To the young people of the United States...

/WORLD REVOLUTION //International Coordination Comittee //October 30, 2005

On November 2 you will be called on to vote for president - at least those of you who are over 18 and are US citizens and have a permanent address.

Polls have shown that a clear majority of 18 to 35-year olds are opposed to Bush. And with good reason! In the last four years Bush has launched the country into two major wars, and it is the young who are called on to fight and die for the profits of American oil companies.

The Bush regime has caused dramatic increases in unemployment, poverty, and the number of people without healthcare. Military spending is way, way up, while funds for education and health care have been slashed. These policies are particularly harmful to young people; and of course the young are the least likely to benefit from all the tax cuts awarded to big business!

In schools, universities, and trade unions there has been a steadily growing rage against the Texas Terror. This rage culminated in the massive demonstration against the Republican National Convention on August 29th - with half a million people the biggest demo the city had seen in 20 years!

It's obvious, the young people of American want to give Bush the boot. But is it a good idea to vote for "anyone but Bush"? And since the US has a two-party system the question becomes: is it a good idea to vote for John Kerry?

Democracy with an assault rifle

It would only be worth voting for anyone but Bush if the "anyone" in question was qualitatively better than the current resident of the Oval Office. But Kerry just puts a less annoying, less arrogant, less ignorant face on Bush's politics.

Kerry supports the occupation of Iraq - he has even hinted about sending more troops to crush the resistance of the Iraqi people. He is an outspoken supporter of the "war on terror" - used to justify wars of aggression abroad and repression against immigrants and the left at home. He supports Israel's bloody oppression of the Palestinians and the Apartheid wall being built around the occupied territories. And he says little or nothing about low wages and attacks on workers' rights, reality for millions in Bush's America.

Let us not forget all the wars that were started by the Democrats, like Viet Nam (Kennedy/Johnson) and Korea (Truman). Clinton, in his eight years in office, invaded or attacked Somalia, Sudan, Serbia, Haiti, and Iraq - just to name a few - and enforced the brutal sanctions regime against Iraq that killed some 1.5 million people!

Why do the two candidates have such similar politics? Because both are representatives of the same class, the American capitalists. Kerry has gotten just as much money from big business as Bush (with the obvious exception of the oil industry), and his campaign is supported by prominent billionaires like George Soros.

Revolutionaries do not support the "less evil" capitalist politician any more than the more evil one. Instead we fight for:

Troops out of Iraq now! Support the Iraqi resistance! Stop the oppression of Palestine!

Free and comprehensive health care, education, retirement benefits for all! Finance these programs by taxing the rich and smashing the imperialist armed forces - which cost some 400 billion dollars a year!

Nationalize big businesses under workers' control! Production of goods should be organized not for the profits of a few capitalists, but by the masses for the masses!

It is clear that no candidate supports these demands. Even the "anti-corporate" candidate Nader, supported by many on the left, defends racist restrictions on immigration (explaining his popularity with the openly racist Reform Party) and admits he wants to save capitalism, not abolish it.

Therefore all these demands must be fought for on the streets, not checked off in the voting booth. Universal health care will not be introduced by congress - it can only be won via class struggle, organized by neighborhood committees and health care workers. US imperialist aggression can't be stopped in the ballot box - it will only be stopped via civil disobedience in the US and armed resistance in Iraq!

Never ending wars, crushing poverty for billions of people, pervasive racism, sexism, and homophobia - the miserable state of the world is just business as usual in the global capitalist system. If we want a better world, it is no good to vote for some rich white politician.

We will need to bury this system for good: that means facing off with the capitalists and smashing the police, army, prisons and courts (i.e. the state) that defends them. That means organizing workers and the oppressed (including youth, women, ethnic and sexual minorities) in a revolutionary party. mobilizing the millions of people disgusted with Bush's policies to take control of society from the capitalists - a new American revolution, a socialist revolution - is the only alternative to George Kerry and John Bush.

Sound impossible? A number of major unions - representing some two million US workers - adopted strong anti-war resolutions this year. Nonetheless they are supporting Kerry to the tune of 65 million dollars. This shows that the US workers have the strength to fight for independent class politics - but are trapped by the logic of "the lesser evil", "anybody but Bush" to support a Democrat, a candidate of the bosses. The way forward...

No support for capitalist politicians! Build an independent party of the working class!

Fight for revolutionary, anti-capitalist politics in the workers' movement!

Fight to build a new workers' International, the Fifth International!

Young people of America: use the 2nd of November! Don't put your trust in either candidate of war, repression, privatization and poverty - organize to fight for your own interests! There is a world beyond the deceptions of Bush and Kerry, beyond the exploitation, racism, and war of the capitalist system: a classless, communist world. It is ours for the taking, if we organize to fight for it.

this statement in German