It is not that incoherent. Trump ran on a populist campaign, remember?
The rise of populism in American politics in the 2010s can be directly traced to the 2008 global financial crisis, during which nine million of American families lost their homes and millions more lost their jobs and their wealth. It was the last straw after decades of de-industrialization.
For an average American who just wants the jobs to come back, there is no difference between Trump and Sanders, if you look past the social progressive policies (and I suspect most American workers don’t give a damn about the terminally online chud stuff at all).
Sanders gave up and has completely assimilated into the DNC establishment, and campaigned for Joe Biden.
Trump won the first election, but regardless of his personal views, is completely unable to re-shore American jobs because the Wall Street financial capital simply won’t allow it. Sanders would have faced the same obstacles too if he were to be elected as president (and at that point, you can be sure that he has been 100% compromised by the establishment).
The point is that left-wing populism is always popular in America, but the material conditions simply aren’t there yet.
Material conditions don’t mean quality of life, as many internet leftists mistakenly think so. It means that a set of conditions determined by material forces will have to be fulfilled first.
For example, labor in modern US society is no longer tied to production, but to debt (the rentier economy), since its transition away from industrial capitalism into hyper-financialized capitalism, much like how a feudal society cannot unleash the revolutionary potential of the masses because labor was still tied to land (hence, land reform being one of the conditions toward socialism).
The big question is how do you re-proletarianize the American working class? It would require an extensive change in the current material conditions, for example, the collapse of Wall Street and the financialized system, the re-shoring of American industries etc. It would require a thorough class analysis into the 21st century American society. The conditions are unique to America - having to also take into account the historical development of its racial discrimination, imperial ambitions, dollar hegemony (financial imperialism) etc. that are very different from other countries.
I honestly don’t see much good quality work being done on this front, so the answers will continue to elude us until the Americans have their own body of analyses like Marx/Lenin/Mao did.
The big question is how do you re-proletarianize the American working class? It would require an extensive change in the current material conditions, for example, the collapse of Wall Street and the financialized system, the re-shoring of American industries etc. It would require a thorough class analysis into the 21st century American society. The conditions are unique to America - having to also take into account the historical development of its racial discrimination, imperial ambitions, dollar hegemony (financial imperialism) etc. that are very different from other countries.
This is well said. I’ve been trying to explain to a few budding comrades what you describe here.
My less eloquent attempt was simply American’s have yet to feel enough pain from the boot on their neck. The pressure was spread across foreign workers for a very long time. Inevitably, it will come back home. That day appears to be quickly approaching, if it’s not already here.
Sanders would have faced the same obstacles too if he were to be elected as president (and at that point, you can be sure that he has been 100% compromised by the establishment).
from my understanding the plan was sanders was going to use the bully pullpit to try and send crowds of people at whoever was stopping his agenda. why he totally gave up on this after losing in 2020 and started cheerleading the democratic party is the real mystery
It is not that incoherent. Trump ran on a populist campaign, remember?
The rise of populism in American politics in the 2010s can be directly traced to the 2008 global financial crisis, during which nine million of American families lost their homes and millions more lost their jobs and their wealth. It was the last straw after decades of de-industrialization.
For an average American who just wants the jobs to come back, there is no difference between Trump and Sanders, if you look past the social progressive policies (and I suspect most American workers don’t give a damn about the terminally online chud stuff at all).
Sanders gave up and has completely assimilated into the DNC establishment, and campaigned for Joe Biden.
Trump won the first election, but regardless of his personal views, is completely unable to re-shore American jobs because the Wall Street financial capital simply won’t allow it. Sanders would have faced the same obstacles too if he were to be elected as president (and at that point, you can be sure that he has been 100% compromised by the establishment).
The point is that left-wing populism is always popular in America, but the material conditions simply aren’t there yet.
Material conditions don’t mean quality of life, as many internet leftists mistakenly think so. It means that a set of conditions determined by material forces will have to be fulfilled first.
For example, labor in modern US society is no longer tied to production, but to debt (the rentier economy), since its transition away from industrial capitalism into hyper-financialized capitalism, much like how a feudal society cannot unleash the revolutionary potential of the masses because labor was still tied to land (hence, land reform being one of the conditions toward socialism).
The big question is how do you re-proletarianize the American working class? It would require an extensive change in the current material conditions, for example, the collapse of Wall Street and the financialized system, the re-shoring of American industries etc. It would require a thorough class analysis into the 21st century American society. The conditions are unique to America - having to also take into account the historical development of its racial discrimination, imperial ambitions, dollar hegemony (financial imperialism) etc. that are very different from other countries.
I honestly don’t see much good quality work being done on this front, so the answers will continue to elude us until the Americans have their own body of analyses like Marx/Lenin/Mao did.
This is well said. I’ve been trying to explain to a few budding comrades what you describe here.
My less eloquent attempt was simply American’s have yet to feel enough pain from the boot on their neck. The pressure was spread across foreign workers for a very long time. Inevitably, it will come back home. That day appears to be quickly approaching, if it’s not already here.
from my understanding the plan was sanders was going to use the bully pullpit to try and send crowds of people at whoever was stopping his agenda. why he totally gave up on this after losing in 2020 and started cheerleading the democratic party is the real mystery
Thank you for the in-depth analysis, very enlightening!