By Caj | South Eastern Study League

The election season is always a time to find out which comrades are principled, and which will give up their principles to vote for a candidate of a bourgeois party.  Every four years the proletarians of the imperial core find themselves in a position where they are told they must choose between candidates that have a history of being the most blood thirsty imperialists.  And here I say; the proletarians have had enough of these tailist and opportunist talking points.  The people demand liberation, not some reformist ideology that doesn’t remove the imperialists domination! These idealist talking points surround proletarians all throughout the imperial core.  “Vote for (insert candidate) because they aren’t as bad as (insert candidate)”  Or they will straight up admit how disappointing or disastrous that one candidate is, but according to them, we must apparently hold our criticism of that one candidate so another candidate who is worse doesn’t win.  Within so-called left spaces, you’ll often hear liberal talking points like: “We understand Biden is bad, and I wish we had another option,” as they have said for every election they’ve been eligible to vote for, “… but it’s the only option we have for harm reduction.”  They say harm reduction, but will completely ignore the atrocities that have happened under Joe Biden.

These talking points usually lack a material analysis of capitalism in the era of imperialism, and are rooted in bourgeoisie electoral sectarianism.  Not only are these talking points sectarian, but these oppurtunist’s are completely apathetic to the lives who have been lost due to the actions of the current President, like his blind support for the settler colonial entity of “Israel” and his complicity in the genocide of Palestinians.  They will also ignore the atrocities that Biden is complicit in domestically like his anti-immigration policies, or the fact that he has added more funding to the police and military.

Words blurted out from an external perspective, before the mind has understood the internal contradictions that make up a situation, are the strongest tools of these opportunists.  They believe if they vote hard enough for Joe Biden, fascism will be defeated.  But this lacks a concrete understanding of what fascism is.  Fascism is capitalism in decay.  What does this mean?  Well every society based in class struggle is dictatorship of whatever specific class rules over it.  In feudalism there exists the dictatorship of the feudal of nobility.  In capitalism, there’s the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, and it has a domination over the social superstructure.  The state is one of many aspects that make up the social superstructure and exists to do the violent deeds of the capitalists.  When class antagonisms reach it’s inevitable boiling point, there will be a time where the people will no longer be able to live how they are forced to live, and the rulers can no longer rule how they once did.  There are two options for the bourgeoisie as the proletariat, led by a vanguard party, resists bourgeois oppression.  The bourgeoisie is either defeated or they will double down and use the state to inflict total tyranny and suppress the proletarian movement.  It doesn’t matter if a republican or a democrat is in office, if the proletarians were to fight for liberation tomorrow, the state would give into fascism. 

Secondly, they tend to completely ignore the atrocities of Biden, and will just stress saying “this is the most important election of our lives!”  This is again rooted in electoral sectarianism and ignores the nature of the state.  Biden, who is a self proclaimed zionist has made it clear multiple times of his blatant support for the settler colonial entity of Israel.^[1] With weapons supplied from the imperialists, Israel bombs the innocents in Gaza, and Biden has lied for and stood by Israel this entire time.  His whole political career, he’s been a supporter of the settler entity.

One of many examples of Biden’s support for Israel, he said:

“It is the best 3 billion dollar investment we make.  Were there not an Israel, the United States would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region.”^[2] 

Biden admitting US interests are a prime example of Palestine’s enemy not only being Israel, but also the enemy of American Imperialism.  Israel is a state that is held by the imperialists interests in the region and collaboration with the racist mythology of zionism.

As comrade George Habash points out (may he rest in resistance):

“Under the guidance of this strategy, a memorandum of strategic understanding was signed between Israel and American imperialism, which underwent development and deepening.  The zionist entity now occupies the same position as the members of NATO in the network of imperialist alliance” (Pp. 51) ^[3]

So Biden is just another plant of the bourgeoisie, doing their bidding by blatantly supporting Israel.  Not only that, but Biden has actively sharpened the blade of the bourgeoisie by increasing both military and police spending.^[4] In 2020, comrades were protesting police brutality and how the police are a reactionary institution deeply rooted in white supremacy, and Biden, who claimed to be a “supporter” of this cause went ahead and gave them more funding, but with the mask of a fake smile.

This doesn’t even mention Biden’s atrocities historically.  How constantly in his many years as a politician, he has been directly complicit in supporting imperialist and racist policies.  But Biden isn’t alone in this.  This is the case for every bourgeoisie backed politician, and we won’t get anywhere by being stuck in the loophole of bourgeoisie electoralism.  The way we can truly create effective change is by connecting marxism with the proletarian movement through the leadership of a vanguard party.  Once the proletariat have defeated the bourgeoisie, only then will the imperial core be defeated and their dominance over oppressed nations will cease to exist.

1. Meyers, Seth. “Joe Biden says he is a Zionist and he ‘loves Bibi.’” YouTube, 13 December 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDR-tWM2zzU.
2. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2HZs.
3. Habash, George. “Understanding Zionism.” Al-Qabas Kuwait, 8 July 1988.
4. “FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Budget Makes Our Communities Safer and Combats Crime.” The White House, 9 March 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/09/fact-sheet-president-bidens-budget-makes-our-communities-safer-and-combats-crime/.