Covid-19 treatment for capitalism means no relief for the working class

American capitalism in its self-assured manner has come face to face with a foe it was never prepared to fight: a quickly spreading viral outbreak. Despite much warning from the situation in China and repeated caution from the Centers for Disease Control, the ruling class did nothing for the countries it benefits from and claims to be custodian of. To the surprise of no one, the virus has spread across the planet. In the wake of this impending pandemic, the markets have wavered and crashed, and media-fueled panics have set in across the population. What has resulted is an economic crisis on top of the viral outbreak.

The ruling class government has only recognized the rupture in what was previously a booming financial up turn. In response the United States has acted with lighting efficiency to inject funding into the economy. Much of the financial relief, to the sum of $1.5 trillion in short-term loans, will be used to smooth out market fluctuations. The working class will only hope for some of this to trickle down to them in the future, and long after the pandemic has passed. Where legislators have proposed paid sick leave in the House of Representatives, the bureaucratic sparring in the federal government for the bipartisanship required to pass the legislation in the senate further delays this relief. Further, the language of the bill provides businesses and corporations the opportunity to opt out of providing sick leave altogether. The government’s immediate proposals for financial support to working class people and their families is all in the form of tax cuts. Any material support the working class can find will come from their continued subjection to the employment regime, even at the risk of becoming ill.

Along with quick mobilization to support finance capital, the American federal government has also begun extensive slashing of social services to make up for costs. Reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), now provide for only 3 months of food stamps unless participants are working to receive more in the future. A holiday for student loan interest has also been proposed. However, graduates will still need to go to work to come up with the money to pay off their loans if they are to hope to be rid of as much debt as possible before the interest rate returns. Even the supposed support for the fuel of capitalist social institutions crumbles in the face of this viral outbreak – it truly becomes every person for themselves. The ruling class has shown where their priorities lie, and it’s not with the working class, but with the continued economic high achieved from successful markets and profitability. To keep the economy going, the ruling class will continue to force working class people to keep working through the pandemic to ensure this happens.

These skewed priorities also bleed into the management of the health crisis. Despite the increased chance of infection that comes with continuing to work, the federal government has all but abandoned the need for viral testing. Similarly, the insinuation that another capitalist firm of the United States would be coordinated enough to recognize when the president declared their cooperation in a testing scheme and would already have viral testing facilities prepared is farcical at best. The medical system, being privatized, does not offer the ability for appropriate responses to a rapid viral outbreak. The past interests of capital have shaped the American health system, and that is now materializing as the inability to provide medical aid to the working class and the unemployed who run the risk of infection every day the pandemic continues.

This problem is not isolated to the United States: across the globe the interests of capitalism are colliding with the ensuing viral pandemic. Working class people everywhere are still expected to go to work, despite the fact that people are aware of their infection only after they have become contagious. In China, where work has continued since February, the rising price of food is creating intolerable living conditions. Despite the Chinese government having the power to redistribute food to where it’s needed, the only thing the ruling party can request is that people return to work to drive down food prices later. Even with the increased pressure to work, all recreational events have been cancelled, and in Italy a ban on labor assemblies has been imposed. Capitalist society has thrown off its facade of peaceful existence between classes to lay bare its attitude towards the working class, and it’s to work towards a profitable economy despite the pandemic.

This has resulted in many working class organizations demanding that work be stopped in all nonessential industries until the pandemic has passed.

In Italy strikes are spreading across the whole country and major rank and file unions – Usb, S.I. Cobas, Cub – are supporting them calling for national strikes across all nonessential industries to the fight against the pandemic, asking for close the factories and full salaries payment. Regime unions (Cgil, Cisl, Uil) instead on 14th March have signed an agreement with bosses and government to don’t stop the production. This is being done to push the Italian government to accommodate the safety and needs of the working class people of Italy.

Workers at vehicle assembly plants in Canada have similarly refused to work due to concerns over their well-being. In the United Kingdom, where Parliament and the Prime Minister have all but decided to wait for the viral outbreak to pass “naturally”, workers have begun staging strikes to force the British government and their employers to recognize the working class’ needs and safety.

It is only through the union of the working class along this industrial front that capitalist governments will acknowledge the class’ needs and demands. And all of these working class strikes have similar demands: universal access to relief and the stoppage of work during the outbreak.

In the United States, the bureaucratic structure of The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has done nothing to force the hand of the American government. Despite being in a position to form a similar industrial front as the Italians, the AFL-CIO leadership has only proposed petitions. Petitioning capitalist governments to forsake economic progress in order to mitigate the harm caused by a pandemic is as farcical as the government hoping for capitalist firms to have a commitment to collective action. By appealing to the illusory “common interests” capitalist firms and the ruling class have with the working class, AFL-CIO union bosses demonstrate they only wish to maintain their positive relationships with the ruling class. They do this even at the expense of the American working class, both those they represent and those they don’t.

Where the union leadership drags their feet, working class people across the country affected by the outbreak begin to move. Medical workers in New Orleans, who must work excessively in hazardous conditions during the health crisis, have begun to demand the needed material support that the unions have failed to call for. In New York City, where the mayor has kept the public schools open, teachers are calling for sick outs to push for school closures. And where the capitalist government refuses to alleviate material shortages caused by the panic, working class people support one another with what resources they have. The demands of the working class in the United States are the same as the demands of the class across the planet: total and immediate relief during the course of the pandemic.

Only the working class together is capable of making their objections to the mindless activity of the ruling capitalist governments known. Joining hand in hand with the working class of Europe and Canada who are already striking, and in solidarity with the suffering workers of East Asia, the American working class can demand the desperately needed medical relief and a pause to work during the pandemic as a class. Through this very united class front, the international working class can change society and prioritize the human needs during this crisis and into the future. This class union, in coordination with the International Communist Party, can smash the demands of the market for the continued profitability of institutions that will never feel pain in their lungs. Where the ruling class of capitalist society will expend all of its energy to treat the ailments of a contradicting system, the united working class can bring its own relief.