break down the suffocation of domestic movements against the status quo accomplished by the forces of democratic capitalism' in the atmosphere of the Carthyism.
At that time the AFL-CIO (the US equivalent of the TUC and perhaps the world's largest trade union federation) was totally co-opted and purred of leftists, becoming a subscriber to the "American dream. It was an active policy witnin ine internanional trade union movement. BOOM Most American opinion accepted the conclusion put forward by its social scientists, journalists and philosophers, that America had overcome the conflicts created by earlier forms of capitalism, that social contradictions were ended, that the natural working of society produced harmony, and that all wants and needs within it could be satistied with judicious social adjustment. This convenient theorising appeared to be supported by the most extended economic boom or ne century Resistance to this "American dream' began in the basement, deep down in the depths of America, over the oppression of millions of Black people. Capitalism's racially-selected reserve army of the unemployed, the oppressed Black nation, began to sav enough. In the 1950s a mass movement was born: the civil rights movement. Higniy visible, on tne streets everywhere in the country, its demands were democratic: the rights implicit in the legal fiction of citizenship.
The richest economy ever known had to suppress the captive Black nation within its borders just as it did many outside them, in order to assure itself an adequate margir of profit. Both the oppressed Black Americans and me oppressea cuoans Deran to struggle to gain control of their own desumes ar aoour me same une. nese two DIOCKS Or people in mouon nad a protound erect on amencan consciousness. DoEn at the mass levet and in particular on those US population, others (predominantly Latinos) make up another 5 per cent. Ine worKers arc. morcover. uisproportionately concentrated in heavy industry m me arse cues. In us core ortIe economy, they are not infrequently represented in amounts double that of their overall weight in the population. Clearly this, the most politicised and radicalised section of the proletariat, is critical for the left in the US.
Serious doubts about the "sincerity" of the 'professed goals' of American policy in the 1950s and 1960s were aroused by the clear hypocrisy of the society s meism and me muserao e failure of the Government's attempt to overunrow castro in cuoz. because of its revolutionary origins in the War of Independence, American politics is infused with a democratic ethos - a formal commitment to freedom, the rights of man, and national self-determination. Faced with the realities of racist politics and the Cuban intervention, cynicism and disillusionment will une estonsace orger Decame morc weesorene ana chucence.
The early 1960s saw an eclipse of liberalism in American, mainly caused by its failure to deal with the civil rights Issues and foreign poncy quesuons trom Cuba to the Congo. But it was Vietnam Vietnam was an important brick in the wall or the containment poncy against the USSR and China constructed as the Cold War set in. But it contained many contradictions even for US liberalism. The fact that Ho Chi Minh was in effect the "George Washington' of his county accoly troubico many amencans Line nypocrisy or us poncy became increasingly visible, and at the same time the costs of Vietnam drove prices higher and real incomes lower. A definite break in the willingness of the people to follow 'their' Government in a foreign war became clearer. Inflation and higher taxes were felt in particular by the working class, whose children were most likely to die thanks to the policy of educational deferments to conscripcarly stages.
versities and the 'youth culture, have penetrated the working class. There has been a massive questioning of previously unchallenged assumptions about the 'correct sanctioned wav of dealing with Vietnam nas been a powerrul force 1o1 changing the attitudes which bolstered the ability of the ruling class to use its against revolution.
ment to interfere in the Angolan conflict reflected the fact that the American electorate no longer has the confidence in its ruling class which made it possible for Lyndon Johnson in 1965 to slap Red Weekly 8 April 1976 Vietnam and the ensuing international recession have hit deeply at working class support for the capitalist system, formerly relauvery uncauengea. Ims remtroducton of anti-capitalist politics is at present in its but mere Is no douor mat ue DevIous fifteen years of radicalisation, most visible in the petty-bourgeois milieux of the uninational scale. social questions. The costly experience of BIAS military strength to intervene internationally The recent inability of the US Governtended to assure legal 40,000 Marines into Santo Domingo, using as iustification a list of 53 known com munists. Thus the room for manoeuvre ortne american runne class nas beer severely modified by the radicalisation and its recognition of the need to cool the heat of the populace's anger.
Culturally the deepest area of the radicalisation has been the rise of the women's liberation movement. Within two years this movement mushroomed to involve millions of people. Radical ideas and demands were transmitted by it into every aspect of politics and economics. The pressure is felt in business ana caucanona sututons Within the workers' movement, the Coador or raDour unon womer (CLUW) nas made itsell tell on a The movement for the Equal Rights - inequality for women - has however been stalemated for months in the various state legis Latures, highlighting the capitalist bias built into the working of the legal order. US/ Zimbabwe 9 On top of this general social crisis of the 1960s has now come the crisis of th cconomy ne reany serious nise n unem ployment to over 8 per cent, and the actual tal i tae material living standards of the American workers has made more clear to tnem ine price tney nave to pay for imperialism's continuation. Polls reveal that around 60 per cent of the people believe that politicians speak exclusively in the interests of big business The potential clearly exists for the left to force a breach in the masquerade of capitalist politics.
In retrospect, the rise of the mass when comparce will me -canner ponuca anescape represents a profound transformation of the politica situation in the United States. Yet every one of these obstacles in the path of the defenders of capitalism was generated by the normal and necessary workings of the capitalist system. There is no question that America has been able to stand above mistory or outside un working of the laws of social evolution. Neither internationally nor domestically can the US ruling class evade the costs of the system it defends. This lesson is crucial for the left.
NEXT WEEK: The Democratic and hepublican rarties