If the November election is stolen  

OCCUPY THE STREETS

No work, No school, No shopping

A Call for People’s General Strike

SIGN ON TO CALL HERE

This may be the first time that a U.S. president has said he won’t accept the result of the vote, indicating that there will be no peaceful transition. This is not an idle threat. Trump has his own paramilitary police, Homeland Security, the support of the most virulent and reactionary police departments, and a myriad of violent, racist, vigilante-type groups. 

At the Sept. 29 debate, after the moderator suggested condemning the Proud Boys, a far-right, violently racist group, Trump declared: “Proud Boys: stand back and stand by,” acknowledging he was their leader. 

Later in the debate, Trump refused to say he would abide by the results of the election. He declined to tell his supporters to remain calm or avoid violence. “If I see tens of thousands of ballots, I can’t go along with that,” he said, urging his supporters to go to the polls and “watch very carefully.”

What can we do if there is an attempted coup, an outright coup or an effort to sabotage the vote?  The people must prepare. 

We are the people: Low-wage workers who are at the frontlines, risking our lives, whether we are grocery workers, bus drivers or Amazon warehouse workers; those of us in the streets protesting for Black Lives Matter and community control of police; those of us in the community facing evictions, foreclosures and utility shut-offs; students and youth concerned with catastrophic climate change and unsafe school reopening; health care workers and teachers sacrificing for our patients and students; Black, Brown and Indigenous communities along with seniors disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.  Our lives are at stake.

We must act to protect people’s rights!  Every vote counts, and we will not accept a stolen election, no matter what form it takes, whether it’s stolen through a Supreme Court decision, the undemocratic Electoral College or violence by the far right forces backing Trump.

If the election is stolen, from Nov. 3, 2020, through Jan. 20, 2021, it will be time for us to be in the streets in such large numbers that the system cannot run. Call in sick! Occupy the streets! March and picket at Federal Buildings, banks and businesses, and other suitable targets in your city, state or county. Organize civil disobedience. Urge your union to prepare for sickouts and strikes.  

Here are some important dates to plan around:

Monday, November 2: Support the call for Black Solidarity Day and International Election Observers.

Tuesday, November 3 (Election Day): Physical voting at the polls. Join local groups like People’s Committees to Defend Democratic Rights or other local efforts to stop any intimidation by right-wing armed groups.  Help escort Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBTQ2S people and seniors to the polls to guarantee their safety.

Wednesday, November 4: Support the call by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression for a Post-Election Protest for a Peoples Mandate for national day-after demonstrations. 

During this period, paper ballots will be counted. At any point the Supreme Court, consisting of just nine judges, may step in as it did in the 2000 election to undemocratically decide the direction of the elections.  

December 8 marks the end of the “safe harbor” period for states to determine that election results will not be challenged in Congress. On December 14, Electoral College delegates cast their ballots on a state level. On January 6, 2021, Congress meets to count the Electoral College and declare a winner.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 (Inauguration Day): Regardless of the outcome, we must continue to press for the demands that people need and want — Black Lives Matter, stopping police and ICE terror, health care for all, cancel rent and stop evictions and foreclosures, workers’ rights and safety on the job, jobs or income for all, no war or sanctions.

Please sign onto this call and begin to organize in your area. 

SIGN ON TO CALL

Signed:

Peoples Power Assembly

Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice

ICE Out of Baltimore

Youth Against War & Racism

Rev. CD Witherspoon

Peoples Alliance 
Rev. Annie Chambers, Douglas Homes RAB Delegate

Prisoners Solidarity Committee

United American Indians of New England

Mahtowin Munro, United American Indians of New England

Malaya Movement Baltimore

Frank Chapman, Executive Director, National Alliance Against Racism & Political Repression

CODEPINK

Courtney Jenkins, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Baltimore Chapter

Delores Lemon-Thomas, Million Worker March

Clarence Thomas, convenor Million Worker March, former Secretary-Treasurer ILWU Local 10

Chris Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer Teamsters Local 808

Reverend David Carl Olson, Lead Minister, First Unitarian Church of Baltimore * ID only

Baltimore Peace Action

Dr. Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, Matthew Henson Neighborhood Assoc., former President Baltimore NAACP

San Diego Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

Fernando Ramirez, Union Organizer U.E. (United Electrical Workers) LA Tenants Union/Union de Vecinos

Bob Brown, Pan African Roots 

Anthony Franklin Parker, Wordsmith & Artist, Rise With A Purpose

Solidarity with Novorossiya and Antifascists in Ukraine

Rhode Island Peoples Assembly

Committee Against Police Brutality, San Diego

Atlanta Peoples Power Assembly

Bonnie “Raven” Lane, Housing Advocate

Bill Goodin, co-founder, Black Men Unifying Black Men

Franca Muller Paz, Baltimore City Council District 12 Candidate

Assistant Professor Robert Birt, Bowie State University * ID only

Leslie Salgado, Friends of Latin America

Struggle-La Lucha

Socialist Unity Party/ Partido de Socialismo Unido

Bmore 4 Border Justice

Anakbayan, Washington D.C.

Berna Ellorin, BAYAN USA

Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum

Women In Struggle/ Mujeres En Struggle

William Camacaro, Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York

ILPS (International League for Peoples Struggle) USA 

Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement

Carl Gentile, CPDC

Kyle Durkee,  Local BLM Salem, OR

Charlie Cooper, Get Money Out, Inc., Maryland * ID only

Phil Wilayto, Editor The Virginia Defender

Amadi Ajamu, NY NY Amsterdam News

Will Smyth Jr., Culinary Union Local 226

Jeanie Dubnau, Riverside Edgecombe Neighborhood

Roy Fleming, Delaware Activist

Eugene Weixel, Retired DC 37

George Gruenthal, Red Star publishers

Mike Gimbel, Retired Executive Board member, Local 375

Nico Robuccio, AFSCME, Local 503

Keith Brooks, Brooklyn for Peace, UFT, NWU

Bill Bateman, RI Unemployed Council, RI Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee

Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice (MECAWI)

Karen Taylor, MAD Monday

Moratorium Now Coalition

Workers World Party

San Diego Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

Communist Workers League – Bay Area

Tracy McLellaln, CAARPR

Joanne C. Simpson, Freelance writer

Bob McCubbin, author The Social Evolution of Humanity: Marx and Engels Were Right and The Roots of Lesbian & Gay Oppression

Zola Fish, member of the Choctaw Nation and organizer with San Diego Leonard Peltier Defense Committee 

Carl Muhammad, Committee Against Police Brutality San Diego and San Diego Peoples Power Assembly

Regina Russell, Chicago Alliance

Cheryl Labash, writer for Struggle-La Lucha publication 

All African Peoples Revolutionary Party – GC

List in formation adding names and groups hourly

Oct. 13 — As people in Fairfax, Va., waited in line to cast their ballots on the second day of early voting, a squad of Trump supporters descended on the polling station, disrupting the process and intimidating voters and poll workers. In Southern California, the Republican Party placed unofficial dropoff boxes to capture mail-in ballots amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The New York Police Department, which regularly brutalizes and murders Black and Brown people with impunity, brags how it will guard the polls while mobilizing all cops in the city to repress protests around the election. New York’s police “union” has even endorsed Trump.

The governor of Texas restricted mail ballot dropoff to just one location for every county in that huge state. (A federal court later ruled against the measure, but the state immediately appealed. It’s unclear how or if it will be rectified in time.) Florida imposed a poll tax to prevent voting by former prisoners. Elsewhere, Republican governors and state legislatures have taken measures to restrict and inhibit voting. As of this writing, some have been overruled by the courts, some have not.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 5 upheld a South Carolina measure that requires that mail-in ballots include a witness’s signature. In 2013, the unelected, appointed-for-life Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, opening the door for Southern states to reinstate such Jim Crow-style restrictions.

“The state of Alabama moved almost immediately to implement a voter identification bill that had been held up in the state legislature under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” the Washington Post noted. “The state then closed more than two dozen driver’s license offices, a principal place for obtaining a proper ID. The offices closed were disproportionately in areas with large Black populations.

“Before 2006, no state required voters to produce identification. The first was enacted in Indiana and later upheld by the Supreme Court. Today, 36 states have voter ID laws, some more strict than others.”

A concerted, well-organized and generously funded campaign is underway throughout the U.S. to suppress and invalidate the votes of the most oppressed members of the working class in the Nov. 3 elections — not only for the presidential contest, but also congressional, state and local races.

There is also the threat of violence by white supremacist movements like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. At an earlier time, these forces went under names like the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society.

Danger of fascist violence

Racist voter suppression is a frequent and ever-growing feature of U.S. elections. But the level of coordination in 2020 is unprecedented and comes right from the top. 

For months, President Donald Trump has denounced voting by mail and other measures to protect voters amidst the pandemic, going so far as to try to sabotage the ability of the Postal Service to deliver the mail. 

Trump has repeatedly refused to say that he will accept the election results if they don’t favor him. During a nationally televised debate, he told the Proud Boys (and by extension all white supremacists) to “stand back and stand by.” 

Attorney General William Barr joined Trump, authorizing investigations of politically motivated fraud claims.

On Oct. 10, the Los Angeles Times published a report entitled, “What if armed far-right groups go to the polls? Some plan to.” It states: “Experts are especially focused on dangers raised by armed right-wing factions and self-styled militias with national networks who may intimidate voters, particularly immigrants and people of color.

“The Oath Keepers claim thousands of members, including some who served in the military and law enforcement. Some have signed up as poll watchers, while others plan to monitor the election armed and ‘undercover,’ drawing their weapons if needed, said founder Stewart Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate.”

The danger of far-right sabotage and violence targeting people of color is especially high in so-called swing states, where the decisive Electoral College votes are up for grabs between Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin. 

And there are other states where violent, racist gangs have clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters, and where the elections could be another flashpoint — including Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, Oregon and Texas, among others. 

According to the L.A. Times: “Black Lives Matter protesters in swing states also plan to go to the polls to protect voters from being intimidated by right-wing groups: ‘This could be the biggest voter turnout in history, a lot of them people of color,’ said KeJuan Goldsmith, 19, a Black activist college student who led a protest against police brutality in Green Bay, Wis., on Saturday. ‘If we need to be there for them to be protected, so they can cast their vote without fear, that’s what we have to do.’”

Defend democratic rights of the people

How should revolutionaries respond to threats of right-wing violence and state-sponsored intimidation before and on Election Day? We should defend the rights of the oppressed and workers at the polls wherever and however we can.

Many progressive and even liberal groups have made plans to counteract voter suppression, including court challenges. The Coalition of Labor Union Women and other AFL-CIO affiliates urged union members to sign up as poll workers. Others are organizing community escorts for voters, as reproductive rights activists have long done to overcome the intimidation tactics of anti-women “right to life” groups. These are all worthy efforts.

But what happens if armed, violent movements like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys descend on polling stations? The police and other agencies of the capitalist state can’t be relied upon to protect oppressed voters and poll workers. On the contrary, cops often treat these fascists as their unofficial deputies and even goad them on to violence.

The Democrats won’t call on the masses to fight to defend their rights. That was made crystal clear, yet again, with the Republican rush to confirm Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before Election Day. 

Although it may cost them the White House, Democratic leaders haven’t called on the masses to resist the imposition of this far-right ideologue. They are more afraid of the people and the potential for their struggle to outgrow the limits of capitalism than they are of the devastation that four more years of Trump could wreak.

That’s why revolutionaries can’t stand aside on Election Day. Communists, revolutionary socialists and anti-fascists must be prepared to challenge the right-wing goons and defend the right to vote at polling places where necessary — just as we would protest and defend the community during any fascist manifestation. 

Our goal is not to give credibility to Biden or other capitalist politicians who helped pave the way for Trump and the far right. They offer no solutions to the white supremacist danger or the broader crisis of capitalism. 

Rather, we must show our class that we will defend their hard-won democratic rights, especially those of the most oppressed, against the class enemies who would terrorize them into submission, while continuing to explain why a mass movement politically independent of the capitalist parties is needed to win real social change. 

The voting rights of Black and Brown people, now under threat, were won in the streets, not the voting booth. What better way for revolutionaries to make their case than to show our willingness to defend the rights of the people?

The December 12th Movement International Secretariat boldly calls on the United Nations for the immediate deployment of international observers to monitor the 2020 United States presidential elections. We make this demand to alert the international community and U.S. voters that their right to vote and for their votes to be counted has been challenged by the president of the United States.

This is an important national issue that will affect the world community going forward. Therefore, our presidential election should undergo the same international scrutiny that this president has used in condemning and challenging the validity of other countries’ elections for far less inflammatory speech and concrete actions (dismantling of USPS and mobilization of “Proud Boys”) than taken up by himself. 

The continued political division of the United States into Red States/Blue States in particular targets Black people for disenfranchisement. Therefore, we demand that the Congressional Black Caucus join this call for international observers to monitor these presidential elections.

The letter to the secretary general of the United Nations and copies to additional international organizations have been delivered and we encourage all who unite with this demand to join our efforts.

Following is the text of the letter:

October 8, 2020

H.E. Sr. Antonio Guterres
Secretary General
United Nations
405 E. 42nd Street
New York, NY  10017

Re: Request for International Observers at U.S. 2020 Elections

Secretary General Guterres:

We are writing to request the presence of a substantial delegation of “international” observers at the U.S. 2020 presidential election.

President Donald Trump and members of his Republican Party have made it clear, through word and deed, that they intend to ensure his re-election through voter suppression and racial intimidation. The tactics are many and varied and publicly documented. Most ominously, President Trump has refused to commit himself to surrender the presidency should he lose the election. International observers are crucial to assuming that the elections are being held freely and fairly.

The U.S. has a long history of denying the vote to its “minorities,” particularly to its Black population. It took 100 years after Black people freed themselves from chattel slavery before the U.S. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided the legal protection for them to vote free of discrimination. Over the next 48 years, Black people, often at the cost of their lives, exercised their right to vote but still faced obstacles in doing so. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court basically overturned the 1965 Voting Rights Act in Shelby v. Holder. Since that decision, more and more barriers have been successfully placed in the paths of Black voters who have been the bulwark of the Democratic Party.

We understand that the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) has reduced its original observer team from 500 to 30 members to monitor the election. We are proposing that the Security Council and/or the General Assembly invite observer teams from the African Union and CARICOM.

Time is short and of the essence. This is not a partisan request. We are international NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council). The U.S. is facing an existential threat to democracy. Trump’s call for the ultranationalist and violent white supremacist Proud Boys gang to “stand back and stand by” and for white supremacists to go to the voting polls, echoes the master race rhetoric which led to Hitler’s election in 1930s Germany. We ask that you exercise all the powers of your office to ensure the substantial presence of truly international observers at this crucial election.

Viola Plummer
Chair, December 12th Movement International Secretariat

Roger Wareham
International Secretary General, International Association Against Torture

On Oct. 28, 1980, Marxist thinker and fighter Sam Marcy wrote about a presidential debate between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican Ronald Reagan. An excerpt appears below.

This was at the beginning of what Marcy called “the historic reversal which the ruling class is trying to impose upon the working class by embarking on the road to reversing basic and fundamental concessions which the working class and oppressed have won in decades of struggle.” The war of the rich against the rights of the workers and oppressed has continued unabated for 40 years, with the presidency of Donald Trump marking its all-time low (so far).

On this [the “historic reversal”], both candidates are in full agreement. Their method differs slightly, but their objective is the same. Individual elements in the ruling class may have their preferences for either Reagan’s or Carter’s method. But what binds the ruling class together in approving both candidates is that Carter and Reagan share a common objective — reversing the previous era of rising expectations among the masses — and are both bent on solving the incurable economic crisis of the ruling class at home by expanding its adventurous role abroad.

A hundred years ago, Frederick Engels, the co-worker of Marx, writing in the still relatively progressive stage of capitalism, wrote that participation of the workers in bourgeois elections is an “index of the maturity of the working class” and of the progress it is making in educating itself for the day when it seizes power. Engels’ impeccably correct statement of his time cannot be wholly regarded as applicable in the circumstances of the imperialist epoch as it has evolved in the U.S. today.

The working class, as an independent class, which was what Engels was writing about, is totally excluded from the bourgeois political process. No avenue whatsoever has been left open for truly independent working-class participation in the U.S. as it has in the European arena and in Engels’ time. On the contrary, the manipulation of the electoral process by the bourgeoisie and the strangulation of virtually all independent forms of initiative and political participation is an index of the deterioration of the ruling-class political system.

Engels’ analysis is, of course, applicable as it concerns the importance of the effort to break through the bourgeois political process by every conceivable method and utilize the bourgeois election, no matter how restrictive or narrow the opportunity may be, so long as it is not an effort to legitimize bourgeois, imperialist parliamentarism, but to undermine its political system in a revolutionary way by exposing it to the masses and educating them in the process.

Because so many working-class organizations in the post-Lenin era have once again fallen prey to the illusion that they can change the system by parliamentary means, as in Europe as well as here, it is all the more necessary not to abandon the political arena to bourgeois parties or their lackeys. 

On the contrary, it is imperative for the working-class vanguard party to unceasingly and energetically pursue the electoral arena as part and parcel of its overall activities in the class struggle, to promote class consciousness among the working class and the oppressed masses, and to prepare for the task of the revolutionary abolition of the rotting system of monopoly capitalism.

30 Sept. — Desde nuestro último artículo, “Elecciones del 2020 e inestabilidad capitalista: ¿Cómo debemos prepararnos?”, el presidente Donald Trump ha declarado varias veces que no dejará el cargo si las elecciones presidenciales “no son justas”.  Queriendo decir, si no gana.  Puede que sea la primera vez que un presidente de Estados Unidos ha dicho abiertamente que no aceptará el resultado de la votación, lo que indica que no habrá una transferencia pacífica del poder.

Esta no es una amenaza frívola.  Trump tiene a su servicio: su propia fuerza policial paramilitar ya probada desplegándose contra manifestantes desde Washington, D.C., hasta Portland, Oregon; el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional;  como también el apoyo de los departamentos de policía más virulentos y reaccionarios;  y una miríada de grupos violentamente racistas.

En el debate del 29 de septiembre en Cleveland contra su oponente demócrata Joe Biden, después de que el moderador le preguntara si condenaría a los supremacistas blancos, incluyendo a los Proud Boys, un grupo violento y racista de extrema derecha, Trump declaró: “Proud Boys: retrocedan y esperen”, reconociendo así que él era su líder.

Más adelante en el debate, Trump rehusó decir que aceptaría los resultados de las elecciones y se negó a decirle a sus seguidores que se mantuvieran en calma o evitaran la violencia.  “Si veo decenas de miles de papeletas, no puedo estar de acuerdo con eso”, dijo, instando a sus seguidores a ir a las urnas y a que “observen con mucho cuidado”.

Si alguien se engaña creyendo que Trump está firmemente contra la guerra, su perorata de 9 minutos en la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas el 22 de septiembre debería aclarar las cosas.  Fue una diatriba nacionalista de preparación para la guerra contra China, junto con Irán, Venezuela y Cuba.  Aunque esto no es inusual para Trump, fue una desviación del subterfugio utilizado por la mayoría de los políticos capitalistas en el escenario mundial.

 “Cuando alguien te muestre quién es, créale a la primera” es un dicho que la escritora y poeta Maya Angelou hizo famoso.  Deberíamos creerle a Trump.

Creciente Represión

Los ataques estatales al levantamiento de Black Lives Matter [La vidas negras importan] contra el racismo y el terror policial se han intensificado.

En Louisville, Ky., Attica Scott, la única representante estatal negra, y su hija de 19 años fueron arrestadas el 24 de septiembre acusadas de delitos graves por disturbios durante las protestas después de la decisión del gran jurado que exoneraba a los asesinos de Breonna Taylor.  Otras veinticuatro personas fueron arrestadas al mismo tiempo, además de las 127 detenidas el día anterior.

Esto sigue a las acusaciones draconianas contra miembros del Partido por el Socialismo y la Liberación y el Partido de Primera Línea para la Acción Revolucionaria en Aurora, Colorado.

El gobernador de Florida Ron DeSantis, anunció recientemente un proyecto de ley, la “Ley para combatir la violencia, el desorden y el saqueo y proteger la aplicación de la ley”.  Ésta intensificaría drásticamente los cargos penales contra los manifestantes.  Bloquear el tráfico se convertiría en un delito grave de tercer grado, pero los conductores que intencionalmente arrojen sus vehículos contra la multitud no serían responsables de las lesiones o muertes ocasionadas.

Destruir o derribar monumentos, como las estatuas confederadas, se convertiría en un delito de segundo grado.

Estos recientes acontecimientos hacen que sea aún más imperativo que la clase trabajadora intervenga activamente en lo que sin duda será una serie de grandes crisis este y el próximo año.

Lecciones de las Elecciones del 2000

Las elecciones del 2000 enfrentaron a los demócratas Al Gore y Joe Leiberman contra los republicanos George W. Bush y Dick Cheney.  Éstas fueron robadas mediante la total supresión del voto de negros y de la clase trabajadora en Florida.

Después de varios polémicos meses de lucha, a veces incluso en la calle, el caso fue resuelto por la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos anulando una decisión de la Corte Suprema de Florida que ordenaba un recuento.  Bush fue declarado ganador.  Ni siquiera fue el antidemocrático Colegio Electoral, sino que sólo nueve magistrados de la Corte Suprema eligieron al presidente. 

En ese entonces, James Baker era el principal asesor legal de la campaña de Bush y supervisaba la operación de recuento de Florida.  Baker fue responsable de la estrategia de llevar el caso a la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos después de perder en un esfuerzo profundamente corrupto a nivel estatal.

Baker más tarde se convirtió en secretario de estado de Bush.  John G. Roberts Jr., uno de los abogados del equipo de Baker, fue recompensado por Bush con un nombramiento para la Corte Suprema.  Roberts es ahora el presidente del Tribunal Supremo.

Como escribió Gary Wilson de Struggle-La Lucha en “Los codiciosos partidarios petroleros de Donald Trump quieren más”:

“’El ex secretario de Estado James Baker consideró votar por Joe Biden en noviembre, pero en cambio seguirá respaldando a Donald Trump, revela una nueva biografía sobre el proceso que describe una razón clave para el continuo apoyo republicano al presidente estadounidense plagado de escándalos’, The Guardian  informa.

“Aunque la ‘miríada de escándalos éticos que rodean a Trump eran desconcertantes’, dijo Baker a los autores, ‘valió la pena por haber conseguido jueces conservadores, recortes de impuestos y desregulación’.

 “Sí, Trump les está dando exactamente lo que quieren”.

 El Papel del Partido Demócrata

En el 2000, el Partido Demócrata luchó contra el robo electoral con una mano atada a la espalda.  Retiró a Jesse Jackson de organizar manifestaciones.  El senador demócrata Joe Leiberman, quien luego se convirtió en presidente del Comité Senatorial de Seguridad Nacional, rompió filas y pidió que se concediera la victoria a Bush.

Esto debería servir como una lección para no contar con el Partido Demócrata para proteger los derechos del pueblo.  En el análisis final, no se podía confiar en que el Partido Demócrata defendiera a los votantes afroamericanos.  Al final, su lealtad fue solo para el Gran Capital.

Los lectores deben tomar nota de que después de esas elecciones y los ataques del 11 de septiembre, EUA inició la interminable “Guerra contra el terrorismo” y la segunda guerra contra Irak.  En EUA, la expansión del aparato represivo del estado se engrandeció, una tendencia que V.I.  Lenin describió en el folleto “El Estado y la revolución”.

En el 2002, se aprobó la Ley de Seguridad Nacional y en el 2003 se formó el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional.  Hoy, es el tercer departamento más grande del gabinete y está coordinado en la Casa Blanca por el Consejo de Seguridad Nacional.  Tiene 240.000 empleados.  Por ley, los empleados del DHS [por sus siglas en inglés] no pueden estar representados por un sindicato.  Peter Andreas, profesor de la Universidad de Brown, describió la creación del DHS como la reorganización gubernamental más importante desde la Guerra Fría.

Si bien se están haciendo comparaciones entre el 2000 y hoy, es importante señalar que el 2020 es mucho más volátil puesto que el capitalismo está en una decadencia más profunda.  El sistema imperialista estadounidense, que está en contracción, se encuentra en competencia directa con el crecimiento de la economía china.

Elecciones de 1876, libertad negra y Reconstrucción

Las elecciones de 1876 también fueron completamente manipuladas y básicamente anularon la era de la Reconstrucción posterior a la Guerra Civil con un acuerdo que tuvo profundas consecuencias. Samuel J. Tilden había vencido a Rutherford B. Hayes tanto en el voto popular como en el Colegio Electoral. Pero después de muchas maniobras, Hayes fue declarado ganador.

El líder marxista Vince Copeland lo explicó mejor en su libro “Elecciones de mercado”: ​​“La historia del cambio de votos de 1876 no es solo una de corrupción en las urnas, sino de traición de proporciones colosales. Dirigida en primer lugar contra el pueblo negro, en segundo lugar contra la mayoría blanca del norte que había sacrificado tanto en la Guerra Civil, y tercero contra los blancos pobres del sur, que ahora se convirtieron lentamente en sirvientes para linchamientos al servicio de la misma clase que más los oprimía.

“Se había llegado a un acuerdo con Carolina del Sur, Florida y Luisiana en nombre de la clase dominante del Sur, de que se pondría fin a la Reconstrucción y que las entonces tropas revolucionarias de la Unión se retirarían de su ocupación del Sur.

“Por otro lado, era realmente cierto que estos estados – y casi todos los estados del Sur – habían amañado las elecciones, particularmente contra los votantes negros. Pero si los republicanos hubieran iniciado un proceso para revertir esto, habría significado una continuación de la Reconstrucción, algo que ellos mismos no querían”.

¿Por qué plantear 1876? Porque ilustra lo absolutamente antidemocráticas que son las elecciones capitalistas y muestra el factor determinante detrás de esta traición: la alianza entre el capital del Norte y los terratenientes del Sur, que se basó en el desarrollo económico capitalista.

Además, tiene otro significado hoy para nosotros. El actual movimiento antirracista y antiterrorismo policial, Las Vidas Negras Importan, es una continuación de la lucha que fue detenida por la contrarrevolución contra la Reconstrucción, literalmente el período más democrático de los Estados Unidos.

La traición de 1876 subraya la importancia de preservar, defender y expandir lo que ocurre hoy en las calles. Aunque no sea reconocido por muchos de los que se unen a la lucha espontánea que está teniendo lugar ahora, aquella revolución inconclusa por la libertad del pueblo negro se está resucitando hoy.

Lo que está básicamente en juego en la lucha actual es si este movimiento será aplastado por las fuerzas reaccionarias y fascistas encabezadas por Trump, o si crecerá de una manera que pueda implementar cambios mucho más profundos que lleguen al corazón del sistema capitalista. Por supuesto, hay mucho más que eso; en última instancia, esta reacción está dirigida a toda la clase trabajadora.

Crisis capitalista y guerra imperialista

La clase dominante de Estados Unidos ciertamente preferiría una transición pacífica después de las elecciones. Esto le indicaría al mundo y a la población en su conjunto que su sistema es estable.

Pero eso puede que no sea posible en el 2021. El capitalismo como sistema está en profunda contracción, y la crisis inminente dentro de las estructuras gobernantes del estado capitalista es más grande que nunca.

La guerra imperialista está cada vez más cerca; es imperativo que la clase trabajadora vea esta elección desde una perspectiva internacional. ¿Qué significan estas elecciones y sus secuelas para los pueblos del mundo, especialmente para aquellos países que luchan por alguna independencia?

La perorata contra China de Trump en las Naciones Unidas puede parecer disparatada. Pero la realidad es que él está dando la posición del Pentágono. La guerra es la consecuencia natural del imperialismo y del conflicto del capitalismo con sus competidores. La estrategia del “pivote hacia el Este” ya estaba en la mesa antes de que Trump asumiera el cargo.

Independientemente del resultado de las elecciones, el peligro de una guerra imperialista – ya sean guerras indirectas a través de subsidiarios, intervenciones directas, sanciones y bloqueos más profundos – se intensificará y amenazará con agravar la pandemia y la crisis climática.

Prepararse para la intervención de la clase trabajadora

Es muy difícil predecir exactamente hacia dónde se dirige todo esto. ¿Trump tiene la fuerza para llevar a cabo y conducir un golpe? ¿Cómo reaccionará la Corte Suprema? ¿Qué papel jugarán los militares? Todo esto es importante. Pero el factor más importante es reconocer que el peligro es real.

La clase obrera y los socialistas revolucionarios no pueden quedarse al margen y esperar a ver qué van a hacer las fuerzas burguesas. Esto sería peligroso.

El papel histórico desempeñado por los terroristas de derecha durante las crisis capitalistas es reprimir a los movimientos de masas de la clase trabajadora y a la propia clase trabajadora.

En “El Klan y el gobierno: ¿enemigos o aliados?” Sam Marcy escribió: “El crecimiento del fascismo en todas partes ha estado ligado firmemente a las grandes empresas; ese es su salvavidas. … Incluso en los llamados mejores tiempos, el gobierno capitalista no solo tolera organizaciones terroristas como el Klan, sino que una vez que la lucha de clases de los trabajadores y el pueblo oprimido adquiere el carácter de un genuino levantamiento de masas, el gobierno capitalista es más propenso que nunca a alentar y promover grupos como el Klan y otros medios de represión.

“Es imposible llevar a cabo una política antifascista consistente a menos que se tenga en cuenta el factor clave y decisivo para rendir y destruir la amenaza fascista: la clase trabajadora, el pueblo oprimido y sus aliados”.

En nuestro artículo anterior escribimos: “Preparémonos para noviembre: a convocar una huelga general del pueblo.

“No debe haber una aceptación pasiva de una elección robada, independientemente de cómo se desarrolle. Cualquier circunstancia de este tipo debe considerarse ilegítima. Hay mucho en juego. La clase trabajadora debe prepararse lo más posible para intervenir en su propio nombre. No podemos esperar por los demócratas, especialmente si se inclinan a sentarse y esperar otros cuatro años, ni podemos ceder y permanecer al margen.

“En cambio, deberíamos prepararnos para una huelga general del pueblo. Ya estén empleados o desempleados, estudiantes, jóvenes, organizados o no organizados, el objetivo es cerrar el sistema mediante una acción masiva. Para aquellos que puedan, planeen marchar en Washington, D.C. y ocupar la capital hasta que Trump se vaya. Necesitamos apelar directamente a los sindicatos y a la comunidad.

“Si Biden prevalece, no significa que la lucha haya terminado.

“Estará presidiendo una crisis capitalista y no tiene respuesta alguna para nuestra clase. Nuestro mensaje debe ser impulsar enérgicamente al movimiento para exigir: ¡Acabemos con el terror policial y la supremacía blanca! ¡Atención sanitaria para todos! ¡Cancelar alquileres y ejecuciones hipotecarias! ¡Trabajos o ingresos garantizados para todos! ¡Derechos de los trabajadores y pago por trabajo riesgoso! ¡No a las guerras y las sanciones”!

Hay muchas ideas buenas sobre cómo movilizarse; todas deben aplicarse de la manera más enérgica posible.

El futuro de la humanidad depende de lo que hagamos en esta crítica coyuntura. El capitalismo está literalmente en un callejón sin salida y puede hacer muy poco para resolver las principales crisis que afectan al mundo, ya sea la pandemia, el catastrófico cambio climático, los incendios en California o la atención médica, la vivienda, la comida y el empleo para el pueblo.

Como sistema, el capitalismo está tan ligado a la explotación de personas negras y marrones e inmigrantes que se ve incapaz de responder incluso a la más modesta exigencia de respetar los cuerpos negros.

El socialismo es la respuesta. En esta coyuntura, el lobo está a la puerta y se necesitará unidad y audacia para detenerlo.

Sept. 30 — Since our last article, “2020 elections and capitalist instability: How should we prepare?”, President Donald Trump has declared several times that he won’t leave office if the presidential election is “not fair.” By that he means, if he does not win. It may be the first time that a U.S. president has openly said that he won’t accept the vote, indicating that there will be no peaceful transfer of power. 

This is not an idle threat. Trump has his own paramilitary police force, which has been deployed against protesters in test runs from Washington, D.C., to Portland, Ore.; the Department of Homeland Security; the support of the most virulent and reactionary police departments; and a myriad of violently racist, vigilante-type groups. 

At the Sept. 29 debate in Cleveland with his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, after the moderator asked if he would condemn white supremacists including the Proud Boys, a violent far-right racist group, Trump declared: “Proud Boys: Stand back and stand by,” acknowledging that he was their leader. 

Later in the debate, Trump refused to say that he would abide by the results of the election and declined to tell his supporters to remain calm or avoid violence. “If I see tens of thousands of ballots, I can’t go along with that,” he said, urging his supporters to go to the polls and “watch very carefully.”

If anyone is fooled into thinking that Trump is remotely anti-war, his 9-minute rant at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22 should set the record straight. It was a full-throttle jingoistic preparation for war against China, along with Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. Though this is not unusual for Trump, it was a departure from the subterfuge used by most capitalist politicians on the world stage.

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time” is a saying made famous by writer and poet Maya Angelou. We should believe Trump.

Growing repression

State attacks on the Black Lives Matter uprising against racism and police terror have escalated. 

In Louisville, Ky., Attica Scott, the only Black state representative, and her 19-year-old daughter were arrested Sept. 24 on felony riot charges during protests after the grand jury decision exonerating Breonna Taylor’s killers. Twenty-four others were arrested at the same time, along with 127 more on Sept. 23.  

This follows on the heels of draconian charges against Party for Socialism and Liberation and Frontline Party for Revolutionary Action members in Aurora, Colo.  

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced a legislative bill, the “Combating Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act.” It would drastically intensify criminal charges against protesters. Blocking traffic would become a third-degree felony, but drivers who intentionally plow their vehicles into crowds would not be held liable for injury or death. 

Destroying or toppling monuments, such as Confederate statues, would become a second-degree felony. 

These recent events make it all the more imperative for the working class to intervene actively in what undoubtedly will be a series of major crises this year and into 2021.  

Lessons of 2000 election

The 2000 election pitted Democrats Al Gore and Joe Leiberman against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. It was stolen by outright suppression of Black and working-class voters in Florida.  

After several contentious months of struggle, sometimes in the street, the outcome was resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned a Florida Supreme Court decision ordering a recount. Bush was declared the winner. Not even the undemocratic Electoral College, but just nine Supreme Court justices chose the president.

At that time, James Baker was chief legal advisor for Bush’s campaign and oversaw the Florida recount operation. Baker was responsible for the strategy to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court after losing in a deeply corrupt effort on the state level.  

Baker later became Bush’s secretary of state. John G. Roberts Jr., one of the lawyers on Baker’s team, was rewarded by Bush with an appointment to the Supreme Court. Roberts is now the chief justice.

As Struggle-La Lucha’s Gary Wilson wrote in “Donald Trump’s Greedy Big Oil Backers Want More”:

“‘Former Secretary of State James Baker considered voting for Joe Biden in November but will instead keep backing Donald Trump, a new biography reveals, in the process outlining a key reason for continued Republican support for the scandal-plagued U.S. president,’ the Guardian reports. 

“Though the ‘myriad ethical scandals surrounding Trump were head-spinning,’ Baker told the authors, ‘it was worth it to get conservative judges, tax cuts and deregulation.’

“Yes, Trump is giving them exactly what they want.”

Democratic Party’s role

In 2000, the Democratic Party fought the election theft with one hand tied behind its back. It pulled Jesse Jackson back from organizing demonstrations. Democratic Sen. Joe Leiberman, who later became chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, broke ranks and called for conceding to Bush. 

This should serve as a lesson to not count on the Democratic Party to protect the rights of the people. In the final analysis, the Democratic Party could not be relied upon to defend African American voters. In the end, its allegiance was only to Big Capital.  

Readers should take note: Following that election and the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. started the endless “War on Terror” and the second Iraq War. At home, the expansion of the repressive apparatus of the state became gargantuan — a tendency that V.I. Lenin described in the pamphlet “The State and Revolution.”  

In 2002, the Homeland Security Act was passed, and in 2003, the Department of Homeland Security was formed. Today, it is the third-largest cabinet department and is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council. It has 240,000 employees. By law, DHS employees cannot be represented by a union. Brown University professor Peter Andreas described the creation of DHS as the most significant government reorganization since the Cold War.

While there are comparisons being made between 2000 and today, it’s important to note that 2020 is much more volatile; capitalism is in deeper decay and decline. The U.S. imperialist system, which is in contraction, finds itself in direct competition with the growth of the Chinese economy.  

1876 Election, Black freedom and Reconstruction

The election of 1876 was also thoroughly rigged and essentially overturned the post-Civil War Reconstruction era in a deal that had profound consequences. Samuel J. Tilden had beaten Rutherford B. Hayes both in the popular vote and in the Electoral College. But after much maneuvering, Hayes was declared the winner. 

Marxist leader Vince Copeland explained it best in his book “Market Elections”: “The story of the 1876 switch of votes is not only one of corruption at the polls but of a betrayal of colossal proportions. It was directed first of all against the Black people, second against the white majority of the North who had sacrificed so much in the Civil War, and third against the poor whites of the South, who were now slowly turned into lynch-mad servants of the very class that oppressed them most.

“A deal had been struck with South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana on behalf of the Southern ruling class that Reconstruction would be ended and the then-revolutionary Union troops would be withdrawn from their occupation of the South.

“On the other hand, it really was true that these states — and nearly all the Southern states — had rigged the elections, particularly against the Black voters. But if the Republicans had initiated a drive to reverse this, it would have meant a continuation of Reconstruction, something they themselves did not want.”

Why raise 1876? Because it illustrates how utterly undemocratic capitalist elections are, and it shows the determining factor behind this betrayal: the alliance between Northern capital and Southern landowners, which was based on capitalist economic developments.

It has another significance for us today. Today’s anti-racist, Black Lives Matter, anti-police-terror movement is a continuation of the fight that was stopped short by the counterrevolution against Reconstruction — literally the most democratic period for the U.S. 

The betrayal of 1876 underscores how important it is to preserve, defend and expand what is taking place in the streets today. In ways that may be unrecognized by many of those joining the spontaneous struggle taking place now, this unfinished revolution for Black freedom is being resurrected today.

What is basically at stake in the struggle today is whether this movement will be crushed by the reactionary and fascist forces headed by Trump, or if it will grow in a way that can implement far deeper changes that go to the heart of the capitalist system. Of course, there is much more to it than that; ultimately, this reaction is aimed at the entire working class.

Capitalist crisis and imperialist war

The U.S. ruling class would certainly prefer a peaceful transition after the election. This signals to the world and to the population as a whole that their system is stable.  

But that may not be possible in 2021. Capitalism as a system is in deep contraction, and the impending crisis within the ruling structures of the capitalist state is larger than it has ever been.  

Imperialist war is growing ever closer; it’s imperative that the working class view this election from an international perspective. What does this election and its aftermath mean for the world’s people, especially those countries struggling for some semblance of independence?

Trump’s anti-China rant at the United Nations may appear unglued. But the reality is that he is giving the Pentagon’s position. War is the natural outgrowth of imperialism and the conflict of capitalism with its competitors. The “pivot to the East” strategy was already on the drawing board before Trump came to office.  

Regardless of the election outcome, the danger of imperialist war — whether proxy wars, deepening sanctions and blockades, or direct interventions — will intensify and threaten to compound pandemics and the climate crisis.  

Prepare for working-class intervention

It is very hard to predict exactly where all of this is going. Does Trump have the strength to carry out and conduct a coup? How will the Supreme Court react? What role will the military play? All of this is important. But the most important factor is to recognize that the danger is real. 

The working class and revolutionary socialists cannot sit on the sidelines and wait to see what bourgeois forces are going to do. It is dangerous to do so.

The historic role played by right-wing terrorists during capitalist crises is to suppress mass working-class movements and the working class itself.

In “The Klan and Government: Foes or Allies?” Sam Marcy wrote: “The growth of fascism everywhere has been securely tied to big business; that is its lifeline. … Even in the so-called best of times the capitalist government not only tolerates terrorist organizations like the Klan, but once the class struggle of the workers and oppressed people takes on the character of a genuine mass upsurge, the capitalist government is more likely than ever to encourage and promote the likes of the Klan and other mediums of repression.

“It is impossible to conduct a consistent anti-fascist policy unless one takes into account the key and decisive factor in overwhelming and destroying the fascist menace; it is the working class, the oppressed people and their allies.”

In our previous article, we wrote, “Prepare for November: Call for a general strike of the people.

“There should be no passive acceptance of a stolen election, regardless of how it unfolds. Any such circumstance must be considered illegitimate. The stakes are too high. The working class must prepare as much as possible to intervene on its own behalf. We can’t wait for the Democrats — particularly if they are inclined to lay down and wait for another four years — nor concede and stand on the sidelines.

“Instead, we should prepare for a general strike of the people. Whether employed or unemployed, students or youth, organized or unorganized — the goal is to shut the system down through massive action. For those who are able, plan to march on Washington, D.C., and occupy the capital until Trump leaves. We need to appeal to the unions and to the community directly.

“If Biden prevails, it does not mean the struggle is off.  

“He will be presiding over a capitalist crisis and has no answers whatsoever for our class.  Our message must be to energetically push the movement forward to demand: End police terror and white supremacy! Health care for all! Cancel rents and mortgage foreclosures! Jobs or guaranteed income for all! Hazard pay and workers’ rights! No to wars and sanctions!”

There are any number of good ideas on how to mobilize; all should be implemented as vigorously as possible.

The future of humanity depends on what we do at this critical juncture. Capitalism is literally at a dead end and can do very little to solve the major crises impacting the globe, whether it’s the pandemic, catastrophic climate change, fires in California, or health care, housing, food and jobs for the people.  

As a system, capitalism is so tied to the exploitation of Black and Brown people and immigrants that it finds itself unable to respond to even the most modest demand to respect Black bodies. 

Socialism is the answer. At this juncture, the wolf is at the door and it will take unity and boldness to stop it.

 

Donald Trump, a shifty real estate and casino mogul who is in some way connected to the New York mob, was mostly unknown outside of New York City until 2004. That’s when Trump started his television career, a show called “The Apprentice.” That’s how, the New York Times says, “Jeff Zucker helped create Donald Trump.” At that time, Zucker was the head of NBC. Now he is the head of CNN. 

Trump is a made-for-TV politician. On his own before the TV show, he wasn’t doing too well. His real estate operations were mostly losing money, his new buildings were badly designed and engineered, and his casinos went bankrupt.

So what does Trump have now? He has the backing of some of the biggest oil billionaires, owners of the U.S. oil monopolies.

When Trump took the presidency in 2016, his way was paved by Charles and David Koch, oil billionaires notorious for their promotion of right-wing extremism. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo comes from Koch Industries. 

And then there’s Richard Kinder of Kinder Morgan, with its oil and gas pipelines and coal mining operations. And the Duncan family of Enterprise Products Partners, another oil and gas pipeline operation. Trump appointed their lawyer, William J. Emanuel, to the National Labor Relations Board with the aim of suppressing all union activity. And the biggest fracking tycoon, Harold Hamm, Trump’s “informal” energy adviser. The list goes on. Trump hasn’t lost any of that support.

Additional support comes from the Rockefellers, the Bush family and the H.L. Hunt oil billions. Trump’s previous secretary of state was Rex Tillerson, who had been CEO of the Rockefellers’ ExxonMobile.

Trump’s secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross, is a gas and coal billionaire who had previously backed Rudolph Giuliani for mayor of New York City in possibly the most racist and corrupt administration the city had ever seen, where the police commissioner was a crook openly taking bribes from organized crime. Giuliani combined economic austerity with police repression.

David Bernhardt, Trump’s secretary of the interior, was a lobbyist for Noble Energy, which Chevron just acquired. Chevron is one of the successors of John D. Rockefeller’s original Standard Oil Company.

Trump’s United Nations ambassador is Kelly Craft, married to the billionaire coal baron Joseph Craft.

Trump’s first gift to fracking — DAPL

When Trump declared victory in the 2016 election, Continental Resources — the company founded and led by Harold Hamm, Trump’s “energy adviser” —  announced that oil it obtains via fracking from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale basin would be transported through the  Dakota Access pipeline.

The Dakota Access pipeline was strongly opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux, who declared that “the Dakota Access Pipeline poses a serious risk to the very survival of our Tribe and … would destroy valuable cultural resources.” A battle against the pipeline was waged for months involving tens of thousands of supporters of the Standing Rock Sioux and drawing in members of more than 300 federally recognized Native tribes in the U.S. The Obama administration stepped in to put a temporary halt on the pipeline, pending further review by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Four days after Trump took office in 2017, he signed an executive memorandum overturning Obama’s decision and directing the Army Corps “to review and approve in an expedited manner” the pipeline. By June of 2017, oil began flowing through the pipeline.

Giving oil billionaires what they want

“Former Secretary of State James Baker considered voting for Joe Biden in November but will instead keep backing Donald Trump, a new biography reveals, in the process outlining a key reason for continued Republican support for the scandal-plagued U.S. president,” the Guardian reports. 

Though the “myriad ethical scandals surrounding Trump were head-spinning,” Baker told the authors, “it was worth it to get conservative judges, tax cuts and deregulation.”

Yes, Trump is giving them exactly what they want.

James Baker is a senior member of the Rockefeller-controlled Council on Foreign Relations, together with Henry Kissinger. At the council, Baker’s credentials are listed as 61st Secretary of State of the United States under George H. W. Bush, and 67th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States under Ronald Reagan, 10th and 16th White House Chief of Staff to Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush. 

In addition, Wikipedia says, Baker was the chief legal adviser for George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential election campaign and oversaw the Florida recount. Even if adviser means attack dog, this doesn’t begin to reveal what Baker did to suppress the Black vote in Florida and steal the presidency for Bush. (For example, see Jeffrey Toobin’s “The Legal Fight Awaiting Us After the Election,” New Yorker, Sept. 21) 

The gang of lawyers working with Baker in Florida included John G. Roberts Jr., whom Bush appointed to the Supreme Court, and Noel Francisco, who became President Trump’s solicitor general. All lined up there, ready to do it again, if needed.

Capitalism is in crisis, particularly the oil industry. “I’m just living a nightmare,” headlined the New York Times. The subhead read: “Oil industry braces for devastation across the United States, companies are laying off workers, shutting down wells and preparing for a prolonged slump as oil prices tumble.” That was in April, and while the prices are no longer tumbling, the slump continues.

Imperialist capitalism is made up of numerous monopolies. The term “finance capital” usually refers to the merging of the banks and industrialists, or as Lenin wrote in his study of imperialism, “finance capital is the bank capital of a few very big monopolist banks, merged with the capital of the monopolist associations of industrialists.” But key among them, especially now, are the oil monopolists, who are playing a dominant role in politics, who think they have bought the presidency and own it. They created the Trump presidency and intend to keep it going.

The present election is taking place in a period of deep instability. It is fraught with incredible dangers and at the same time opportunities for the working class in this country. What takes place in the U.S. will have repercussions internationally.

A lot will depend on what we do.   

On the one hand, an unprecedented movement against police terror and white supremacy has swept the country. There is not a single town or city that has not been touched by protests of one kind or another. While it is spontaneous to one degree, it is deeply political and can be characterized as a mass uprising.  

This movement is a challenge to the capitalist state and it is taking up the long-delayed fundamental question of racism and white supremacy in this country, what was described by W.E.B. Du Bois as the “unfinished revolution” in his famous book “Black Reconstruction in America.”  

This remarkable struggle is taking place in the midst of a deepening capitalist economic crisis, possibly the worst in our lifetimes, spurred on and coupled with a deadly pandemic that has killed more people in the United States than all the U.S. soldiers killed in the Vietnam War plus four other wars combined.  

Unemployment is at record highs. The working class will eventually face a tsunami of evictions and foreclosures that will certainly top those of the 2008 capitalist crisis. 

RNC ‘white power’ rally, DNC capitulates 

It’s easy to sum up the Republican National Convention as essentially a “white power” rally meant as a clarion call to all of Trump’s most reactionary, racist, neofascist supporters. Patricia and Mark McCloskey, who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis, Mo., spoke there. Both are facing charges of unlawful use of a weapon. 

None of the rhetoric of the RNC was hidden or coded. It was an outright racist attack on the burgeoning movement, designed to spur on violence against protesters under the cover of labeling the BLM movement as “rioters, antifa, anarchists, outsiders and communists.”

No one can forget that Trump began his first campaign by labeling Mexican immigrants as “rapists and criminals.”

The Democratic National Convention was no beacon of hope. Instead, it was in many respects a cowardly reaction to Trump’s campaign of redbaiting and attacks on protesters.  In essence, the DNC agenda was driven by the rightwing.

Republican billionaires and militarists like Colin Powell, Michael Bloomberg and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who ran on a campaign to abolish abortion, shared the DNC podium. On the other hand, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was given a mere 90 seconds to speak.

Biden’s denunciation of “riots,” referring to the Kenosha protests, does the exact opposite of defending people against the arch reactionary movement that Trump has unleashed. It emboldens them.

More recently, the Biden campaign touted former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s endorsement — a slap in the face to the people of Flint, a majority Black city whose water was poisoned; Detroit, whose assets were robbed through imposed bankruptcy; and Benton Harbor. Republican Snyder imposed “emergency financial manager” dictators over more than half of Michigan’s Black population. 

Stolen election, Trump coup

In this context, it is impossible to ignore the possibility of the November election being either stolen or hijacked by the utterly undemocratic Electoral College system, or the serious threat of Trump refusing to leave the White House. (See “Trump lays groundwork to steal election.”)

Trump’s antics should be taken seriously, when he tells people to vote twice, or spews lies that mail-in ballots are invalid.  His attempts to dismantle the U.S. Postal Service are clearly in preparation for what might turn out to be much larger developments in November. (See “Wrecking the post office and elections.”)

We should look back in history at the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, when right-wing violence and vote tampering in Florida helped Bush steal the election by gaining an Electoral College advantage.

Our immediate tasks

The capitalist state’s repressive apparatus — that is, the reactionary police, sheriffs, Homeland Security and Border Patrol, and their extralegal forces like the Proud Boys, neo-Nazis, etc. — was temporarily caught off guard by the tidal wave of protests all across the country. Now, under the direction of Trump, they are unleashing a campaign of terror in an attempt to crush the movement.

Let’s vigorously defend and broaden support for all of those arrested, whether it is in Minneapolis, Portland, Kenosha, San Diego, Tallahassee, New York City or in so many other places. (See “Organize to defeat the racist backlash.”)

Prepare for November: Call for general strike of the people

There should be no passive acceptance of a stolen election, regardless of how it unfolds. Any such circumstance must be considered illegitimate. The stakes are too high.  

The working class must prepare as much as possible to intervene on its own behalf. We can’t wait for the Democrats — particularly if they are inclined to lay down and wait for another four years — nor concede and stand on the sidelines.

Instead, we should prepare for a general strike of the people. Whether employed or unemployed, students or youth, organized or unorganized — the goal is to shut the system down through massive action. For those who are able, plan to march on Washington, D.C. and occupy the capital until Trump leaves. We need to appeal to the unions and to the community directly.

If Biden prevails, it does not mean the struggle is off.  

He will be presiding over a capitalist crisis and has no answers whatsoever for our class.  Our message must be to energetically push the movement forward to demand: End police terror and white supremacy! Health care for all! Cancel rents and mortgage foreclosures! Jobs or guaranteed income for all! Hazard pay and workers’ rights! No to wars and sanctions!

Should workers prepare for ‘October surprise’?

The potential for imperialist war, which is driven by economic forces beyond either candidate’s personal control, is greater than ever — whether it is against Venezuela, Iran, Russia or China.  

In an act of provocation, U.S. spy planes have flown over Chinese military bases. The rhetoric against China has continued unabated. 

Leonardo Flores, Latin American coordinator for Code Pink, has documented an increase in U.S. action against Venezuela. (See “The stage is set for a Venezuela October surprise.”) 

Iran continues to be under attack from severe sanctions and military threats.

Intervene as an independent class force 

For much of the working class, the pending elections are viewed as a referendum against racism and reaction. There is little illusion that a vote for Biden will end the suffering that much of the population is enduring. It is more a question of getting rid of Trump.

Some younger voters, particularly those involved in the Bernie Sanders movement, who passionately fought for health care, the Green New Deal, an end to student debt and many other issues, view a vote for Biden as a dead end.  

The elections will certainly be an important barometer. But what ultimately determines the direction of history, whether it is this immediate period or more long term, is the struggle between classes. This includes not only our class, whether unemployed or working, of all nationalities and genders, and global in character; but also bigger world developments reflecting the crisis of capitalism.

Our job as revolutionary socialists is to do everything in our power to defend the current movement and push beyond the electoral arena. What is critical for the working class is to intervene boldly in its own interests in whatever crisis presents itself during the early winter months.

Russia didn’t put Donald Trump in the White House. Large sections of the U.S. billionaire class did, with help from the FBI. 

Yet most of the corporate media convicted the Russian Federation of the crime. The country is now being accused of using Facebook and Twitter to help reelect Trump.

The New York Times claims that Russia’s Internet Research Agency is “targeting Americans with misinformation.”  What’s the real story? 

• It was the U.S. Supreme Court that gutted the Voting Rights Act ― not Russia.
• Russia didn’t create the Electoral College that selected Donald Trump to be president despite Hillary Clinton receiving nearly 3 million more votes. It was the slave master James Madison who devised the Electoral College to protect slavery.
• The capitalist media gave Trump nearly $3 billion of free publicity. NBC made this racist clown a nationally known figure by giving him his own TV show.
• Eleven days before the 2016 election, then-FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress virtually accusing Hillary Clinton of crimes involving her email server. In 2020, the police state apparatus is solidly behind Trump in trying to crush the Black Lives Matter movement.
• While some billionaires oppose Trump, the day after the 2016 election, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 272 points. No billionaires refused Trump’s tax cuts for the super rich.

The campaign against Russia diverted the struggle against Trump. It plays into the hands of Pentagon generals, who want to occupy Russia’s 6 million square miles. There’s a real danger of a U.S. war against Russia and China.

Instead of allegations concerning Ukraine and Russia, Trump should have been impeached for racism. That’s what Texas representative and Black Congressional Caucus member Al Green advocated. 

World’s biggest liar points at Russia

It’s the CIA that drenches the world with lies. Radio Free Europe was a CIA front. So was Radio Liberty, aimed at the Soviet Union.

The Pentagon spent at least $5.5 trillion between 1940 and 1996 on nuclear weapons aimed at the Soviet Union. That money should have been spent on reparations for Black and Indigenous people.

The socialist Soviet Union’s downfall was an immense tragedy for poor and working people everywhere, just as Reconstruction’s overthrow was for Black people in the U.S. 

U.S. capitalists continued to meddle after the Soviet Union’s breakup in 1991. U.S. election consultants bragged that they helped reelect Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1996. 

The CIA’s payroll was filled with lying propaganda experts. Among them were David Atlee Phillips and E. Howard Hunt.

Both of them worked to overthrow Guatemala’s democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz, in 1954 on behalf of United Fruit. In the decades following the CIA’s Operation PBSuccess, 200,000 people, overwhelmingly Indigenous, were murdered by death squads.

Phillips would later play a key role in President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, while Hunt went to jail for President Richard Nixon’s Watergate burglary.

Other U.S. propaganda assets include Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Radio Martí, beamed at Cuba. In 2018, the U.S. Agency for Global Media spent $803 million on these lie machines.

CIA executive Frank Wisner called the agency’s propaganda efforts a “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ. The CIA even operated a daily newspaper in Rome, the Daily American. 

Operation Mockingbird was the CIA’s influence program aimed at the United States. Dozens of newspapers, magazines and broadcasting companies willingly participated in this illegal program.

Among them were Time, ABC, CBS, NBC and the New York Times ― the same outfits that are now attacking “Russian propaganda.” Journalist Carl Bernstein, who helped expose the Watergate scandal, estimates 400 editors and reporters wrote stories supporting U.S. military intervention and coups through this program.

Directing Operation Mockingbird was Cord Meyer, whose wealthy family developed the swanky Forest Hills neighborhood in Queens, N.Y.

Mary Pinchot Meyer ― Cord Meyer’s ex-partner ― was murdered in what many people believe was a death connected to JFK’s assassination. The U.S. government attempted to frame a Black man, Raymond Crump, for the crime, but his lawyer, Dovey Roundtree, secured an acquittal from the jury.

Denying El Mozote massacre

The lying continued years after Operation Mockingbird was exposed.

The Washington Post and New York Times capitulated to the Reagan administration after reporting about the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador. Around 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, were killed by U.S.-backed forces there on Dec. 11, 1981. 

The Wall Street Journal called the articles written by Times reporter Raymond Bonner “communist propaganda.” Abe Rosenthal, the Times’ managing editor, then transferred Bonner from El Salvador to the paper’s financial desk in New York.

Alma Guillermoprieto, who wrote about the massacre for the Washington Post, was reassigned to cover the Maryland suburbs.

Last year, Congressperson Ilhan Omar righteously questioned Elliot Abrams about his role in the coverup. Like the Wall Street Journal, Abrams labeled reports of the massacre as “communist propaganda.”

War criminal Abrams, who coordinated death squads for Reagan, is now Trump’s point person in trying to overthrow Venezuela’s elected president, Nicolás Maduro Moros.

Our enemies are in the Pentagon and corporate boardrooms ― not in Moscow.

When Vice President Mike Pence announced an Aug. 26 visit to Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the Peoples Power Assembly called for a protest march and car caravan with the message, “Trump/Pence out of Baltimore!” 

Pence chose the location to give his acceptance speech after being nominated for a second term as vice president during the Republican National Convention. More than 20 cars gathered in South Baltimore to begin the first leg of the protest.

At Fort McHenry, demonstrators were blockaded and confronted by the Secret Service. Alongside the Baltimore Police Department, the Secret Service forcibly redirected the caravan away from where Pence was speaking. One organizer reported being flipped off by Baltimore cops while leading chants. 

The caravan and march took place just three days after police in Kenosha, Wis., shot Jacob Blake in the back in front of his three children, paralyzing him from the waist down. Marchers demanded justice for Blake and an end to racist police terror.

At the opening rally at Douglas Homes, a public housing project in East Baltimore, protesters sent a strong solidarity message from Baltimore City to Jacob Blake, his family and loved ones, and the demonstrators in Kenosha being attacked by the cops and right wingers.

Longtime activist the Rev. Annie Chambers exclaimed: “We want Jacob Blake and his family and all the people in Kenosha to know that we are behind them and we’re going to continue to fight!”

Rev. Chambers remarked on the outright racism of Trump and Pence, including Trump’s 2019 comments calling Baltimore “rat-infested.” 

She described the administration’s attack on the U.S. Postal Service as an attack on poor people: “Mail is slowing down in working-class and poor people’s communities. The mail boxes are being taken up in our communities.”

Trump admitted that he would sabotage the post office to prevent universal mail-in voting amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The march and caravan then headed to a post office to show support for postal workers, demanding, “Shut down racist voter suppression, not the post office.” Marchers stopped in front of a loading dock where workers were loading trucks and gave a brief rap showing support for their jobs.  

Peoples Power Assembly organizers explained that the White House attack on the post office is an attack on Black and Brown people, poor and oppressed people, and elderly and disabled people. 

Organizer Andre Powell told the group that these attacks were another attempt at union busting. There are several unions that represent postal workers, including the American Postal Workers Union and the National Association of Letter Carriers.

The caravan and march were well-received by the people along the way, even in the neighborhoods in South Baltimore around Fort McHenry, which, 40 years ago, were working-class neighborhoods. Now they are overtaken by gentrification and overpriced luxury condos. Residents left their homes to film the demonstration and raise their fists in solidarity. 

Baltimore made it clear: Black lives matter here, and racist rats Trump and Pence are not welcome.