Times of crisis—an opportunity?

The ideological crisis caused by Vietnamese resistance to US imperialism—and the mass movement of the 1960s—set off a chain of events that helped to bring down the right wing president Richard Nixon in the 1970s (Pic: PICRYL)

The politicians, corporations and mainstream media can seem all powerful. But there are times in history when millions of people come to see through their lies. We are living through one of those times.

The ruling class uses a combination of “force and fraud” to maintain its wealth and power. We can see the force on full display on the streets of Los Angeles or in the repression of the Palestine movement. It relies on people accepting—at least in part—the way that the world is as “natural”. 

But that can begin to break down, particularly during what the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci called an “organic crisis of capitalism”. This sees economic, social and political crises combine into a comprehensive one of the whole system.

When this happens, it can expose the system’s contradictions—and our rulers’ inability to resolve them.

Sections of the ruling class pull in different directions as they try to shore up their position.  And, as they do so, their ability to impose their ideological view of the world partially breaks down.

This can lead ordinary people to reject established parties and once-dominant ideas about the best way to run things.

Think of the shift that’s taking place over Palestine. 

The scale of Israel’s genocide has rocked Western leaders who fear it exposes their hypocrisy over human rights—and limits their ability to justify future wars.

It feels similar to the crisis in the US over the Vietnam War. 

The Vietnamese resistance to US imperialism—and the mass movements of the 1960s—helped to open up splits in the ruling class. 

The US establishment had backed the war. But by the late 1960s more and more figures in the ruling class were coming out against it.  This set off a chain of events that helped bring down the right wing president Richard Nixon in the 1970s. 

There are times when ideological crisis opens the door to a much more fundamental challenge to the system. 

By appearing to make reforms the ruling class leaves itself exposed. In 1956, the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev wanted to push through reforms to modernise the state capitalism system. 

In February, Khrushchev made a “secret speech” to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party denouncing the crimes of his predecessor Joseph Stalin from state terror and murders to the “cult of personality”. 

But far from securing the Stalinist bureaucracy’s rule, it unleashed ideological confusion at the top of society.  

And millions of people questioned how that society was run. 

After all, if those at the top admitted they were guilty of murder, why should workers listen to or believe their lies anymore? 

The ferment led to the Poznan Uprising in Poland and the Hungarian Revolution, which showed the possibility of workers running society. 

Our task is to seize on our rulers’ ideological crisis and offer an alternative to the catastrophes caused by their system. 

Dockers stop arms

The Palestine movement often talks about Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). For many, it is associated with consumer boycotts. 

Refusing to buy Israeli-linked goods is an important part of disrupting the profits of apartheid states.  

But the overwhelming power of BDS lies in workers’ action. Workers occupy a different position than consumers within capitalism—when they act as workers, they are able to disrupt apartheid states at the point of production. 

This power is currently on display with the actions of dock workers in France and Italy.  

At the Fos-sur-Mer port in Marseille, a ship belonging to the ZIM company was set to sail from the port with 14 tons of machine gun ammunition parts. 

But in an act of defiance, CGT union members refused to load the ship in solidarity with Palestine, it left with no arms on board. 

That triggered action in Italy at the port of Genoa, as workers backed by the Unione Sindacale di Base blocked the ZIM ship from docking. Dock workers in Antwerp, Belgium, have also refused to load Israeli ammunition parts onto Israeli ships. 

Workers taking action against Israel’s genocide always need solidarity. Capitalism is a global system, workers across the globe should follow suit and boycott, strike and act in solidarity with Palestine.