As with so many of the crises in our movement, this issue of inconstancy, of failure to advance a truly revolutionary strategy, is at heart a failure to forge an organization with the basic revolutionary commitments necessary to see the task through. Because the flaccid “parties” intermingle both revolutionary Marxists and reformist counter-revolutionaries, they are incapable of acting except in vacillation. Indeed, these very tacking maneuvers reveal to us the truth of these “parties” — they are not only inconstant, but they have made inconstancy their overriding nature. As the fascists in power have expanded their suppression of the working  classes, the “Communist” parties in the U.S. capitalist empire have filled up their undisciplined ranks with “red” liberals.

What is the task of the Communist? It is to stand out at the forefront of the progressive movement wherever it manifests, and to ensure that movement remains firmly oriented to true north, to revolution. “But,” I hear you cry, “that kind of purity of vision requires unity, militancy, and organization that we lack!” And that is, in a sense, true. But which must come first? Which is primary? Organization or firmness of purpose? Only once the lodestone of revolution has been sighted and a core of committed revolutionists begins to plot a course (no matter how much they may mistake the road) is such a revolutionary organization possible. Before revolution, must have a mass movement; before a mass movement, a militant revolutionary organization; before a militant revolutionary organization, a revolutionary theory and firmness of purpose.

So we say to you; Do not waver! Now is the time for real Communists to show their mettle. Demonstrate the firmness of purpose and unity of conviction across the U.S. capitalist empire, in every conversation. Why now? Because the ruling class is engaged in naked infighting that it barely attempts to disguise, because the future of the capitalist empire’s dominion of blood, terror, and looted treasure is in doubt. The time is critical. We must make hay out of the indecision of the U.S. ruling class. It is now divided and its partisans are lobbying for support from us workers in the hope of overthrowing their opponents. Yet, today more than ever before in our lifetimes, the ruling class stands exposed, their differences held up as relatively minor deviations from a general plan they all share. The working classes have seen that unified plan of Trump and Harris, and it is genocide in Palestine, extermination of gay and trans life (by neglect under Harris as the GOP runs rampant, by design under Trump), the destruction of all vestiges of labor organizing, even their pet unions, the annihilation of the environment in the pursuit of wealth, and the installation of a country-wide police state in which surveillance, arrest, and extrajudicial murder are no longer reserved for Black and Indigenous populations, but are extended to all.

In light of this increasing disillusionment of the working classes and the unfiltered bloodlust of the ruling class, it is more important than ever that all Communists who lay claim to that title spend their energy exposing the bourgeois state for what it is. We cannot make exceptions. We cannot equivocate. We cannot waver.

The United States is a bourgeois republic. It is a class dictatorship. It can only be overthrown, not reformed. As John Brown said, the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood.

For every five minutes we spend speaking of reform, of strategic and critical support, of mitigating the fascist onslaught at the federal level, twenty-five minutes must be spent pointing not to tomorrow but the tomorrow after that — to the coming revolution. The ruling class elections are not a time to compromise or moderate, but a time to demonstrate our principles, and to help the rest of our fellow workers see the puppet show for what it is.Do not step back. Do not waver. Confront the enemy wherever it lies, and accept no treasonous, temporary, class peace!

To be clear, my certainty was not based on any notion that the Democratic Party would choose a candidate for whom I could, in good conscience, vote. Any belief I may have once had in either the Democratic Party or in “lesser evil” politics vanished long ago. On the contrary, my decision to wait out the 2024 election cycle came from a growing sense that the Left, such as it is in the U.S., was incapable of a presidential campaign that would be worth an ounce of my energy. The 2020 Howie Hawkins Green Party campaign left a bitter taste, and confirmed my belief that an awful lot of otherwise good people who advocate for an independent Left political party are thoroughly out of touch with working and poor people — so much so that the presidential election has become for them a sort of escape valve, a place to promote their ideas, with no responsibility to organize locally around them.

Naturally, the announcement of an independent presidential run by one of this country’s foremost Black intellectuals grabbed my attention and captured my imagination. Several of Dr. West’s subsequent interviews did more: made me believe that he understands something critically important about where we stand in history.

Anyone who sees and listens to the world around them should be able to see and hear the level of discontent and desperation that so many people feel, as well as the deep cynicism and disgust they feel toward the existing political parties and the entire realm of public affairs in this country.

The moment of hope and sense of at least temporary relief many experienced with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020 only made the reality of this administration so much more horrible. If you were encouraged by a presidential candidate who invoked the memory of George Floyd, a Black man publicly lynched by police, how could you not feel nauseous when, once in office, that same president spent billions putting thousands more police on the street? If you felt relieved that the Democrats had at last come to understand the urgency of rapid climate change in November 2020, in the few years since you have certainly shaken with rage as Biden ushers in new drillings and pipelines and giveaways to the fossil fuel industry. If you had deplored Trump’s militarism and believed that at least “our” government was reorienting to diplomacy, how could you not be sickened by the Democrats allocating billions of dollars to fund a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, while promoting and gearing up for a new cold war against China?

The sudden entry of a widely respected voice like Dr. West’s into the cacophony of what has come to pass for political discourse in this country naturally compels attention. No matter the how or the why or the how well, it is certain that Dr. West’s run, his contribution to political discourse, stands to bring clarity on a wide range of political issues to millions of working-poor people, and might very well spark a consciousness-raising that in turn inspires a genuine working-class movement for a better world.

Dr. West is criticized by some people on the Left because he has supported and even campaigned for Democrats in the past, from Jesse Jackson to Bill Bradley to Barack Obama to Bernie Sanders. So it is important to hear him now when he declares that there are two major parties and political forces in the U.S. One is the neo-fascist Republican Party. The other is what Dr. West refers to as the “milquetoast neoliberal” Democratic Party. And a significant part of Dr. West’s motivation for running for president in 2024 is simply this: neoliberalism cannot forestall the triumph of fascism. If the Democrats refuse to articulate a compelling working and poor people’s agenda, millions in the U.S. will turn or acquiesce to a fascist government — no matter which party dominates it.

There is much, much more to say about the Democratic Party — including that its owners, the ruling capitalist class, keep it on a short leash, using it precisely to restrain the emergence of an independent working-class movement that combines organized labor with campaigns against oppression and imperialism. Some of it Dr. West says and some of it he does not say, or does not say clearly. But that is another discussion.

Dr. West is successfully articulating that only a broad, multi-racial, working-class movement can stave off the rise of fascism — as well as combat existential issues like rapid climate change and the U.S. war machine. Dr. West grasps this essential fact, and has the unique ability to explain it to millions of people who feel this reality in their bones, but do not yet have the words to express it.

2024 could be a turning point in U.S. history. It could be the year that millions of people rally around a political campaign that prioritizes radical demands for social equality, that recognizes and validates the experiences of oppressed people who want control over their own bodies, their own communities, and their own destinies. It could be the year that millions rally around a political agenda that reflects the interests of working-poor people — socialized housing, healthcare, and education; the right to organize in unions; world peace; a habitable future for our planet — and unconditionally puts those interests front and center.

Dr. Cornel West is not a messiah. He does not have all the answers. He will not — certainly not by himself — embody every change we need. In many respects, he is only a very eloquent figurehead. But he has appeared on the scene at a time, and in a manner, and with a message that could light a spark. And that spark, fanned by social movements into a flame, might grow into a fire that even fascism cannot extinguish.

Republished with revisions from the author’s blog, Tell No Lies. Claim No Easy Victories… We thank the author for his kind open-ended offer of republication.

A few weeks before the 2022 midterm elections, President Biden promised that, if the Democrats maintained and expanded their majorities in both houses of Congress, he would push for legislation to enshrine the right to abortion in law.

In a speech to the Democratic National Committee on October 18, Biden stated his belief that “the [Supreme] Court got Roe right 50 years ago, and I believe that Congress should codify Roe [as law] once and for all.” The president also promised to veto any legislation that would restrict abortion rights in the event of a Republican midterm elections victory and Republican majorities in Congress.

Biden was referring to the Supreme Court’s decision this year in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which, by a 5–4 majority, it overturned the Court’s previous 1973 decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, which found a “constitutional” right to abortion. The Court’s decision in Dobbs eliminated the only federal legal protection of the right to abortion. As a result, several Republican Party-controlled state governments have passed legislation banning and criminalizing abortion at the state level. Most of these states have also made it a crime to travel to an adjacent state for the purpose of seeking an abortion.

In the same speech, Biden claimed, “Right now, we’re short a handful of votes” to pass legislation protecting abortion rights.

So, the president went on, “If you care about the right to choose, then you gotta vote. That’s why, in these midterm elections, it’s so critical to elect more [Democrats] to the U.S. Senate and more Democrats to keep control of the House of Representatives. And, folks, if we do that, here’s the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade.”

President Biden made the extraordinary claim that, even with majorities in both houses of Congress, and the presidency — in other words, full control of the federal government — the Democrats were incapable of passing a law to protect the right to abortion and other reproductive rights.

In fact, the president’s claim was an outright lie!

The Democrats have held their current majorities in Congress and the presidency for two years; thus, the Democrats have had two years to pass legislation protecting the right to abortion and other reproductive rights. The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision was handed down on June 24 of this year; thus, the Democrats have had almost five months to pass legislation protecting the civil rights that the Court eliminated. Even with the midterms behind us, the Democrats still have the power to pass any legislation whatsoever — right now. In fact, the new members of Congress will not be sworn in until January 2023, which means that the Democrats will remain in full control of the federal government for nearly two months.

When the Democrats throw their hands up and say, as Biden said, that they’re “short on votes,” the truth is that they are shamelessly lying to you. The truth is not that they can’t, but that they won’t.

But, why? The Democrats claim to be the party of reproductive rights, and the party of progressive civil rights in general. That’s how they’ve distinguished themselves from the GOP. If they can protect reproductive rights — if they can do so right now — then why won’t they?

It all comes down to the Democratic Party’s classic, tried-and-true electoral strategy: “carrot and stick.”

In the run-up to every election cycle, the Democrats dangle a “carrot” in front of certain sections of the U.S. electorate — in front of women, in front of LGBT people, in front of Black and other racially oppressed people, in front of disabled people, in front of migrants, in front of the working classes and the poor, and so on. The Democrats promise, “If you vote for us, we’ll protect your civil, political, and basic human rights. But you have to vote,” they insist, turning and pointing at the “stick” we know as the GOP, “or else your rights will be taken away.”

This election cycle was no different. For the Democrats, centering abortion rights in the midterm elections was a tactical move.

With the U.S. economy hurtling into another crisis and recession, and with inflation skyrocketing, many political commentators predicted that the GOP would sweep the midterm elections. But it seems that mainstream opinion underestimated the significance of reproductive rights and other civil rights, such as marriage equality, that are now threatened by an increasingly extreme-right GOP and a right-fascist Supreme Court. The consensus among mainstream political analysts is now that the issue of abortion rights played a singularly important role in the midterm elections, and that this single issue decided, in favor of the Democrats, many of this election cycle’s most hotly contested races.

Aside from the elections, ballot measures in several states concerned abortion. In every case, pro-choice proposals triumphed and anti-choice proposals were defeated.

Ballot measures enshrining the “right to reproductive freedom” in state constitutions were passed by majorities of voters in California (by 67%), Michigan (by 57%), and Vermont (by 77%). Conversely, a ballot measure in Kentucky, regarded as a thoroughly “red” state, would have amended that state’s constitution to stipulate that there is no right to an abortion. This backwards proposal was rejected by 52% of voters in Kentucky. A similar, but more convoluted, measure in Montana, which would have criminalized a wide range of abortion-inducing medical procedures, was rejected by 53% of voters in that state.

Clearly, the majority of U.S. citizens, even in many “red” states, support, in general, the right to abortion.

The Democrats understood this, and so, in standard Democrat fashion, they made the right to abortion the cornerstone of their midterm elections campaigns, with a few exceptions, across the country. In their messaging, the Democrats resorted to their tried-and-true “carrot and stick” strategy — making empty promises to pass legislation after the midterm elections, if the results were favorable, yet refusing to take action now, while they actually can. 

Now the 2022 midterm elections are mostly over, and the results, although incomplete, are clear: The Democrats no longer control Congress. The Republicans won a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, while the Democrats maintained a similarly narrow majority in the Senate.

What does this mean for Biden’s earlier promise to “codify Roe” in law?

At the president’s press conference on Monday, November 14, a reporter asked Biden, “What should Americans expect from Congress as it relates to abortion rights,” given the results of the midterm elections.

Biden replied, “I don’t think they can expect much of anything, other than we’re going to maintain our positions.” When further pressed, he added, “I don’t think there’s enough votes [in Congress] to codify [Roe], unless something happens unusual in the House [of Representatives]. I think we’re going to get very close in the House, but I don’t — I think it’s going to be very close, but I don’t think we’re going to make it.”

For two years (correctly speaking, for several decades) the Democrats have held hostage the right to abortion. This week, Biden made clear that his party won’t be giving up that valuable bargaining chip anytime soon — at the very least, not until the conclusion of the next election cycle, two years from now.

As we’ve said, the Democrats still have the power to pass legislation right now. In fact, the Democrats are currently in the process of passing legislation protecting the right to gay marriage in law. But they won’t do the same for reproductive rights.

Evidently, Biden’s plan is to keep the “carrot and stick” of reproductive rights available for use in 2024, when he’ll most likely face Donald Trump in another presidential election. We can be sure that the Democrats will yet again present themselves as the “party of women’s rights” in 2024. Until then, millions of women and transgender people will continue to needlessly suffer under a regime that cruelly denies us basic rights to essential, life-saving healthcare, and criminalizes us for seeking it.