Build the resistance against Trump

Join international day of protest on 20 January

Hated Republican president-elect Donald Trump, photo Gage Skidmore (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)

Helen Pattison, London Socialist Party

As Donald Trump is sworn in as US President, Socialist Alternative, our US co-thinkers, have put out a call for people to take to the streets in protest against his racist and sexist ideas. When a similar call was made on the day of the election, 40,000 people protested in a matter of hours.

This time there will also be solidarity protests around the world organised by socialists fighting for an alternative to the reactionary ideas of Trump and the misery ordinary people have faced over the last eight years of capitalist crisis. Eight years marked by the destruction of decent, skilled jobs and their replacement with minimum wage, precarious work.

Trump's election took place against the backdrop of a broken capitalist system, unable to provide a decent standard of living for ordinary working class people.

But rather than a stunning endorsement of Trump and his ideas (Trump lost the popular vote), in reality the presidential election was a failure of the two-party system and the Democratic Party establishment.

The primaries were dominated by a massive mobilisation of working class people around Bernie Sanders' campaign calling for a 'political revolution'. Even in London classrooms, student members of the Socialist Party report that while people despise Trump, no one liked Clinton either.

Bernie Sanders' campaign showed that many workers and young people not only reject the reactionary ideas of Trump, but also believe in the need for an alternative to the rule of Wall Street and big business. His popularity showed the scope for a new party of working class people which could put out a call for jobs, homes and services for all. A party with these demands could start to undo the divisive impact of Trump's ideas.

The protests against Trump's inauguration must just be the beginning. A serious fight is needed against war, racism and austerity. We must build mass movements in the interest of the 99% and for a socialist alternative to the misery of capitalism.

See socialiststudents.org.uk for protest details

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.