the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 26, 2023
On June 18, American golfer Wyndham Clark won the 2023 U.S. Open, a golf tournament held this year at the Los Angeles Country Club.
The Los Angeles Country Club serves the ultra-rich. From its foundation in 1897, the Los Angeles Country Club limited its membership to Christian white males. It only admitted its first Black person in 1991. The initiation fees for a club member can reach up to $500,000, and annual dues to $30,000. But membership isn’t just a question of money. Only people who are nominated by other members can apply for membership. That is, they have to be socially and economically connected.
The club is enormous: 313 acres of painstakingly manicured greenery, that includes two entire 18-hole golf courses. And it’s all conveniently located right in the middle of Los Angeles. But because it is hidden behind high walls, most working people, who pass it every day, don’t know what’s behind those walls, the opulence, wealth, and privilege.
Government officials have bent over backwards for this country club. Since the land alone is estimated to be worth 9 billion dollars, the country club should be paying 60 to 90 million dollars per year in property taxes. Of course, since the tax laws are written to favor the rich, it pays only about $300,000 per year.
The Country Club operates under rules of strict secrecy. The members are forbidden to carry their smartphones into the club, to discuss outside of the club or record what they see, say, and hear in the club, or to comment about other club members. And no one besides a few rich people have ever stepped foot inside, not even most of the highest-ranking golf professionals.
Who can be surprised that the super-rich maintain their own secret, shady club where they can carry out all their secret shady deals away from public view—even if it is right in the middle of the U.S. city with the highest homeless population!