The real Ronald Reagan

Jarvis Tyner

The Bush administration is using Ronald Reagan's death to boost 
Bush's failing campaign. They are eulogising Reagan because they 
are hoping to win back support for George W Bush and the right-
wing Republican agenda. The TV is saturated with commentaries 
about how great a president Reagan was — many are saying he was 
the greatest President in modern times. Frankly, nothing could be 
further from the truth.

Reagan is presented as if he were the second coming of FDR*, 
when, as a president, he was really like the ghost of Herbert 
Hoover. He was called the Great Communicator, but the issue is 
not how good his speeches were, but rather, how bad his policies 
were. That's what is being left out by the media, falling right 
in line with the Bush administration. They want to put a happy 
face on a very negative presidency.

The real Ronald Reagan was a right-winger most of his life and 
was one of the most anti-communist, pro-imperialist presidents in 
US history. He started his career as a conservative by informing 
on his fellow Hollywood actors during the McCarthy witch-hunts.

As governor of California he ordered his state police to attack 
civil rights and student free speech movement activists. He fired 
Angela Davis from her teaching position at UCLA for her political 
views — because she was a member of the Communist Party USA — 
then he tried to frame her.

First he took her job, then he tried to take her life. He also 
carried out a bloody suppression against the Black Panther Party, 
which was born in his state. We have to ask, where was the 
greatness?

He was a master demagogue who knew how to present extremist 
right-wing policies in a simple, folksy way. He fooled a lot of 
voters. Many democratic-minded voters became disgusted and gave 
up on voting. Reagan won each of his two terms as president with 
a minority of the electorate. Where is the greatness?

He was one of the most anti-labour presidents in history. He 
started his first term by destroying the air traffic controllers' 
union (PATCO) and sought to crush the entire labour movement. He 
was one of the most active presidents against racial equality in 
modern history.

He was elected using a fictitious "welfare queen" to convince 
millions of white voters that Black women on welfare were the 
reason for high taxes. He used racism to promote division and 
animosity. To send a message, he started his re-election campaign 
in Philadelphia where three civil rights workers were killed by 
the Klu Klux Klan in 1964.

Under his watch the Republicans developed their Southern 
strategy, an alliance with Dixiecrat racists, including the KKK. 
He staunchly supported the South African racist regime. He 
consistently opposed affirmative action and all attempts to 
seriously enforce civil rights laws. He was elected on racism and 
he ruled with racism.

The crack cocaine epidemic that so ravaged Black and Latino 
communities emerged and progressed under his watch. The victims 
of that genocide were probably in the tens of thousands. Where 
was the greatness?

His "supply-side" economic policies started a 20-year Republican 
campaign to destroy the social safety net for low-income working-
class families. Remember Reaganomics?

After leaving office, Reagan's budget director David Stockton 
admitted that it was designed to drastically cut social spending, 
including public education and health care, in order to give huge 
tax giveaways to the very rich and, in effect, raise taxes on 
working families. And that is what they did. Again, where was his 
greatness?

Reagan, they proclaim, "won" the Cold War. But when the USSR and 
other socialist countries collapsed, millions were driven into 
poverty. These countries are now suffering unemployment, 
homelessness, hunger, crime, and bloody ethnic strife. This is 
what Reagan and Bush call freedom. Where was the victory?

Today the average life span in the former USSR has plunged to the 
level of a developing country. Public schools have been trashed 
and pricey private schools have sprung up for the new rich 
capitalists.

Free health care is being eliminated and replaced by expensive 
private hospitals and clinics. The children who used to be a 
privileged class, the women who broke world records in many 
fields, are being victimised, exploited, and enslaved through the 
international sex trade. This is a victory?

Who benefited from the collapse of socialism? Not the people. 
Imperialism! Global capitalism, particularly US capitalism.

Thanks to Reagan's policies the world is a far more dangerous 
place today. George W Bush's militarist, sole-superpower imperial 
policies — including the invasion and occupation of Iraq — are 
a continuation of Reagan's agenda.

The American people have suffered through a quarter century of 
intensified right-wing attack. It's time for change. Let's step 
up the struggle to defeat Bush and the Republican majority in 
Congress this November so that we can begin to move our country 
in a better direction. That will be a real victory.

* * *

* Franklin Delaenor Roosevelt

Jarvis Tyner is Executive Vice-Chair of the Communist Party 
USA