Nationalization: Will it be for the People or the Corporations?

With incredible speed over the past year, we have gone from the corporate government declaring that government shouldn’t intervene in the privately owned economy to the very same government partially nationalizing banks and insurance companies.

But it’s clear that these “nationalizations” are in fact a process of handing trillions of dollars of public money to private corporations in the name of preserving these industries as privately owned, profit-making enterprises. No guarantees are being offered the workers, and unemployment and poverty continue to rise by leaps and bounds. This is simply a desperate attempt to save a dying market economy. We are seeing nationalization in the interest of the corporations. What we need is nationalization in the interest of the people, in the interest of society as a whole.

What does nationalization in the interest of the people mean? It means the people would own the nationalized industries, such as banking, energy or health care, and run them in the interest of the society. It could mean guarantees of jobs or income for workers; it could mean an end to evictions and foreclosures, and that everyone would have housing; it could mean that everyone would have access to health care; it could mean not having to choose between heating and eating in the winter.

The nationalizations that have gone on in the interest of the corporations have begun opening people’s eyes to what is possible. In a recent poll by the LA Times, 59 percent said they favor somewhat or strongly favor the government bailing out individual homeowners who are facing foreclosure. A school district in Ohio that is facing budget shortfalls has called for the government to bail it out. The workers who occupied a shut-down factory in Chicago recently to demand what was owed them contrasted the bailout of the banks with the treatment of laid-off workers.

The government has made clear that it’s perfectly ready to spend public money to partially nationalize industries in the interest of preserving corporate profit and corporate rule. It’s becoming more and more clear that the market economy is failing and the government has to intervene to prop it up. The opportunity now exists to open people’s eyes to the possibility that the government can intervene on behalf of the vast majority of society. The implied demand of the workers is that industries be nationalized to guarantee jobs, housing, energy, education, health care and the other necessities of a civilized life.

People are asking: If hundreds of billions can be handed to the banks with no strings attached, why can’t I be helped to keep my home, my job, my health care? Why are schools and hospitals and factories being closed, and the banks kept open with public money? And the very same banks refuse to lend that money out to those who need it?

Our society is being transformed. The robot and the computer are eliminating so many jobs that the corporations are forced to use the power of the government and the public’s money to prop up the market economy. The question that is becoming clear is, who does the government serve? Does it serve the mass of the people, or only the corporations and the wealthy few? If it is to serve the people, then the next step is for its power to be used to turn major industries into public property so that the well-being of the workers can be guaranteed. The battle lines are being drawn between the workers and the corporations.

The ultimate goal is a society that guarantees the well-being of all its members. Nationalization in the interest of the people is a step toward that goal, but it won’t happen without struggle. The people will have to be rallied to fight for it.

From the Editors
We are sometimes asked “Why do revolutionaries need a press?” The answer has to do with this moment in history. Historical and economic forces beyond anyone's control have set the stage for a new society to be built, but from this point on, how things turn out depends on what people think—because what they think shapes what they do. This means that those of us who are seeking fundamental change are engaged in a battle of ideas, a struggle to win the hearts and minds of the people. If we don't raise the consciousness of the people and unite them around a vision of a better world and a strategy to achieve it, then we'll fail in our effort to build a just and free society. To raise consciousness and win the battle of ideas, we need a press.