This article was reprinted from the August 10, 1996 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.
Terrorism, plaguing the rest of the world for many years, has now rocked the people of the United States. The seemingly senseless, random bombings and bomb threats that have stunned the U.S., killing and maiming hundreds, have created an atmosphere and mood of physical fear and psychological terror throughout our country - the pervasive fear that no building, no park, no church, no aircraft is safe anymore.
Together with the church burnings, government standoffs with armed militias and so-called Patriot Movements of the fascist fringe, the wave of bombings directed against the people has created an atmosphere of physical fear, a new crisis, that affects our whole society.
Besides the terrible personal tragedies and sorrow, It has created deep resentment and widespread anger. And so it should.
However, the new terrorism is not an isolated phenomenon. It cannot be separated from the deeply violent society we live in - the corporate and police brutality, the anti-human, criminal behavior of a system that's credo is "greed is good," the dog-eat-dog, corporate, me-first mentality that permeates our entire society. The everyday violence and brutality of living in our capitalist society as it decays plays a very real role in stimulating individuals and groups to commit acts of terrorism. It is a culture, a mentality and atmosphere that breeds and feeds anti-human behavior in all its forms.
Thus, terrorism in the U.S. is not new. The causes, the practice and roots of terrorism are in the very nature of our ruling-class dominated capitalist society that is driven by one motivation - private profits. It is ruled and run by one class - the U.S. corporate capitalist class, one of the most brutal and violent ruling classes in the history of class society.
Ours is a nation run by a handful of ruthless corporate elites and their mega-monopolies whose credo is "greed is good." These multi-billionaires are making bigger profits throwing people out of work, into the streets, shelters and souplines by the hundreds of thousands. They call it downsizing. We call it "economic terrorism."
With their Contract On America, corporate America and its bought-and-paid-for Gang of 73 in Congress are working to dismantle every safety-net, life-line social program won in the heat of class battles over the past 60 years.
Why? It is not because there is no money. It is not because the government can't afford to sustain, even increase, these programs. It is certainly not to balance the budget or reduce the national debt.
It is pure and simple greed. The multinational mega-monopolies and financial empires and filthy rich corporate elite want to get richer by making the poor poorer. They want to put all the costs of the economic and social crises they create onto the backs of the working people.
Thus, Corporate America spends billions on a propaganda machine of "ideological terrorism" to intimidate and fool the people into believing that government is "too big, too intrusive, too bureaucratic, and too much in debt." They do this with lies and deception, by creating myths and stereotypes. They say the Contract on America is the way to end "big government," by ending all government responsibility for the welfare of the people.
One part of the Contract, the welfare bill now on its way to Clinton's desk, is an act of economic terrorism against working and poor people. If he does not use his veto, Clinton will be signing a death warrant for the elderly and condemning millions more families and their children to hunger and homelessness.
It will be a double dose of economic terrorism against the African American, Latino and American Indian peoples who are already living below poverty, many dependent on federal food stamps and welfare programs to sustain life.
In these already depressed and oppressed communities Clinton would be condemning millions more to mass hunger, homelessness and despair, with nowhere to turn for help. Is it not a form of terrorism to throw people off welfare and food stamps on the basis that they must go to work when there are no decent jobs and no provision to create jobs?
The so-called "block grants" to states are shamefully inadequate and there is no provision mandating that the states even use what they do get for destitute families thrown off federal life-support programs.
Our cities are already in deep crisis. Homeless shelters and soup kitchens cannot meet the crying need now. That is why mayors and governors are making militant statements denouncing the bill. They know there will be mass hunger and fury that will spill into the streets, into rebellions and uprisings such as we have not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
It doesn't have to be that way. This terrorism can be stopped and reversed. But to do it we have to unite and fight to defeat every ultra-right Republican in Congress and roll back the economic terrorism of the Contract On America.
If we don't defeat the ultra-right, the attacks on the working class will sharpen. Every part of the Contract - Medicaid, Medicare, social security and every other social program - will be on the chopping block. And there will not be a sufficient counterforce to stop the carnage of these Congressional butchers. Mass layoffs, downsizing, attacks on unions and union busting will become a reign of "anti-labor terrorism."
"Racist terrorism" will take on a new head of steam. The racist, fascist fringe militias, the Ku Klux Klan, and the "Patriot" movements will be given a green light to widen their "reign of terror" to keep people intimidated and fearful while their programs and rights are being eliminated and stripped.
A reelected ultra-right will gut - and, if possible, eliminate - every civil rights law and roll back every economic and political step toward equality.
If reelected, the rich, arrogant freshman Republicans will work feverishly to undo every measure, every program that helps the poor, the racially and nationally oppressed, the elderly, the ill, the disabled and the children.
A reelected ultra-right Congress will institute "environmental terrorism," a pollution and poisoning of our environment that will eliminate all the existing regulations that preserve our environment and protect our publicly-owned natural resources. They will work quietly and effectively to deregulate and then privatize and sell-off lands, forests, preserves and every natural resource in this richly endowed country of ours.
This will surely be the scenario after Nov. 5 if we don't unite and work to defeat every ultra-right Republican running for re-election in this country.
People's power, united and led by the new, revitalized and militant trade union movement, can beat back the ultra-right danger and defeat the Gingrich-Dole gang of 73. This will put a stop to the "ultra-right terrorist war" against the people.
When Dole, the Republicans and Clinton call for ending "the era of big government," our response must be, "End the era of big business. Put people before profits."
When Clinton says he is signing the "economic terrorism" bill to "end welfare as we know it," our response must be, "End corporate welfare as we know it."
There is a "people before profits" way out of the mess we're in. The Republican National Convention is now in session. The Democratic National Convention will be held later this month.
Labor, its allies and people's movements are and will be demonstrating and demanding that the Republicans and Democrats heed the voices and demands of labor and the people.
It was the new activism and power of labor, the nationwide "America Needs a Raise" campaign, that compelled this Con-gress to finally pass the minimum wage bill.
This victory shows the potential power and influence of labor when it wages a national campaign that unites the trade unions with people's movements and working class communities.
It will take a truly mass, united - Black, Brown, Red and white - all people's united front, led by labor and its allies, to cleanse the ultra-right from positions of power, change the balance of power in Congress, end the "Contract on America," restore all the social programs, turn our country around and go forward as a people, as a class, as a nation.
We Communists believe that our proposals for solutions are realistic and possible. Just as we believe that a socialist USA is the only realistic solution for the problems and crises that capitalism can no longer solve. And, that it is possible to win.
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