Amid "unprecedented prosperity" in the US:
Oppression and wretchedness among the American workers and people

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The celebration of "unprecedented prosperity" in the US is an exclusive feast of the glutted American bourgeoisie. Since they are denied the "prosperity" they have created, the American proletariat have no cause to rejoice. The more reason they have to resist the utterly cruel squeezing of every drop of their sweat and the unrestrained exploitation of their labor power.

Squeezing dry the American working class

Propagandists of US imperialism brag that from 1992 to 1999 the US economy continuously expanded. This is the longest period of continuous US economic growth.

The key to the "unprecedented prosperity" now being enjoyed by the bourgeoisie in the US involves none other than squeezing the American proletariat dry.

The Clinton government and US economists celebrate the fact that from April to June, annual productivity rose by 5.3%�the highest for the past 17 years. Thus, workers created bigger value and more products in a shorter period. This is from an average 1.4% increase in 1973-1995 and 2.5% in 1996- 1999. Production is being rapidly intensified through the application of high technology in production.

The US continues to lead in the utilization of computers and robots to speed up the work pace of labor and increase surplus value. The monopoly capitalist state actively supports technology research in order to employ this in industries owned by the big bourgeoisie.

At the same time, the state has unleashed, along the current of neoliberalism, the worst policies that enslave workers, all aimed at pressing down wages and dismantling the historic victories of the working class. Bourgeois economists and the US government shamelessly boast that while the productivity of American workers has been rising, costs per individual worker have gone down by 0.4%�which means that as American workers create more value, they receive smaller wages.

Oppression, poverty and widespread social inequity

Thus, American workers are experiencing conditions which, relative to their society and history, are comparable to the situation besetting Filipino workers in terms of wages, unemployment and job security and social guarantees.

A worker receiving the minimum wage would earn $9,512 a year which is less than half the government-determined poverty threshold of $17,072 per year. All throughout the 1990s, the real wages of ordinary workers dropped. Presently, the value of real wages is far below that in the 1970s. As a result, more than 46 million (almost 20% of the population) are in absolute poverty.

The US government boasts that its current unemployment rates are one of the lowest in history. But the fact is, majority of the newly created jobs are part-time, further pulling down wage levels. There has also been a slowdown in industrial production, resulting in job loss. From March 1998 to September 1999, for example, more than 530,000 lost their jobs in the manufacturing sector.

Because of low wages and unemployment or underemployment, there now prevails in the US living conditions which are not too different from those in backward countries such as the Philippines. Seven to eight million do not have decent homes. There are ghettoes in capital cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and others where workers and unemployed, Afro-Americans, Latinos, Asians and other minorities suffer from extremely difficult living conditions.

The US Department of Agriculture estimates in a 1999 study that 36 million Americans do not have sufficient food. The US Conference of Mayors, on the other hand, showed that in December 1999, the demand for emergency food-related assistance was highest since 1992, that of emergency housing-related assistance, since 1994; and that 21% of these were not met. Twenty-five million people, 80% of whom have families with children, rely on food stamps.

Despite this, the US government continues to reduce budgetary allocations for social services. In 1999, the government cut $54 billion from the budget for unemployment pensions, health services and food programs. A growing share of the responsibility of providing food to the hungry is being shouldered by private organizations. There are 44.3 million people who do not have health insurance because of the elimination of programs such as Medicare.

American society is becoming more and more polarized between the greater majority of the poor, exploited and downtrodden; and the small minority enjoying �unprecedented prosperity�. In 1998, the salaries being received by the heads of US corporations were 419 times greater than the wages of ordinary workers.

The income of the top 2.7 million (1% of the population) is equivalent to the income of the poorest 100 million (38%). One percent own 40% of the total wealth in the US, while the lowest 80% own a mere 16%.

Fascist suppression and resistance of workers and people

Contrary to its official commitment to civil liberties, the US government employs its fascist machinery to suppress the proletariat and American people. Using pepper-spray, rubber bullets and truncheons, it forcefully disperses demonstrations and strikes that express the people�s disgust and reflect the widespread social unrest in the US.

The US government systematically employs the police and courts to file trumped-up charges against militant activists and labor leaders. In the past years, the budgets for courts increased four times faster than those for education; and twice faster than those for hospitals and health services. Around the world, the US has the highest percentage of its population in prison, indicating how �effectively� courts are used.

Still, fascist suppression cannot stop the resistance of the American workers and people. In 1999, despite attacks on unionism, no less than 600,000 workers were estimated to have organized unions, a 25% increase compared to 1998, and the largest expansion in 20 years. This shows the determination of workers to determinedly fight for higher wages, wrest back their benefits and improve working conditions.

Workers were among the biggest groups that comprised the 30,000 who demonstrated against the World Trade Organization (WTO) from November 30 to December 3, 1999 in Seattle. This was repeated in April when several tens of thousands rallied against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, DC despite the arrest of 1,800 activists before and during the demonstrations.

These demonstrations and other forms of resistance by the proletariat and people shatter the illusion of unprecendented prosperity� in American society. For sure, class struggle will further intensify in the US in the years to come. This should be correctly taken advantage of by revolutionary forces in order build a proletarian party that has deep roots among the working people and can lead not only in the dayto- day economic struggles, but in the revolutionary struggle for socialism.

July 2000
English Edition

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