Revolution is in the Air

Workers and youth are tired of years of austerity. The richest 1% have more wealth than the bottom 90%, and yet the capitalist politicians continue to raise tuition for higher education, increase tolls and mass transit fares, and claim that there is no money to fix the bridges, tunnels, and roads that are falling apart.

  Anger against austerity is building world wide. Elections held last January in Greece saw Syriza and the Greek Communist Party win a majority of seats in parliament. In the British elections, the SNP in Scotland, which campaigned against austerity, gained a lot of votes and won 56 of 59 seats. In Spain, Podemos and its allies won many seats in the recent local government elections, humiliating the ruling right-wing People’s Party, which lost 2.4 million votes as compared with the prior local elections. In addition to this, there were protests in London, Liverpool, and Glasgow against austerity on June 20 and more than 250,000 came out to protest!

Here in the US, Senator Bernie Sanders is campaigning for President and is calling himself a socialist who wants a political revolution against the billionaire class. Although Socialist Appeal disagrees with his running as a Democrat and we believe that there are many weaknesses in his political program, it is significant that wherever he goes to speak, he is greeted by hundreds and even thousands of people—far more than any other candidate. He has tapped into deep reserves of discontent, which shows the potential for socialist ideas and a labor party in the US!

The IMT is opposed to cutting education, jobs, and social services. We must understand that austerity is a policy that flows logically from the present crisis of world and US capitalism. We want to end this, but this means we must end capitalism. There is no such thing as “good capitalism” that provides jobs with high wages and quality goods and services for all. Capitalism does not produce to meet human needs—it produces for profit. The capitalist system’s glory days are past. We can have a much better future with socialism: jobs for all, free healthcare for all, a safe environment, and more leisure time. That is the way to use technology—for everyone’s good!

In order to get to socialism, we need your support. The IMT had a great US National School on Memorial Day weekend. Comrades and supporters came from all over the US and Canada. There were many new faces and new cities where there are comrades active. The level of discussion was terrific and there was much enthusiasm as we compared notes about how to build the revolutionary party in the belly of the beast. A special financial appeal was held and we received pledges of more than $25,000! Since then, we have had another $2,000 in pledges come in. This is almost twice what was collected last year! This means we can strengthen our forces here in the US and help the IMT develop its international work in places like El Salvador, the Arab world, and South Africa. Help build the International Marxist Tendency and bring about a socialist future!

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