On June 14, over 6 million people across the United States marched as part of the “No Kings” day call to action against Donald Trump. One of the largest “No Kings” demonstrations took place in Los Angeles, California. The crowd swelled to over 200,000 people at its height, but tens of thousands remained downtown demonstrating into the evening. 

No Kings in L.A. began in the wake of a week-long rebellion by the broader Los Angeles community against ICE raids and mass deportations. Tired of fascist terror against their communities, Angelinos confronted the federal and local police forces responsible for enforcing Trump’s fascist, xenophobic agenda. For days, militant demonstrations shut down downtown Los Angeles and caused substantial disruption throughout Los Angeles County. 

Throughout this struggle, Struggle-La Lucha writers and Harriet Tubman Center activists were on the ground at the various demonstrations, not only to cover the community’s rebellion against racism but also to be in solidarity with that rebellion. This was no different on No Kings Day. The Harriet Tubman Center was in attendance at not only the L.A. No Kings demonstration, but also the “Queers Against Deportations” march and rally in West Hollywood.

L.A.’s No Kings Day demonstration saw a convergence of working-class forces. A substantial portion of the crowd was demonstrably Democratic Party aligned in outlook. This group’s signs and slogans were more likely to focus on constitutional issues, such as executive overreach and due process. A significantly larger portion of the crowd consisted of various Latinx, immigrant, Black, and working-class communities that had been in the streets all week. 

The overwhelming message of the crowd was still to end the ICE raids, end the military occupation of L.A., and end Trump’s anti-immigrant policies. As the day progressed, the crowd’s size shrank but its militancy grew. The community wanted to continue to march through downtown with their anti-ICE slogans and Mexican flags. Mayor Karen Bass, the LAPD, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department felt otherwise. 

In response to the continued demonstrations from the community late into the day, the fascist LAPD created roadblocks and began advancing columns of heavily armoured riot police at the protestors. As the protesters refused to back down, the LAPD escalated with dangerous crowd control weapons like tear gas, flash bang grenades, pepper balls, and rubber bullets. Mounted police also began beating random demonstrators with nightsticks. The LAPD acted this way even though many children and families remained at the demonstrations. Mothers were seen covering their children’s eyes and ears as the LAPD deployed flash bangs and tear gas canisters into the crowd.

The working class, and particularly the Latinx community, is under siege in Los Angeles and across this country. These communities are facing Gestapo-tier violence, and they are justified in their complete and utter resistance. Fascism has no validity because it is simply another capitalist ideology. Capitalism has no validity because it is the ideology of only a few billionaires, and the only true social validity can come from the masses of workers. 

Oppressed and working-class communities were justified when they defended themselves at No Kings Day from LAPD provocation. Those same communities were justified when they rebelled against Gestapo deportations that tore families apart. 

The role of revolutionaries and all progressives has to be to stand alongside these communities when they rebel against racism and then organize for working-class power once the rebellion is over. That is why Struggle-La Lucha and the Harriet Tubman Center were on the ground in Los Angeles on No Kings Day and beyond. 

All progressive organizations must come to the defense of and be in solidarity with working-class communities that find themselves in fascism’s sights. 

June 14 – The energy was electric at this year’s Baltimore Pride Parade, as activists in the Palestine contingent, led by the People’s Power Assembly and Struggle for Socialism Party, marched on the parade route for a mile on North Charles Street up to Wyman Park Dell near Johns Hopkins University. This marks the second straight year in Baltimore Pride’s history that such a pro-Palestine contingent has participated. 

Historically, the People’s Power Assembly has strived to set the more political tone at Pride amidst the endless sea of rainbow capitalist sponsors, which was especially crucial for this moment, as Israel continues its all out genocidal assault on the people of Gaza and now is trying to initiate a fully U.S.-backed regional war against anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist Iran. 

A large Palestine flag was held front and center alongside three main banners: “No Pride in Genocide, $$ for Gender-Affirming Healthcare, not War,” “Stonewall Still Means Fight Back,” and “Black Trans Lives Matter — ‘Be yourself, the world will adjust’ – Manabi Bandyopadhyay.” Drummers flanked each side.

Connecting the current migrant liberation struggle in L.A. (against ICE raids and National Guard / Marines terror) to the roots of the queer liberation struggle, participants chanted “Stonewall was a riot! We will not be quiet!” and “Power to the people! No one is illegal!” which drew roaring cheers from the crowd. Local rapper and activist Slim Rob also performed a solo rap during the march, which further hyped up both the contingent and the crowd.

People in the contingent distributed copies of the Struggle-La Lucha paper, which contained flyers advertising both the “Free Kilmar! Free Them All!” Car Caravan happening in the city on June 28, as well as the Defend Black History Petition to Rename the Francis Scott Key Bridge to either the Frederick Douglass or Harriet Tubman Memorial Bridge. So many people wanted copies because they were drawn by the cover page depicting the current struggle in L.A. against ICE raids; the folks distributing had to keep running back to the supplies wagon to grab more papers until they eventually ran out! 

The crowd response was overwhelmingly positive and supportive. Some participants even noted the increase in onlookers wearing keffiyehs in solidarity and signs reading “ABOLISH ICE” or “ACAB.” Now imagine if all those supportive people in the crowd took to the streets with us and joined in the struggle! 

Baltimore activists were busy throughout the weekend with Pride, “No Kings,” and anti-war actions. Here are some highlights. 

Real goal is regime change to maintain U.S. global domination

Israel’s missile strikes and internal sabotage against Iran, launched on June 13, were carried out with the full agreement of their U.S. masters in the Pentagon. The Israelis executed the attacks with direct help from U.S. intelligence technology. And following Iran’s defensive counterattack, the U.S. has also helped Israel intercept missiles. 

The Pentagon maintains troops in Iraq and the region. It’s been reported that these troops are virtual sitting ducks, in harm’s way with inadequate defenses, similar to how Israel’s military targets are embedded in populated areas. Both of these things could provide a pretext for full-scale U.S. involvement. 

What Washington’s saying

Trump, Pete Hagseth and other U.S. officials have made contradictory statements. “Israel did this on their own,” “No they didn’t,” “Yes they did.” What’s undeniable is that U.S. imperialism has put the world on a perilous road. This could develop not only into a regional war, but one with worldwide consequences.

Yesterday, Trump refused to sign onto a very weak statement calling for de-escalation between Israel and Iran, prepared by the G7 at the summit in Alberta, Canada. Instead, he abruptly left the summit early.

When questioned by reporters on his Air Force One flight back, Trump stated, “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to having it.” (He was referring to National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who stated Iran is not building a nuclear weapon). He continued, “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, it’s very simple,” and “I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate.”

Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric on social media, proclaiming, “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” Tehran is home to almost 10 million people.

Simultaneously, the Pentagon has repositioned warships and military aircraft in the region in preparation for possible U.S. escalation.

While Israel’s sneak night attack caused damage to Iran, Iran was able to launch a counterattack, demonstrating that it could not be picked off so easily. (See: Iran was supposed to fold — instead, it’s exposing U.S. & Israeli military limits.)  

This brings us to the next, more dangerous stage. Will war now widen?  

Capitalist West using Iran’s nuclear program as a ruse 

There are no credible claims, even by Western capitalist sources, that Iran has actually built a bomb or is in the active process of doing so. As referenced earlier, Tulsi Gabbard, in March, stated that spy agencies assessed that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.” 

What has been reported in the mass media are sensationalized accounts from Israel, continuously repeated over and over. It echoes the fake accounts of “weapons of mass destruction” used by the U.S. to launch the destructive war on Iraq.

More importantly, what right do the U.S. imperialists have to make demands on the Iranian people, or their government, around Iran’s right to possess nuclear defenses, let alone to develop nuclear energy? 

The U.S. military is the only country to have actually used nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese were already planning to surrender when Truman ordered the U.S. military to drop the bombs that killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians.  This criminal act of unbelievable destruction was unleashed as a warning to the then Soviet Union.

The press is silent on Israel’s nuclear weapons. This, despite declassified documents showing that, in 1975, Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres offered to sell them to South African Defense Minister P.W. Botha, during the white-supremacist apartheid regime’s conflict with the ANC.

Real aim is regime change 

Israel’s cowardly act was meant to cause internal chaos, aimed at provoking division and regime change. It failed, and is not a new strategy.

In 1953, the U.S. government and the CIA, in collaboration with Britain, orchestrated a bloody coup to depose Iran’s progressive and charismatic Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. This action was taken to reinforce the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Under the Shah’s regime, the infamous SAVAK (Bureau for Intelligence and Security of the State) became notorious for its torture and murder of students, workers, and opposition figures.

Mossadegh’s real crime was the nationalization of the Abadan oil fields. The U.S State Department had wider fears that the actions of the Iranian people to take possession of their own resources would encourage the masses of the entire region.  

U.S. bankers, oil barons and imperialist bosses had cause for concern. On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, asserting Egyptian sovereignty, which touched off war involving Israel, France and Britain. 

Finally, in 1979, the Iranian Revolution brought the Shah’s bloody rule to an end. Following the Shah’s overthrow and the formation of the Iranian Republic, the imperialists have continually tried to destabilize the Iranian government, whether through color revolutions or with disabling sanctions aimed at creating internal divisions.

Root cause: U.S. imperialist decay and its world position

In a Nov. 14, 1979, article entitled “The Iranian crisis: the core of the problem,” Marxist thinker Sam Marcy outlined the extent of the capitalist crisis during that period. He asserted that Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, the appointed Deputy Minister of Finance of Iran’s new revolutionary government, went to the core of the problem.

Marcy wrote: 

“In his letter to the United Nations Security Council requesting a meeting of that body, the new foreign affairs director of Iran, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, made a scathing indictment of U.S. policy toward Iran and pointedly attacked the U.S. government for attempting to create a war psychosis against Iran and pushing the world to the brink of war.

“The imperialists tried to picture the complaint against U.S. war preparations as a mere diversionary tactic from domestic problems in Iran. While few if any of the capitalist press published the entire text of this important letter, which details all the criminal activities not only of the Shah but of the U.S. itself in relation to the Iranian people, none referred to what is truly the core of the broad problem facing American finance capital, which Bani-Sadr pointedly made reference to.”

Marcy quotes Bani-Sadr:

“Mr. Secretary General,” said Mr. Bani-Sadr, “I am well equipped because of my scientific knowledge to know that the weakness of the American economy (at the present) and the weak position of the dollar has forced on America a grave economic and political crisis.

“Is America trying to reestablish the position of its money by putting world peace in peril?”

While today’s stakes are higher, the question remains the same.

As the U.S. and Israel launched a violent campaign against Iran and its people, Homayoun Sameh, the Jewish member of Iran’s parliament, spoke out against the Zionist escalation. Sameh has consistently been a strong supporter of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Palestinian resistance for his entire time in parliament. Iran is one of the few countries on the planet with a constitution that requires Jewish representation in its central legislative body. 

In his statement condemning Israel’s campaign against Iranian civilian, nuclear, and military infrastructure, Sameh spoke in support of Iran’s legitimate right to self-defense. An interview from 2023 demonstrates Sameh’s broader ant-zionist Judaism: 

“In various parts of the world, followers of different religions, each from a different race, coexist peacefully. In Palestine itself, Jews, Christians, and Muslims often lived peacefully together throughout history, but it seems like the excessive demands of Israel have disrupted this historical order. Yes, the Israeli regime has sabotaged that peaceful coexistence.

“Of course, the overextending of Zionists is not related to Judaism. They have incorrect understandings of the teachings of Judaism. We here in Iran live peacefully alongside followers of other religions. Imam Khomeini, the founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, and the Leader Ayatollah Khamenei have always stressed domestic unity. They do not only mean unity between Muslims or Shias in Iran. They mean unity among all Iranians, regardless of their religion or ethnicity.”

Sameh’s stance is an important reminder that not all Jewish people are defined by Zionism. Jews of conscience around the world will continue to stand up against the U.S. imperialist project known as Israel. We at Struggle-La Lucha stand in solidarity with MP Sameh and the Islamic Republic of Iran in its struggle against U.S. imperialist assault. 

Lev Koufax is an anti-Zionist Jewish activist.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is far from the decisive victory President Trump initially celebrated as “excellent.” The swift tactical strike has failed, with Israel now begging the U.S. to send in more bombers and missiles.

With the U.S. Marines, Air Forces and Navy deployed to surround Iran and to assist the Israeli military, the opening strikes were brutal and unexpected. They targeted Iranian commanders, as they slept in their homes, to decapitate Iran’s military leadership and paralyze its response. 

President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he had discussed the planned attack with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 9, five days before it was launched. Trump, knowing the attack was imminent, scheduled nuclear talks with Iran for June 15 in Oman, leaving Iran to believe that there would be no attack as long as the talks continued.

For a brief moment, it seemed that the gamble by the U.S. Central Command, which had spent the last eight months planning the attack with the Israeli armed forces and providing the “intelligence” on targets in Iran, had paid off. Trump, eager to bask in the glow of apparent victory, rushed to claim credit — even as his own administration was trying to downplay any U.S. involvement.

But the illusion of U.S.-Israeli dominance was shattered within hours. Iran rapidly restructured its command, activated its air defenses, and unleashed a series of missile barrages that penetrated Israel’s much-vaunted defenses, striking at the heart of Tel Aviv and even the Ministry of Defense. This swift and effective counterattack made clear that the initial success of the U.S.-armed Israeli military was fleeting and that the war would not be won with shock and awe. Tehran struck back hard and fast.

As the conflict has dragged on, U.S.-backed Israeli forces inflicted further devastation on Iran’s infrastructure, targeting oil refineries and civilian sites. Yet Iran’s retaliatory strikes only grew more effective, exposing the vulnerabilities of Israel’s air defense systems. Despite heavy bombardment, Israel failed to destroy Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities, limiting the impact on Tehran’s nuclear program.

U.S.-Israeli war plan unravels

Ali Salehian, a senior researcher at the Governance and Policy Think Tank affiliated with Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, wrote in The Cradle on “why the shock strategy failed against Iran.”

Tehran’s rapid retaliation and deep strategic reserves have exposed the limits of U.S.-Israeli power.

First, Iran’s military command is vast, experienced, and rapidly replaceable. “Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi pointed to this capacity, dismissing assumptions that a few assassinations could cripple national defense.”

Second, geography matters. Iran’s sheer size allows the strategic dispersal of critical assets. U.S.-Israeli jets may have briefly penetrated key western nodes, but much of Iran’s infrastructure remains embedded in its eastern and central territories. The state’s military doctrine is built around such depth.

But perhaps the gravest misjudgment lay in the U.S.-Israeli reading of Iran’s internal cohesion. The U.S.-Israeli planners appeared to have assumed a sudden external strike would activate opposition forces within Iran.

Salehian writes:

“Iran’s political unity in the face of external threats has been repeatedly demonstrated. Even segments of society critical of the Islamic Republic have closed ranks when faced with foreign aggression. It is a nationalism forged not from state propaganda, but from the collective memory of wars, invasions, and isolation.”

Israel begs for U.S. military escalation

Meanwhile, the U.S. is moving more Naval combat power into position alongside the U.S. destroyers helping shield Israel from Iranian missiles, Business Insider reports.

“A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner is now in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, joining destroyers USS Arleigh Burke and USS The Sullivans, and additional warships could be heading that way.

“The official said Arleigh Burke and The Sullivans have, in recent days, launched missile interceptors in defense of Israel amid Iranian retaliatory attacks. It’s unclear if there have been confirmed intercepts.

“The official said that in addition to sea-based air defense, the U.S. military also provided land-based support to Israel. This potentially involved the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile battery or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system.”

So far, the U.S. military has not sent in its bunker-buster bombers, as the New York Times is encouraging. “On June 17, President Trump abruptly left the G-7 summit amid speculation that the U.S. would join Israel in attacking Iran’s nuclear program using bunker-buster bombs carried by B-2 bombers.

Recognizing that its military alone can’t secure a victory, Israel is now pressuring Washington to join the offensive and send in the B2 bombers. Israel’s message is clear: “We can’t win without more – a lot more — U.S. military intervention.”

June 15, St. Rose, Louisiana — Right now, people are posted up at the St. Rose office of BI Incorporated, standing up for immigrants after organizers with Unión Migrante put out a call.

BI is a surveillance company tracking immigrants for ICE. The private prison corporation GEO Group acquired it in 2011. The government uses BI to run its Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) to monitor immigrants, all part of the vast web of private contractors — including tech giants — making big bucks off government repression.

This local BI office sent out messages at 8:00 last night to a lot of people, ordering them to show up for a Father’s Day check-in. This was highly unusual, according to organizers familiar with BI. They said the office isn’t open on Sundays and immigration lawyers normally wouldn’t be working. Plus, it’s Father’s Day. 

Suspecting an ICE sting, they called for the community to show up for defense. Several children were among those who showed up. They weren’t passively attending with family. They created their signs on site and discussed ICE and immigration. 

Despite the anticipated blitz, witnesses said the office only managed to process one person this morning. He was seen going through the front entrance, but his current whereabouts are unknown. It’s possible that he was driven out from the back of the building to an ICE facility in New Orleans or elsewhere. 

Since the community came out, operations appear to be shut down. Throughout the day, some immigrants who had received messages through the BI group’s app came to the office but found it locked up. 

This fits a pattern seen in Los Angeles and elsewhere. ICE Nazis are like cockroaches operating in the shadows. When you shine light on them, they scatter. 

Actually, I respect roaches, as all life holds intrinsic value. They are ancient, resilient creatures, part of the evolution of life in nature.

ICE and its affiliates, on the other hand, serve no purpose except to divide up and repress the working class. They do this on behalf of the filthy rich oligarchs like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. We don’t need them. This whole deportation and detention apparatus drags us all down. 

Consider that 75% of Trump’s “big beautiful bill” is for the military, ICE, and other violent, repressive entities. Meanwhile, they’re cutting health care and anything that meets people’s needs. Here’s the “waste and abuse” we should be worried about!

Every dollar spent to deport our immigrant siblings is a dollar that could feed a hungry child. Every dollar spent to bomb people in Gaza is a dollar that could house our seniors, who are homeless in record numbers. We don’t need these deportations, and sure as hell don’t need war on Iran! 

Wherever we were born, let’s stand together, because our enemies are the same.

Up with the people!
Down with Trump!
Down with ICE!
Free, free Palestine! 

Get PDF here

• End U.S.-Israeli war on Iran
• Los Angeles fights back
• ICE protests spread across U.S.
• Labor leader faces prison after standing up to ICE
• They blame immigrants while corporations steal billions – sound familiar?
• Trump–Musk feud unleashes billions in losses, reveals decay
• U.S. demands Asia prepare for war on China
• Los Angeles: A Night of Witness and Art
• Populism and the fight for trans lives, then and now
• Inside the Bay Area’s Gay Liberation Front with Bob McCubbin
• Bob McCubbin on LGBTQ+ liberation and Marxist organizing
• Leslie Feinberg, Minnie Bruce Pratt, & the radical legacy of LGBTQ+ communists
• Reimagining family and love in a post-capitalist world
• How the press framed Venezuela’s elections
• Baltimore bookstore hosts launch of book on Cuba’s LGBTQ+ rights revolution
• Librería de Baltimore acoge el lanzamiento de un libro sobre la revolución de los derechos LGBTQ+ en Cuba
• NATO-backed Ukraine escalates war on labor unions
• Solidarity in the face of attacks against immigrants
• Solidaridad frente arremetida contra inmigrantes

In May, the Struggle for Socialism Party (SSP) Los Angeles branch discussed the new book, “Against fascism: reclaiming populism’s legacy for today’s class struggle,” compiled by Louisiana socialist Gregory Williams. 

Following is part two of a presentation for the series of classes, given by John Parker on May 10. He is an organizer with SSP, the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, and the Community Self Defense Coalition, which is confronting ICE on the ground in Los Angeles. The section of the book discussed in this presentation focuses on the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial campaign of former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader David Duke. 

Click here to follow the Harriet Tubman Center on Instagram, X, and Facebook, or donate to the center via Cash App, Venmo, and Patreon. 

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• Part 1: They blame immigrants while corporations steal billions — sound familiar?

In 1991, David Duke was called a populist. Now, Trump is being called a populist. Neither of them is offering anything to empower the working class. We know from the Communist Manifesto that there are irreconcilable differences between the ruling class and the working class. But many academics will tell you that populists are fascists – they’re this, they’re that, but no, that’s not true.

That’s not the history of populism. Populism is another word for “peopleism.” That’s the definition used by the original populists. Is a Nazi a person of the people? Well, what people are you talking about? Because Nazis aren’t for Black folks. They’re not for our immigrant siblings. We need clarity because when they try to deny you the history of a word, they’re also trying to deny the reality that’s going on.

Another thing from this reading that jumped out is how the fascists promise to “drain the swamp,” that they’re going to get rid of all the corruption and entrenched power. Duke said this. He said he’s for the working person, he’s trying to stop the privileged folks.

And what does Trump say? He says he’s going to drain the swamp, drain the swamp of the privileged folks. He doesn’t like to say corporate folks or anything, but the privileged folks in government who are against the working people. He’s going to drain the swamp. But look what he did when he went into office – Trump and Elon Musk. Musk’s got the information to steal Social Security. And he’s pocketed so much in profits with SpaceX and everything. 

Here’s another thing. When Duke was running for governor, he wasn’t able to defeat the other candidate, Edwin Edwards. Edwards wasn’t a fascist, but he didn’t have anything to offer, either. There were economic problems – the wage problems, the theft of the people’s money in the treasury, with corporate subsidies and giveaways, the taxes that were not being taken from the rich, all the ways that they were impoverishing the working class.

But the Democrats didn’t have an answer, just like today. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden didn’t have an answer for stopping the theft. The military is taking all the money away from health care and all those kinds of things.  They didn’t have an answer for that, and that’s one of the reasons Kamala Harris lost.

Even though Duke didn’t win, he came close. That was because the Democrats didn’t have an answer for what was going on – the economic crisis, the systemic problems. They didn’t want to have an answer for that. 

You know, when you talk about Ukraine, it’s interesting, the Democrats want to act like the saviors of self-determination for the people and freedom for the Ukrainian people, when the fact is that they were cooperating with BlackRock and others to subjugate and loot Ukraine. They’re enabling fascism. And maybe they take it a little bit slower as they take over the wealth, the grains, all the stuff from Ukraine, privatizing it, and then taking it for U.S. monopoly capitalism. 

Then Trump wins, and he does it much faster. And it’s funny how they’re calling him a populist. But other folks might look at the situation and think the Democrats are more like populists, because they’re supposed to be for the working class, and aren’t as overt in plundering Ukraine. But in fact, they weren’t for the working class or Ukrainian people.

Trump is really bad because he’s not for the Ukrainian people, either. In fact, he’s worse. And like he said about Gaza, “it’s mine.” He’s trying to take over the land and capital, like in Ukraine. He’s doing it at a much faster pace. 

As for the white supremacy in Ukraine, people say, “well, that’s not white supremacy, they’re both white, right?” No. Hitler had a name for the people who were supposed to be inferior – maybe even not people, maybe animals – and in Ukraine, they call the Russian-speaking Ukrainians that. That includes the people in the eastern Donbass region. This is also white supremacy.

After the 2014 U.S.-backed coup, the Ukrainian government (now represented by Zelensky) passed a law restricting the use of the Russian language in state affairs and trying to drive it out of community life. And they’ve criminalized being in a communist or socialist organization. So, anyway, the racism, the fascist ideology of white supremacy, the Democrats have pushed that in spades in Ukraine. 

The Democrats aren’t going to stop fascism in this country or anywhere else. It’s going to take the workers to stop fascism. They’re not going to stop the genocide in Gaza. They’ve orchestrated it, and Biden passed the baton right on to Trump. 

The Democrats are serving a purpose for the monopolies. What they’re afraid of isn’t fascism. They’re afraid of socialism and communism. And in the 1960s, when things were going on the rise, it was harder for George Wallace and other fascist folks to carry out their aims. The Civil Rights and other movements pushed them back. 

But it was also because of the international situation. There was the Soviet Union and revolutionary China, and they were helping to liberate Africa. These socialist countries provided military and other forms of support to the African liberation struggles. Two-thirds of Africa was liberated. 

The ruling class, the Democrats, and Republicans – they’re still very afraid of what socialist countries can do, or what the socialist movement can do. So, the Democrats act like they’re against fascism, but they’re enabling it now. It will take a strong movement of the working class to defeat it.

It’s hard. You look at the news, and you’re just depressed about all the horrible stuff going on. Just look at Gaza, and everything Trump does, you think, “How can he get away with this?” He’s pardoning all these folks. He’s pardoned assassins of Black folks, cops who’ve killed, and so you’re seeing this stuff, you’re like, “How can this happen? I don’t know what to do.”

But there’s a lot of organizing going on. Usually, it’s not talked about in any meaningful way in the corporate media, but the Community Self-Defense Coalition is being talked about. German and Japanese media came to talk about it. They found out about a lot of this from the Struggle-La Lucha newspaper. 

But the interest right now, I mean, just today we had a large meeting, and a lot of people are new. The organization went from 60-something, and now it’s about 80 organizations. And it’s got functioning committees: patrol committee, outreach committee, fundraising committee. It’s become very organized, very serious, and we’ve seen ICE folks get chased away.

So it’s a real threat. It shows that there’s a consciousness that just hasn’t gone away, in spite of all the attacks and the economy on the decline. We’re seeing more and more people come back and talk about trying to get involved. It’s a hopeful time, and that’s why I’m glad this book was written. We can get the history straight and get our plans and ideological orientation together. But the most important thing is to join an organization. And hopefully join a socialist organization – and hopefully the Struggle for Socialism Party.