When I first joined the Communist Party decades ago, I was told that the “key link” at that time to social progress, to moving the chain of struggle forward on a whole range of issues and struggles, was to end U.S. war making in Vietnam. Over the years I have found that term useful time and time again. In today’s circumstances, the key link in the political chain is to secure the results of the election against the sustained anti-democratic actions of Trump and his Republican supporters who in broad daylight are attempting to undo the will of tens of millions who cast their ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Upon a successful resolution of that task (which I am confident will be favorably resolved) the Inauguration of Biden will happen as planned and momentum will gather to address interlocking crises generated by a out of control pandemic.

I understand the frustration with the anti-crisis legislation under discussion in the Congress now. It is far short – roughly a trillion and a half short – of what Pelosi and Shumer earlier proposed. But I also find hard it to understand, given the balance of forces in Congress and the threadbare existence of millions, why progressive Democrats wouldn’t support this bill, even with its severe limitations. Posturing, when there is no good immediate alternative, is neither prudent nor progressive. What is more, the passage of the current relief bill doesn’t prevent Biden, once he’s president, from proposing another round of stimulus and relief. He said as much today.

I hear people exclaim what we need is a popular front against Trump and Trumpism. What I find striking here is that it suggests that such a front doesn’t yet exist. But it does, unless you have a bookish understanding of the term. And it is broad in character and scope. So the challenge isn’t to “build a popular front,” but to deepen and extend it further for the purpose of defending, first of all, the results of the election, but also addressing other sides of an unfolding crisis. But again, the immediate task on which everything else turns, is to assure that the election results are secured and that the Inauguration of a new president and vice president takes place on Jan 20.

Watched some of Trump’s rant in Georgia last night and I could only think that the explanation I hear from some on our side of the divide that white workers who still support him aren’t necessarily buying into his raw racist invective. I find this delusional. Racism is at the core of Trump’s message. It’s what he peddles, and practically nothing else. Moreover, in this election, Biden and the Democrats did offer an alternative working class agenda, including robust support for the labor movement. White privilege — and it comes in many forms — is a stubborn thing. And class politics that ignores it really isn’t class politics.

I was rereading (after a loooong vacation) C. Wright Mills discussion of what he called the “labor metaphysic.” And it got me to thinking about the actual role of labor (the working class) – not its role in the realm of theory – over the past half century and how it jived with my worldview. I haven’t come to any conclusions, but I will say some of my thinking was metaphysical and thus requires at least qualifications and modifications.