On the Death of George H.W. Bush:

Let the Dead Bury Their Dead—Humanity Needs Revolution and Communism

December 10, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The ceremonies surrounding the death of George H.W. Bush, like the ones around John McCain a few months ago, again brought out the sharp contradictions among different sections of the capitalist-imperialist rulers over how to resolve the crises they face. And it brought out as well the news organs of the liberal bourgeoisie to mourn the “days of the patricians,” when there was “civility and respect between political opponents within the government, based on a love of country.”

On one side sat Trump, stone-faced, representing the fascist future now being bolted into place. The “solution” that he and his regime, including Pence, represent is extreme and brutally ugly—and is one possible “solution” to those crises.

On the other side were those there to celebrate Bush and his era as one in which the institutions of the ruling class could be used to forge consensus—and by implication to criticize Trump for breaking the norms represented by Bush. In actual fact, in George Bush they were celebrating 70-plus years of bloody service to imperialism—a record in which Bush himself ordered or was deeply involved in the killing of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people.  (See “The Nostalgia for George H. W. Bush and the Dream of a Kinder, Gentler Imperialism.”) Beneath the nostalgia for Bush’s politeness, good humor, and decency—whether real, imagined, or exaggerated—they were objectively nostalgic for the “order” that Bush helped enforce, nostalgic for the days of ruling class unity he represented.

And all the while the drumbeat of horror was on the world’s split screen: children starving from a U.S.-backed war in Yemen; report after report being issued showing that the imperialists are accelerating the drive to ecological destruction; increasingly sharp contention between the U.S. and China; and attacks across the board within the U.S. on basic civil and human rights, and the rule of law.

Neither side of this funeral party has any answer fit for humanity. To be clear, the conflicts within the ruling class are significant and can be made use of, if there is a struggle from below, of masses of people fighting for their own interests.

But the main thing is this: There IS a solution to this madness. This whole system needs to be swept away through revolution and a better one put in its place. A different—a far better—world is possible: revolution and communism—the new communism, brought forward by Bob Avakian. There is the science, the strategy, and the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation.

Get with THIS. Go here for why we need this revolution and the strategy to really win. Go here for the blueprint for the new society. And go here to learn more about this leadership.

A better world IS possible. And YOU have a role to play in bringing it into being.