The coming to power of Trump in the United States signals a new period in the history of capitalism. The Trump regime has shed all the talk of “democracy” and “ human rights” peddled by Biden and the Democrats. This construction of the USA and its allies as defenders of freedom, under the flag of “anti-fascism,” was developed during the Second World War, and continued to be used during the following Cold War, “anti-fascism” being dropped for “anti-communism.” It disguised the crimes of the USA and its allies, the carpet bombing of the civilian population of Germany, the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, its aggression in Vietnam, Cambodia and Latin America, its support of Israeli Zionism and the wars fought in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan. Now this camouflage can be shed and a display of naked power by the US and its Western allies can be seen for what it really is, barbarism, militarism, and genocide. In line with this, many Democrat leaders have facilitated Trump’s rule, senators capitulating without even the semblance of a fight.
This drift towards an open authoritarianism, where Trump ignores the Constitution and various court rulings, is not confined to the USA. All around the world, governments are responding to political crises by resorting to more authoritarian measures, and in imposing further austerity packages. In Turkey, Erdoğan has imprisoned his political opponents in what amounts to a coup. In Hungary, the far right leader Viktor Orban has banned the LGBTQ+ Pride march. This is enacted not just for ideological reasons, but to protect against Péter Magyar’s Tisza party, which is threatening Orban’s Fidesz. Orban is seriously threatened by Tisza electorally, and hopes to drive a wedge between potential voters for Tisza, and to deflect growing public anger about the economy. And of course, if assemblies of specific groups can be banned for flimsy reasons, this sets a precedent which threatens the right to assembly for all.
Orban and , Erdoğan know they can get away with these measures because their US ally will no longer pressurise them over “democracy” and “human rights.”
The same goes for Italy, where Giorgia Meloni’s government of the far-right is adopting increasingly authoritarian measures, and pursuing more strident anti-immigration policies. In Germany, Elon Musk has openly supported the extreme far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which is gaining in support, and dragging the political establishment to the right. Here in Britain, the Starmer government is pursuing austerity measures against pensioners and the disabled, whilst increasing its militarist rhetoric, and being prepared to bail out capitalist companies like Thames Water and massively increase defence spending. At the same time, it pursues harsh measures against pro-Palestine demonstrators and hands out vicious sentences against climate activists.
All around the world, austerity measures, in line with the will of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are being implemented , from Australia, ruled by Labor, to Argentina, where Javier Milei is cutting swathes through the public services, in a parallel scenario to that of the USA.
The current situation is born out of a competition between the various power blocs over raw materials and resources. American imperialism is now more blatant, with Trump’s threatening of Canada, Greenland, and Panama. This indicates its preparation for increasing conflict with its main rival, China.
This imperialist rivalry can be seen in the Russia-Ukraine war and in the genocide waged by Israel against the population of Gaza. It can be seen in the American attacks on the Houthis in Yemen, and Trump’s talk of annihilating them. This all has an aim, of re-organising the Middle East to suit the USA. Hezbollah has seen its leadership decimated, the Assad regime has been toppled, with the attacks on Hezbollah and the Houthis signalling that their ally Iran will be next.
Increase in militarism
Trump has sent out a clear message that military intervention will be used to maintain the dominance of the dollar, with alongside this, tariffs and trade wars. This indicates not a position of strength but one of weakness. The American economy is declining in the long term. The aggressive moves of the Trump regime reveal a growing desperation. The national debt of the USA stands at $36 trillion.
In response the European bloc, in tandem with the Starmer administration, are seeking to develop their own foreign policies and to re-arm. This means, not just in the USA but globally, that a war economy becomes a priority, to the detriment of welfare, benefits, and housing. The intensification of a war economy means the mobilisation of society, see for example the talk in the British media about the need for conscription. This is translated into further attacks on the working class and is becoming more and more evident in the UK.
This move to a war footing is in reply to the increasing sickness of capitalism, starting with the depression that began in 2008. The banks and corporations had to be bailed out massively, during successive crises, including during COVID. Huge amounts of money were poured into the stock exchanges, speculation has soared phenomenally, overheating economies and creating bubbles like those of Tesla and cryptocurrencies. At the same time, debt has climbed drastically, as indicated by the growing numbers of credit card defaults.
Whilst the super-rich increase their profits to unheard of levels never seen before in history, the vast number of people are hit by the cost of living crisis, rising rents and increasing levels of homelessness and unemployment.
Working Class Response
It would be wrong to paint a picture of unrelenting gloom. All over the world, the working class has responded to the dire situation by fighting back. In the USA the number of strikes increased massively in 2023 and 2024. This affected car workers, aerospace workers, nurses, Amazon workers, Starbucks workers, actors, and teachers.
Elsewhere in the world there were mass mobilisations in Bangladesh, in South Korea, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Kenya. In Canada, teachers, railway workers, dockers and postal workers came out on strike, with the Trudeau administration, acting to smash them. A 24 hour general strike in Greece challenged austerity programmes and the Greek state’s support for NATO, which involved maintaining a frigate in the Red Sea to protect Israel from the Houthis. There were similar protests in Italy. In Germany, there were strikes at Lufthansa and Volkswagen. In France, dockers, railway workers and public sector workers came out on strike. There were also general strikes in Argentina, Guinea, and Nigeria. Dockers in Brazil and copper miners in Chile came out on strike, as did car and steel workers in Mexico. Miners and metal workers went on strike in Turkey, with a wave of wildcat strikes in factories, and more recently students are mobilising against what is effectively a coup. Water and sewage workers have spearheaded a call for workers to take industrial action against the Erdoğan regime.
Here in Britain, we have seen mass demonstrations around Palestine and against the far right. In Northern Ireland, 150,000 workers in the public sector came out on the largest strike in fifty years.
The Only Solution
In order to resist we must build alternative structures both in the workplaces and in the neighbourhoods. We must emphasise mutual aid and direct action, against the manipulations and betrayals by Labour and the union bureaucrats. That is the only effective opposition.
We must move from an anti-capitalism that is too often reduced to vague slogans to a strong defence of communism as the only credible alternative to capitalist globalisation and the wars between major imperialist powers that threaten us, as in Ukraine and the Middle East. This communism has nothing to do with Lenin, Stalin and Mao and the deplorable experience of the Soviet Union and China. It is a free, stateless, communism that must be re-introduced into the dreams and the aspirations of the working class. This is anarchist communism.
Anarchist communists must more than ever hold high their social project: socialisation of the means of production and self-organisation of society through a system of workplace and neighbourhood councils.