Editorial
A World in Turmoil
I
n front of you is the second issue of Socialist World, a new journal produced by Socialist Alternative. This issue explores key events which have helped create the world we live in now including the collapse of Stalinism and the crisis of neo-liberal capitalism beginning in 2008. The 2010s were a period of revolution and counter revolution particularly in the Middle East and Southern Europe. It is clear that the 2020s are going to be even more stormy. This issue takes up the key features of the looming economic crisis and looks at the Brexit crisis which is an example of how the capitalists have lost control of the political process. We show how the climate crisis and the growing, complex logistics networks at Amazon and Wal-Mart point to the necessity and possibility of socialist planning. Most importantly we elaborate the need for building the international socialist movement. Looking back, thirty years ago, the collapse of the “Soviet bloc” led to enormous triumphalism by the representatives of capitalism including philosopher Francis Fukuyama who talked about the “end of history.” As Rob Jones explains on p. 27, 1989 was far more contradictory than the capitalist commentators presented. Ordinary people in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were largely interested in maintaining a planned economy but with real democracy and an end to bureaucratic rule. Thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Bloc, it is capitalism that faces a deepening economic, social, and political crisis. The resistance from workers and youth internationally is growing on many fronts. Fueling this resistance is fact that the fruits of the “recovery” since the Great Recession has gone to the billionaires and corporations. Now, the slowdown of the world economy (see p. 10), points clearly toward recession, including in the United States. This crisis is triggered by Trump’s trade war with China but there are deeper causes. In fact, none of the issues that caused an almost complete meltdown of the economy ten years ago have been solved. If anything, capitalist governments are now less ready for the next crisis. On top of that, the evidence of impending climate catastrophe is inciting anger, particularly among the global youth
who spearheaded the climate strikes of September 20 and 27. Again the capitalist elite are completely exposed,
demonstrating no capacity to organize the type of coordinated global response necessary to rapidly begin the transition to an economy based on renewable energy. As Keely Mullen explains on page 5 even basic steps will require the pressure of a mass movement which brings young people together with workers who have the power to shut the economy down. A real solution requires global socialist planning but this is only possible with the full democratic participation of working people at every lev-
el.
International Struggle
It is striking how ordinary people in country after country are fighting back against corrupt regimes and endless austerity even in advance of the full impact of the economic crisis. In Ecuador, a movement centered on indigenous people demanded the withdrawal of an austerity package being imposed in return for loans from the IMF. After ten days of protests - which drove the president from the capital - they succeeded in getting the austerity package, including the ending of a fuel price subsidy, withdrawn. In Argentina, the economy is already in a deep recession and upcoming elections are likely to see a decisive rejection of neoliberal candidates. This issue contains a statement from the Committee for a Workers International, with which Socialist Alternative in the U.S. is in solidarity, supporting the electoral slate of socialist organizations in these elections. In Haiti, there have been weeks of protests against a corrupt regime backed by the U.S. and the European Union. In Iraq young protesters demanding jobs and an end to corruption were attacked by the military who shot over 100 dead. In Indonesia, there were mass youth-centered protests against the withdrawal of anti-corruption legislation and also demanding that the companies setting fires in the rainforest be brought to account and that anti-LGBTQ legislation be withdrawn. The heroic struggle in Hong Kong continues. This is by no mean a complete list. In the U.S., we have also seen dramatic developments. In 2018, more workers went on strike than in any year since 1986. Now teachers in Chicago are going on strike demanding lower class size and more resources for support staff. The UAW strike at General Motors involving 49,000 workers, is the longest auto strike in the U.S. in 50 years. Workers on the picket lines see this as an opportunity to reverse concessions made by the union leadership over many years. As we go to press, a tentative agreement has been reached between GM and the UAW and it is still unclear as to how much workers have gained. A victory for the auto workers would have a huge impact but a defeat would cut across the fragile momentum of this strike wave. In reality, we are only at the beginning of the rebuilding of a fighting labor movement in the U.S. which could be temporarily cut across by a recession but which also reflects deeper processes.
Political Crisis
This issue of Socialist World focuses heavily on the international situation and does not get into the many important components of American politics. However we felt it was important to highlight some of those developments in this introduction.
