What’s Behind the Russia-Trump Furor…And Where Do the People’s Interests Lie?
March 20, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
What’s behind the escalating furor—in the government, the media and society—over the possible connections between Donald Trump and his close advisers and Russia—before, during and after the election? And where do the people’s interests lie?
What’s going on?
Russia has been accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential elections, including by facilitating the release of embarrassing hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, and thereby affecting the outcome. This could be true. It may also be the case that key people in the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in doing this, which would be even heavier and more politically explosive. Further (and heavier still), it may be the case that the Russians have compromising information about Trump (as one widely reported “dossier” claimed) that could give them leverage in their dealings with him.
Even if none of the charges of Russian interference or Trump collaboration prove to be true, there do seem to be sharp differences in the ruling class over Trump’s attitude and posture toward Russia, which touch on or concentrate differences over the shape of U.S. global strategy—including toward its alliances, and toward Europe, China, and the Middle East (and, more broadly, the Muslim-majority countries).
OK, but what attitude should people—especially those millions who hate Trump and what he represents—take toward this Russia-Trump furor?
First, we have to understand that these are conflicts among the rulers over how to advance their imperialist interests and maintain their system atop a world of exploitation and oppression—NOT over what’s best for humanity!
There is nothing on either side of this battle within the ruling class over Trump’s Russia connections and policies that represents, in any way, to any degree, the interests of humanity.
For the seven billion people on earth, what’s been the fruit of the U.S.-dominated world order that came out of the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War 2? The set of U.S. led-alliances that emerged enabled and enforced an era of unprecedented inhuman exploitation, from the mines of South Africa to the sweatshops of Asia to the plantations of Latin America, enforced with death squads and invasions.
What about the strengthening of U.S. imperialism after the fall of Soviet Union in the 1990s? This led to a whole other level of global exploitation, human degradation, unending war, and environmental destruction.
And what would be the fruit for those seven billion of a new Trump-Pence order?
On the other hand, we should recognize that conflicts over these reactionary interests could feed into or even spark a crisis in the ruling class, which they could have great trouble resolving. Such a crisis could interact with the struggle of millions from below to feed into a possible removal of the Trump/Pence regime by other forces in the ruling class.
But unless the struggle of the millions from below is overall led from and based on the standpoint that the Trump/Pence regime must go in the interests of humanity, because it is fascist, then even if Trump is somehow removed, that wouldn’t solve the problem we face. In fact, we could be even worse off than before—ending up with an essentially fascist regime with a different foreign policy through which the rulers pursue their imperialist interests.
However, if such conflicts at the top sharpen at a time when millions ARE in the streets demanding the removal of the regime because it is fascist, then there would be a heightened chance of real success.
This does not mean that people who see the need to drive out the Trump/Pence regime, or those outraged by the direction this regime is taking at breakneck speed, should sit around and wait for such conflicts within the ruling class to ripen. It is not necessary that such conflicts sharpen up first for it to be possible to drive the regime out. It may be the case that struggle coming from the mass of society, which demands the removal of the Trump/Pence regime because of its fascist character, powerfully develops first. Then this, in connection with conflicts among the rulers over how the Trump/Pence regime dealt with such an upheaval, along with differences over foreign policy, could compel forces in the ruling class to decide their interests required the ousting of the Trump/Pence regime (even while they maneuver within that, coming from their own interests).
In navigating through this volatile territory, it is essential to remain grounded in, and to find ways to bring to people, the basic reality: the need to drive out the Trump/Pence regime because it is fascist and a grave danger to all humanity.
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