Letters from Tomis

My thoughts over the last few weeks have vacillated from despair to anger over US politics. I have always felt that the Harris-Walz ticket was the “lesser evil” over Trump-Vance. For me, a Marxist-Leninist perspective of these events was a harsh, but needed medicine.

The election of November 5th, 2024 is a reflection of the capitalist state’s mechanisms to preserve its dominance. In general, elections in capitalist democracies often serve as a means to legitimize the ruling class’s control while maintaining the illusion of popular participation in governance.

From this perspective, the fundamental critique is that the political superstructure, including elections, operate within the confines of the American capitalist economic base. This structure ensures that the ruling class’s interests, particularly those of the bourgeoisie and capitalist elites, remain unchallenged, regardless of which party assumes power. Both the Republican and Democratic parties tend to represent variations of the same class interests, prioritizing capital accumulation, corporate power, and imperialist foreign policies.

This highlights the limited scope of electoral politics in addressing systemic inequalities such as wage exploitation, privatization, racism, and wealth concentration. Structural barriers, including voter suppression, gerrymandering, and corporate media influence, further entrench the status quo, marginalizing genuinely revolutionary or proletarian movements.

Moreover, the election process often diverts the working class’s energy into reformist agendas, sidelining the need for class consciousness and revolutionary change. We must have a renewed focus on building grassroots organizations, strengthening class solidarity, and advancing revolutionary theory to challenge capitalist structures fundamentally.

In conclusion, while U.S. elections may offer temporary reforms or small concessions, they are insufficient to dismantle the structural inequalities embedded in American capitalism. The focus must remain on systemic change, achieved through organized struggle and the establishment of a proletarian-led state that prioritizes the needs of the working class over the interests of capital and billionaires.

I still remain saddened that vile populist rhetoric has triumphed in the election. But my “lesser evilism,” though understandable, can never truly satisfy the revolutionary needs of the American working class. Whether you agree with my thoughts or not, it is clear that the electorate wanted change. The tragedy of it all is that what they will get will be more of the same.