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
Jan 5, 2026
After the unrelenting series of attacks on the working class in 2025, what can we expect to see from the capitalists and their government in 2026?
More of the same, and worse.
The ruling class is protecting itself and its profits in increasingly uncertain economic circumstances. And to do that, it attempts to take more and more from the working class, continuing to attack our standard of living and working conditions.
As part of that, we see more and more their preparations on the path to greater and wider war. The recent U.S. attack on Venezuela is just the latest indication. Trump flat-out says that U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil is “America First.” He is tightening the grip of U.S. imperialism over the entire Western hemisphere, anticipating future conflict with Russia, China and other powers, and their “spheres of influence.”
Everything the Trump administration and the ruling class have done in the past year has been part of that preparation, both economic and political: The cutting of jobs. Attacks on workers’ wages and living standards. The cuts in social programs as more spending is shifted to a military build-up and handouts to corporations. And the attacks on any kind of dissent, from the press, the demonstrating public, the academic world, lawyers, and cultural institutions.
It’s not just that Trump has authoritarian ambitions; the ruling class demands this in service of its interests and its profits.
Never mind the fact that all of this contradicts what Trump said he would do. Trump joins a long line of presidents who promised prosperity only to attack the working class, who ran as the Peace Candidate only to take the country to war—to betray their promises as soon as they took office. Democrat and Republican.
Why? Trump, and all politicians, and the state they lead, exist above all to serve the interests of the capitalist class. And when those interests clash with the interests of other countries’ capitalists, as the world economy grows more chaotic and sinks further into crisis and decay, that situation pushes the whole world more and more toward war.
In the face of these attacks, what should workers do? The Democrats are already pointing toward the midterm elections—eleven months away. They would like us to believe that flipping Congress to a Democratic majority will stop Trump’s attacks.
This is both a false hope and a way to delay any pushback from the working class in the coming months. If workers expect the Democrats to do anything different from what they’ve already done, to do anything fundamentally different from Trump and the Republicans, they will—once again—be sorely disappointed. And we will be told again to wait to vote, in two more years.
Every military intervention which the working class accepts takes us one step further toward the wars to come. Every attack on our standard of living serves to force us to live with less. The capitalist class is pushing to increase its profits even more, and make workers pay for its wars.
We need our own organizations. We need our own party, and we will need to organize fights against these attacks. We need leaders who we choose, who will challenge the whole basis of these attacks, the capitalist system of profits itself.
The working class is capable of taking control of this society and running it in the interest of all humanity. In fact, it’s the only way to truly stop the attacks on our standard of living and to stop the march toward war.