The everyday crisis of living is perhaps the single most concrete experience of the capitalist system to working families. Under the domination of monopoly capital, working class interests are largely neglected and working people, by and large, are not represented in the political system. The bourgeois pundits have had a field day following the electoral victory of Trump, asserting that the 2024 election results demonstrate that our working class is “moving to the right.”

These pundits are seeking to shift the responsibility for the outcome of the election from an increasingly powerful and fascist-dominated capitalist class to an increasingly disenfranchised working class. The fact that Harris received several million fewer votes than Biden received in the 2020 election does deserve attention. But do the numbers prove that many workers moved into the MAGA camp; or did a large section simply stay home? What role did voter suppression play in the total turn out in the working class? Does this represent a concerted shift towards reaction, or more a loss of faith in the current political system to deliver for the working class?

A deeper analysis of the political developments within the working class is far more useful than the question of whether or not our class is “moving right.” Is our class moving towards support of pro-corporate policies and away from policies that support more democratic and economic concerns? Do workers feel disillusioned with participating in the electoral sphere in general? Or is the reality more complicated?

The contradictory voting patterns of our class also requires a critical examination. For example, in areas where Trump won handily, voters continued to uphold reproductive rights, union organizing rights, paid sick leave, higher minimum wage laws, and public education. Anti-monopoly sentiment is widespread, as is the view that the government serves the interest of the wealthy. Universal healthcare is as popular as ever, enjoying large majority support.

The labor movement had a historic mobilization to get the vote out this election and a majority of union members did vote for the Democratic ticket. Union households voted for Harris at a higher rate than they voted for Biden in 2020. But the decades-long decline in union density, and the absence of a strong program for working families, has weakened support. Thus, we are not dealing with a “drift to the right” among workers so much as the consequence of decades of attacks on the political organization and economic security of the working class. Building up the trade union movement, organizing the unorganized sections of our class, and continuing to feed the resurgence of class struggle unionism is key in the upcoming struggles.

There has been a revival of a militant, broad left tendency in the trade union movement. Public support for unions are at record highs. Strikes and organizing drives are continuing to increase. Large national unions are coming together to oppose U.S. foreign policy, specifically around Palestine. The trade union movement is fighting to be the representative voice of the entire working class, aware of its own exploitation, and more critical of the capitalist system in its entirety.

Women workers make up more than half of the workforce and are the majority in some industries, such as education, healthcare, and government agencies, which are special targets of the Project 2025 agenda. The majority of these workers voted against Trump. Likewise for African American workers, who have historically voted in a bloc against the ultra-right. In reality, workers of color are impacted by economic hardships as significantly, if not more than, white workers, and they still overwhelmingly voted against fascism. The impact of Trump’s policies will have a devastating impact on Black workers and Black working class communities.

The toxic pollutants of racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ bigotry, and chauvinism remain critical barriers to class solidarity. They prevent the formation of broad based unity by amplifying divisions to the benefit of the ruling class. The Trump campaign played on these prejudices and weaponized them. The struggle against these pollutants are of special importance to the labor movement. Fighting for an anti-rexist, anti-sexist, and anti-homophobic class consciousness is the order of the day.

Immigrant workers will be the first targets of the incoming Trump Administration and they’ve repeatedly said as much. Certain unions, such as Unite HERE, SEIU, UFCW, LiUNA, and the Painters, where immigrant workers have organized and won collective bargaining rights, will be especially targeted. The labor movement’s ability to defend immigrant workers and fight back against the fascist attacks, both legal and extralegal, are of paramount importance.

Racism indeed plays a role in the anti-immigrant attitudes within the working class and it must be consistently struggled against. The fact is, many working class people know very little about immigration, its causes and relation to U.S. imperialism, or the productive role immigrant workers play in our economy. Nor do they understand that undocumented workers pay almost $100 billion in taxes annually — and at a higher rate than the top 1% pays.

Political education within the labor movement demands attention. Union newspapers were once filled with back and forth articles on the issues of the day. Local unions used to have their own education committees that involved workers on the shop floor. Nowadays, these essential tools are replaced with mailers, and membership education has taken a back seat. Worker-to-worker discussions are required to build the necessary unity and the political consciousness of the entire labor movement.

A stronger shop steward system has to be rebuilt. Just as important is building shop floor organization for workers without union representation. Every effort to assist workers to overcome the high hurdle to union representation in the U.S. must be made — whether they have a collective bargaining agreement or not. The end result will be a strengthened trade union movement and a fighting working class.

Just as we cannot cede the electoral struggle to the interests of monopoly capital, we cannot cede the battle of ideas to them either. Our struggle must be waged on the shop floors, in the union halls, in the communities, and in the press. We have confidence in the appeal of our vision of Bill of Rights Socialism and the correctness of our outlook, Marxism-Leninism, to win over the hearts and minds of the working class and draw more of us into active class struggle to defeat the fascist threat.

Image: Workers at Waffle House demand protection and fair wages by SEIU (Twitter/X)

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