Need Class Unity here ♦ Trump’s Leadership Shakeup and Veterans’ Healthcare here ♦
MIAMI (USA), August 2024— Nurses protest hiring freeze and job cuts to Veterans’ Administration hospitals.
In Communism Our Labor Will Efficiently Meet Workers’ Needs
USA, February 16— “It’s not just us,” said a comrade federal government worker. “Other workers, including Trump voters, will be impacted. The working class has to struggle together. Musk is known for pitting workers against workers. He is splitting workers apart.”
Trump appointed the world’s richest man, the openly fascist Elon Musk, to head a new “Department of Government Efficiency.” Musk’s minions took over government agencies, stealing tons of personal and institutional data. They claim to have uncovered $billions in “fraud” but haven’t produced even one example.
Their real goal is to terrorize government workers while cutting vast numbers of jobs and whole agencies meant to serve the most vulnerable masses. Many were on the chopping block even under Biden. Now tens of thousands have been fired.
“There is fear and anger,” the comrade reported, “but more fear.” Fear can be immobilizing but it can also spur us to action.
The comrade mentioned friends, a couple who both hold federal jobs. If they lose those jobs, how will they take care of their children? How will they survive?
This points to a truth about our wage slavery that goes beyond an unelected “President Musk” taking a sledgehammer to the government. It shows why the working class must take a sledgehammer to capitalism itself. Why we need communist revolution.
The basic organizing principle of real communism is that we all take care of each other. Relationships, not monetary exchange, connect us. We work as we are willing and able. We share the fruits of our labor according to need. We make decisions collectively for the common good. No billionaires, no bosses. No nations to divide us.
If someone’s role becomes unnecessary, or if they can no longer do it, there will be no hardship. They will still receive everything they need to continue living comfortably. Their collective will help them find appropriate work. Communist “efficiency” means doing things in ways that build collectivity, not more cheaply.
Communism will destroy whole capitalist economic sectors and job categories. No more layers of bosses there only to make other people do real work. No more money to manage. Banking, finance, the whole Treasury Department… gone!
FBI, CIA, “Justice” … Gone! These and other state institutions exist mainly for the capitalist class to repress the masses. Gone, too: the “Defense” Department that forces workers to fight their class siblings elsewhere to expand or defend the billionaires’ empire.
Communism will have meaningful productive work for everyone. Agriculture, manufacturing, transportation. Health, social work, education. Environmental repair. Spreading communist revolution worldwide. Defending our communist society from capitalist and fascist enemies.
Workers will meet collectively to make policy. To plan and evaluate our work. To use study and the arts to enrich our lives. To strengthen our social bonds.
Today we must organize and mobilize masses for communist revolution to win and build this new society. We invite you to learn more about the International Communist Workers’ Party and join us to help do this.
We’d better not rely on unions or the Democratic Party to “work within the system” to stop Musk and Trump’s wholesale attacks on Black and immigrant workers, trans people, federal employees, and the whole working class. Government workers’ unions report surging membership, but they think “fighting” means filing lawsuits and holding rallies with Democratic politicians. They try to chain us to the capitalists’ system and its government.
But “the system” is the problem, not the solution.
Whether or not there is a “constitutional crisis,” the US constitution has always defended the exploiters from the exploited. Capitalism itself, especially during global crisis, is the root of fascism.
The Nazis took power in Germany legally under the liberal Weimar Constitution. Fascist Modi is not deterred by India’s constitution, which declares it “socialist, secular, and democratic.” Most fascist rulers today operate under constitutional regimes.
Only communist revolution can defeat fascism. Only communism can inspire, unite, and empower the masses to fearlessly build the world we need and deserve.
Trump’s Leadership Shakeup Exposes Failures in Veterans’ Healthcare
Recent turmoil within the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is highlighted by the sudden departure of millionaire grifter Vivek Ramaswamy. This has laid bare the deepening cracks in the Veterans’ Administration (VA) healthcare system. This system was already crippled by decades of underfunding and market-driven inefficiencies.
This leadership vacuum arrives at a critical moment. It casts doubt on the VA’s ability to deliver quality healthcare to veterans, particularly those in underserved and rural communities.
Trump and Musk’s push for cost-cutting reflects a broader capitalist trend of prioritizing superficial actions, such as “reducing waste,” over ensuring equitable healthcare for veterans. The department claims these cuts will preserve medical services nationally. But they amount to little more than Band-Aid solutions. They ignore the root causes of the VA’s systemic failures.
Displaced, disabled, and unemployed veterans, who already face significant barriers to care, will likely suffer the most from these policies.
Staffing shortages will persist or worsen. They prioritize budget cuts over the well-being of healthcare workers AND patients. Nurses and specialized providers are already overworked and underpaid. They are being pushed to their limits, while rural facilities struggle to provide even basic care.
The temporary pause in VA hospital cutbacks is likely to end once the White House’s billionaire-backed leadership devises a narrative to frame these cuts as necessary rather than harmful to sick and disabled veterans. Workers recognize this as another delaying tactic to avoid confronting the systemic failures of capitalism. Capitalism is a system that prioritizes profits over the health of working-class people and their families.
As Trump’s handpicked VA leadership takes charge, the direction of the VA healthcare bureaucracy remains unclear. The capitalists will not relinquish their wealth and power without a fight. The stakes are immense. Rural and urban communities alike rely heavily on VA facilities for essential care due to the acute shortage of hospitals and clinics serving poor or working-class veterans.
The crisis should serve as a wake-up call. The failures of the VA healthcare system are not just the result of poor leadership or bureaucratic inefficiency. They are symptoms of a larger problem. The VA’s struggles are one example of how capitalism fails the working class, highlighting the urgent need for systemic change.
Capitalism is a sick, corrupt system that values profit over people. This can only change with communist revolution.
—US Marine Veteran