On the withdrawal of Biden as the Democratic Party’s candidate

The announcement that Biden has withdrawn as the candidate of the Democratic Party underscores the extreme crisis of the American political system less than four months before the election. In the span of nine days, the Republican nominee was nearly assassinated, while the Democratic nominee was forced to step down. 

The first thing that must be said about Biden’s decision to step down is that it will not alter the right-wing politics of the Democratic Party. One of the significant elements of the factional debate among Democrats over Biden’s personal fate was the absence of any actual policy differences—from the CIA Democrats, through to Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, Biden’s ardent backers to the end.

Whether Harris or another Democrat becomes the candidate, the basic policy will remain the same.

Biden’s withdrawal followed the Republican National Convention, an orgy of fascistic reaction that had the distinct stench of a Munich beer hall in 1923. Pitched to the lowest level, the convention expressed the brutality, violence and cultural backwardness of the American ruling class.

The danger of an American style of fascism is very real. The strength of the Republicans, however, comes not from its policies–which are those of the financial oligarchy–but from the completely reactionary character of the Democratic Party.

The Democrats are a party of Wall Street and the military-intelligence agencies. This is combined with the promotion of identity politics aimed at dividing the working class and advancing the interests of privileged sections of the upper middle class. The Biden administration and the Democratic Party have done nothing to address the staggering social crisis in America.

In the media and political commentary on Biden’s withdrawal, there are ubiquitous references to his “great record” as president. In fact, the Biden administration has been a catastrophe for the vast majority of the population. And far from undermining the support of the Republicans and the MAGA movement, it has done the opposite. 

The overriding concern of the Democrats from day one has been on provoking and escalating the war against Russia in Ukraine. This remains its main priority. In its editorial board statement on Biden’s withdrawal, the New York Times, which had called on him to step down, wrote, “This election will determine whether the United States, as it has under Mr. Biden, stands up to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”

The war against Russia now coincides with the imperialist-backed genocide in Gaza, which has, according to the medical journal The Lancet, led to the deaths of an estimated 186,000 people. Biden is personally responsible for this atrocity, having provided Israel with the weaponry and political backing to carry it out, but it has the backing of the entire political establishment.

Biden and the Democrats have been eager to cooperate with Republicans in the pursuit of global war. This is why Biden said, in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 coup, that he wants a “strong Republican Party.” In recent months, Biden implored Trump to “join him” in waging war on immigrants. At the same time, Democrats in Congress worked closely with Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, voting to keep him in office to ensure the passage of war funding. Johnson was among those enthusiastically cheering the Trump-Fuhrer last week.

If the Democrats could get an agreement with Trump on these issues, they would gladly do so. In the aftermath of the fascistic RNC convention, the Times wrote in its editorial that the next Democratic Party candidate, whether Harris or someone else, should follow Biden’s lead by “engag[ing] respectfully and honorably with Republicans.”

A fight against fascism is urgently necessary. But fascism cannot be opposed through the Democratic Party. Indeed, if, despite everything, the Democrats are able to win the election, they will pursue policies that will further strengthen the far right. 

Opposition to fascism must be based on the fight to free the working class, the vast majority of the population, from the stranglehold of the entire two-party system. The pseudo-left supporters of the Democratic Party, along with the trade union apparatus, play a particularly foul role in attempting to block such a development, thereby ensuring the further lurch of the entire political establishment to the right.

It is necessary to fight within the working class for a program and perspective that articulates its real interests. This is the fight for socialism. It is impossible to oppose imperialist war except in opposition to the capitalist nation-state system, the root cause of war. 

And it is impossible to defend democratic rights except in opposition to the corporate and financial oligarchy, which controls both political parties. Democracy is not compatible with a society in which the vast majority of wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite. 

The fight for socialism is the fight for a society based on equality. It is the fight for workers’ power and the reorganization of economic life to meet social needs, not private profit. It is the fight against war and for the international unity of the working class. It is the fight for the future against capitalist barbarism.

The aim of the Socialist Equality Party election campaign is to build a socialist leadership in the working class. Now is not the time to stay on the sidelines! Join us and take up this fight!