Tag Archives: history

Capitalism, Socialism, Communism — and Monopolies!

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“Monopoly capitalism is an economic system where free competition gives way to control by a few large corporations, trusts, or cartels that dominate entire markets. This late-19th-century development shifted economic power from many small firms to giant enterprises. [1, 2, 3, 4]

“Core Features

  • Market Dominance: A tiny number of large firms set prices and output levels instead of relying on open market competition.
  • Capital Concentration: Wealth and resources centralize into fewer hands through mergers and heavy industrial-financial cooperation.
  • State Involvement: Governments often step in to protect major industries or shape policies favoring large corporate interests.
  • Global Expansion: Large firms push into international markets for resources and cheap labor, linking closely to imperialist economic policies. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]”

from AI Overview


For over 58 years I have been a politically conscious, progressive/leftist activist and organizer. Over all of this time there has NEVER been anything like this summer’s national mass media reporting and airing of opinions on the issues of capitalism, socialism and communism. The fact that this is happening bigtime in 2026 is a major development.

Why is the media doing this? From my observations I would say it is primarily because of the desperation of the Trumpfascists. Faced with plummeting poll numbers for Trump—the latest having him at about 33% popular approval and 60% or more disapproval—these MAGA’s have turned to redbaiting and ultra-negative attacks on not just Bernie Sanders, AOC, open DSA socialist candidates and others, but on all Democratic candidates as pro-socialist or communist, which is definitely not the case.

This anti-socialist/communist strategy has not stopped, and maybe even helped, the electoral victories in Democratic primaries throughout the country of people who are progressives and/or socialists. Those who are socialists (none claim to be communists) aren’t just unafraid of being labeled in these ways; they have won because they have  explained in concrete terms, with personal backgrounds to back it up, what a government not dominated by billionaires would be all about: improving the lives of working people of all races, genders and nationalities and not allowing corporate PACs and the billionaire class to dictate US government policy anymore. The hardline MAGA Republicans are clearly afraid the billionaires and multi-multi-millionaire oligarchs will lose wealth and power as our up-from-the-grassroots movement keeps growing and getting stronger.

This is a positive development for sure.

But there’s a different kind of discussion on this overall subject that is NOT happening among progressives and leftists, as far as I can tell, that needs to happen, and the sooner the better. Here is how I have come to see it after lots of thinking on the subject over a number of years:

What is most immediately before us is not the replacement of “capitalism” with “socialism.” What IS before us is the disempowerment and downsizing of the oligarchy, the billionaire class, the corporate monopolists. THAT is the issue. We should not be against people, small-scale capitalists, who are owners of a farm or a small business where they must, to survive, make a profit to meet expenses and finance improvements, including decent wages for farm workers and small business workers. As long as those owners are treating their workers with respect, not fighting unionization efforts, they should be welcomed to our people’s movement.

In part the reason for this approach is because we want to keep winning and growing, and to do that we need a broadly-based movement of the kind that we are seeing in many states right now as far as progressive electoral victories. Turning off potential allies by rigid ideological positions or adventuristic tactics is a losing approach.

But it goes much deeper than this.

I can’t see the urgently-needed transition away from monopolistic and oligarchic capitalism leading directly into a socialist society, definitely not in the United States. What IS possible, imho, for some time to come, is more of a consciously mixed economy, one that would have aspects of capitalism and socialism, both economically and ideologically. The oligarchy under such a society, with a new government of, by and for the people, a genuinely democratic society, would be prohibited from using their wealth to buy politicians, as a popular government taxes and redistributes much of their obscene wealth for societal needs like universal health care, a rapid transition off fossil fuels to jobs-creating renewables and electric cars, a much more care-oriented economy, a $25/hour minimum wage and more.

Essential to all of this, necessary if these political and economic changes are to take place, is conscious support for what is already developing in the USA: a new culture, a new way of working with and relating to others which, more than anything else, is grounded in love and connection to the natural world.

I believe that we can win. We have to.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Nixon Then, Trump Now?

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“Donald Trump is running the biggest grift in American history. The unprecedented scale of the president’s corruption was exposed by the recent release of his financial disclosure report, which revealed that he made $2.2 billion since he returned to the White House. His various crypto schemes, thousands of stock trades, and financial entanglements with foreign governments such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia are practically the definition of conflict of interest. Trump made $635 million by issuing a meme coin, $TRUMP, while nearly 1 million investors in the coin collectively lost $3.8 billion. Trump’s thousands of stock trades often occur just before or after he makes market-moving decisions. . . Republicans are almost all silent as Trump and his family shamelessly exploit the presidency.” Editorial, The Free Press, July, 2026

Observing the deepening, outrageous actions and transparent and massive Trumpfascist corruption; following the repeated reports of Trump’s seriously declining health; seeing the latest polls just coming out showing Trump only having the support of 1/3 of the US American people; and remembering that on August 9, 1974, 52 years ago, Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency, it feels like it is increasingly possible that, one way or the other, Trump will be gone from the Presidency many months before his four year term is up.

As a former National Co-coordinator of the National Campaign to Impeach Nixon, the shortest and most successful organization I’ve ever been a part of, literally in existence for nine months before Nixon was gone, I’d say August 9, 1974 is an anniversary to be remembered by all of us who believe in democracy and justice. It is a way to remind the US American people that as bad as things can look, things do change. We are a long way from the early days in January and February of 2025 when we were filled with dread about what was in store for our country, our peoples, and the world.

Nixon was at one time much more popular than Trump has ever been. When he was re-elected in 1972 he had a 23% margin of victory in the popular vote and won every state except Massachusetts and DC. In 2024 Trump didn’t make 50% of the popular vote, was only 1 1/2% percent ahead of Kamala Harris, and carried many less states than Nixon did.

Other than his term running out and him needing to leave in January, 2029 (ugh), if not voluntarily but because of massive political pressure and many millions in the streets, how could Trump no longer be President? He could die or be seriously incapacitated health wise and no longer be able to do Presidential duties. He could decide to resign, maybe in the spring of 2027 after Democratic control of both the House and Senate, or even just the House, makes it clear that it will be much more difficult for him to do what he wants to do. He could be removed by a majority vote of his Cabinet (25th Amendment) as they confront and act on the drag that he is on parts of their agenda and Republican electoral prospects in the future. Or perhaps something else might happen.

These are not idle wishes. They are possible because of Trumpfascist incompetence and corruption, massive voter dissatisfaction, and the growing political strength of the progressive movement, one which is working with a broader cross-section of people who hate Trump but who don’t identify as “progressive.”

Of course, the absolute last thing those of us who want Trump gone should do is slacken up on electoral work for November 3 and our street activism and grassroots organizing on all the many issues. Indeed, it is critical that as many Democrats and pro-working-class Independents as possible win their races so that votes in the House and Senate are forward-looking and positive [note: there are at least two viable US Senate Independent candidacies in Montana and Nebraska and a number of Independents running for House seats]. The higher the percentage of such folks in office the stronger our pro-democracy and justice movement will be.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Communism: To Each According to Their Needs–Really?

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“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Acts 2:44-45, New Oxford Annotated Bible

“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. . . There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.” Acts 4: 32, 34-35

“’From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,’ is a foundational communist maxim. It describes a stateless, classless society where people contribute to the community based on what they do best, and receive resources based on what they genuinely need to live a dignified life.”  AI Overview

Do Trump and the Republicans know about these quotations from the book of Acts in the Bible about this core belief and practice of the early Christian church just years after the death of Jesus? Some church-going ones probably do, although I’d bet that it is rare indeed that these verses have been quoted in church on Sunday in the modern era.

The “according to their needs” phrase is more well-known, an idea that has been around for a long time, popularized in 1875 by Karl Marx in his Critique of the Gotha Program.

The Trump/Republican attempt to brand the democratic resistance as “communist” opens up possibilities for us around the country to talk with others, including MAGA others, about all of this. So many people in the USA have been propagandized to believe that “communism” is what Russia turned into after Stalin became the top leader of the USSR in the late 1920’s.

The USSR in the 20’s was struggling with the devastation of World War I, the efforts for three years by the capitalist countries and supporters of the former Czar to overthrow the new revolutionary government, and an overwhelmingly peasant society with not much industry and a small industrial working class. It would have been a miracle of the highest order if they had been able to build anything close to the early Christian and early Marxist visions referenced above.

Stalin’s ascension to power and the brutal and destructive ways that he used it, as well as the USSR’s political dominance over communist parties around the world for the next 30 years, made it much easier for rich capitalists and powerful corporate leaders in Europe and the USA to paint not just the USSR but the very idea of communism as an evil thing.

The progressive/independent/socialist/pro-democracy/justice movement of tens of millions in the USA is nothing at all like the Trumpfascists and their apologists in the media are painting it. The overwhelming majority of those part of it are truly defenders of democracy, democracy of, by and for the people, not the billionaire oligarchs. We believe that, yes, the obscene riches they have gained off of the labor of others should be taxed and redistributed, so that poverty, hunger and homelessness are eradicated and we give leadership together with others in the world who believe in the same things for their countries. We want a world whose ecological systems are not dying, literally dying, because of the dominance of the polluting oil, coal and gas companies over the US government and too many other compromised government leaders.

As we keep building this movement in the US, through electoral action (especially right now) grassroots organizing around issues in workplaces and communities, and nonviolent demonstrations and direct action to press forward with our peace, justice, democracy and climate action agenda, we can be certain the oligarchs and their hatchet men will say and do many outrageous things, many hurtful things. But I can’t see them defeating what is now rising in the USA. Many of us have learned from our past mistakes, our internal fights among one another, the white racism and male sexism and elitist classism that have kept us back. We are advancing.

So let them sling around their “communist” epithets and all the other ridiculous words to try to throw us off. We have proved over the past year and a half that the power of an organized and unified people’s movement is so much stronger and hopeful than anything they can concoct.

Four months. Four months to talk with people all over about the issues, to be prepared to combat Trumpfascist election disruption efforts, to win expected and unexpected victories so that, as brother Bernie Sanders has put forward, come January of 2027, with the Republicans defeated in both the House and Senate, our peoples’ freedom movement just keeps going forward.Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Tom Paine: Revolutionary, Abolitionist, Indigenous Ally

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“There is nothing more common than to confound the terms of the American Revolution with those of the late American war. The American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed.”   1787, Benjamin Rush
     -the beginning of the book, Citizen Tom Paine, by Howard Fast, 1943

The writings below are primarily from a column I published on July 5, 2020. It was a review of the book, Citizen Tom Paine. I am writing this updated version of it again now in connection with the upcoming 250th anniversary of the 1776 USA Declaration of Independence.

Are there going to be any July 4th events later this week anywhere in the USA that raise up the name and the importance of Tom Paine? Perhaps, but probably a very small number. This will be the case even though, without Tom Paine, it is likely that the war of independence against British colonialism that forged what became the United States of America never would have succeeded. That is how important this poor, struggling, working-class, English immigrant was to the revolutionary cause. This was a person who made a difference.

It is rare, from my experience, that the name Tom Paine is voiced among those in 21st century USA who see themselves as revolutionaries or on the political Left. I understand why this is the case, but I think there are very good reasons why we should be raising up his name as we continue to build our growing, 21st century, revolutionary movement for “liberty and justice for all.” A very big one is because he is one of the few well-known leaders of that popular uprising who was not a landowner, who was one of the “common people,” and who opposed both the enslavement of African people and the horrific treatment of the Indigenous nations of the lands which became the USA.

Howard Fast’s book is not a biography of Paine; it’s a work of historical fiction. But it presents the truth about the man, from his very real personal weaknesses and warts to his brilliance as a writer, speaker and organizer, his commitment to the causes of overthrowing tyranny of all kinds, “a way for children to smile, some freedom, liberty, and hope for the future, men with rights, decent courts, decent laws, men not afraid of poverty and women not afraid of childbirth.” (p. 77)

Paine saw himself as a revolutionist. This was his life’s work. In a fictional exchange with fellow revolutionist and doctor Benjamin Rush, in a discussion about revolution, Rush articulates what was historically new about what was happening in the American colonies in the 1770’s: “The strength of many is revolution, but curiously enough mankind has gone through several thousand years of slavery without realizing that fact. But here we have a nation of armed men who know how to use their arms; we have a Protestant tradition of discussion as opposed to autocracy; we have some notion of the dignity of man [mainly white men]. . . but now we must learn technique, we must learn it well. . .Six months ago you were rolled in the dirt [assaulted] because people knew what you were writing; two weeks ago a man in New York was almost tarred and feathered because he planned to publish an answer to [Paine’s] Common Sense. That’s not morality; that’s strength, the same kind of strength the tyrants used, only a thousand times more powerful. Now we must learn how to use that strength, how to control it. We need leaders, a program, a purpose, but above all we need revolutionists.” (pps. 116-117)

Paine was a particular kind of writer, one who was immersed in the cause of independence, on the front lines of deadly battles, spending time in the bitter winter encampments of the nascent continental army, organizing, encouraging men to stick with it, inspiring them and pointing out how important what they were doing was. “This was all Paine had ever thought of or dreamed of, the common men of the world marching together, shoulder to shoulder, guns in their hands, love in their hearts.” (p. 124)

Fast paints a picture of Paine writing the first issue of The Crisis, a newspaper published during the war to present facts and strengthen morale: “The men gathered around him. They read as he wrote: ‘These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. . . If there be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. . . Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and repulse it.” (p. 145)

That’s a good last line, relevant for us right now. Let the city, the suburbs and the rural areas come forth this November 3rd to meet and repulse our common Trump/MAGA danger, this decade’s King George III and the Redcoats, and, after their defeat at the polls, let’s keep going to replace the unjust, destructive system which spawned them with something very, very different. It’s just common sense.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Revolutions 250 Years Ago and Today

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“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy— a thin veil to cover up crimes.”
–speech by Frederick Douglas, July 5, 1852, Rochester, NY

“[The 1775-1787 US revolution] led to the expansion of European American settlement across the continent in the decades afterwards, a process which nearly wiped out the Indigenous peoples who have lived here for many thousands of years. Estimates are that 90% or more were killed either by disease or violent military action to force the survivors onto reservations so that the Europeans could take the land and the resources underneath it.

“Like so much else about this country, this 250th anniversary of the beginnings of what became the United States is a decidedly mixed bag.

“On balance, though, I see value to connecting the political uprising against the Trumpfascists with the uprising by revolutionary European Americans 250 years ago. Not by coincidence, the success of this revolution was followed by the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, the Bolivar-led South American Revolution and eventually, in the USA, the Civil War that led to the end of the legal enslavement of African people. It led to the success of the women’s suffrage movement over 100 years ago, the rise of industrial unionism, the Black Freedom movement in the 60’s which forced an end to Jim Crow segregation, anti-colonial revolutions throughout the world, the rise of Indigenous resistance and societal leadership, the LGBTQ+ movement, an environmental protection movement and more.”
–Revolution?, a March 22, 2025 Future Hope column

Is it right to connect what happened 250-plus years ago with what is happening right now, in 2026, as a broad cross-section of US society resists the Trumpfascist efforts to impose repressive dictatorial rule? Yes, there are many similarities. Indeed, the US pro-democracy forces, if successful, will have much more immediate impacts worldwide.

The world is seeing that we in the USA are alive and well and rapidly becoming a mass movement that has the potential to bring about major, internationally-welcomed, desperately-needed changes in the USA at this turning point moment for human societies and all life forms on earth.

Some who are participating in this movement do not see themselves as “revolutionaries.” More accurate for them would be something like, “patriots” or “democracy lovers.” And some are involved primarily because of the personal and family impacts of Trump regime policies which have made their lives materially more difficult.

But IMHO, the word “revolutionary” best describes what this pro-democracy movement is developing into, in part because it has been building for many years–it is not a “flash in the pan”–and in part because the Trumpists are so destructive in their efforts to turn the clock back to the 1950’s or even further that many millions of us have risen up in a whole variety of ways.

The changes needed are clearly systemic, not some reforms here and there that have little effect on who runs the country today: the “billionaire class”, the “Epstein class,” the “corporate elite,” the “ruling class,” etc.

It’s very simple, actually. What this revolutionary movement is about is the creation of a US government and society truly “of the people, by the people and for the people.” In such a society we would be about racial and gender justice and equal rights; for the right to organize and unionize on the job; against militarism and for a justice-based peace; for detoxification and protection of our natural environment and a rapid shift from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels and nukes to clean, renewable energy sources; for immigrant rights, reproductive rights and an end to mass incarceration; for a Green New Deal; for quality medical care for all no matter what their age; for a true living wage for work done; for tuition-free public higher education and student debt cancellation; for substantive taxes on the billionaires and multi-multi-millionaires and major cuts in the US military budget with conversion of war industry production to peaceful purposes; and more.

Love, that’s the word. We need a government and society which makes love for the earth and its peoples central. That is what this 250th anniversary of the USA has to be about for those of us in the pro-democracy movement. Not should be about, but has to be about. This is our time!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Election Protection, Movement-Style, on November 3

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All objective analyses and data point to the Democrats numerically defeating the Republicans on November 3 in at least the House of Representatives and possibly the US Senate. It is a realistic possibility that on November 4th we will wake up to learn that one or both houses of Congress will no longer be under Republican control come early January.

Without a doubt, IMHO, this is the most important issue before progressives and decent-minded people in the USA right now and up until November 3.

The Trumpfascists are making efforts to reverse their massive unpopularity, not by changing their policies but by using a variety of tactics. They lie about who the Democratic candidates really are and what they stand for. They go all-in on the “culture war” approach. They do all they can to both suppress the vote, particularly the votes of Black and Brown and Indigenous people, and/or to create such confusion and division over the way that elections are conducted that they can then somehow parlay that into maintaining control of at least the Senate. We know they will again try to enlist the support of a majority of the US Supreme Court for their nefarious and regressive purposes.

And of course they are clearly enlisting most of the billionaire class and their filthy money in this endeavor.

Arrayed against these regressive, backwards-looking political and financial forces are 1) public opinion, which is strongly opposed to most Trumpist policies and 2) the efforts of both independently organized groups all over the country in every state and the Democratic Party.

As has been true for decades, there are important “election protection” efforts to frustrate the anti-democracy and un-American groups’ efforts. Common Cause is probably the most well-known. Another one is https://protectthevote.net. Here is how they summarize their efforts:

“Every election year, we recruit, train, and deploy thousands of Election Protection volunteers across the nation. These trained, nonpartisan volunteers serve as voters’ first line of defense against confusing voting rules, outdated infrastructure, rampant misinformation, and needless obstacles to the ballot box.

“With misinformation running rampant on social media and thousands of proposed new anti-voter restrictions, we need our programs to match or exceed that effort in every election this year. This is simply an unprecedented time for our elections, and that’s why we’re asking for your help today.”

Two other important initiatives are https://goodtroubleliveson.org and https://blackpowerwarroom.com/freedom-summer.

Even more is needed this time. This time, the democracy mass movement which brought out over 8 million people in 3,300 localities in all 50 states on March 28 must be prepared to come out into the streets, specifically outside polling places, with our phones and cameras and info about who to call if and when the anti-democracy, racist groups attempt to suppress the vote.

Almost all of these groups will be made up of backwards-looking white people, predominantly white men. At least one government agency, ICE, could also be involved. These anti-democrats will likely be particularly at polling places where the forces of reaction determine they have the most chance of winning hotly-contested election campaigns for the US House and/or Senate, primarily in “red states.”

Perhaps I will be wrong about ICE’s involvement. Perhaps voting rights lawyers will be able to enjoin their direct and overt, or any other, involvement; I hope so. But we must get prepared, appreciate that the power of the people, organized, connected through social media and signal groups and with links to objective mass media sources, must visibly, intelligently and nonviolently show itself as needed at early voting and election day polling sights in late October and on November 3. Truly, the people, organized, must not be defeated this time!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Not Left vs. Right but Top vs. Bottom?

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“There’s something broken in America. Our economy is broken. Our politics are broken. Even our relationships with each other feel broken. That’s because the most powerful people in the world want it that way. The biggest divide in this country is not left vs. right. It’s top vs. bottom. Billionaires want us looking left and right at each other instead of looking up at them. The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided because our unity is a threat to their wealth and power. So their cable news networks and their social media algorithms tear us apart. They divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion so we don’t notice they’re defunding our schools, gutting our healthcare, and cutting taxes for themselves and their rich friends. It’s the oldest strategy in the world: divide and conquer.” 

Texas US Senate candidate James Talarico, https://jamestalarico.com/why-im-running/

I recently finished writing 10 of these columns about “21st Century Common Sense,” a relatively short overview of how I see our human realities in 2026 and what we can do about them. In so many ways, what Talarico says above is just “common sense.”

But there’s more that needs to be said about this.

As I thought about writing this column over the last few days I kept remembering an experience in Washington, DC in the early 1980s that I had as a young, progressive activist and organizer. I was there as part of a couple of days of rallying and lobbying around issues of racial justice organized by the National Anti-Klan Network, led by long time African American leader Rev. CT Vivian. Vivian began his anti-segregation, anti-racist activism in 1947 at the age of 23. He worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 50s and 60s. He passed on at the age of 95 in 2020.

I remember sitting at a table with him and others at one point, and I said something essentially consistent with what Talarico said, that we need to bring together black and white working people in order to bring about needed change.

Vivian responded, saying that the problem with looking at it that way is the reality of virulent racist ideas and actions of too many white working-class people. We need to work with other white people, he implied, who may be more middle- or higher-class but who get it on the need to speak out and take action on racism.

Today, 45 or so years later, it is very clear that the problems of racism, sexism and heterosexism have not been solved. The fact that Donald Trump is President, alone, underlines that fact.

But it’s also true there is a much more extensive network, a larger number of people, tens of millions of us, who get it on these issues and are willing to take action on them. The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in June of 2020 led to upwards of 25 million people taking action in the streets all over the country. And the fact that an African-American man was elected President twice in 2008 and 2012 is another big example.

Obama’s election victories, while welcome given the Republican alternatives, helped somewhat to strengthen this anti-racist trend in US life, but it is questionable how much it helped to do what Talarico, and many others, myself included, believe in and are working for. The fact that he was no Bernie Sanders when it came to his administration’s economic policies and programs led to significant loss of support from white workers over the course of his eight years in office. A Gallup poll report in 2014, for example, put it this way:

“President Barack Obama’s job approval rating among white non-college graduates is at 27% so far in 2014, 14 percentage points lower than among white college graduates. This is the largest yearly gap between these two groups since Obama took office. These data underscore the magnitude of the Democratic Party’s problem with working-class whites, among whom Obama lost in the 2012 presidential election, and among whom Democratic House candidates lost in the 2014 U.S. House voting by 30 points.”

Talarico and all of us who see ourselves as progressives need to be about a different “top vs. bottom” in this third decade of the 21st century. On the one hand, we do need to emphasize this point as we go about our work, actively emphasizing that working people or all colors, cultures and nationalities must consciously join forces against the billionaire class and do so with urgency. At the same time, we need to unite in a way which takes into account the very real issues which have kept us divided and fighting each other.

As I put it in one of my 21st Century Common Sense columns:

 “The major divisions keeping the working class separated are racism, sexism and heterosexism. As a popular alliance emerges that unites the movements of people of color, the women’s movement, the lgbtq+ movement, the climate and environmental movement, young people, and the progressive elements of the labor movement and community-based working-class based movements, there is an arena for popular education on these and other divisive and backwards-looking ideologies. In the process of working together around commonly felt issues of concern, people grow and change. This can only benefit the working class.”

What we need is an alliance where we all do our best to be good listeners, to respect and learn from one another so we can consciously unite “the bottom.”

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

As May Day Approaches, What About the Working Class?

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For many socialists and revolutionaries for a long time, the “working class” has been seen as THE revolutionary group. Karl Marx in the 1840s was among the first to identify the working class as a key sector, particularly the industrial working class which was growing in numbers in the mid-1800s as the industrial revolution advanced in Europe and elsewhere. Marx saw this sector of the population as the key revolutionary sector for several reasons.

First, industry was concentrating large numbers of people, by the hundreds and thousands, into factories where the workers shared the common experience of debilitating exploitation of their labor by the owners of the factories. Because of this shared common exploitation, over time the industrial working class, and other workers influenced by them even if not in as stark or clear-cut a situation as workers in large factories, would come to see the power in their hands due to their crucial role in the functioning of capitalist society. In Marx’s, and Friedrich Engels’, line of reasoning, and that of many revolutionaries who came after them, this situation was distinct from the realities of life for peasants/farmers, artisans and craftspeople who may have been poor and were definitely workers, but whose conditions of life did not teach them the lesson of collective organization as the means toward improving those conditions.

Marx saw this industrial working class growing to the point where there would be a vast gulf between the great majority of exploited workers and the tiny minority of private property-owning capitalists. In other words, over time the working class would become and would learn that it was the dominant class in terms of numbers. This, combined with the experience of working together in the factories and learning how to struggle together against the capitalists for improvements in their lives, were the major reasons for the Marxist determination that the unification and enlightenment, through experience and training, of the working class, particularly the industrial working class, was the way in which capitalism would be replaced by socialism.

On the face of it, there are transparent difficulties with a couple of the key components of this theoretical/strategic perspective when it comes to United States realities today. First, the number of workers in factories has been going down as runaway shops and exporting of jobs, automation, robots and computerization increasingly take over industrial processes within many industries. Right now we are facing a major escalation of this process through Artificial Intelligence, AI, and massive and destructive Data Centers. Related, the “industrial proletariat” is hardly the dominant group even within the overall working class, much less the population as a whole. Government workers, retail salespeople, office employees, health sector workers, truck drivers, those in so-called “service” industries—these are much more the types of jobs that are growing in numbers, and are projected to do so for years to come.

The US working class, however, those who own no significant income-generating property and must work for others for a living, is a decided majority, taking all of the many occupations and sectors into account. Estimates by economists who have studied this question put its total range at around 60-65% of the adult working population but others see it as higher.

Many of these working-class people are people of color, women and/or lgbtq+ folks, which is one reason why in our work for fundamental, systemic change, it is essential that our movement deal not just with “class issues” but also the issues of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other “isms” that can keep us divided and weaker.

In my book 21st Century Revolution: Through Higher Love, Racial Justice and Democratic Cooperation, I do my best to analyze what I see as seven class groupings within US society, trying to help us get a handle on our particular realities in the USA as far as class differences. These are the seven:

-the barely-surviving working class
-the low-income working class
-the moderate- to middle-income working class
-the property-owning, small/medium business class
-the professional and managerial middle class
-the lower level, capitalist supporting elite
-the corporate/financial ruling class

What does all this mean as far as the question of how we bring about revolutionary, transformative change in the world?

First, we need to reaffirm the realities of class exploitation as central to how capitalism works. More specifically, we need to reject strategic perspectives which downplay the importance of class because the industrial working class, in the US and other economically advanced societies, is declining in numbers. We must also reject the argument which says that the correct approach to bring about major change is just to bring together all of the various sectors of the population who are putting forward their specific demands for change, without seeing class as a key element within that popular alliance.

The fact is that even though industrial workers are no longer a major portion of the workforce, virtually all workers in various categories of work continue to experience difficulties and injustice on the job. Many are forced to work at stressful, boring or dangerous jobs that are one small part of an overall set of fragmented tasks divided up among many workers. Most of the new jobs that have been and are continuing to be created are part-time, temporary or contract jobs with no or few benefits. Wages and benefits for full-time work are generally stagnant, but for the barely surviving and low-income sectors of the overall working class, they have been going down for decades.

Within the roughly 2/3rds of the population that makes up the working class, all three sectors of that class—the barely surviving, the low income and the moderate/middle income sectors—are important to the alliance that must be built, but it is the low-income sector that is both the largest numerically and, for various reasons, most consistently progressive, most open to a progressive consciousness, and capable of engaging in effective action.

Another major reason for the strategic importance of this sector is the reality that a significant percentage of the women workers and workers of color in the US workforce are to be found here. The dual or triple oppressions of class/race, gender/class, or class/race/gender, are powerful teaching tools about the true nature of the system.

The major divisions keeping the working class separated are racism, sexism and heterosexism. As a popular alliance emerges that unites the movements of people of color, the women’s movement, the lgbtq+ movement, the climate and environmental movement, young people, and the progressive elements of the labor movement and community-based working-class based movements, there is an arena for popular education on these and other divisive and backwards-looking ideologies. In the process of working together around commonly felt issues of concern, people grow and change. This can only benefit the working class.

A popular alliance will be of benefit to the progressive trade unions that continue to contend with middle-of-the-road to conservative elements within their ranks. By putting forward its program for resolution of the crises of US society, by organizing around that program and in support of its immediate demands on the government and on corporate power, by running candidates for office on that program, masses of working-class people both inside and outside of the trade union movement can be educated and galvanized into action. This can only help the process of trade union organization and working-class based community organization.

Of course, in order for these positive developments to take place out of the alliance building process, it is essential that there be significant involvement of working-class leaders in the leadership of the alliance. There will be other classes part of it, farmers, professionals, small businesspeople, ministers, others. The potential of the alliance will not be realized unless there is a broadly-based, multi-racial, multi-gender, multi-issue leadership representing not just the different movements and sectors of the population but especially the different sectors of the working class, 2/3rds or more of the population.

With such an alliance, and with sound strategy, tactics, methods of organizing and ways that we relate to one another, we can truly create another world.

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Anti-Racism Among the People–or, 21st Century Common Sense, Part 7

Future Hope, , , ,

“It is not enough to be anti-racist on a personal level or even, if you are a white person, to be in active solidarity with the struggles of people of color. Also essential, particularly in this critical election year, is conscious work among other white people who have been so infected with the ideas of white supremacy that they’ll support a white, corrupt, billionaire-loving fascist before they’ll support a Black, Brown or Indigenous, working-class fighter for justice for all. Breaking more white people away from, or beginning to question, MAGA ideology and practice is very strategic in 2026.”

This is from one of these Future Hope columns I wrote in late February, as part of my 21st Century Common Sense series. These tasks for white activists, expanded upon below, are essential if we are to bring about the political, social, economic and cultural change in this world that is not just a good idea but absolutely necessary if human beings as a species are going to survive.

We need to take seriously the ways in which this European and European-American dominated world has impacted each of us on an individual level. We need to work with others to root out of our lives not just the overt but the less obvious, more subtle forms of racism and assumed white supremacy. We need to take time to study about our contaminated history. We need to develop personal relationships with people of color to come to appreciate racism’s destructive effects and to gain the courage needed to stand up to it. We need to become good listeners and deepening thinkers. We need to be trustworthy allies not just when it comes to the tactics of our fight for systemic change but in the way we live our lives.

We need to manifest these understandings in concrete support given to people of color-led organizations and campaigns with which we have general alignment on issues and worldview, not necessarily all people of color-led efforts, because there are differences. But for those groups generally “in the same ball park,” we as white people have a responsibility to do our best to strengthen them through participation in their events and actions, through financial support and in other ways. Our commitment to helping to create a world where all people are treated equally and fairly demands that we do this.

It’s also critical that whites organizing whites take up the economic, health care, housing, child care, education or other issues impacting working-class and middle-class white communities, to show that we are concerned about all forms of inequality and want a just society for everyone. This is key. A good organizer knows that you need to start with people where they are, make connections on the basis of issues, experiences or other things held in common. As those connections are made, as people get to know and respect the organizer, they are more willing to listen and think about constructive criticism from her/they/him or ideas other than those they are usually exposed to.

Finally, and the hardest, we need to be willing to consciously call out and confront racist words and actions by white people when they happen. We need to have the courage to do this but also the smarts to do so in a way that is not about shaming or attacking others but, instead, trying to help them grow in their understanding of how pernicious and ultimately destructive racism is to them and others they know.

Here’s one small, recent example from my life about how I did this:

I was at a meeting of our local town council last October, right around the time of Indigenous Peoples Day, known to some as Columbus Day. During an open comment period a leader of an Italian-American organization in our town, a town with a significant percentage of people of Italian heritage, spoke about what a great person Columbus was. At one point he referred to Columbus doing good things for the “uncivilized people,” his words, Columbus encountered while in the Caribbean.

I was not planning to speak during this session but these words changed me. I did speak and I publicly criticized his use of words and the racism that was behind them. But I tried not to attack him for it. I even said I would like to meet and talk with him about all of this (which hasn’t yet happened).

I know for a fact that if I had not done the studying, done the work with people of color-majority organizations in my area, gotten to know and develop friendships with some of those people, I would not have had the courage to do so.

Little by little, or for some more than a little, we each need to try to chip away at this most destructive of ideologies and practices, always open to constructive criticism from others to learn how to do better in this absolutely essential work.

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Millions in the Streets Nationally Make History

Future Hope, , , ,

I’ve been surprised the past week to hear some people, not many but some, telling me that they or people they know aren’t planning to attend a No Kings action this Saturday. These are people who have progressive or liberal or radical ideas, who oppose what is happening under the Trump regime and who are activists of some sort.

For some people it’s because they don’t think the message of No Kings is as radical as they would like it to be. For others it’s because the coalition of groups organizing these actions isn’t as multi-racial, led by people of color, as they would like it to be. And for some it’s because the tactics being used are seen as too tame, not at the level that the urgency of our situation calls for, as in direct action that risks arrest.

There’s truth to all of these concerns, but to stay away from the Saturday actions because of them is a mistake. Right now, as has been true since Trump and the Republicans were elected into White House and Congressional power 17 months ago, the power of the people, people mobilized and visible in very big numbers all over the country—this is a crucial component of the resistance against these Trumpfascists.

What if all of these types of mobilizations had not taken place last year, 2025? History will absolutely record that the multiple days of local actions all over the country, beginning in early February, 2025 with 50 actions in 50 state capitols organized by 50501, organized primarily by young people, and continuing through to 7 million coming out on October 18 organized by No Kings, played a, if not the, major role in turning US politics around in a progressive direction on a mass scale.

The Trump regime is underwater in the polls, down by 15% or more, partly because of their policies and incompetence, but also because of our movement’s visible resistance all last year. This resistance took many forms, a lot of it in on-the-ground opposition to ICE, and it included these nationally coordinated days of action.

Our job in 2026 is to keep building upon those political victories to keep up the pressure on the Democrats to get them to put up stronger fights for the many things that matter as far as major issues. In the process we can and are building our own independent political organizations and candidacies for electoral office that put the needs of working people and our disrupted climate and environment absolutely first, before anything else.

No Kings Day this Saturday will help that process continue and grow. Not to take part in it, to consciously decide not to do so, is a mistake.

All out for resistance Saturday! And let’s just keep going afterwards.

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.