Nearly half of the U.S. population—146.4 million people—are officially classified as low-income or living in poverty, according to a December 2011 report by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is an astounding figure for the richest country in the world.
The number of people living in poverty has surged over the past four years due to the severe economic crisis and would be much higher were it not for social programs such as food stamps, Medicare, housing assistance and Welfare.
Now the “Ryan Budget,” named after extreme right-wing and anti-working class Republican congressperson Paul Ryan who designed it, has passed the House of Representatives. It calls for massive cuts in food, health care, housing, education and other social programs that benefit tens of millions of low-income people. At the same time, the plan includes huge new tax breaks for banks, corporations and the super-rich, and an end to many environmental and financial regulations.
Without a doubt, the Democrats will condemn the despicable Ryan proposal in their election propaganda this year, pointing out the human suffering such a budget would inflict.
But the reality is that Democrats and Republicans have been partners in shredding what is often referred to as the “social safety net” over the past three decades.
Bill Clinton’s crusade against welfare
When he ran for the presidency in 1992, Bill Clinton—a Democrat—promised to “end Welfare as we have come to know it.” In 1996, Clinton colluded with then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich—a Republican—to sign into law the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.” The bill ended Welfare as an entitlement program, and limited eligibility to five years total in a person’s lifetime, regardless of economic conditions.
Despite the law’s misleading and condescending title, it did not actually have a “work opportunity” component, and offered no real jobs.
Today, tens of millions of workers are out of work, and many have been for years, with little prospect for future employment. They are not staying home to “enjoy more leisure time,” as the free market economists assert. They are unemployed because of the normal workings of the capitalist system itself. There is virtually always a “reserve army of the unemployed” under capitalism, and that “army” vastly expands during the bust phase of the boom-and-bust cycle that is built into the system. While Wall Street’s profits have returned in a big way, there has been little to no relief for poor and working people.
Where social programs came from
Until the time of the Great Depression that began in 1929, there were no federal social programs—no Social Security for elderly and disabled people, no Medicare, food stamps, housing subsidies, welfare, and so on. Nor were any such programs enacted during the first six years of the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. During this period, there was 25 percent unemployment and millions of people roamed the country in a desperate search for work, food and shelter.
But these conditions eventually spurred a mass upsurge in the workers movement in the United States. In 1934, general strikes took place in three U.S. cities: Minneapolis, San Francisco and Toledo, Ohio. It was a clear signal of a new wave of working-class radicalism.
Growing numbers of workers viewed capitalism as the cause of unemployment, hunger and poverty. That reality was underscored by contrast with the newly established Union of Soviet Socialist Republics where there was no depression and no unemployment.
Elements among the capitalist ruling class and their political representatives, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, could read the handwriting on the wall: If they did not make significant concessions, they might lose everything.
In 1935, Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. The concessions made to the rising workers’ movement—Social Security, unemployment insurance, the legalization of union organizing, Welfare, public housing, the forerunner to food stamps and other programs—were designed as a form of “insurance” against revolution.
Other vital social programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, student aid, job training, Head Start and many more came into existence as a result of the civil rights, Black liberation and other progressive mass movements of the 1960s.
The ruling class moves to roll back gains
As the social and labor movements weakened in the 1970s and 1980s, the capitalist ruling class, aided by Democratic and Republican front-men, launched an offensive to reduce or completely eliminate many of these programs, which they had always viewed as impinging on their profits.
That offensive accelerated with the downfall of the Soviet Union and other countries of the socialist bloc in Europe. Along with the fall of the socialist governments came the elimination of the people’s right to employment, housing, health care and other necessities in those countries.
The weakening of the labor and other people’s movements, combined with the fall of the Soviet Union, could be seen as the wheel of history rolling backwards.
One thing that the history of the past 80 years shows is that real progress only comes about through powerful, organized and determined people’s movements.
Another is that no gains won by the workers’ and people’s movements are safe as long as capitalism exists.
