The US attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro has provoked anger and concern among workers in factories and workplaces across the United States. There is overwhelming opposition, with two-thirds of the population opposing the military attack and 72 percent fearing the US would get deeply involved in Venezuela, according to a Reuters/Ipso poll earlier this week.
Workers at General Motors’ Factory Zero in Detroit denounced Trump and his statements that the US would “rule” Venezuela and take over its oil reserves, the largest in the world. More than 1,100 workers were permanently laid off at the factory Monday, in large part due to the elimination of electric vehicle subsidies by the Trump administration.
Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site distributed the WSWS editorial board statement, “Oppose Trump’s criminal invasion of Venezuela! Release Maduro!” and spoke to autoworkers as they were leaving the plant Wednesday afternoon.
“We’re the ones who are going to pay for this. How much did we spend on Iraq?” one worker said. Another denounced Trump, saying he was a “dictator” who wanted war in Venezuela and a “civil war” in the US.
Other workers stopped to give more detailed comments. A young worker said, “Our tax dollars will go directly” to the war, adding that it was “selfish” for the US to steal the country’s oil. “I’m not okay with that at all.” He said he worried that young people would be forced to fight, saying, “My sister was this close to going into the military, and I told her, look what’s going on. So, she put it off and I’m thankful for that for sure.”
He continued: “We had over a thousand people get laid off before Christmas. It’s due to what Trump did. He took away the tax credits.” Both parties, he said, were “always for the rich. When it comes to taxes, [Trump] screams that he did the biggest tax cut you’ll ever see. What did the rich see? They don’t even pay taxes. I mean, it is set up for the rich to win.”
Another Factory Zero worker said:
I don’t believe the world needs more wars. Call it capitalism, but I’m not interested in seeing war after war that only profits those who gain from war. This is just a way to get more control over other countries. They are saying we can gain more power because we are the US military and we can do it. I think it’s wrong.
It seems every decade there is a new war and its basically the flavor of the week. They have no need to prevent wars because they get profits from wars. They spend billions on war and Trump is cutting childcare in Michigan and other states. They are taking more away from the American people and spending it on war.
They are sending troops into US cities to keep people in check and in fear. Trump and the people he answers to desire a civil war. All you have to do is follow the money trail to see who backs him.
Inside the plant workers are talking about all these wars and how the US is backing Israel against Iran and in the killing of the Palestinians. They are asking why the US is doing this. Now they are taking oil and Venezuela and telling them they can’t sell it to Russia and China. The US wants to sell it and make all the profits.
We’re scrounging around trying to feed our families with an economy we can’t afford. People are afraid that ICE is going to be knocking on their door or that they’re going to lose their livelihood for something they don’t support.
Referring to the massive job cuts, he said, “Nobody agrees with what GM is doing or what the UAW [United Auto Workers] is doing. The union doesn’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. The workforce is fed up with this dog and pony act,” he said.
UPS workers in New York City also spoke to WSWS reporters about the attack on Venezuela and Trump. “Nothing like good ole American hypocrisy to really hide the files his name is in,” a delivery driver said, referring to the Epstein files. “It just shows how far a criminal with power will go to hide his crimes. The International Criminal Court should put out a warrant with the rest of the world to rein in Trump.”
A UPS warehouse worker stated bluntly “World War 3 is brewing” and added:
If you follow the money and where it leads you will see that the president is not the leader of this country but the people around him are. What were the results in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan … I can go on. Especially in Latin America, when Venezuela made a deal with China, that sealed that president’s fate.
Think about it. If Venezuela’s chief export was anything else but oil, do you really think we would go through all this trouble? And in the end, at what cost? What if civil unrest occurs in Venezuela? Are we sending the military? And when the casualties mount, then what?
Look at American history very carefully. Who created the wars? And the poor people who fought them were massacred. The USA is no angel in this. And Venezuela is just the latest example.
Daryl, a retired construction worker from Ohio, wrote a note to the WSWS providing a more detailed view of the war and why workers should oppose it.
Trump’s new national security directive makes clear that the entire Western Hemisphere belongs to the United States. The capitalist economic crisis is of such magnitude that the oligarchs are intent on resorting to mafia style gangster tactics on a global scale. I see it as an act of desperation, rather than an act of strength. The neo-colonial Western cabal, led by the United States, is losing total control of their global hegemony and are now facing rival powers, such as China and Russia, that are actively competing for the same resources, supply chains, and markets that the crumbling Western based order had enjoyed as a virtual monopoly since the end of WW2.
I see the US invasion of Venezuela as the first move to re-establish colonial domination over the entire hemisphere. This is about kicking out their global competition, mainly Russia and China, and creating a monopoly for US corporations in the Western Hemisphere. This will require a massive effort to control the working class and subject them to ever increasing levels of propaganda, surveillance and repression to control the natural opposition to their naked aggression and colonial plunder.
I think they’ve just lit the fuse to a powder keg that has the potential to do incalculable global damage and ultimately it is the working people and poor that will be most harmed when their newly articulated agenda goes awry. It remains to be seen whether the US will be able to establish their goals without putting boots on the ground. Personally, I think, they are going to run up against massive resistance from the people of Latin America and increasing resistance across the US.
David, a retired educator also from Ohio, wrote:
The current crisis in Venezuela is a culmination of more than a century of unbroken US imperial intervention in Latin America to seize markets, resources and cheap labor by military means. From the Roosevelt‑era formulation of the Monroe Doctrine through 20th‑century coups and occupations to the present-day naval blockades, air strikes and kidnapping of a sitting head of state, Washington has expanded capitalism by force. The Trump administration boast that it will ‘run’ Venezuela in this latest act of pillage and plunder.
The gangsterism that is deployed in special operations, blockades and “regime‑change” tactics abroad are now normalized at home. This is seen in the erosion of democratic rights, in the militarization of policing and in preparations to squelch popular dissent. The ruling elite can implement such policies and vast wealth seizures only by choking resistance. Behold Miller’s ‘Iron Law’ policy! The talk of ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ was always a cover for domination. But now, even the pretense is set aside. The remedy will not come from the UN or capitalist governments. Only the independent mobilization of the working class can stop this.