After the end of the 2018 midterm election cycle, One Struggle wrote about how the concept of “progressive” has been co-opted by the capitalist class and the imperialist powers in a way that serves their own interests and not those of the working class. Where the original article was about the imperative to reclaim the term and build the concept outside of the capitalist framework, the current presidential election has given a chance to explore another facet of the article: how exactly those who act in the interest of capital end up framing themselves as the viable progressive alternative. The ‘viable progressive alternative’ we’ve been told to stand behind is none other than the Biden/Harris Presidential Ticket and the Democratic Party.
Once again, the election pits one reactionary brand vs. another. Whereas Trump is a fascist who nakedly values the economy over human lives, the Biden/Harris ticket represents a return to a ‘humane’ capitalism that they are presenting as progressive to the masses. The Biden campaign ran on a platform that speaks to certain ideas that have been floating around in the discourse but does not wholly integrate them, instead the campaign only takes pieces of them to have them fit within a capitalist framework. The Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and defunding the police are all programs and positions that have gained some level of traction amongst a segment of the democratic voting bloc that the campaign has come out against. But while coming out against these specific topics, the campaign platform makes nods to investment in green technology and rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, expanding the Affordable Care Act, and investing in community policing programs and businesses owned by people of color.
We must note, the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and even defunding the police aren’t progressive positions since these programs would not be designed in the interests of the masses if implemented within a capitalist system, both domestically and abroad. Quoting from the original article to reinforce this point, “How does starting new green businesses in the U.S. address the havoc we’ve wreaked extracting resources from abroad? How does Medicare For All address the domination of pharmaceutical companies in medical research and practice? How does a diverse class of oppressors help us cast off our oppression and exploitation?” In spite of that, the campaign running on a more humane version of capitalism chose to walk back from even these positions regardless of the support they would have amongst their base. The Democratic Party does this in an attempt to reconcile popular positions with the class interests they serve.
Even though the Green New Deal, etc., are not progressive, they could be disruptive to the current status quo that was built by established bourgeois bureaucrats. If these programs were instituted, they might stress certain sections of manufacturing, fuel production, health insurance, and policing but will also most likely expand the markets around them as well. Capitalism is as capitalism does, after all. The Biden campaign cannot take on any possible policy proposal that could be seen as disruptive to the status quo of capitalism so they must part and parcel and integrate them when constructing their alternative to Trump. An alternative that does nothing to combat American imperialism, that does nothing drastic to combat climate change, that keeps in place a for-profit healthcare system, and one that would end up giving more money to police. Such an alternative is not in the interest of the masses and cannot be progressive. This alternative tows the line of conservative capital despite any sort of concessions the campaign makes. The Biden campaign’s policies act in favor of capitalist interest first and give concessions to the masses second. And as we’ve seen before with Obama, that is a recipe that is insufficient for combating fascism.
An insightful line from the original article, “the capitalist/imperialist classes must transform expressions of class struggle to serve their own interests,” points to why this campaign and the Democratic party force this juggling act. In an attempt to maintain their base and act in capitalist interest, they have to defang anything that could be seen as a threat to capital, even though those threats are more in the interest of the masses than anything they put forth in response. We must not waste our energy in pushing Biden to the left but instead in constructing a truly progressive alternative that will weaken capitalism and imperialism.
