collapse of bourgeois liberalism and social democracy.
But while analysis is important, working class revolutionaries, even under very difficult circumstances, have a primary responsibility to project a path forward. That path is one of uniting all forces, no matter the differences, to fight back against the inevitable attacks.
Karl Marx recognized in 1848 that history is the history of class struggle. Now, as we approach 2025, we have to elevate the struggle against bigotry, war and exploitation and build working-class solidarity. We literally have no other choice.
Let’s cut to the chase. Some may be down, but we have to move on from licking our wounds. Young people who have taken to the streets for more than a year to confront the genocide were out throughout November 5, and protest demonstrations are planned for the days and weeks ahead. We salute them.
And in the coming days and weeks, we must answer with all forms of protest any attack that comes our way, whether it’s union-busting, racism, misogyny, anti-LGBTQIA2S+ discrimination, migrant bashing and deportations, ableism or imperialist war. We will continue to be in the streets for Palestine — until liberation, from the river to the sea!
The resistance starts now…. Organize, organize, organize!
*Featured Image: New York protest against genocide in Gaza, Nov. 5, 2024, credit ~Brenda R.