Too many times we’ve seen the U.S. government bail out corporations and banks instead of working people. Today, history is set to repeat itself, with Democrats and Republicans coming together on a bill that allocates seventeen times as much to financial relief for big business than it does to direct financial assistance to workers.

The working class must work together against this corporate giveaway and in favor of a COVID-19 response that puts people over profit.

That’s why DSA has signed in support of the Five Principles of Just COVID-19 Relief and Stimulus, The People’s Bailout, and A Green Stimulus.

In this time of crisis, we must act swiftly and in concert with organizations that are fighting for the needs of our class. We must let the ruling class — capitalist bosses and the Democratic and Republican politicians who are in their pockets — know that we won’t stand idly by while big business gets a slush fund and the working class gets pennies.

The Five Principles of Just COVID-19 Relief and Stimulus serve as the first step toward achieving real wins for all of us:

1. Health is the top priority, for all people, with no exceptions.
2. Provide economic relief directly to the people.
3. Rescue workers and communities, not corporate executives.
4. Make a down payment on a regenerative economy, while preventing future crises.
5. Protect our democratic process while protecting each other.

Joining the call for the People’s Bailout is an opportunity for DSA to provide an explicitly socialist voice in a coalition of multi-racial working-class organizations acting together to build momentum and unity around a COVID-19 solution for the working-class majority of this country, not the billionaires and ruling class.

But we know that the fight will continue long after we win emergency relief in this crisis. This pandemic is a crisis of capitalism — a system so incredibly fragile that a mere few weeks of lost profit have sent it into a chaotic tailspin.

We must build power now to pave the road to a brighter future. The Green Stimulus will be one crucial landmark in that future. With aggressive measures such as the expansion of public ownership in transit agencies, local housing authorities, public school districts, and electric co-ops and the creation of millions of new unionized green jobs, the Green Stimulus paints a clear picture of the world that we are fighting to build.

To get there, we have much work to do. We must continue organizing in our workplaces and communities to demand a national shutdown in order to protect the lives of countless people across the country. The ruling class has made it clear this week that they are prepared to kill millions in order to protect their profits — let’s let them know that there’s no way we’ll die for Wall Street.

It’s clearer now than ever: we’re fighting for socialism in the face of barbarism.

Solidarity forever!