A closer look at bourgeois democracy

Since today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (please see my previous post, “Democracy, East Germany and the Berlin Wall” by Stephen Gowans), lets take a closer look at bourgeois democracy, since it is supposedly so fabulous according to the self-congratulatory imperialist media:

That would all be funny if this farce weren’t backed by force:

“Bourgeois democracy, although a great historical advance in comparison with medievalism, always remains, and under capitalism is bound to remain, restricted, truncated, false and hypocritical, a paradise for the rich and a snare and deception for the exploited, for the poor.” – V. I. Lenin, Bourgeois and Proletarian Democracy

Bourgeois Democracy and the Eviction of Rosemary Williams

Take the fundamental laws of modern states, take their administration, take freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, or “equality of all citizens before the law,” and you will see at every turn evidence of the hypocrisy of bourgeois democracy with which every honest and class-conscious worker is familiar. There is not a single state, however democratic, which has no loopholes or reservations in its constitution guaranteeing the bourgeoisie the possibility of dispatching troops against the workers, of proclaiming martial law, and so forth, in case of a “violation of public order,” and actually in case the exploited class “violates” its position of slavery and tries to behave in a non-slavish manner.

 – V. I. Lenin: “The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky”

The following video shows police kicking and pepper-spraying protesters as they evict Rosemary Williams for GMAC. The people’s occupation of Rosemary Williams’ home has lasted for more than a month, following a long struggle to keep her home. It has been one of the most important and advanced struggles of this economic crisis.

Read the article “Seven people arrested trying to stop the eviction of Rosemary Williams” from Fight Back! News.

One is reminded of the RNC protests that happened in the Twin Cities just over a year ago.

Whether it is one house or a whole city, this is what bourgeois democracy looks like.