Post-Election Statement
After several weeks of preposterous and self-serving legal challenges, and an absolutely ludicrous -and continuing- disinformation campaign led by the President himself, the dust has settled on the 2020 election. The decisive winner was the ruling class, the capitalists. Working class discontent and energy was once again successfully diverted from class warfare into the dead end of bourgeois electoralism. The latest “most important election of our lifetime” yet again offers not the slightest prospect of the kinds of policies required by and adequate to the multiple and converging epochal crises faced by not only our nation, but all humanity.
The Socialist Party would like to thank Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker for running an amazing campaign. The passion, the dedication, the energy, they put in to the campaign for more than a year speaks volumes about them as individuals and as party members. We think they did a fantastic job of representing the independent socialist movement very well, and put forth by far the most progressive and forward-thinking policy agenda on offer. Though the campaign has ended, the fight for that agenda, a working class agenda, very much goes on. The need is now more urgent than ever for a radical transformation of society.
Beyond the votes, the Hawkins/Walker campaign represented concrete steps toward building non-sectarian unity between the independent socialist left. This unity was founded upon the clear and unshakable conviction that the way forward for working people is outside of and in opposition to the dual parties of capital. The major part of the success of the campaign was the beginning of the building of these ties, and the recognition that they must continue to be strengthened and deepened. Only through building up the independent socialist left into a potent political force can the truly progressive policy agenda advanced by the campaign be achieved. If the working class does not lead this process of social, political, and economic transformation, the ruling class will. And, the results will not be good.
With the victory of Joe Biden most of the “progressives” whose political activity was fueled only by revulsion at Donald Trump will return to the accustomed state of passivity. Now that they have done their duty, and cast their vote for the person whose single biggest virtue was not being Donald Trump, they have every excuse to do what they prefer, namely, to be at brunch smugly assuming everything is fine because Trump was defeated. Anyone who has been paying attention to the state of American politics, and not just over the last four years, knows that even though Trump was defeated, Trumpism will remain a potent, and menacing force. And, while Joe Biden will undoubtedly play the role of President much better than the out-going short-fingered vulgarian, his agenda comes nowhere close to addressing the scale of the crises we face.
No matter the outcome of this, or any other, election the task of the socialist movement, the task the Socialist Party sets for itself, remains the same. To unite the working class in political force capable of reshaping society along just, equitable, solidaristic, and sustainable lines. A force capable of creating a future in which all are able to access to the essential goods required for leading a good life; food, clothing, housing, education, healthcare, culture, and recreation. A future in which the “condition for the free development of each is the free development of all”. We urge all those who strive to achieve this future to join us.
SPUSA National Action Committee 12/6/2020
