On Wednesday, as Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, a statement was issued from an unexpected quarter. “Manufacturers Call on Armed Thugs to Cease Violence at Capitol,” reads the document, published by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

“This is not the vision of America that manufacturers believe in and work so hard to defend,” it states, the remarks attributed to NAM president and CEO Jay Timmons. Remarkably, it calls for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president, working with the cabinet, to assume presidential power should the current president be deemed unable to carry out his duties. This measure, says Timmons, can “preserve democracy.”

NAM represents around fourteen thousand manufacturers. Representatives of ExxonMobil and Pfizer Inc. serve on the current executive committee, while board members include representatives of General Electric, Raytheon Technologies, General Motors, Boeing, and Smithfield Foods. It’s a lobbying group — Open Secrets reports it spent nearly $15 million on lobbying in 2019 — but not just any lobbying group. While the policy preferences of the average person in the United States may have little to no bearing on public policy, organizations like NAM ensure capitalists’ preferences are taken into account. If the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie, it’s in large part thanks to organizations like NAM.