ICWP May Day in Mexico, 2018
MEXICO—In a recent discussion, a doctor friend enthusiastically recounted anecdotes of the Presidential election. His wife wisely said, “Hadn’t we already concluded that AMLO (Obrador) was just like the others: a defender of capitalism?”
“Yes, of course,” he answered, “maybe even more harmful because he made millions of workers believe that he was their salvation. And taking away that idea will take time. The mass media preach that this was a triumph of democracy. But democracy since its emergence in Greece excluded the slaves.”
She said that López Obrador (AMLO) not only accepted candidates supported by the “narcos” but also made a pact with the financial oligarchy and businessmen linked to drug trafficking. Someone else said that a part of the international bourgeoisie through the UN commission on drugs advocated decriminalizing all drugs. But the current governments in each country opposed this because then they would lose their profitable business.
What the class of modern wage workers, the proletariat, needs is not supposedly less-corrupt politicians but to take power by overthrowing the bourgeoisie to abolish wage labor and all commercial, money, relations as a way of life. We will produce for our needs for the interest of our class. Nothing will be bought or sold. So we will not need money ever again. The government of the working class will defend these achievements. With this advance, the prehistory of humanity will end. The struggle will continue, shoulder to shoulder against the vestiges of capitalism.
The victory of López Obrador and his party MoReNa is not, as the politicians say, a “transcendent conquest by the people.” The State was strengthened. The massive participation of the electorate (more than 60% of the registered voters) quickly turned into a victory for the institutions of capitalism.
The concession speech by Meade, the official candidate of the PRI, on the night of the election, wished L. Obrador good luck. The sequence of events that concluded with a message from Peña Nieto (the current President) and the conciliatory speech of Lopez Obrador, suggest that there will be no punishment for the crimes of the outgoing government against humanity. Nor will there be criminal proceedings over the looting of the treasury and the evident complicity of the three levels of government with organized crime. There was a conciliation.
In his first speech as president-elect, López Obrador reassured the capitalist corporations that he will not take radical measures, that contracts will be respected, that there will be no expropriations. He reiterated the guiding idea of his campaign: that corruption is the cause of all the evils in the country. Thus he denies that this is inherent in capitalism, whose cornerstone is expropriating the labor of the working class and plundering natural resources for the corporations’ profit.
Labor not paid to workers, the value of production that exceeds wages (surplus value) is greater than the wealth accumulated by corruption, which is also paid with that same stolen surplus value. The idea that corruption is the cause of workers’ problems covers up this exploitation: the use of the labor power of others for profit. It conceals the class struggle, with its slogan, “For the good of all, first the poor.” This was complimented with the slogan, “A country for all: businessmen, workers…”
They try to fool whoever they can. The special economic zones will continue as before—without raising wages. Airports, roads, refineries, railroads, and “poncho” Romero, the star businessman, coordinator of AMLópez Obrador’s cabinet has been clear: it will depend on private initiative since the government will be in austerity, with no money to meet workers’ needs.
Capitalism, especially in crisis, has only exploitation, corruption, poverty and war for the working class. Masses of workers want and need a different world. This is an opportunity to show that only communism will meet the needs of the masses! In communism, we will plan and produce collectively only to meet workers’ needs.
It is not about “taking the country toward a real change.” It’s about the working class worldwide. It’s not about resisting the capitalist corporations and their governments but instead removing them from the face of the earth. It’s not about demanding Obrador move to the left. That won’t happen because he supports the capitalist system. “Representative democracy” limits the participation of the workers to voting, to one single day, while public matters remain in the hands of the capitalist politicians who ignore our needs.
We workers need to participate every day to emancipate ourselves from the capitalists through revolution and build the communist society we deserve—free of exploitation and corruption. This is only possible by building our international party, the ICWP! Join us! Help mobilize the masses to fight for and build a communist world!