Thread by @EvanBlake17

We're proud to announce that @Mehring_Books is publishing Volume 1 of “COVID, Capitalism, and Class War.” I wrote this introduction to the book, which is a compilation of the unmatched coverage of @WSWS_Updates on the #COVID19 pandemic. #CovidIsNotOver 1/
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Volume 1 is available for pre-order as an e-pub here, which will be published on September 30. It will also be released in abridged form as a print volume later this year. #CovidIsntOver 2/ mehring.com/product/covid-…

Here are some key quotes from the intro, which traces the key turning points in the pandemic from 2020, 2021 & 2022, while explaining the political significance
and lessons that must be learned from this world historic tragedy. 3/
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"This book... is a social and political chronology of a historically critical event whose impact on the twenty-first century will prove to be as profound as that of World War I on the twentieth century." 4/
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"In a manner no less profound than the cataclysm that erupted in the summer of 1914, the outbreak of the pandemic in the opening months of 2020 triggered a world crisis that exposed the political, social, and moral bankruptcy of capitalist society." 5/
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"Confronted with a public health emergency of unprecedented magnitude, virtually every government in the world refused to implement policies that were required to prevent mass infection, debilitating illness, and death." 6/
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"Saving profits was prioritized over saving lives. Humanity is grappling with the consequences of the socially criminal response of governments to the pandemic." 7/
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"Government policies have been characterized by a staggering indifference to human life... Most recently, US President Joseph Biden declared that 'the pandemic is over' on a day with 61,712 official new infections and 464 deaths from COVID-19 in the US" 8/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

As we approach the beginning of the 4th year of the pandemic, it continues to exact a horrific toll, as nearly every world government has abandoned all mitigation measures to slow the spread of the virus and has adopted a policy of 'forever COVID.' 9/
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"Provided with billions of hosts, the coronavirus continues to evolve into new variants, threatening to further erode the efficacy of existing vaccines and treatments and cause recurring waves of mass infection, debilitation, and death." 10/
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"Past struggles against polio, malaria, measles, smallpox, and other infectious diseases have been justly celebrated as milestones in the progressive impact of science on civilization. There will be no celebration of the official response to COVID-19." 11/
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"The great advantage of the writers of the WSWS was that they were guided by a perspective informed by history and a Marxist-Trotskyist understanding of the conflict between private economic interests & the welfare of the public in capitalist society. 12/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"When the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 began in late 2019, world capitalism was completely unprepared. In the opening months of 2020, all of the key issues and basic problems that have defined the pandemic were first raised." 13/
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"The two fundamental strategies that have since dominated governments’ responses to the pandemic—elimination and “herd immunity”—emerged in 2020. The central problem of stopping viral transmission was dealt with in two diametrically opposed manners." 14/
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"After 76 days filled with enormous stress and self-sacrifice among workers, doctors, and scientists, Chinese society stamped out viral transmission in the most populous country on Earth, protecting 1.4 billion people from SARS-CoV-2." #ZeroCovid 15/
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"This became the model followed by New Zealand, Vietnam, and other countries in the region and internationally, many of which maintained elimination for over a year, until finally succumbing to the pressures of global finance capital." 16/
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"Outside of China, a very different response unfolded in early 2020. Nearly every other government viewed the coronavirus not through the prism of science and public health, but that of global finance and corporate profits." 17/
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"By the end of March, the CARES Act and other financial bailouts were crafted and rapidly approved internationally, funneling trillions of dollars into the financial markets. The aim was to provide immediate resources to restore the stock market." 18/
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"Once this was achieved, the fight to stop viral transmission was subordinated to a ruthless back-to-work drive, whose mantra, coined by Trump and promoted by NYT columnist Thomas Friedman, was that “the cure cannot be worse than the disease.” 19/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"In promoting the reopening of businesses before the virus was contained, Trump, Friedman, and the Times hailed the Swedish government’s refusal to implement lockdowns, based on the distortion of the scientific concept of 'herd immunity.'" 20/
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"Many scientists have opposed these policies. Since April 2020, aerosol scientists have waged a heroic struggle, urging governments to publicize the fact that #CovidisAirborne & can be dramatically curtailed through high-quality masks & ventilation." 21/
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"Yet to this day, nearly every government and even the World Health Organization have refused to educate society on airborne transmission, keeping the global population largely ignorant of this most essential feature of the virus and how it spreads." 22/
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"The concluding months of 2020 saw the approval of anti-COVID vaccines and the escalation of the 'herd immunity' policy, in what the WSWS termed a 'winter of death.' In the final 3 months of the year, ~2.5 million people died from COVID-19 worldwide" 23/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"As the pandemic entered its 2nd year, new problems emerged. The rollout of the vaccines was done in a haphazard manner subordinated to corporate profits, producing vast inequities in global vaccination rates between wealthy & poorer countries." 24/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The vaccine rollout also produced a more subtle problem, as the vaccines were increasingly seen by governments not as an auxiliary but as a substitute that rendered unnecessary a comprehensive public health program." 25/
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"This became the basis for a 3rd, mitigationist strategy, which encouraged vaccinations alongside an amorphous mixture of other public health measures, while accepting that a certain unspecified level of viral transmission would remain." 26/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"Ostensibly liberal governments cultivated illusions that the vaccines would serve as “magic bullets” and provide lasting protection against infection, thinking pragmatically that they could now proceed as if everything was fine." 27/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"Scientists warned that new variants such as Delta could cause “breakthrough” infections among vaccinated people, and that vaccines alone would not stop viral transmission, but these warnings were once again ignored." 28/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"While many scientists, workers & anti-COVID activists advocated for comprehensive mitigation measures, their appeals to capitalist politicians fell on deaf ears. It became clear that they would have to take matters into their own hands." 29/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"This found its most advanced expression in a series of powerful school strikes initiated by British parent Lisa Diaz and supported by the WSWS, the first of which took place on October 1, 2021." 30/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"On November 20, 2021, the WSWS launched the Global Workers’ Inquest into the Pandemic, 'to break through the cover-up, falsifications, and misinformation that have been deployed to justify policies responsible for the avoidable deaths of millions.'" 31/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"4 days later, on November 24, news broke that the Omicron variant was spreading rapidly in South Africa. Within weeks, this highly-infectious and immune-resistant variant had spread to every corner of the globe, infecting millions of people each day." 32/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The response of capitalist governments to the Omicron variant was coldblooded and catastrophic. Governments seized on this most infectious variant to scrap whatever mitigation measures were still in place and embrace the “herd immunity” strategy." 33/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"On January 17, 2022, a day when >800k Americans were officially infected and 1,397 died from COVID, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated, 'It is an open question as to whether or not Omicron is going to be the live virus vaccination that everyone is hoping for.'" 34/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"This pragmatic, unscientific conception was a warmed-over version of the “herd immunity” strategy, based on the lie that “natural infection” would provide long-lasting immunity and attenuate the dangers of the virus, causing it to become “endemic.” 35/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"This outlook was used to justify the lifting of all mask mandates and recommendations, the erosion and ultimate scrapping of isolation and quarantine guidelines, the end of free testing, and the universal rejection of lockdowns and social distancing." 36/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"Implementing this false and reactionary policy required the systematic manipulation of data to cover up the real scale of death and debilitation caused by the virus. Throughout the world, data collection and reporting systems were curtailed." 37/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The results of this universal adoption of “herd immunity” have been horrendous. In the past 10 month, >3 billion people have been infected with COVID-19 globally, including 100s millions of reinfections or breakthrough infections." 38/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"Officially, 1,055,050 people have died from COVID-19 worldwide so far this year, while the excess deaths tracker of The Economist estimates that in reality 4.4 million people have already died directly or indirectly from the pandemic in 2022." 39/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The unhindered spread of the virus has spawned numerous Omicron subvariants, including Omicron BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5, each producing further waves of infections and deaths throughout much of the world." H/T @DGBassani for his excellent graphics. 40/

"Scientists are warning that it is only a matter of time before new, more devastating variants evolve that could further undermine existing vaccines, and treatments such as Paxlovid." 41/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The propaganda campaign has had a profound impact on mass consciousness, disarming hundreds of millions of people throughout the world by encouraging them to stop wearing masks and abandon their vigilance against the ongoing threat of COVID-19." 42/
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"The mantra guiding this policy, repeated ad nauseam by politicians globally, is that society must “learn to live with the virus.” In effect, this cheap slogan aims to normalize perpetual mass death and debilitation." 43/
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"While attempting to cultivate a fatalistic and indifferent attitude in the population, the ruling elites and their pliant media continue to promote the “Wuhan Lab Lie,” as well as endless lies about the elimination strategy in China." 44/
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"In reality, the example of China is powerful proof of the viability of this strategy and shows the potential to eliminate SARS-CoV-2 worldwide in a matter of months through the global deployment of every available public health measure." 45/
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"Coinciding with the brutal enforcement of a “forever COVID” policy, this year has also seen the unprecedented global spread of monkeypox, an excruciating disease. There have been >60,000 confirmed cases in >100 countries, with 23 confirmed deaths." 46/
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"Contrary to the lies of capitalist politicians and the media, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over. The future course that the pandemic will take remains to be seen." 47/
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"However, after three years, it should be readily apparent that neither the pandemic, nor any of the other dangers confronting humanity, will be resolved under the auspices of world capitalism." 48/
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"COVID-19 is only the 1st plague of the 21st century. Climate change & the unplanned nature of capitalist development are creating the conditions for ever more infectious diseases to spill over from destabilized animal populations into urban centers." 49/
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"The conclusion that must be drawn is that the resolution of these crises is dependent not on the discovery of a miraculous technology, but on a social and political movement against the root cause of the crisis, the anarchic capitalist profit system." 50/
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"The pandemic, climate change, and the destruction of public health are only symptoms of a more profound disease, the capitalist system itself, which subordinates all human needs to the profit interests of a money-mad ruling class." 51/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The title of this book, 'COVID, Capitalism, and Class War,' is justified. The pandemic has revealed the reality of a global class war, in which the urgent needs of mankind are subordinated to the drive for profits & obscene levels of personal wealth." 52/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The policies implemented by governments bear the criminal mark of what is defined in law as “malice aforethought.” The response of capitalist governments to the pandemic has served the interests of their super-rich patrons." 53/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"Lowering life expectancy in order to reduce pension obligations and social spending has been a longstanding aim of sections of the ruling class, and this effect of the pandemic is not simply an unforeseen coincidence." 54/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"According to Forbes, by May 4, 2022, the day that the official COVID-19 death toll in the US surpassed one million, the wealth of America’s 727 billionaires had increased by $1.71 trillion since the start of the pandemic." 55/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"In the course of April-May 2020, the WSWS first characterized the pandemic as a “trigger event” in world history, akin to the June 28, 1914, assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which triggered the outbreak of World War I." 56/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"Two years later, it is clear that the pandemic profoundly accelerated the destabilization of capitalism. As with the trench warfare of WWI, during the pandemic the ruling elites have subjected mankind to wave after wave of mass infections & deaths." 57/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The criminal pandemic policies have exposed the brutality of capitalism, radicalizing masses of workers in every industry throughout the world. The class struggle has steadily intensified over the past two years and has now reached a fever pitch." 58/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"At the 2021 WSWS May Day Rally, we announced the founding of the IWA-RFC, which aims to unify workers globally in opposition to the pandemic policies of the corporations, governments, and unions, and to fight for their own independent interests." 59/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The IWA-RFC has expanded to become the organizing center of the increasingly militant struggles of the working class, whose living standards have dramatically declined during the pandemic. The IWA-RFC must be developed systematically in every country." 60/wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"As can be seen in the list of authors from throughout the world, this book is a collective global effort. In addition, there are many scientists and experts that the WSWS has consulted with during the pandemic, and to whom we are immensely grateful." 61/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"The struggle is not over, and the World Socialist Web Site will continue to provide leadership in the fight against the pandemic." 62/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"Our aim is to develop a global mass movement, based on the working class and drawing support from all progressive sections of humanity, to put an end not only to the pandemic but to all social suffering produced by an obsolete capitalist system." 63/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

The publication of "COVID, Capitalism, and Class War" marks a significant milestone in the fight against the pandemic. All those who read these volumes will come away with a deeper understanding of the social and political causes of this catastrophe. 64/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Pre-order your copy today, give it as a gift to friends, family and coworkers, and share this as widely as possible! #COVID19 #CovidIsntOver #CovidisAirborne #ZeroCovid #CovidIsNotOver 65/65 mehring.com/product/covid-…