Sam Webb: Capitalism and worldwide crises (video)
A protest sign from a recent MoveOn.org rally. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)
The world is in crisis. Hunger, poverty, homelessness, environmental devastation…
Last week at the Salt of the Earth Labor College in Tucson, Sam Webb, chair of the US Communist Party, addressed these worldwide crises, the role of capitalism, and the growing push-back from the people.
Using the pro-union, anti-right-wing government demonstrations in Wisconsin as a jumping off point, Webb said there is a growing “spirit of struggle” in the US. According to Webb, the current movement is “qualitatively different” because recent demonstrations against the extremist Republican agenda have drawn tens of thousands of people to rallies nationwide.
Most of Webb’s talk focused on capitalism in crisis.
“The capitalist class declared a strike action,” Webb quipped. “They have about $2 trillion in hand… and they’re investing nearly nothing of their $2 trillion or if they invest, they are investing it abroad or in speculative ventures, so it’s hard to think the employment rate is going to go down too much.”
Although the current demonstrations in the US have focused on jobs, pensions, and unions, the US and the world are facing several multi-level crises. Beyond widespread unemployment, there are crises in hunger, poverty, equality, education, public health, housing, and the environment.
Webb addressed a packed house of about 50 activists. According to a Labor College representative, about half of the audience was newcomers. The video below includes highlights from his talk. For an schedule of other upcoming classes, check this link.
[tnivideo caption=”CPUSA Chair Sam Webb in Tucson” credit=”Pamela Powers”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_7_L1d-l2s[/tnivideo]
10 comments on “Sam Webb: Capitalism and worldwide crises (video)”
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Tucson Progressive 
Well done. It is interesting to hear Sam Webb list the many indicators of global stress: widespread malnourishment and other food insecurity, the millions who die every year due to water related illnesses and the 1.5 billion people who have no access to safe water supplies. He stated that more than a billion people live in crowded slums in vast urban ghettos. Over 45 million Americans live in poverty and this is growing. It is a disgrace that this is the human condition when the knowledge and resources exist to end this condition and elevate millions and millions of people around the world from their suffering. Sam Webb points to capitalism as the impediment to progress against these deplorable conditions. I was taught to believe as a child that the human condition was improving; that it would just take more time to alleviate these ills. Perhaps it is becoming clear to others as well that these conditions are actually getting worse. Capitalism is not getting the job done.
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Thank you for posting this. Nice for communists to be a little more visible and even nicer to hear someone, anyone, talk about the 600 pound gorilla of the current crisis – capitalism. It seems to be a taboo on the order of picking your nose in public to even mention the word. Maybe we can get over that.
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Pingback: Sam Webb: Capitalism and worldwide crises (video) – Tucson Citizen | The Write Article
Pam, what modifications would you make in American capitalism? Would you mend it, or end it?
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Don, I think instead of the constant me-me-me whining from capitalists– including local small businesses– businesses could think more about “us” and “US”. There is a constant business friendly drumbeat out there. When are governments going to stop bending over backwards to help businesses and start thinking about the people they are supposed to serve? What about a people-friendly government? And when are businesses going to start thinking about customers and customer service again? What happened to enlightened capitalism? Did Wall Street greed kill it?
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Hey, that’s an AFSCME poster hanging behind the Communist speaker. What a delicious visual. Birds of a feather…
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Birds of a feather…
Of course! If he was a reactionary, there would be a picture of dead third worlders heaped in a pile, incincerated by the latest invention from the merchants of death.
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The FBI has been infiltrating these chuckleheads since the 1920’s how do you know that this guy isnt an FBI agent?
Guess there are more commies here and Berkley and New York than Moscow and Peking.
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Sam Webb is an FBI Special Agent (not just a registered informant). I exposed him as such two years ago and you can read some of that expose throughout the handbook ABC’s of Communism, Bolshevism 2011 (7th edition of this Handbook) at http://www.abcsofcommunism.info. You can also type Sam Webb FBI Special Agent into your browser and you will come up with a website put up by some of his former colleagues in the now nearly dead FBI front party. They are really angry and that is why he travels to places like Tucson without any public announcement as he is afraid of what might happen if they find him.
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Where has his “political party” addressed any ills of the world — other than population elimination? One of the best method to judge the results of a system is to determine if people are fleeing from or to your system.
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