Trump takes White House, Working people under fire

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VOL. 35, NO. 1, JANUARY 2017 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. $1 / CANADA $2 Conn. climate march — 2 Women & capitalism — 6 The Republican Party takes primary charge of the U.S. government this month, with Donald Trump sworn in as president and both houses of Congress under Republican control by a slim majority.

The new administration is taking shape with an­ nouncements of key government cabinet posts. These include a combination of professional politi­ cians, former military officers, and powerful captains of industry and finance.

As in past cabinets, leading billionaire capitalists will be well represented. They include Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a longtime Wall Street inves­ tor and speculator; Linda McMahon, Small Business Administrator, one of Trump’s biggest campaign donors; and Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary, who comes from a family of billionaires and plans to privatize public schools.

Big name Wall Street industrialists and financiers include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a hedge fund manager, Goldman Sachs trader, and Hollywood financier; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, president and CEO of Exxon Mobile; and Andrew Puzder, Labor Secretary and CEO of fast-food giant CKE Restaurants.

The new team will bring new policies, but the over­ all goal of Trump’s Republican government will be the same as that of the Democratic Party preceding it—to conduct the business of the tiny capitalist rul­ ing class, and remove obstacles that stand in the way of profits for Wall Street and the banks.

Both capitalist parties struggle to overcome years of economic stagnation and lagging profits. Major divisions have emerged on how to correct this, but under capitalism new policies can’t solve this issue in a fundamental or lasting way.

Driven by this crisis, the new administration has only one recourse—to continue imposition of the severe and ever escalating austerity offensive that began in the 1970s and has continued through each succeeding presidential administration. Along with union busting and economic attacks on the standard of living of working people, the offensive’s broader features include racist police violence; new attacks on abortion rights; anti-immigrant harassment, par­ ticularly targeting Muslims; and widespread depor­ tations. In all these areas, attacks will continue, and likely accelerate.

Patti Supone / NJ Advance Media for N.J.com While much is not yet known about the new Trump administration or its priorities, some of its direction is becoming clear.

Domestic policy We can expect big tax cuts for the rich, while reg­ ulations on corporations and financial firms will be eliminated or relaxed. The appointment of Scott Pruitt, a climate denier and longtime supporter of the fossil-fuel industry, to head the Environmental Pro­ tection Agency signals full backing of the oil, coal, and natural gas interests, as well as fracking. Regulation of these industries will be targeted.

The selection of Andrew Puzder for Labor Secre­ tary points to additional attacks on workers. Puzder is only interested in labor and unions to the extent that he can limit their power. His goal is to get rid of unions or minimize their influence, not to defend them. As head of a big fast-food chain, his job was to exploit workers.

Puzder opposes minimum-wage increases above the current $7.25 per hour, which has been in place since 2009. Earlier this year he proudly told Busi­ (continued on page 5, in “Trump declares unquestioning support for Israel”)

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We support the struggles of those who are specially oppressed under capitalism— women, LGBT people, national minorities, etc. We support the right of self-determination Socialist Action is a national organization of activists committed to the emancipation for oppressed nationalities, including Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. We are of workers and the oppressed. We strive to revitalize the antiwar, environmental, labor, internationalists, and hold that workers of one country have more in common with workers anti-racist, feminist, student, and other social movements with a mass-action perspective. of another than with their own nation’s capitalist class. We seek to link struggles across Recognizing the divisions that exist on the left and within the workers’ movement, we seek national boundaries, and to build an international revolutionary movement that will facilitate to form united front type organizations around specific issues where various groups have the sharing of experiences and political lessons. We maintain fraternal relations with the agreement. In this way we seek to maximize our impact and demonstrate the power and Socialist Action believes that the capitalist state and its institutions are instruments of the In the process we hope to bring activists together from different backgrounds into a ruling class, and that therefore they cannot be used as tools of the working class but have revolutionary workers’ party that can successfully challenge the wealthy elite—whose profit- to be smashed. That is why we fight for revolution. When we fight for specific reforms, we driven system is driving down living standards and threatens all life on this planet. do so with the understanding that in the final analysis real social change can only come We are active partisans of the working class and believe in the need for independent about with the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of a workers’ government, and the working-class politics—not alliances with the bosses’ parties. That is why we call for workers fight for socialism. Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic, environmentally sustainable, and in the U.S. to break from the Democratic and Republican parties to build a Labor Party egalitarian society organized to satisfy human needs rather than corporate greed. We invite you to join us in the struggle to make the world a better place!

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2 SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 2017 “To Change Everything, It Takes Ev­ eryone!” Under this mantra of the new climate justice movement, 400 Con­ necticut activists joined a “March for Jobs, Justice, and a Livable Earth” on Dec. 3. Picket signs carried the slogans voted up by the planning committee and included: Emergency Transition to 100% Renewable Energy Grid! Mass Electrified Transit for All! No to the Fracked Gas Buildout! No to Environ­ mental Racism! No to the State Budget Cuts! and Yes to Jobs & Justice!

The event broke new ground for the climate movement in the state, garner­ ing significant union endorsement and the participation of some of the new­ est strikers from the Hartford Fight for Fifteen.

The speaker’s platform and march route demonstrated the organizers’ goal of making concrete the relation­ ship of the fight to halt runaway cli­ mate change and the struggles for jobs and racial justice. For example, at the kickoff rally of the event, activists heard from John Harrity, the president of the state machinists’ council, who spoke of the contribution workers can make to building a fossil-fuel-free world. Bishop John Selders, of Moral Majority CT, a group well-known for actions against police brutality, edu­ cated the crowd about the power of the Black radical tradition and the need for social movements to learn this history.

The first stop on the march was Union Station, a train and bus depot, where Mustafa Salahuddin, the president of effectiveness of mass action. based on the trade unions. designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor. Name City State Phone E-mail the Bridgeport, Conn., Transit Workers Local 1336, spoke of his union’s com­ mitment to fight for green mass transit for all. At TD Bank, activists expressed solidarity with the water protectors and veterans at Standing Rock.

At the Main St. Burger King franchise, Vanessa Rodriquez, a Dunkin’ Donuts worker who was arrested in the recent Fight for 15 day of action, explained why she had chosen to sit down in the street. “I did it because we are all strong together. Whether it is the Fight for 15, climate change, or immigration, if we stand together we will win!”

Although the protest was launched by the usual trinity of the most active state climate organizations—that is, 350 CT, the Connecticut Sierra Club, and the Interreligious Eco-Justice Net­ work—organizers hammered away in the call on the need for a climate Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder Subscribe now!

Address Zip Courtesy of Connecticut Sierra Club movement that was linked to the ev­ eryday struggles of working people. The call began, “The fight to preserve our planet and halt climate warming is inextricably tied to the struggle for all the other elements of a decent human life: jobs, health, equality, and justice.”

The drive for endorsements was ac­ companied by more language about this commitment and said: “The cli­ mate movement stands ready to cam­ paign with the labor movement, the Movement for Black Lives, Native Americans, climate refugees, immi­ grant communities, environmental jus­tice activists, conservationists, and other community movements for a massive program of good green jobs and a turn to focusing on the needs of people over fossil fuel profits.”

Immigrant rights activists who were approached about participating in the Fourth International.

• Boston: socialistactionboston@gmail. com • Buffalo, NY: [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860) 478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: [email protected]. www.thenorthernworker.blogspot.com • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • LOUISVILLE, KY: [email protected], (502) 451-2193 • Madison, Wis.:

[email protected] • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 802-1482, [email protected] • New York City: (212) 781-5157 • Philadelphia: [email protected] march asked for more explicit atten­ tion to the threat hanging over them of more deportations, and the 350 chap­ ter voted to add that the march was not only against environmental racism but would “Stand with Immigrants and Climate Refugees.”

In the end, the protest was endorsed by not only a large number of local cli­ mate action and peace groups, but also by the Connecticut chapter of the Na­ tional Association of Social Workers, and by four major state labor organi­ zations. The latter included the State Council of Machinists, the Amalgamat­ ed Transit Union, the Greater Connect­ icut Area Local of the American Postal Workers Union, and the Connecticut UAW Cap Council.

The increased willingness of labor unions to endorse local climate actions is likely based, in part, on the opening created when many national AFL-CIO affiliates openly bucked the reaction­ ary position on Standing Rock that was expressed by the federation president, Richard Trumka. But the now daily me­ dia coverage of the growing evidence that catastrophic change is inevitable without drastic encroachments on the prerogatives of big business is also having its impact on the ranks of the labor movement.

All this speaks to the potential of the April 29 People’s Climate March in Washington, D.C., to put hundreds of thousands of working people in the streets and to kick off a new wave of or­ ganizing the unorganized millions who are ready to fight for a decent life in an unpolluted world. n For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, (510) 2689429, [email protected] Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org WHERE TO FIND US • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected] (401) 952-5385 • Salem, Ore.: [email protected] • San Francisco Bay Area:

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