The power of the capitalist class is based upon one thing—it’s ownership, by law, of the means of production and the profits created by the labor of the working class.

But workers have no say in the creation of these laws that guarantee wealth only for the capitalist class. All these laws relegate workers to wage-slavery—earning a tiny fraction of the wealth we create from our labor—getting paid only as much as we fight for.

Ending capitalist dictatorship over us seems insurmountable, but it’s not.

The foundation of capitalism

Our very survival depends upon selling our labor power to the wealthy for as much as we can possibly fight them for, and not a penny more. Workers must pay for everything that we need to survive—food, housing, healthcare, education, the clothes we wear, the tools we need for work, the transportation we need to get to work—we must pay out of pocket for everything while the wealthy flourish.

Capitalist democracy is democracy for the rich and totalitarianism for the poor

If you are a millionaire, billionaire or trillionaire you can afford anything, including winning elections. How can an independent candidate of the working class compete in the electoral process against the ruling elite?

It costs millions of dollars to win an election. To make matters worse, our labor organizations are working in partnership with the bosses by donating millions of dollars of funds collected from union members to capitalist politicians—mostly Democratic Party politicians who pretend to be on the side of the working class in order to tie us to their undemocratic electoral process that overwhelmingly favors those with the most money.

The wealthy spend millions of dollars on publicity for their campaigns that promise everything and deliver nothing—and often force give-backs that workers have fought for and lost. The capitalist elections are a lopsided battle that favors the wealthy over the poor.

Workers can’t compete fairly in capitalism’s electoral process where money rules and the poor are rendered voiceless. There can be no partnership between the exploiter and the exploited. The exploited must stand independently and in solidarity with each other if we are to survive.

Our only hope is to break from this rigged system and organize ourselves independently of the capitalist class.

We must fight our own battles based upon the power and strength of our unity and solidarity with one another and for the rightful full share of the wealth we produce through our labor. We are the overwhelming majority. All we need do is organize for our own benefit.

Capitalism’s predation

The depths and expanse to which capitalism’s profit motive is destroying us and our environment is staggering. In July three stories in the New York Times illustrated this destruction.

The first article, by Murray Carpenter, published July 6th, titled “Tobacco Companies Are Cashing In on Zyn’s Unstoppable Popularity,” is about how the tobacco industry is devising ways to get more people—especially youth—addicted to nicotine, which is proven harmful to the body:

“Along with vaping products, the Big Tobacco corporations have seized on the nicotine pouch market as a way to offset the steep decline in domestic sales of cigarettes. Pouch sales are projected to increase to more than $40 billion worldwide by 2033 from $6.9 billion in 2025, according to an analysis by Grand View Research, a market research firm. Companies are racing to meet the demand, so far investing more than $1 billion in plant production to accommodate the growth. Several states have welcomed the industry’s forays into the latest twists on nicotine products, handing out millions of dollars in tax credits and grants. But the marketing of nicotine-laden items like pouches, gums and lozenges as another safe alternative to traditional cigarettes has heightened public health concerns. Experts are accusing the tobacco industry of once again deliberately ignoring decades of science that proved the addictive nature of nicotine, and of stoking demand by producing more and more potent varieties. Reminiscent of Juul and other flavored vaping products that caused a public uproar over teenage consumption, the pouches — tobacco-free ‘lip pillows’ placed between the cheek and gum — have revived warnings that nicotine is highly addictive and can cause a host of conditions, like anxiety and heart arrhythmia. It also threatens a teenager’s still-developing brain, with the potential for affecting behavior and cognitive function, experts say.”

The second article dated July 9th, by Catrin Einhorn, titled, “Sea Mining Could Devastate an Enigmatic Group of Creatures, Researchers Warn” explains how deep-sea mining threatens the health of the oceans, but will take precedence over the welfare of life on earth in order to increase the profits of mining companies:

“Deep-sea mining threatens to drive to extinction more than half of the snails and other mollusks that rely on hydrothermal vents, according to the latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the global scientific authority on the status of species. The finding comes as nations are expanding plans for deep-sea mining, eager to access valuable minerals needed for electronics and other uses. Some of these minerals are found in and near chimney-like structures around hydrothermal vents, areas where cold seawater seeps through fissures in the earth’s crust and hits magma. As the water heats, it picks up elements like copper, zinc, gold and silver before shooting back into the ocean at temperatures that can reach over 750 degrees Fahrenheit. The rapid cooling causes the metals to precipitate out. Companies are interested in harvesting these and other deep-sea metals, arguing that growing demand combined with the serious environmental impact of mining on land make oceans an attractive source. … The Trump administration has moved to push ahead with deep-sea mining in international waters without global approval.”

The third article, again, points out the insidious nature of capitalism’s quest for profits at the expense of our health—especially the health of our children.

In a July 27th article by Julia Belluz titled, “This Is the Way Out of Our Ultraprocessed Dystopia” she explains how capitalism deliberately produces unhealthy and addictive foods for the poor as a cheap substitute to the healthy diet we can’t afford:

“Researchers have uncovered how processed foods override the body’s built-in signals for satiety and nutrition and increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes and obesity, among other chronic diseases. … Philip Morris purchased Kraft in 1988, and a little earlier, R.J. Reynolds acquired major food brands and merged with Nabisco. The tobacco documents show that cigarette companies applied their knowledge about flavor optimization, youth marketing and brain chemistry to ultraprocessed foods in order to increase profits. … To play on a question that the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David Kessler asked during the tobacco trials: Whose choice is driving the demand for ultraprocessed foods in America? Is it a choice by consumers to continue eating them? Or by food companies to maintain the public’s dependency on them?”

We have become immune to all the ways capitalism is destroying our lives and the planet in pursuit of profits—including their continued wars of aggression against working people around the world.

It is the ordinary people who fight and get killed in wars. The elite sit on their thrones and direct the hits that will benefit them the most financially because that’s all they are concerned about.

Our unity is free and our votes can be free, too

An independent organization of unity and solidarity among all of us who must work for a living can surmount the power of wealth because we are the overwhelming majority.

If we stood united in our demand for control over the wealth we produce by our work, we could turn the tables on the wealthy and end the balance of power of the rich over the poor forever.

And we could conceivably achieve this peacefully and without violence if we stop work on capitalism’s production for profit en masse—before they do destroy the world—and take control of the means of production out of their hands and into our own, for the benefit of all of us.

We could elect who we want to represent us. We could disarm capitalism, and free the world from their constant wars of power, destruction, threats and the illegal acquisition of the wealth we alone produce.

We can remove the borders that separate us and plan democratically to build a fair and equitable world internationally.

Production for the needs of all on a foundation of economic and social equality and justice is in our power to achieve—if we stand united.

All we need do is organize democratically in our own defense, and in defense of all life on earth.