The following is based on a speech by Sam Marcy, chairperson of Workers World Party, at a forum on April 28.
These last two days have been days of crisis for both the federal government of the United States and for Oklahoma. The crisis probably reaches into a great many geographical areas, but more importantly into the political structure of the U.S.
We have to remember the nature of the particular period we are living in, and how we assess it as communists. Our Party is doing so many great things that it would seem the political situation has eased and that reaction has simmered down somewhat.
Certainly it is true that the possibility for organizing and moving the masses is greater. But we must also take into consideration the nature of the period we are living in.
In the early days of the struggle for socialism, before the movement here was really Marxist, it faced an uphill struggle. But it wasn't subject to great ups and downs.
It was not focused on broad economic and political changes in the country. Its approach was to organize workers, sign them up, and fight for socialism. And to that extent it was very important and very good. But this approach can come up against the stumbling block of reality when we look more closely at what is happening.
The question of the greatest importance is not so much what has happened in Oklahoma City but what the political tendencies in the ruling class have been doing that concerns Oklahoma.
Testing ground for far right
It seems that the bombing in Oklahoma was supposed to be a testing ground for the viability of the right wing. The attack might cause a great many casualties, but the far right would come out stronger.
But it seems that the opposite has happened. The ultra-right wing has been brought down somewhat. However, it has not hurt the image of the right wing generally.
So while there are major opportunities for the progressive movement, there are also grave political developments in the country. They have an invariable tendency to dampen the progressive movement, to quiet it, to disintegrate it.
Those are the things we have to take into account without diminishing our ardor or our interest in what we are doing. For the moment, the plans of the ultra-right have been defeated. For the moment.
They haven't been defeated by the current administration, although Clinton is to some extent willing to take credit for it. But the current administration is a generator of right-wing sentiment and right-wing politics itself. In fact, the right wing started moving as soon as Clinton got in. Instead of having lost prestige or standing, the right wing got further enhanced as a result of Clinton's election.
And it has become bolder and more aggressive in this particular period.
Large sections of the more enlightened elements in the bourgeoisie are very well aware of this. We are even more so, but in a different way because we have a task to carry out: to enlighten the workers.
We have to constantly breathe the spirit of revolutionary optimism while at the same time not neglecting to show where the enemy is, where it is moving, how aggressive it is becoming and what citadels of progress it is taking over.
Economic problems drive ruling class to the right
My estimate at the present moment is that the ultra-right has been set back somewhat as a result of what happened in Oklahoma. The Clinton administration is trying to take some credit for it, but the truth is they haven't pronounced themselves against the ultra-right, against their vandalism, against their criminality, against everything that they do. They haven't dared to arrest those who have carried out illegal political activity, including crimes. They let them alone. And they will continue to do so. The task of defeating the right and the ultra-right is a revolutionary task of the working class.
There are very dangerous developments in the ruling class, more so than in earlier periods. The economic problems of the U.S. in particular and of world capitalism in general are pushing them in that direction. The economic crisis that might have occurred a year or two ago was delayed, did not mature, did not develop. This has allowed capitalism to live in sort of a dream, going beyond its own capacities.
When the situation ripens economically for a capitalist collapse or near collapse, the bourgeoisie or its political leaders have learned since the early 1930s to take advantage of it in order to turn their guns against the masses.
The rise of Hitler came as the result of an economic depression. Hitler made a big bid for power in the late 1920s. That one didn't succeed because it came when there was stable capitalist development in Germany. But as soon as the economic crisis came, he took advantage of it to discredit capitalist democracy. He used the capitalist crisis to foster fascism, which is a different political form of capitalist class rule.
During that period the Communist Party carried out revolutionary agitation and propaganda in the struggle against Hitler and all the other reactionaries. But at the same time they were hindered by an erroneous analysis. They predicted that if Hitler were to take over the capitalist government in a time of crisis, he would be sure to fail economically, and then he would be discredited. They left out the fact that when he took over he would use police and military powers to destroy the working-class organizations and all democratic forces. All this has some relevance to our discussion on Oklahoma.
On the one hand we have to pay the closest attention to what is happening politically in the country with respect to the struggle of tendencies in the ruling class and how a workers' party has to respond.
But we also cannot be diverted from our mass activities, which have to be carried out with maximum optimism while taking the political crisis in stride.
If we accomplish only a small part of what I have suggested, I think our Party will make a great stride forward and will strengthen its position in the working class and in the world movement.