On November 5, elections are held for the President of the United States. We have repeatedly heard the proposals of both candidates of the two main bourgeois parties: Donald Trump of the Republicans and Kamala Harris of the Democrats.
There is no room for deception, they have made their intentions clear and loud, and what they will do if they are victorious. Both Trump and Harris have committed themselves as representatives of the monopolies.
The presidential elections in our country are shaped by an agenda of repression, exploitation, militarism, xenophobia, nationalism, war, racism, and cosmopolitanism — all products of the capitalist mode of production. We reaffirm that elections alone cannot resolve the issues facing the working class. Our goal can only be achieved through the revolutionary seizure of power that dismantles the current social system and establishes workers’ power.
As Marxist-Leninists – scientific communists – we recognize the importance of bourgeois elections. That’s why we must direct our focus, analysis, and, where possible, participation in them, in order to intervene more effectively, to intensify the conflict with the Republican and Democratic governments, and clearly expose that bourgeois elections cannot bring us a better future; that they are ultimately the overt struggle between bourgeois factions in our country.
The two leading bourgeois factions—the ‘liberal’ faction represented by the Democrats and the ‘conservative’ faction represented by the Republicans—are battling viciously to determine which will secure executive power for the next four years. Both candidates advance agendas shaped by the interests of the ruling class. The only significant differences are their stances on abortion access and the imperialist war in Ukraine. Yet, even regarding abortion rights, we must note that they were revoked under a Democrat-controlled congress and presidency, with no meaningful effort to reverse it. As for the war in Ukraine, Trump ‘promises’ to withdraw US support for the Zelensky regime to end the war in Ukraine, while Harris vows to maintain that support and continue the conflict. Despite this, both candidates pledge unwavering support for the murderous Israeli state in its ongoing slaughter of the Palestinian people, including its recent attacks against Lebanon.
Neither side offers meaningful solutions to the problems of the youth, of women, to the urgent crises of low wages, high prices, crumbling infrastructure, precarious working conditions, increasingly commercialized health and education, displacement by wealthy landowners and large investment firms, environmental destruction by energy monopolies, and more—all of which reflect the general crisis of capitalism in decay. Both options will only bring us closer to a generalized global conflict and ensure harsh repression of social protests. Ultimately, they compete to demonstrate who can best preserve the oppressive status quo.
This phenomenon is nothing new. For over a century, Republicans and Democrats have alternated as the leading forces in upholding capitalism in this country, ensuring the social peace that enables monopolies to expand their profits. Their repeated alternations allow them to repress us and extract every ounce of profit from the working class. Such is the crisis of the two-party system we confront today, and we cannot be fooled into thinking that a “multi-party” system solves this problem.
After the failures of the Democrats and the Biden administration, the Republicans surge forward, claiming they will ‘drain the swamp,’ only to establish another thoroughly capitalist administration. We can reflect on the former Trump administration, which appointed figures like the ex-CEO of ExxonMobil, son of a former Goldman Sachs general partner, the CEO of WL Ross & Co, and other representatives of banks and monopolies to key positions. The swamp was never drained, he only added sharks to it. Instead of making any meaningful changes, Trump and the Republicans merely aim to align even more closely with reactionary sections of the bourgeoisie, waging a “culture war” against what they label the “Marxism” of Harris and the “woke-ism” of the Democrats. Though these labels are blatantly false, in reality they are a pretext for their attacks on those of us who are true communists as well as on the workers and people.
Trump’s more blatant anti-communism cannot distract us from the condemnation of the brave protesters and students: “Harris = Trump.”
Harris is a warmonger, a tool of monopolies and the billionaires backing her. She is a hypocrite, abandoning her “progressive” policies on healthcare while granting billions of dollars worth of munitions and aid to Israel and Ukraine. Meanwhile, millions of people across the U.S. face intensifying hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, power outages, and exorbitant insurance rates, forcing many to flee their homes. She has deep connections to top executives in the tech monopolies and other major sectors of U.S. capital, making her the “Silicon Valley” president. Moreover, her rhetoric about the need to “defend democracy” by stopping Trump is merely a tribute to the bourgeoisie, disguising the monopolies that control politics and the economy as “the people”.
True communists cannot side with any sector of the bourgeoisie. Our concrete analysis of the situation reveals no lesser evil. We refuse to accept a life of misery, the loss of more rights, and blatant deception. We cannot choose who will exploit us in one form or another. Our task as communists is to build, within the working class, a political tool and weapon for the anti-capitalist struggle—a Communist Party.
We communists aim to oppose any faction of the bourgeoisie in power, whether Democrat or Republican. Today, we must focus on rebuilding a fighting force to confront the anti-communist and anti-worker conditions that prevail in this country. The Communist Workers’ Platform once again calls for the reconstitution of the Communist Party in our country. This is the only path forward for the workers and the people.
Central Committee of the Communist Workers’ Platform
