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Fight Trumps Fascism by Mass Mobilization; Democratic Party Not the Answer

President-elect Donald J. Trump shakes hands with Vice President Joe Biden as he arrives for his inauguration on January 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Photo by: Pat Benic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

by Sally Jane Black

“Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners. The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in [Congress].” – V.I. Lenin

In 2014, Ukraine announced it would not exclusively sell its natural gas to NATO countries but would also sell to Russia. For this, the Obama administration backed a coup that put a fascist government in power in the country. Six years later, the Ukrainian military is sporting swastikas, burning trade union offices, and passing anti-Jewish and anti-LGBTQ laws. Joe Biden, as Vice President, backed and celebrated the fascist takeover because the capitalists that funded the Democratic Party asked for it.

As workers face crisis, it is understandable to place hope in those who promise relief. And we organize to demand that relief. It is understandable to look at Trump’s never-ending assault on our lives and cling to any contender. Compared to the fascist, racist, sexual predator Donald Trump, even a racist, sexual predator like Joe Biden may seem to offer a sliver of hope.

We know that Trump is a fascist and dangerous. He has unleashed anti-worker, racist hatred and encouraged police repression. The question is will voting for Biden stop the growth of fascism? The same Biden who supported a coup against the elected Indigenous leader of Bolivia, Evo Morales, who supports Bolivia’s extreme right-wing oligarchy, which is carrying out mass killings, arrests and cuts to social programs amid a pandemic? Can we count on him to restrain these forces at home? Will Biden, former vice president to deporter-in-chief Obama offer relief to the most oppressed among us? Trump is an outgrowth of the years of promoting oil, chemical, and military profiteering by the Democratic Party along with Republicans. Trump is an executive of the capitalist class, not just an insane individual.

To promote the capitalist Democratic party rather than our own independent party is to ignore the policies they have carried out for decades on behalf of the ultra-rich including the slashing of social programs. Massive deadly unjust wars were carried out by “Democrats” along with the growth of racist mass incarceration, privatization of prisons, and the drug wars designed to fill prison profiteers’ pockets with the fruits of enslaved labor.

Must Trump go? Yes! But the tragedy of the last four years has been to put faith in the Democratic Party instead of forcing Trump out with massive street demonstrations. While pouring millions into the Democrat coffers, the unions have failed to mount one major anti-Trump demonstration while he strips workers of all safety and rights.

We defend the right to vote as we fight against attacks on all civil rights, union rights or threats to the environment. But we have seen that the Democrats are not the opposition party to the Republicans. Their role is not to resist fascism, but to maintain exploitation and help quash the mass movement by false promises. Biden has a history of embracing racist, homophobic, sexist, and anti-worker policies, supporting (and even drafting legislation for) everything from segregation to mass incarceration. In the midst of a pandemic, he has denounced universal healthcare, and in his time as vice president, he supported the rise of ICE. His vice presidency set the groundwork for the federal police forces we face today. He is not the answer to fascism; he has shown already that he supports it when it benefits the capitalist class at home and abroad.

Over 40 million people took to the streets to oppose police terror, and the Democrats picked a “top cop” as Biden’s vice president, who incarcerated thousands, put trans people in wrong-gendered prisons and denied them healthcare, and criminalized truancy in California schools. The Democrats serve the rich ruling class, who want to put down the uprisings and force workers to die for profits.

Change comes from the struggle, not from politicians. The uprisings represent change. The Democrats and Republicans represent the status quo (the dictatorship of the capitalists). We should fear four more years of Trump. But we should also fear Biden’s drive to World War III against China which would destroy us all.

Let the power of the people speak, let us vote with our feet and our bodies to force back not only Trump but the capitalist drive to war, destruction of the planet, and impoverishment of the people.

Biden’s role is not to save the people from Trump. It is to save the capitalists from the people’s anger at Trump. Organizing a working-class movement, creating a working-class party, and fighting for working class interests will win us far more, no matter who is in office.

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Reject Billionaires’ Red-Baiting Of Bernie Sanders! Defend and Fight for Revolutionary Socialism!

By Malcolm Suber

The billionaire ruling class and its bought-and-paid-for politicians, newspaper editorial writers, and TV talking heads are in a tizzy about the possibility that Bernie Sanders, an avowed democratic socialist, could win the Democratic party presidential nomination. They ask: haven’t our scare tactics and fairy tales worked? Have we produced a century of anti-socialist propaganda in vain? Haven’t workers and youth absorbed our basic teaching that capitalism = good; socialism = bad?

Never mind that the rich U.S. ruling class, with its much hyped “freedom of speech,” has done everything in its power to suppress dissent among the working class and oppressed. The billionaires’ control over public education give them years to hammer into our heads that the “free enterprise system” is preferable to “collective ownership.”

The purpose of red-baiting is to prevent the working class and the oppressed from discovering their own history of struggle to achieve checks on the rapacious greed and disregard for human life by the capitalist class. The 8-hour day, the elimination of child labor; the right to have unions, sick pay and paid vacation time, as well as the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid are all progressive reforms wrested from the ruling class through working class struggle.

The U.S. ruling class downplays the revolutionary, violent struggle that led to the founding of this country. “Revolution” is treated as an historical event that was perhaps good and necessary in the 18th century but dangerous today.

Don’t be fooled: to end the rule of the capitalist class, revolution is certainly needed today. Our task is to organize the workers through teaching and defending our revolutionary history as an inspiration and guide to our struggle today.

The billionaire ruling class and its flunkies in the bourgeois state are dismayed at the popular interest in socialism, no matter what brand. A majority of workers and youth are beginning to realize that capitalism holds no hope for the future. This terrifies the billionaires because in a socialist society they would be forced to give up some of their ill-gotten gains. Just about everyone except for billionaires accepts that they should not be allowed to dodge all taxes and shuffle their stolen wealth among off-shore bank accounts.

Both capitalist political parties, Democrats and Republicans are the willing tools of the ruling class and allow the rich to control the US government. Most of the laws proposed by Congresspeople and Senators are actually written by the paid lobbyists of the rich. The capitalists ply “our” representatives with bribes, convincing them that they too can enjoy the leisurely life of the rich if only they pledge to be sponsors for the lucrative government contracts that are awarded to their companies.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) leadership is panicking because their rigged primary system is actually proving an avenue for more people to examine Bernie Sanders’ Democratic Socialism. They are trying to force a Biden v. Sanders showdown where Biden will champion the line that socialism is an unwinnable with the USA electorate. We believe that workers will choose socialism, the only system that promises improved living and working conditions for the masses of people ground down by the current capitalist regime.

We are duty-bound to beat back the vicious red-baiting unleashed by the ruling class. Let us have discussions about the kind of society that best advances the living conditions of the working class.

At the same time, we must distinguish reform and revolution. Reform leaves in place the private ownership of the main means of production such as factories, mines, utilities, banks, etc. Revolution calls for the rule of the working class under which the property of the rich will become the property of the working majority, democratically run and administered to meet the needs of the working class.

We must fight to counter the confusion and deceptions advanced by the capitalists and all their propaganda outlets. We must make the case for revolutionary socialism.

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Democrats Used Impeachment to Promote War

By Milton Meyer

The Democrats did not impeach Trump for putting children in cages or for advocating white supremacist terrorism. Nor did they impeach him for the crimes against humanity he has committed against the people of Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Yemen, Afghanistan, or Iran. For these reasons and more, millions of workers would have loved to see Trump impeached. But the capitalist Democratic party wouldn’t dare inflame workers’ rage over the real causes of our troubles whether they be low wages, endless wars, or the constant onslaught of racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQ attacks.

On questions of unending wars, the slashing of social programs, the militarization of the police, mass incarceration, and tax breaks for the rich, Republicans and the Democrats differ only in the details. Both parties are dominated by Wall Street banks, fossil fuel companies, and the military industrial complex. However, while the openly white supremacist Republicans focus their energy on scapegoating immigrants and demonizing Muslims, the Democrats prefer to stoke fears that the Russians are the root of all our problems.

The Democrats could have impeached Bush for starting illegal wars, placing the entire U.S. population under surveillance, or authorizing torture. The Republicans could have impeached Obama for waging 11 illegal wars, ordering drone assassinations, or using the military as a domestic police force. Trump could have been impeached for his Muslim ban, his criminal neglect of Puerto Rico, or his support for the genocidal war on the people of Yemen. But these crimes are apparently not “impeachable” because both parties would have to indict themselves.

The Democrats centered their impeachment around Trump’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine in order to depict him as “soft” on Russia, reinforcing their absurd claim that Trump is aided by the Kremlin in his war on “American democracy.” Never mind the disturbing fact that next month the U.S. will deploy 20,000 troops to participate in hostile war games on Russia’s border.

In addition to stoking anti-Russian paranoia, the Democrats figured their impeachment of Trump would enable them to pose as the “resistance” to Trump while millions of workers really are desperate to resist his attacks. But as the countless testimonies of generals and CIA analysts made clear, the Democrats’ fake “resistance” was never mounted on behalf of workers but on behalf of the enemies of the workers: the generals and the millionaires on the boards of war profiteering companies. Without the real support of the masses, their case for impeachment flopped. In effect, Trump is emboldened to wield his power even more recklessly.

The impeachment farce should make clear to workers that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans represent the interests of the working majority of the country. We cannot depend on these capitalist parties to safeguard our rights. We must build an independent movement—of workers and for workers—to finally free ourselves of would-be fascists and war profiteers.

Send Trump To Jail

Trump Gives Tax Cuts to Billionaires & Trillions to War Profiteers.
Pardons Millionaire Criminals
Tells Workers, “F” You
Wants Budget Cuts To:
Social Security, Medicaid
Food Stamps, Housing Assistance
Environment, Species Preservation
Education, Disability Programs
Trump is Gutting Civil Rights, While Supporting Racists
He Attacks Women and LGBTQ People
PUT THIS CRIMINAL IN JAIL AND NO PARDON!

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Democratic Party Sabotaging the Anti-Trump Movement

Impeachment Hearings Promote Imperialist War

Trump is a racist, woman-hating rapist. Trump is gutting every safety and workers’ rights law he can get his hands on. His tax cuts have handed over billions to the already bloated rich. He is destroying the planet and imprisoning thousands of children. His recent pardon of outright war criminals shows he is trying to build a following among fascist storm troopers and white nationalists—all to funnel more money to the capitalist class.

There are so many reasons to hit the streets like the masses of workers, women, peasants and students are doing around the world. But the Democratic Party is not seeking to unseat Trump over any of these issues. Instead they’re using the impeachment to pander to militarism and promote a dangerous war fever against Russia.

The Democratic Party is trotting out every criminal general, state department official, war monger and CIA agent to testify. This dangerous effort has unfortunately drawn in many liberal and even so-called progressive elements who think anything anti-Trump is great. There are differences between the Democratic and Republican Party. They differ on how to pursue imperialist wars, but not how to end them. Though their methods vary, both capitalist parties want to continue exploitation and profit-making without riling up the people.

You would have to completely ignore the bloody history of world war to think that the Democratic Party can really stop the rise of the right wing, which grows out of both parties’ ever-increasing funding for the war profiteering industries and militarism. Democrats are now taking the position that it’s a crime not to give weapons to Ukraine’s fascist government.

We need to take to the streets to get rid of Trump. This will send a message to the Wall Street Democratic party as well.

The right wing and Trumpism arose out of the capitalist drive for profits and global domination. The Democratic Party pretends to want to protect democracy from Trump while supporting U.S. imperialist intervention around the world, from Bolivia to Honduras to Ukraine and beyond.

We need to unite all the struggles for food, wages, equality, the environment, and housing as they do in other countries. We need to take to the streets to get rid of Trump. This will send a message to the Wall Street Democratic party as well.