austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil

266 THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL
and living conditions endured by most during the capitalist industrial
revolution where many males and females (many starting as young as 6
years old) were forced to work 1 00+ hours per week just to survive just
for instance (Marx and Engels, 1988b ).
As an especially clear contrast of the deadly effect of the imposition
of the USA's capitalist new world order, it is possible to examine
post-communist Russia of the 1990s. GNP per capita there has fallen
by about half since communism was overthrown there in 1991 (IMF,
1997a), and death rates have significantly risen, mostly due to increased
stress, illegal drugs, and less access to sanitation and medical care for
many (Cox News, 1995). Also contributing to the increased death rate
has been an enormous increase in the number of murders and mafia
executions, which exceeded 350,000 in the first four years of the return
to capitalism (Roth, 1996) and continues to be far above the level of
even that in the violent USA (Wiedemann, 1997). The USA think-tank
Brookings Institution, heavily sponsored by USA corporations (Strobel
and Peterson, 2000), has estimated three million more deaths than
normal in Russia in the 1990s (Wilson, 1998b ).
However, given that Russian death rates have risen from 1.1% in 1 ?90
to 1.6% in the mid-1 990s (Becker, 1997a), the reimportation ofcapttalism
in Russia in the 1990s has actually caused about I ,000,000 extra
deaths there annually. So many extraordinary deaths in Russia represents
a worse catastrophe than if a large number of nuclear bombs had
been dropped on the country, but they actually represent a mere nonnal
symptom of the very deadly disease called capitalism. In fact, the catastrophe
in Russia should not be surprising, given its capitalist sy�te�
which has been labeled "democratic" and "civil" by Western capttalist
leaders who praise its founder Yeltsin (Wayland, 2000a).
Western capitalist leaders' idea of a civil democracy can be cle�l�
seen from just a few ofYeltsin's more notable "civil" and "democrattc
acts. For instance, Yeltsin declared peaceful strikes by unpaid workers
in 1998 to be unconstitutional ( Ostseezeitung, 1998) according to a
constitution that he himself had created (Ignatius, 1993). He bad been
able to design this constitution after he had effectively made himself
Russian dictator in 1993 by ordering military tanks to fire on an elected
parliament (which opposed his new capitalist order), killing hundreds
of members of the opposition in the process (Wayland, 2000a). Shortly
CHAPTER 7
267
aft er
this "civil" and "democratic" action, he suspended the country's
su reme court that had opposed his decision to close down the elected
!uament (Wall Street Journal, 1993), banned opposition political par­
�es and media (Ignatius and Rosett, 1993), and refused to even crea�e
.
a Jaw allowing for a possible transfer of power tf the controlled medta
were not successful in obtaining a subsequent confirmation ''vote" for
himself (Rosett, 1 996). 11
HoPE FOR THE FuTURE
Despite the horrible worldwide situation created by the USA's Cold
War victory, the future does not necessarily have to be as bleak as the
past. There is always the chance that the American people themselves
will be able to see the evil of their capitalist system, see that most of
the loot from the USA's crimes continues to be owned by a very small
rich elite (Strobel and Peterson, 1999), 1 2 and see fit to vote to end the
system.13
Currently, no major political party in the USA advocates an end to
the country's atrocities. Liberal New Yo rk Times writer Thomas Friedman(l999)
has adequately summarized the only significant differences
between the various capitalist political parties today to be their opinions
on bow much (and whether) the poor should be bribed with a larger
share of the income pie (to keep them from revolting) and how fast (and
whether) capitalism should be spread throughout the world system. For
instance, USA Democrats tend to favor giving the poor a larger share of
the loot than USA Republicans, while there is some mixture of opinions
among individual Democrats and Republicans on how much, how fast,
and in what manner the USA should force international capitalism on
the world. However, even the small differences between the Democrats
and Republicans in terms of sharing the loot have been almost eliminated
in the 1990s (coinciding with the ending of the Cold War), so
that the Democrats are now so similar to the Republicans that some call
them "Republicrats" (Strobel and Peterson, 1999).
Historically, as documented by Copeland (2000), the Republicans
have generally represented the party of big business and the rich (and
pure trickle-up economics), while Democrats have represented the
party of small family businesses (including family farms that employed
slaves) and the "average" citizen (who was offered small bribes for