Daniel Green, PRMI in US. 17 March 2025
All across the United States of America, working class people of all political stripes have reached an unprecedented unity in support of the Robin Hood-like character of suspected assassin Luigi Mangione, accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Luigi, who suffered from chronic pain and whose mother suffers from neuropathy and was reportedly refused treatment by her healthcare company, is a folk hero in the eyes of many. His pursuit, capture and trial quickly turned into a dramatic pageant of the ruling class’s efforts to discredit, devalue and disempower the millions of working class victims of the American healthcare system.
The shooting as it unfolded was full of drama. From the smile as the shooter discharged the gun to the bag of monopoly money, to the betrayal of the McDonald’s worker who may possibly receive no reward for turning him in, and the writing of “Delay, Deny, Depose” on the bullet casings. Even the perp walk bore a striking resemblance to artistic depictions of John Brown’s ascension to the gallows.
Every real life theatrical element of the case demonstrates that between the two classes in America is a vast, dry prairie just waiting for the right spark to set off a conflagration. Yet it is not the pageantry that has led this case to take on such an epic status in the popular understanding. Rather it is the boiling over of tensions inherent to the for-profit healthcare system, an unholy cabal which sacrifices our families and friends daily to the Moloch of corporate America.
Terrorism and Ideology
That Luigi Mangione is now described as a “terrorist” because he allegedly killed someone rich and powerful clearly exposes the “morality” of contemporary US society. The “morality” of a society is defined by its class basis, which in capitalist society is the defence of private property, and exploitation of the working class.
It is flowing out of this relationship – private property and class division – that the byzantine array of social codes, religious prescriptions and morals are propped up in order to establish a seemingly objective system of values that favor the powerful while masking their true nature appears.
It is “the “morality” and cultural values” indoctrinated into society which help to mask the naked antagonism between it and the ruling class, and help to prevent it evolving into open and violent conflict.
Luigi is according to this morality a “terrorist”. Yet Brian Thompson made more money in 2024 than the average American makes in a lifetime. He did this by doubling the already excessive and cruel denials of essential medical treatment through replacing human claims processors with an “AI” program. While Thompson climbed the UHC career ladder to become CEO, the company gained notoriety for violating patient privacy, overbilling the federal government, denying patient care due to cost, and corruption.
Since his death, social media has been flooded with complaints about denied health care leading to suffering and death. Yet Thompson could never be seen as a terrorist, because everything that he did was according to the dictates of his class and capitalist morality.
As I’m writing this, my tongue is sliding over a hole in my tooth which chipped away two weeks ago. Every time I drink something hot or cold, or contemplate eating something sweet or crunchy. I fear that my mouth could erupt into intolerable pain, leaving me with more than a week until my health insurance activates and I can see a dentist.
I’m afraid my wife will run out of her essential medicine and her health will relapse because she’s unable to find a doctor which will take her insurance. We are relying on her completely essential medicine coming in from family visiting from out of the country. One of my best friends was billed for $100,000 by her health insurance company, the same company that I am saddled with, because they only agreed to pay for the first $10,000 of her life-saving cancer treatment.
Does making people feel terrified of the inevitable, biological truth of our health not qualify as terrorism?
Even still, the ruling class directly violates its own morals on a regular basis. Just look at the “perp walk” photo and you can see that New York City Mayor Eric Adams is standing right behind Luigi, uncuffed in his Sunday best, and with the full force of his corrupt city government supporting him. The same person who sold out immigrants in New York City as part of an obvious quid pro quo deal to have his charges dropped by Trump in exchange for removing NYC’s “sanctuary city” status.
Whistleblowers, political dissidents and members of oppressed groups are regularly kidnapped, imprisoned, and even murdered by both the state and private enterprises. One needs look no further than the case of Berta Caceres, the Honduran environment activist and indigenous leader, blatantly gunned down in her home by hitmen trained by US Special Forces and the School Of the Americas. Or the case of Gary Webb, who exposed the shocking truth of the CIA’s direct facilitation of Contra cocaine smuggling into South Central Los Angeles. This created the gang wars that would rank seventh in total death toll if it was a US military conflict. He was found dead in his apartment, his two gunshot wounds to the head being ruled a suicide.
Of course neither can we forget the live-on-camera murder of George Floyd. Choked to death in broad daylight under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as he cried out for help. We are unceasingly terrorized by “the good guys” in order to ensure compliance with the ruling class’s domination.
Morality and “Terrorism”
The ruling class is in shock at this blatant violation of the moral order created in their own image. Corporate press attempts to portray Luigi as a murderous psychopath, It refuses to publish his manifesto in an attempt to vilify him and shield the public from confirming what we already know: that Luigi was a victim as much as he is an alleged perpetrator.
However, it would be a mistake to believe that killing Brian Thompson is anything but a moral victory for the working class. The ruling class has faced violent opposition from so-called “terrorists” before: the Weather Underground, Black Liberation Army, Earth Liberation Front, and a myriad of other forces have attempted to engage the ruling class in direct confrontation and failed.
The truth is that they have resources far beyond those of our class at ready access. Not only can they crush us in this unorganized state, they would cheerfully celebrate doing so.
Make no mistake: there are many, many CEOs and politicians who deserve the Thompson Care Plan. Since 19 January, many more have submitted applications, through the complete unmasking of their unbridled greed in the face of the opportunities that Trump offers to their bottom line. However, killing one CEO just opens up a spot for the next money-crazed scumbag to step into. Indeed UHC appointed a new CEO on the very next day.
Many follow the doctrine of “propaganda of the deed,” arguing that such an extreme action will invigorate the masses, resulting in a spontaneous uprising of the working class. But how could such a spontaneous violent attack against the most powerful state in all of history possibly succeed? Apart from the pointlessness of assassinations, which anyway allow a stepping up of state repression, their implementation relies either on highly isolated individuals, or a high tech militarised structure, even more so now that state surveillance has become so all-encompassing.
Either way this philosophy offers no explanation for how the working class would be able to overthrow a government armed with tanks, fighter jets and nuclear bombs. The emergence of fascism in Europe in the 20th century and again its reemergence in the 21st around the world demonstrates that the threat of a working class revolution can be met with extreme, even genocidal violence by the right wing.
It is clearly necessary for the working class to organize itself in all sectors of society. This necessitates the development of an independent working class, something that on a global scale, the United States is far behind many other countries in. In order to permanently cast down this terroristic order, we must abolish capitalism and rebuild a fair and just society in the image of the working class.
This can only be done through the mass organization and political empowerment of tens of millions of people. Rather than following the system of “do as I say, not as I do,” we must immediately intensify efforts to organize every aspect of our society: in the workplace, in our neighborhoods, in schools, and everywhere else.
What Is A Demand?
Taking out Brian Thompson has an appeal to working class people everywhere, many of whom are not confident about the prospects of systematically transforming our society. This is understandable at a time when we are so disconnected from each other, our class loyalty split by oppression, and when working class organisations suffer from weak and poor leadership. When the ruling class’s political system, and the most despicable elements of society are rapidly consolidating and trying to completely disassemble the limited protections we have, it’s natural that people would turn to acts of desperation.
Yet the appointment of Thompson’s replacement the very next day and speeches from the new CEO discouraging employees from being “too sympathetic” demonstrate that it is not an effective strategy for change. What we want, what we need, is to win the long war of class struggle and make it so that no one has to suffer like Luigi and his mother do.
Many will sympathise, and support the demand to “Free Luigi”. But for such a demand against the ruling class to release a vigilante assassin against one of their own to be realised would need to be backed by a power which can enforce consequences worse than the tacit encouragement of more actions like this. Making a demand to free Luigi is making a demand against our class enemies that they have every reason to refuse.
We can find many examples in American history of nullification by the popular will, such as the “Penny Auctions” of Great Depression farmers. But the only way a jury could be persuaded to reject the demands of the ruling elite for revenge and find Liugi innocent is if mass protests in an organised way were to demand Liugi’s release.
The Struggle for Health
Luigi’s actions, however, have highlighted the huge anger at the lack of universal, quality and free healthcare that exists. Although the working class in the United States is currently weak and disorganized, we have seen in recent years the profound impact that a single struggle can have on consciousness. A well-coordinated action from one sector of the working class can have a catalyzing effect on the broader class movement, giving an impetus for a revival of militant working class activity.
Medical professionals are moving into struggle in the United States, and we have the duty to support the people who, despite the inhumane conditions of contemporary American healthcare, are working tirelessly to keep our communities healthy. Not only do these medical workers provide the healthcare that we so desperately struggle to obtain, they are also often the ones arguing constantly with health insurance claims agents, disputing claim denials and fighting for us to get the coverage that we pay for.
We wholeheartedly support the struggle of healthcare workers at the University of Rochester Medicine Home Care, and NYU Langone, both of which involve workers being squeezed for tireless hours for meager pay. Simultaneously the quality of care is reduced through understaffing, all for the benefit of hospital and health insurance executives and shareholders. This is why we must look beyond day-to-day economic demands, and seek out demands for the radical transformation of the healthcare sector. This means using political demands such as the need to take the sector out of private hands and for workers’ control of the healthcare industry.
Small victories like the ones that we hope for in New York State that can give exhausted workers the breathing room to increase political development and long term political power. Far from being responsible for the high cost of healthcare, medical workers are often underpaid and understaffed. This leads to the kinds of disasters that we saw during the COVID pandemic: emergency rooms full of dying patients and medical professionals physically collapsing under an impossible workload.
For the doctors at RG Kar Medical Institute in Kolkata, India, this is a reality of daily work life. Dr. “Abhaya” (Fearless) had just finished working a 30-hour shift when she was brutally attacked by multiple men in an empty office room she had entered in order to sleep. As detailed in the article of our sister organization in India, the corrupt hospital administrator Sandip Ghosh, a mafia-like character with deep connections to the ruling Trinamool Congress, was expelled from the Indian Medical Association.
The IMA has continued to hold demonstrations involving not only medical workers but the greater working class which is completely outraged by the events. Medical workers’ unions like 1199 SEIU should take a lesson from this, and use this moment of public outrage to organize demonstrations in favor of a single payer system. This is overwhelmingly popular with the American people and healthcare workers. If the unions refuse to take up this demand, rank-and-file medical workers must stand up and contest elections in order to lead the organization in the proper political direction.
Bargaining power can and should also be used to negotiate better deals with healthcare insurance companies, demanding that they honor their coverage plans and pay for the necessary medical treatment as determined by a doctor, not an unaccountable health insurance bureaucrat.
At this time, the Trump administration is frantically deconstructing every aspect of public services, including undermining vaccine programs, excluding trans people from healthcare coverage and defunding foreign aid to healthcare facilities. It is more urgent than ever to directly confront Trump’s agenda and the capitalist system he represents, which is attempting to once again tip the already imbalanced scales to a near vertical level. When the whole of civil society is under attack by an agenda which threatens our very lives, it is essential that we band together and stop these attacks, not through assassinations, but through the deliberate and organized actions of the working class, which, if sufficiently organized, could cast off this rotten system like a dog shaking off fleas.
It is no secret that demands such as single payer healthcare represent a major threat to the hegemony of the ruling class. They will do everything to oppose us, including enrolling the most dangerous elements of the movement in the Brian Thompson Coverage Plan. However, we have the advantage in that if the working class was to struggle in a unified way, with a clear political program, we are potentially much stronger.
This is critical, because although a single payer system may be achievable in a capitalist America, permanent change can only be achieved through the supplantation of capitalism by socialism. It is our collective duty to fervently work to establish the conditions necessary in which we can prevent future generations from dying at the hands of people like Brian Thompson. By uniting, organizing and standing together, we can and will change society, through struggle, solidarity and socialism!
Our Demands:
- Labor unions must refuse to cooperate with private healthcare providers until the most egregious policies are dropped, such as automated claim denials, denial of claims for medically necessary treatment, and predatory plans such as Medicare Advantage.
- Healthcare decisions including insurance claims should not be in the hands of profit-seeking businessmen, but democratically elected and accountable commissions representing healthcare workers and patients, completely independent of the insurance companies.
- Mass demonstrations against the healthcare industry and for a single-payer system—we must show that despite real political differences, all Americans are against this corrupt and murderous system. Our healthcare system should be run as a state-financed public service with all insurance, pharmaceutical, and healthcare providers taken into public ownership democratically managed by medical workers and patients.
- Organize to demand that our tax money, taken without our consent, be used to save rather than end lives at the hands of police, US and allied military–these demands must be linked to the global movement against imperialism, as we know the more than $100 billion sent to Israel for its genocidal policies should be used for economic and health development instead.
- Solidarity with all health professionals and victims around the world who are fighting for the future: from the medical workers at U of R and NYU Langone, to the #justiceforabhaya movement across India, medical staff fighting the military coup in Myanmar, the doctors’ strike in Sri Lanka, doctors and nurses struggling against the genocide in Palestine and elsewhere. We need mutual solidarity between these workers and the greater working class.
An organised left movement, which successfully links the fight for trans liberation, anti-racism, anti-imperialism and women’s rights with the fight for issues like public healthcare, has the power to do what no single person can achieve: unite working-class people in a struggle not just for free public healthcare for all, but against the capitalist system as a whole.