As long as I live—I will never end my fight against capitalism—Socialism 2020

We came so close and yet not far enough!

By SJ Otto

By now it looks like Joe Biden has nearly sown up the nomination for Democratic candidate to take on President Donald Trump. The irony for me is that the argument seems to be that Biden is the mainstream candidate who can beat Trump. That seems to be a major motivation to the voters who are giving him this nomination—they hate Trump and they think Biden can win. I’m not convinced. For me, I have my doubts, as with many young people, who are not interested in just going back to business as usual. And that is my feelings also.

I have been a life long socialist and Marxist. My ideas on Marxism have evolved over my life time, but I have hated capitalism since my days in high school and I have favored some type of socialist system—that has remained my constant.

For background:

I’ve been a socialist since my high school days. I began an interest in Salvador Allende in Chile, in the 1970s (from November 4, 1970 – September 11, 1973). That is when I learned all about the democratic possibilities under Marxism. I have been a political activist since my days at Kansas University. I belonged to the Students in Support of the Iranian People and the North American Club. In 1980, after I moved back to Wichita, from Lawrence, Kansas, I joined up with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). When I started in that group, I thought that the lunge towards the right, under Ronald Reagan, would produce a backlash, by the working class and others. That back lash never came and by 1990 I realized that this country was steadily drifting to the far right and that continued to happen until the last few years.

Also in 1980 I started my own newspaper, The Public Voice.

Other groups I belonged to included Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). In the 1980s there was a progressive Marxist guerrilla movement in El Salvador and a Marxist government in Nicaragua. These two movements seemed to hold out hope that progressive change in this hemisphere was possible.

By 2005, I started political blogging, all to the left. Just last year I rejoined up with DSA. Once again I have joined up with the idea of perusing socialism and once again, through the Democratic Party. A few years ago I didn’t think it was possible to use the Democratic Party to change this country. A lot of things have changed over the last 40 years. For one thing, a far right faction took control of the Republican Party. Since that happened such celebrities as Thomas Frank, who wrote “What’s the Matter With Kansas,” have raised the possibility that the US left could do the same, to wrestle political power from the mainstream Democratic Party. It seemed as if it were worth a try. 

I was beginning to believe that after all these years we now have an opportunity to finally change this country and to promote socialism. We had the election of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the other “Squad” members. In the last election we saw socialist Bernie Sanders nearly beat Hillary Clinton. It seemed only logical that this year could be Sander’s time and a time to FINNALY turn this country back to the left, away from all the right-wing stupidity we have endured for the last 40 years.

I don’t know what will become of AOC and the other “Squad” members. Do they represent the beginning of real change or are they just a fluke? I certainly hope they are not just a fluke. While Sanders did not win this time, he came real close. In my entire life it has been hard for me to imagine that a person calling him(or her) self a “democratic socialist” could win the presidency. But it nearly happened. As both Sanders and many of his supporters have pointed out, the entire political establishment pulled out all the stops to end his rise to power. Many of his ideas, such as “Medicare for all,” have gained a lot of popularity. Biden’s ridicule of such ideas may hurt him in his attempts to win he presidency. This country can afford to invade and occupy Iraq and Afghanistan. NO one complained that this would bankrupt America. Nearly every major country in the world has adapted some program to provide ALL of its citizens with health care. Only here, in the wealthiest country in the world, do politicians argue that it will bankrupt the country to provide our poor with medical care. They have not only done that in Canada, a country with less than 25 percent as many people as in the U S, but Cuba also provides its poor with health care. They can do it and we can’t? That is ridiculous and I believe more and more people realize that every day.

I can only hope that such changes will increase. Socialism will expand and become more acceptable and not be just a fluke. The push for socialism in the US needs to continue and as an activist and as a writer, I will never give up on my attempts to see capitalism finally brought down for the evil system it really is.

Now is not the time to surrender—and I never will.