The following paper by Mick Kelly, the Political Secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), was presented at the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) International Theoretical Conference on Fascism in the 21st Century in the Imperialist Heartlands. Sydney Loving of the Central Committee of FRSO also participated in the conference, which took place November 28-29, in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Comrades and friends,

Let me start by thanking the National Democratic Front of the Philippines for organizing this most important event. In providing a venue for revolutionaries to address the big theoretical issues facing our respective movements, the NDFP is making a real contribution to our collective efforts to shatter the chains of monopoly capitalism.

The question of fascism is an important one, and it can impact one’s strategy, tactics, and a host of organizational measures; in fact, the fascism question can be one of life and death. There is also a wealth of important texts that address the issue, and of special importance are those of works of R. Palme Dutt and Georgi Dimitrov – both of which received wide circulation by the Communist International.

Comrades might be interested to know that the issue of fascism is a mass question among large numbers of progressive people in the U.S., given the wave of attacks unleashed by the reactionary Trump administration, Over the past 9 months, millions of people, in big cities and small towns, have taken to the streets. The extremely sharp struggles against mass deportations – including the uprising in Los Angeles and high level of struggle in Chicago and Portland, Oregon – make up one of the main issues shaping domestic politics.

We see the overall conditions as extremely favorable for building communist organization. As FRSO has been able to play an important role in these fights, we continue to be in a period of extraordinary growth.

What fascism is

For some, “Fascism” as an invective – a sort of swear word, the worst thing that you can call someone or some action of government – as opposed to a political category with a scientific definition. This is a long-standing tendency on the part of the petty bourgeois left, and certainly there is no one here who does that. Others, like the Trotskyites [1], see fascism as the product of a mass movement of the petty bourgeoisie. That is not correct either.

We are in agreement with the definition adopted by 13th plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International which states fascism is, “the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital.”

At the 7th Congress of the Communist International, Dimitrov pointed out, “The accession to power of fascism is not a ordinary succession of one bourgeois government by another, but a substitution of one state form of class domination of the bourgeoisie – bourgeois democracy – for another form, open terrorist dictatorship.” [2]

This is an important point. While it is true there is not a qualitative difference between fascism and bourgeois democracy, in the sense that they are both ways that the monopoly capitalist wield state political power, there is a qualitative difference in so far as one is very different than the other when it comes to democratic rights of working and oppressed people.

Fascism and capitalist democracy are different forms of political rule. The fact that there is real difference between the two means that revolutionaries will employ different tasks, objectives, and organizational measures depending on the form of bourgeois rule. Communist organizing in a period of open terror is for all practical purposes illegal.

Fascist governments wage aggressive wars characterized by extremes of national chauvinism. In fact, bourgeois democratic governments have always done the same and often resort to the use of open terror to maintain control of their colonies or neo-colonies. In fact, the use of open terror in the neo-colonial or colonial settings is a feature that is common to fascist and bourgeois democratic governments.

In his important work The State and Revolution, Lenin points out, “A democratic republic is the best possible political shell for capitalism, and, therefore, once capital has gained possession of this very best shell (through the Palchinskys, Chernovs, Tseretelis and Co.), it establishes its power so securely, so firmly, that no change of persons, institutions or parties in the bourgeois-democratic republic can shake it.”

Why would the ruling class give up this “best possible political shell”? Stalin responds that it is because they have to:

In this connection the victory of fascism in Germany must be regarded not only as a symptom of the weakness of the working class and a result of the by the betrayals of the working class by Social-Democracy, which paved the way for fascism; it must also be regarded as a sign of weakness of the bourgeois, a sign that the bourgeois is no longer able to rule by the old methods of parliamentary and bourgeois democracy, and, as a consequence, is compelled in its home policy to resort to terrorist methods of rule — as a sign it is no longer to find a way out of the present situation on the basis of a peaceful foreign policy, and, as a consequence, is compelled to resort to a policy of war. [3]

Finally let me quote from R. Palme Dutt, “Fascism is not inevitable. Fascism is not a necessary stage of capitalist development through which all countries must pass. The social revolution can forestall Fascism, as it has done in Russia. But if the social revolution is delayed, then the menace of fascism becomes urgent.” [4]

So, there are several themes that should be circled back to. First, fascism employs open terrorism. Sure, there can be courts and parliaments, but open terrorism is what the fascist state is organized around and for. Secondly, fascism is a tool of the financial oligarchy – particularly its most reactionary and chauvinist sectors. And finally, there is the issue of extreme national chauvinism and fascism’s war-like nature.

To what degree is there a fascist danger in the U.S.?

In the entire epoch of monopoly capitalism, fascism is a latent tendency and therefore a possibility, given that the necessary conditions are present. In a context where the decline of U.S. imperialism is accelerating, where polarization is sharpening in the political superstructure, it is necessary to have a materialist evaluation of the objective conditions. That includes a realistic assessment of an immediate fascist danger.

When identifying what fascism is, in our view the most essential feature is the use of open terror by the ruling class, meaning the legal possibilities to organize for socialism are slim to nonexistent. That is not currently the situation in the United States, and communists in the U.S. need to utilize every avenue and opportunity to build the people’s struggle while developing revolutionary organization.

It is a fact that there are fascist groups and there are people in government who are pro-fascist. These elements are present in the military too. Their attacks should be met head on. The events of January 6, 2021, when Trump attempted to block the peaceful transfer of power and his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, speaks volumes about the lengths reactionaries will go to – as well as some of the limitations that necessity places on them.

The U.S. has always repressive place. Even as it went to war on German fascism and was an important part of the world anti-fascist coalition, 120,000 Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps.

Whatever assessment one has about a fascist danger, repression and resistance to repression need to be taken seriously. This means opposing reactionary laws and measures that restrict our democratic rights. It also means pushing back hard against legal attacks we face. Over the past 15 years our organization has faced a fair amount of repression, [5] and we have developed some capacity to deal with it. The most recent example was the defense of an immigrant rights activist and comrade who was charged with conspiracy to further civil disorder in the aftermath of the anti-ICE rebellion in Los Angles. We build a broad, national defense campaign and charges were dropped.

All quantity includes quality – and there is a whole political landscape between capitalist democracy and open terror (fascism) that could be very different from what we have experienced over the past 50 years.

Fascism is a tool of the most reactional monopoly capitalists to prevent revolution. In the U.S. today, we are not in a revolutionary situation. An effective strategy against fascism would necessitate building the broadest possible united front to stop it, like for example the Popular Front employed by U.S. communists from the mid-1930s on. If there is an immediate danger of capitalist democracy being replaced by open terror, we can and will adjust our strategy and organizational functioning accordingly.

Comrades: communists have a rich history of resisting repression and defeating fascism. It was Soviet soldiers who planted the flag bearing a hammer and sickle on the ruins of the “thousand-year Reich.” Our comrades of the Philippines have repeatedly demonstrated it is possible to grow and thrive in the context of U.S.-sponsored terror. The road might be a hard one, but our future is bright.

Let me close with a quote from the outstanding revolutionary and Marxist-Leninist Mao Zedong:

I have said that all the reputedly powerful reactionaries are merely paper tigers. The reason is that they are divorced from the people. Look! Was not Hitler a paper tiger? Was Hitler not overthrown? I also said that the tsar of Russia, the emperor of China and Japanese imperialism were all paper tigers. As we know, they were all overthrown. U.S. imperialism has not yet been overthrown, and it has the atom bomb. I believe it also will be overthrown. It, too, is a paper tiger.

Long live proletarian internationalism! Long live the unity of the world’s peoples! Victory is certain, together we will win!

Notes

[1] Trosky states in Fascism: What it is and how to fight it, “The fascist movement in Italy was a spontaneous movement of large masses, with new leaders from the rank and file. It is a plebian movement in origin, directed and financed by big capitalist powers. It issued forth from the petty bourgeoisie, the slum proletariat, and even to a certain extent from the proletarian masses; Mussolini, a former socialist, is a “self-made” man arising from this movement.”

[2] Dimitrov, The Fascist offensive and the tasks of the Communist International in the fight for uniy of the working class against fascism, 7th Congress of the Communist International, page 127

[3] J. Stalin, Report to the 17th Party Congress, CW vol. 13, page 300

[4] R. Palme Dutt, Fascism and Social Revolution

[5] In 2010 more than 70 FBI agents carried out coordinate raids against antiwar and international solidarity activist – including the homes of a number of FRSO members.

#RevolutionaryTheory #FRSO #Statement #Fascism #NDFP #Philippines #Lenin #Stalin #Mao #MarxismLeninism

To mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over fascist Germany, Fight Back News Service is circulating the following speech by Joseph Stalin. The speech was delivered on May 9, 1945.

COMRADES! Men and women compatriots!

The great day of victory over Germany has come. Fascist Germany, forced to her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has acknowledged herself defeated and declared unconditional surrender.

On May 7 the preliminary protocol on surrender was signed in the city of Rheims. On May 8 representatives of the German High Command, in the presence of representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied troops and the Supreme Command of the Soviet Troops, signed in Berlin the final act of surrender, the execution of which began at 24.00 hours on May 8.

Being aware of the wolfish habits of the German ringleaders, who regard treaties and agreements as empty scraps of paper, we have no reason to trust their words. However, this morning, in pursuance of the act of surrender, the German troops began to lay down their arms and surrender to our troops en masse. This is no longer an empty scrap of paper. This is actual surrender of Germany’s armed forces. True, one group of German troops in the area of Czechoslovakia is still evading surrender. But I trust that the Red Army will be able to bring it to its senses.

Now we can state with full justification that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of the great victory of our people over German imperialism has come.

The great sacrifices we made in the name of the freedom and independence of our Motherland, the incalculable privations and sufferings experienced by our people in the course of the war, the intense work in the rear and at the front, placed on the altar of the Motherland, have not been in vain, and have been crowned by complete victory over the enemy. The age-long struggle of the Slav peoples for their existence and their independence has ended in victory over the German invaders and German tyranny.

Henceforth the great banner of the freedom of the peoples and peace among peoples will fly over Europe.

Three years ago Hitler declared for all to hear that his aims included the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the wresting from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic lands and other areas. He declared bluntly: “We will destroy Russia so that she will never be able to rise again.” This was three years ago. However, Hitler’s crazy ideas were not fated to come true—the progress of the war scattered them to the winds. In actual fact the direct opposite of the Hitlerites’ ravings has taken place. Germany is utterly defeated. The German troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is celebrating Victory, although it does not intend either to dismember or to destroy Germany.

Comrades! The Great Patriotic War has ended in our complete victory. The period of war in Europe is over. The period of peaceful development has begun.

I congratulate you upon victory, my dear men and women compatriots!

Glory to our heroic Red Army, which upheld the independence of our Motherland and won victory over the enemy!

Glory to our great people, the people victorious!

Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the struggle against the enemy and gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!

#RevolutionaryTheory #Stalin #USSR #Fascism #WWII

So who is the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America? It's basically the Ukrainian version of the pro-Nazi German-American Bund. It was founded in 1940 to conduct propaganda in the U.S. in favor of anti-Semitic Ukrainian quisling organizations that would collaborate with the Nazi Wehrmacht and SS during the war, sending hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Polish Jews to their deaths in the extermination camps of the Third Reich.

The organization has a leadership body called the National Council, composed of groups like the Society of Veterans of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a fascist paramilitary that helped the Nazis round up Jews and communists. Another notable National Council member is the Brotherhood of Veterans of the 1st Division of the Ukrainian National Army. Another name for the Ukrainian National Army is 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. It was also known as the 14th SS Volunteer Division Galicia. Their führer was Pavlo Shandruk, who was responsible to the German High Command.

One of the Nazi dog-whistles they use is “renewed independence.” This is not simply a reference to the paperwork signed in 1991 that put post-Soviet Ukraine on the path to becoming a U.S. satellite state. It is a reference to a different, earlier phase of fake “independence” as a part of the Third Reich in WWII. They close their letter with the infamous phrase, “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Our Heroes!”, which is the Galician Nazi version of “Sieg Heil!”

The current “independent” regime in the failed state known as Ukraine (now officially the poorest country in Europe) dates back to violent, Nazi-led 2014 Maidan coup. This orgy of anarchic violence led, with U.S. assistance, to the illegal overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovich, who was forced to flee the country. The post-Maidan ruling junta has been a revolving-door government of billionaire oligarchs backed by their privately-owned Nazi paramilitaries. The term “external governance” has been coined by Ukrainian dissidents to describe Kiev's relationship with Washington.

The oligarchic regime has tried to impose a right-wing agenda that is discriminatory against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east.

After it became clear that the Kiev junta intended to impose this reactionary agenda by force, Russian-speaking Ukrainians formed their own independent republics, the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic (DPR-LPR). The regime of the Galician oligarchs responded to this by unleashing a war against civilians in the LPR-DPR. Most Ukrainian soldiers have no taste for the blood of their sisters and brothers in the east, so the murder of civilians has been left up to the state-sanctioned Nazi paramilitaries like the infamous Azov Battalion and the Misanthropic Division.

The Chicago parade has nothing to do with Ukrainian “independence” because Ukraine isn't independent. Rather, it is a celebration of the OUN-UPA WWII Nazi puppet state and the genocide it carried out against Jewish Ukrainians, communists and Russian-speaking Ukrainians. All progressives, people of conscience, anti-racists and revolutionaries should condemn this outrageous fascist provocation.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Ukraine #fascism #Antifascism #Europe

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounces the dastardly shooting of teachers Zhydee and Ramil Cabañelez last October 16.

According to reports, four armed men barged into the Dalit Elementary School in Sitio Dalit, Barangay Lumbayao in Valencia City, Bukidnon and started shooting at the Cabañelez couple. The shooting was carried out in plain view of young students. Zhydee sustained several gunshot wounds and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Ramil was unscathed.

The shooting is clearly the handiwork of military agents, specifically those linked to the AFP's 4th Infantry Division. These military agents and death squads have targeted activists in Northern Mindanao. In the province of Bukidnon, at least 16 activists, mostly peasant leaders, have been murdered this year alone.

The Valencia shooting is part of the nationwide campaign of suppression and violence against the democratic people's organizations active in fighting for people's rights and welfare.

The Cabañelez couple are members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) which recently has been actively campaigning for salary increases.

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #AsianNationalities #fascism #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #TeachersUnions #RodrigoDuterte #AllianceOfConcernedTeachersACT

Houston, TX – The neo-Nazi White Knights of America staged a “White Lives Matter” rally outside the Anti-Defamation League office in Houston on Oct. 1. This small hate group also protested outside of the NAACP headquarters with shotguns a few weeks ago. Over 50 people counter-protested the white-supremacist hate group and demanded that they leave.

Police stood protecting the white supremacists and their spokesperson, who wore a “Trump for president 2016” hat.

“We've come here today to let these fascists know that they aren't welcome anywhere. We will be wherever they show up, and reject their fascist message of racism, hatred and fear-mongering,” said David Smith, a member of the Houston Socialist Movement who organized the protest.

The much larger anti-racist crowd chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Nazi scum has got to go!” and “Black lives matter!”

African American activists with the Black Lives Matter movement gave speeches explaining the connections between the “White Lives Matter” and the KKK. One speaker said, “The struggles of Black people in the 1930s against lynch terror continues today against fascist hate groups like ‘White Lives Matter.’”

“People from different communities have come out today to show them that we aren't scared, even when they carry guns to intimidate us. Black lives matter!” a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) said in a speech.

Earlier this week a man dressed as a Nazi and connected to the “White Lives Matter” group shot and injured nine people in Houston.

The anti-racist protesters stood for four hours unified and strong in their message, facing off with the armed fascists.

#HoustonTX #PeoplesStruggles #fascism #Antiracism #Texas #Antifascism

La alarmante mezcla de populismo de derecha que posee Trump, ha provocado que muchos críticos de la izquierda, e incluso algunos sectores de la derecha, lo cataloguen como fascista. Es cierto que en la superficie existe bastante semejanza. Los llamados que ha hecho Trump para prohibir la inmigración musulmana, crear una base de datos de musulmanes en los EE.UU., e incluso realizar redadas de mezquitas, son políticas espantosamente similares a las que realizaron los Nazis contra los judíos en Alemania. Otras características como, la demagogia racista contra los latinos, el cínico populismo hacia la clase trabajadora, y la descarada violencia contra sus opositores en las manifestaciones de campaña, poseen una afinidad sorprendente a las tácticas empleadas por Mussolini y Hitler. Hasta sectores de la supremacía blanca y neo-fascistas han acudido en manada a apoyar a Trump, incluyendo el antiguo cabecilla del Ku Klux Klan David Duke. De hecho, Trump tiene guardado en su buró copias de los discursos de Hitler, según su ex-esposa, y utiliza citas de Mussolini para sus ofensivos comentarios en Twitter.

La mayoría de las personas conocen sobre los abominables crímenes cometidos por los fascistas del siglo XX. La palabra misma evoca imágenes de campos de concentración, dictadores, guerras y genocidio, convirtiéndola a la vez en un insulto político bastante efectivo para ser utilizado contra políticos coercitivos o políticas represivas. Sin embargo, alrededor de toda esta discusión de si Trump es o puede llegar a ser un fascista, todavía no se ha profundizado a la raíz de la pregunta: ¿Qué es el fascismo?

Para algunos, el fascismo no es más que una colección de características autoritarias como extremo nacionalismo, represión política, elecciones fraudulentas, etc. Otros se enfocan en los dictadores fascistas como Mussolini o Hitler, y en las multitudes de personas que los siguen, supuestamente por el carisma que poseen como líderes. Mientras que estas características si existen en los regímenes fascistas, fundamentalmente no explican nada, ya que todas estas practican también se pueden encontrar de cierta forma u otra en todos los países capitalistas, incluyendo los EE.UU.

Si queremos entender el fascismo, tenemos que ir más allá de los horrores superficiales. ¿Por qué existen estos regímenes? ¿Quiénes se benefician de ellos? ¿Y cuál es su relación con la “democracia” y el capitalismo?

Frecuentemente se dice que el fascismo es algo diferente y opuesto a las “democracias” como las de EE.UU. y Gran Bretaña, pero esto es simplemente falso. El estado – las leyes, instituciones gubernamentales, cortes, policía y ejército – existe para que una clase domine sobre otra y gobierne la sociedad. Bajo el sistema capitalista el estado es una dictadura de los bancos y corporaciones, quienes controlan la economía y explotan a la clase trabajadora para obtener sus ganancias. Esta dictadura capitalista puede tomar varias formas, desde el estado de bienestar (Suecia), la democracia liberal (EE.UU.), hasta la Alemania Nazi. Pero haya o no elecciones, todo estado capitalista es una dictadura de clase del 1%.

Los regímenes fascistas son también dictaduras de clase, controlados por el capitalismo monopólico, y no por un líder carismático todo poderoso. Sin embargo, a diferencia de otras formas de dictadura capitalista, estos imponen su dominio utilizando el terror y la violencia contra la clase trabajadora, el racismo extremo, y agresiones militares imperialistas contra naciones oprimidas. Dicho de forma simple, el fascismo es el régimen terrorista del 1%, por el 1% y para el 1%.

La clase dominante puede preferir un tipo de gobierno sobre otro, dependiendo del tiempo, lugar y condiciones. Lo mismo ocurre con el fascismo. Los países que se volvieron fascistas después de la Primera Guerra Mundial, experimentaron una profunda crisis económica y disturbios civiles masivos liderados por los trabajadores y campesinos. Los bancos y las grandes empresas vieron como sus ganancias disminuían debido al incremento de salarios, la inflación, y el uso de impuestos para el financiamiento de programas sociales. Sin embargo, para mantener su dominación, algo tenía que cambiar. Su máxima prioridad se convirtió en imponer medidas severas de austeridad sobre la clase trabajadora – prohibición de sindicatos, eliminación de leyes laborales, recortes de programas gubernamentales, etc. – a toda costa y como de lugar.

Es mucho más difícil que el l 1% imponga su agenda si los sindicatos, movimientos sociales y partidos de oposición tienen derechos legales para luchar y resistir. Pero dentro de un marco no democrático, la clase dominante puede simplemente destruir cualquier fuerza opositora e imponer su agenda sobre la clase trabajadora.

Por esta misma razón fue que las grandes empresas italianas planearon y financiaron la infame marcha de Mussolini sobre Roma en 1922, consolidando el poder fascista en Italia. De la misma forma, el presidente alemán Paul Von Hindenburg – otro político del 1% – nombró a Hitler como canciller en 1933, con el respaldo total de los sectores industriales y financieros de Alemania. En los dos casos, las clases dominantes evadieron el procedimiento electoral e instalaron el fascismo desde arriba.

La atracción de la clase capitalista monopólica con el fascismo, tiene que ver en parte con la capacidad que esta posee para movilizar una base masiva de simpatizantes en apoyo a sus programas. Es importante resaltar, que los movimientos fascistas nunca ganaron ningún apoyo importante de la clase trabajadora, a pesar de sus mejores esfuerzos. En cambio, su apoyo si provino de sectores de la clase media, como pequeños negociantes y profesionales desempleados. También estuvieron atraídos a la política fascista un gran segmento de antiguos militares, marcados por la guerra o desempleados, al igual que bandas criminales.

El fascismo pudo lograr todo esto presentándose como una alternativa radical, en contra de las normas establecidas y en veces hasta crítico de las grandes empresas. Aprovechó etapas de dificultad económica, prometiendo implementar nuevas y radicales soluciones, las cuales de hecho solo beneficiaron al 1%. Esa proyección populista del fascismo era completamente cínica, sin embargo, en tiempos de profunda crisis política y económica, como en el periodo de la Gran Depresión y posterior a la Primera Guerra Mundial, estos movimientos y partidos desviaron el descontento de la clase media, dirigiéndolo, no contra el sistema dominante, sino contra la clase trabajadora, sindicatos, pueblos y naciones oprimidas.

Utilizando su base, el fascismo se convierte en el ejército y fuerza de choque del capitalismo monopólico, para aterrorizar a la clase trabajadora. Después de la Primera Guerra Mundial, los trabajadores y campesinos italianos lanzaron una ola de huelgas y ocupaciones de fábricas y de tierras que desestabilizaron a la clase dominante. Este alzamiento revolucionario, conocido como bienio rojo, asustó tanto a los grandes terratenientes del sur, que contrataron a los paramilitares escuadrones de la muerte de Mussolini, los fasci di combattimento, para patrullar los campos y quemar pueblos, asesinar a militantes y revolucionarios, y aterrorizar a los campesinos. Los grandes industriales del norte, de igual modo aprovecharon y contrataron a las pandillas fascistas para romper huelgas, quemar los salones sindicales, cerrar periódicos, y destruir las sedes de los partidos socialistas y comunistas.

Lo mismo ocurrió en Alemania, donde los escuadrones Nazi se enfrentaron en las calles contra los comunistas y los trabajadores sindicalizados, mucho antes de que Hitler llegara al poder en 1933. De forma similar, en el sur de los EE.UU. los dueños de plantaciones reclutaron al Ku Klux Klan para reprimir a los Afroamericanos después de la derrota del programa radical de reconstrucción. Los métodos terroristas que utilizaron – linchamientos, falsos procesos jurídicos frente a jurados únicamente blancos, y el incendio de cruces – son bastante conocidos, aunque raramente los medios de comunicación en los EE.UU. clasifiquen al KKK como fascista.

Los sindicatos son de los primeros en ser atacados por el terror fascista. Las organizaciones de la clase obrera son atacadas en todos los países capitalistas, fascistas o no, porque representan una amenaza para las ganancias del 1% y su tiranía en los centros de trabajo. Por lo tanto, el fascismo utiliza la violencia y desmantela los sindicatos con el uso de la fuerza, en nombre de la clase dominante. Por ejemplo, los Nazis cerraron todos los sindicatos en Alemania en tan solo dos meses después de haber tomado el poder. Los escuadrones Nazi atacaron las oficinas y salones sindicales, confiscaron sus bienes y arrestaron a sus líderes. Trabajadores y comunistas militantes fueron torturados y ejecutados, y muchos fueron enviados a morir en los campos de concentración de Hitler.

Pese a que los movimientos fascistas desarrollaron un apoyo masivo de pequeños comerciantes y profesionales, estos mismos sectores fueron traicionados desde que los fascistas llegaron al poder. Ambos, Mussolini y Hitler, aseguraron la adquisición de los pequeños negocios por parte de las corporaciones, para así garantizar la consolidación de riquezas de la clase capitalista monopólica. En Alemania, los negocios judíos, particularmente los pequeños comercios, fueron las primeras víctimas de la monopolización Nazi, llevada a cabo tanto por decretos “legales” como por robo criminal. Mientras que los pequeños negocios alemanes inicialmente apoyaron estas medidas anti-semíticas para así eliminar la competencia, pronto estos también fueron absorbidos por los monopolios y sus riquezas distribuidas entre los grandes comercios y los oficiales Nazis.

El fascismo y la guerra son inseparables. Bajo el capitalismo monopólico, es decir imperialismo, el 1% domina a naciones enteras, explotando sus recursos y mano de obra barata por ganancias. Los conflictos militares, como la Primera Guerra Mundial, ocurren debido a la confrontación y rivalidad entre poderes imperiales por el control de las colonias. Después de la Primera Guerra Mundial, Italia y Alemania tenían menos colonias que los EE.UU., Gran Bretaña y Francia, y debido a que la mayor parte del mundo ya estaba colonizado, la única forma de poder expandir sus débiles imperios era a través de la guerra. Para este fin, el fascismo utilizó sus métodos de violencia y represión interna para movilizar al país hacia una agresiva expansión militar, guiado por los intereses del capitalismo monopólico.

Utilizando la ideología fascista y el chovinismo nacional como justificación, Hitler se dirigió hacia Europa Oriental y la Unión Soviética para obtener “lebensraum” o espacio vital, y expandir la colonización alemana. Inicialmente, la clase dominante de los EE.UU. y Gran Bretaña se mantuvieron modestamente neutrales hacia Hitler, esperando que este atacara primero al enemigo común, la Unión Soviética. Sin embargo, la guerra estalló entre las potencias imperiales cuando la Alemania Nazi anexó a Polonia y comenzó a expandirse hacia Europa Occidental.

La causa fundamental que dio origen a la Segunda Guerra Mundial, es la rivalidad imperialista por ganancias y colonias, y no un enfrentamiento entre la “democracia” estadounidense y la “tiranía” alemana. Todos los países imperialistas son controlados por los bancos y las corporaciones, y cuando emergen conflictos para determinar cuál puede explotar a otra nación, sus objetivos y metas no son tan diferentes como lo pintan las películas y los medios. Al fin y al cabo, Hitler baso sus planes genocidas en la exterminación de los pueblos indígenas de EE.UU., la cual se produjo dentro de una “democracia constitucional”.

El populismo de derecha y el racismo de Donald Trump, aunque en estos momentos no sea abiertamente fascista, representan una verdadera amenaza, no solo para el pueblo de los EE.UU. sino para el mundo. En su totalidad, la clase dominante todavía aun no apoya a Trump. Incluso, ni la campaña de Trump ha podido desarrollar una organización capaz de ganar las elecciones, ni mucho menos capaz de implementar un terror fascista. Mientras que los simpatizantes de Trump si han reaccionado de forma violenta contra sus opositores, todavía no se comparan a las atrocidades tan salvajes cometidas por los escuadrones de Mussoloni o Hitler.

Al analizar la historia del fascismo y el populismo racista de derecha que refleja Trump, debemos recordar que es el imperialismo, ya sea fascista o “democrático”, es la causa principal de las guerras y la pobreza que azotan al mundo. Fueron los trabajadores y los pueblos oprimidos del mundo que derrotaron al imperialismo fascista en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y casi 70 años después, se necesitará nuevamente un frente unido de trabajadores y de los pueblos oprimidos de todas las naciones para derrotar al imperialismo y crear un mundo mejor.

#JacksonvilleFL #Racism #fascism #Antiracism #Antifascism #tyranny #terrorism

Jacksonville, FL – The world watched in horror on the night of July 21 as billionaire casino mogul Donald J. Trump officially became the Republican Party's nominee for president.

Worth an estimated $6 billion, Trump embodies big business and corporate America. Unlike most previous GOP candidates, however, Trump's campaign shocked the country with its open racism and unapologetic xenophobia. Many liberals assumed this would torpedo his campaign. Instead, it helped him win the Republican nomination.

Trump's disturbing blend of right-wing populism has critics on the left and even some parts of the right labeling him a fascist. And on the surface, it's not hard to see a lot of similarities. Trump's calls to ban Muslim immigrants, create a database of Muslims in the U.S. and raid mosques are disturbingly similar to the Nazis' policies against Jews in Germany. Other aspects – racist demagoguery against Latinos, cynical populism directed at the working class, and outright violence against protesters at campaign rallies – bear a striking resemblance to the tactics of Mussolini and Hitler. White supremacist and neo-Nazi groups have flocked to support Trump, including former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. Even the man himself keeps a well-worn copy of Hitler's speeches on his nightstand, according to his ex-wife, and sprinkles Mussolini quotes into his insane rants on Twitter.

Most people are familiar with the unspeakable crimes committed by fascists in the 20th century. The word brings to mind images of death camps, dictators, genocide and war, which makes it effective political profanity to throw at strong-arm politicians or repressive policies. But for all the noise around whether Trump is – or could become – a fascist, there's startlingly little discussion about a broader question: What is fascism?

To some, fascism is just a greatest-hits collection of authoritarian traits – extreme nationalism, political repression, rigged elections, etc. Others focus on fascist dictators, like Mussolini and Hitler, and the crowds of people following them supposedly because of their charisma as leaders. While these features existed in fascist regimes, they don't really tell us anything unique. After all, you can find all of these practices in some form in every capitalist country, including the United States.

If we want to understand fascism, we have to go beyond the surface-level horrors. Why did these regimes exist? Who benefited from them? And what is their relationship to 'democracy' and capitalism?

We're often told that fascism is something different and opposed to 'democracies' like the U.S. and Britain, but this simply isn't the case. The state – laws, government institutions, courts, police and the military – exists for one class to dominate another class and rule society. In a capitalist system, the state is a dictatorship of banks and corporations, who control the economy and exploit the working class for their own profit. Their dictatorship can take a variety of forms, from welfare states (Sweden) to liberal democracies (United States) to Germany under the Nazi’s. But whether they hold elections or not, every capitalist state is a class dictatorship of the 1%.

Fascist regimes are also class dictatorships ruled by monopoly capitalists – not by one, all-powerful charismatic leader. Unlike other forms of capitalist dictatorship, however, they enforce their rule through open terrorist violence against the working class, extreme racism and imperialist military aggression against oppressed nations. Simply put, fascism is terrorist rule of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%.

The ruling class may prefer one form of government over another depending on time, place and conditions. Such is the case with fascism. The countries that became fascist after World War I experienced deep economic crises and mass civil unrest led by workers and peasants. Banks and big business saw their profits drop due to rising wages, inflation and taxes used to fund public education and social programs. To insure their continued rule, something had to change. Their top priority became imposing harsh austerity measures on the working class – banning unions, rolling back labor laws, slashing important government programs, etc. – at all costs and by any means.

It's more difficult for the 1% to impose their agenda if unions, mass movements and opposition parties have legal rights to fight back. But under a non-democratic arrangement, the ruling class can simply destroy the opposition by force and impose whatever agenda it wants on the people.

That's exactly why Italian big business planned and bankrolled Mussolini's infamous March on Rome in 1922, which brought the Fascists to power. Similarly, German President Paul von Hindenburg – another politician of the 1% – appointed Hitler as chancellor in 1933 with the full backing of German industry and finance. In both cases, the ruling class sidestepped the formality of elections and installed fascism from above.

Part of fascism's appeal to the monopoly capitalists is its ability to mobilize a mass base to support its agenda. Importantly, however, fascist movements never won any substantial support from the working class in Germany, Italy, Austria or any other country, despite their best efforts. Instead, they drew their supporters from struggling 'middle class' elements, like small business owners and unemployed professionals. A large segment of former military officers, scarred from the battlefield and unable to find jobs, also gravitated towards fascist politics, along with street gangs and violent criminals.

Fascism accomplished this by presenting itself as radical, 'anti-establishment', and sometimes even critical of big business. They played on real economic hardships and promised to deliver radical 'new' solutions, which turned out to only favor the 1%. This fascist populism was completely cynical, of course. But in a time of deep political and economic crisis, like the post-WWI period and the Great Depression, these movements and parties diverted 'middle class' anger away from the system and directed it against workers, unions, oppressed people and other nations.

Using its base, fascism delivers an army of shock troops for the monopoly capitalists to terrorize the working class. After World War I, Italian workers and peasants launched a wave of strikes, factory occupations and land-takings that shook the power of the ruling class. This revolutionary upsurge, dubbed the 'Red Years', scared the big landowners of the south into hiring Mussolini's paramilitary death squads, the fasci di combattimento, to roam the countryside – burning villages, murdering militants and revolutionaries, and terrorizing peasants. The major industrialists of the north took note and recruited fascist gangs to break strikes, burn union halls, close newspapers and destroy socialist and communist party headquarters.

The same was true in Germany, where Nazi Stormtroopers battled communists and union workers in the streets long before 1933, when Hitler came to power. Similarly in the U.S., plantation owners in the South hired the Ku Klux Klan to repress African Americans after the defeat Radical Reconstruction. Their terrorist methods – lynchings, show trials before all-white juries, and burning crosses – are well-known, even though we seldom hear the U.S. media refer to the KKK as 'fascist'.

Trade unions are among the first targets of fascist terror. Organized labor faces attacks in every capitalist country – fascist or not – because it poses a threat the profits of the 1% and their tyranny in the workplace. However, fascism unleashes open violence and dismantles unions by force on behalf of the ruling class. The Nazis, for instance, shut down all German trade unions less than two months after taking power. Stormtroopers raided union halls and offices, seized their funds and arrested their leaders. Militant workers and communists faced torture and execution, and many were shipped off to die in Hitler's concentration camps.

Although fascist movements developed a mass following among small business owners and professionals, they turned on those same groups after coming to power. Both Mussolini and Hitler oversaw the takeover of small businesses by large corporations in order to further consolidate the wealth of the monopoly capitalists. In Germany, Jewish businesses – particularly retail outlets – were the first targets of Nazi monopolization, which they accomplished through 'legal' decrees as well as outright criminal theft. While German small businesses initially supported these anti-Semitic measures to drive out competitors, they found themselves taken over by monopolies and their wealth doled out to big business and Nazi officials.

Fascism and war go hand in hand. Under monopoly capitalism, also called imperialism, the 1% dominates entire nations and exploits their labor and resources for profit. Military conflicts, like World War I, break out between rival imperialist powers for control of these colonies. Both Italy and Germany had fewer colonies than the U.S., Britain and France after WW I, and with most of the world already colonized, the only way to expand their weak empires was through war. To this end, fascism used its open violence and internal repression to mobilize the country for aggressive military expansion on behalf of monopoly capitalism.

Using fascist ideology and national chauvinism as justifications, Hitler looked towards Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union for lebensraum, or 'living space' for German colonial settlers. At first, the ruling class in the U.S. and Britain maintained an uneasy neutrality towards Hitler, hoping he would attack their common enemy – the socialist Soviet Union – first. However, war broke out between these rival imperialist powers when Nazi Germany annexed Poland and began expanding westward into Europe.

At the root of World War II sits imperialist profit and colonial rivalries – not some clash between U.S. 'democracy' and German 'tyranny'. Banks and corporations run all imperialist countries, and whatever conflicts emerge over who-gets-to-exploit-what-nation, their goals and even methods aren't as different as we often hear in movies and media. After all, Hitler based his genocidal designs on the U.S. extermination of indigenous people, which took place in a so-called 'constitutional democratic' country.

Donald Trump's right-wing populism and open racism poses a real danger to the people of the U.S. and the world. However, it's not a fascist danger at this time. The ruling class has yet to line up behind Trump. Nor yet has the Trump campaign developed actual organization capable of winning a presidential election, let alone carrying out fascist terrorism. While Trump supporters have reacted violently towards protesters at rallies, it's not on the same level or scale as the barbaric terror committed by Mussolini's Blackshirts or Hitler's Stormtroopers.

As we consider Trump's racist right-wing populism and the history of fascism, we need to remember that imperialism – whether it's fascist or 'democratic' – is the cause of wars and poverty around the world. Workers and oppressed people defeated fascist imperialism in World War II. Nearly 70 years later, it will take a united front of workers and oppressed people from all nations to defeat imperialism and create a better world.

#JacksonvilleFL #Reconstruction #fascism #Antifascism #Elections #KKK #DonaldTrump #Mussolini #Hitler #Blackshirts #stormtroopers

Before the turmoil that rocked the Ukraine in February 2014, the U.S. government spent more than $5 billion to promote instability in the country. Standing at the head of the reactionary protests were groups like Right Sector and Svoboda, which have their roots in the most right wing of Ukraine’s political currents. They see themselves as the political heirs of the Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, an anti-communist, anti-Semitic butcher who first did Hitler’s bidding and then went on to be a servant of the CIA.

The Ukraine is rich in natural resources and occupies an important strategic location. Its government, currently dominated by the U.S. and the European Union, continues to face a determined popular resistance.

#WashingtonDC #Ukraine #fascism #Antifascism #Europe

The successful vote shows mass opposition to the U.S.-backed seizure of power in Kiev by fascists and pro-NATO oligarchs. On voting day, the U.S.-backed coup-makers in Kiev sent soldiers to intimidate voters, firing on civilian crowds and blocking polling stations with armed personal carriers. People still voted in big numbers.

Joining the U.S. government in backing the fascists in Kiev are German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande. Together they declared the referendum on autonomy illegal, while supporting an unelected government in Kiev.

Voter turnout reached over 74% in both regions of Ukraine. The referendums addressed the status of the regions, asking voters if they supported the act of state self rule. The results show the popularity and strength of the protest movement. Leading up to the vote, people occupied government, public and media buildings and set up barricades in the city. Some were killed resisting the Kiev coup government’s military crackdown in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine. There are dramatic videos, one of unarmed civilians stopping a tank in the street at an intersection and the other of voters being shot at by soldiers outside a polling place. Last week in Odessa, fascists burned the trade union hall and murdered survivors of the fire.

The results of the referendums were announced on May 12: in Donetsk 89.07% voted in favor of state self-rule; in Lugansk 96.2% voted in favor. Clearly the people have spoken: they oppose the U.S.-backed, fascist forces that overthrew the elected government in Ukraine.

Still, U.S. corporate media tries to dismiss the results of these referendums as the work of a pro-Russian minority, despite Putin’s prior position that the referendums should be postponed. In reality, democratic and left forces such as the Borotba Union and the Communist Party of Ukraine promoted the referendum initiatives. The referendum is the work of brave people within Ukraine, not outside of it.

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) is issuing a call for “Emergency Antiwar Actions” through May 26 to protest U.S./NATO war moves and to oppose the role of U.S. and NATO in Ukraine. The U.S. already spent $5 billion backing the fascist-dominated coup government. It is also being reported in Ukraine that 400 mercenaries from the U.S. private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are participating in the Ukraine military attacks that are attempting to suppress the democratic opposition. NATO is positioning warships in the Black Sea in an attempt to bully Russia. This proves once again that the U.S. is not interested in peace or democracy; it is only interested in financial gain and global domination.

#ChicagoIL #Ukraine #fascism #antifascism #Europe

Chicago, IL – Under attack from aggressive Ukrainian fascists, 40 anti-war activists held a teach-in here on the unfolding Ukraine crisis and NATO expansion, April 12. An equal sized crowd of Ukrainian reactionaries, one carrying the battle flag of the fascist Ukrainian Insurgent Army and another man wearing a scarf bearing the insignia of the violent neo-Nazi Right Sector, attempted to push their way into the door of the union hall during the speakers’ presentations.

When they failed to get inside, one of them slipped a Right Sector leaflet through the door. It included language used in Hitler’s Mein Kampf, such as the need for “living space” for Ukrainians. The flyer defines Ukrainians as a “genetic community,” meaning that the Russians and Jews that live there aren’t part of their nation.

Delivering his remarks over the muffled chanting from outside, Rick Rozoff from the Stop NATO Network detailed the U.S.’s imperialist maneuvers in Ukraine, emphasizing the role of NATO as a vehicle for American foreign policy. Rozoff explained the State Department intervention in Ukraine and arms build up in Eastern Europe as part of a long-term strategy to besiege Russia.

Speakers from the Anti-War Committee-Chicago included Kait McIntyre, who is running as an anti-war candidate for Boeing’s Board of Directors. McIntyre’s campaign targets the world’s second largest weapons manufacturer, headquartered here in Chicago, which profits off the billions poured into drone warfare and NATO expansion by the U.S. defense budget.

Sara Flounders of the International Action Center in New York outlined the historical cooperation between the U.S. and fascist forces in Europe. The U.S. propelled these forces into power during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia, aided by the NATO bombardment. She stated that the U.S. actively maintains right-wing opposition movements around the world in order to eliminate governments that assert their national independence.

With the fascist Svoboda party now occupying prominent positions in the new Ukrainian regime, the anti-war movement must take a strong stand against U.S.-funding of the Kiev junta, whose rise to power, as Rozoff noted, echoed Mussolini’s March on Rome. Alfonso Casal of the American Party of Labor (APL) told attendees about the history of fascism in the Ukraine. The panel was organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Workers World Party (WWP) and APL, with Erich Struch of WWP as chair of the event.

Many young people attended and contributed to the engaging discussion.

The participants bravely defied right-wing intimidation to stage this important teach-in, refusing to allow the fascists to shut down the meeting.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #USImperialism #fascism #antifascism #Svoboda #RightSector

The big recent news is that in a March 16 referendum, 96% of voters in Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, formerly part of Ukraine, voted for unification with Russia. The turnout was 80% of those eligible.

A majority of the Crimean population is ethnic Russians. The Western media said no one in Crimea wanted unification with Russia but them. The huge margin of the vote makes it clear that large majorities of all Crimean nationalities approve of unification with Russia. The corporate media are part of the problem.

A few days after the referendum, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Crimea was once again part of Russia, as it had been up until 1956.

U.S. government officials and the media, always ready to come up with their own version of reality, are grumbling that the referendum was somehow fixed. International observers saw no evidence of voting irregularities. So far the U.S. has been able to come up with nothing more to oppose the Crimean people’s will than sanctions.

The significance of the Crimea-Russia reunification must be seen against the background of a previous month of events. On Feb. 21 a coup backed by the European Union overthrew the legitimate government of Ukraine. An illegal neo-Nazi junta was imposed amidst lawlessness and violence.

The security and military posts of the Kiev junta are filled by fascists. Andriy Paruby of the Svoboda party, which traces back politically to forces that fought alongside the Nazis in WW II, is commander of the National Defense and Security Council. Second in command is Dmitry Yarosh of the neo-Nazi Right Sector. The ‘prime minister’ of the junta, Arseniy Yatseniuk, is the person okayed for the post by U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland in the notorious leaked phone call.

The objectives of the U.S and EU-backed coup are to seize control of the country and open its markets to a flood or EU products, which would harm its economy; impose austerity measures under the International Monetary Fund – longer work hours, lower pay, cuts in social benefits, etc., in order to recoup billions in foreign debts; bring the country into NATO, which would allow the stationing of U.S. missiles within minutes of flight-time from Moscow.

The Crimean events have turned the political momentum against the U.S.-EU junta. The junta is a hodgepodge of petty thugs and corrupt billionaires, with no program and no capacity to rule. It has no legitimacy and no positive way to win the people’s loyalty. Its thugs can only attempt to terrorize the people to bow down before its rule. The Crimean setback unsettles its fragile grip on power. The people’s resistance to the neo-Nazi takeover has been heartened.

As to Russia itself, when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, no one at all saw it coming. The successor Russian Federation fell into chaos. Gangster capitalists became billionaires by seizing formerly public assets like oil and gas industries. They used any and all means, including criminal violence. These bloated ‘oligarchs’ do not function according to capitalist norms, such as they are. Russia is only now recovering from weakness.

The last Soviet leader, Gorbachev, was ‘promised’ by the Western imperialists that they would not advance NATO into the former Warsaw Pact countries. But to imperialists, any agreement not backed by strength is, as Hitler said, just a “scrap of paper.” Today a reunified Germany, Poland and many other former East Bloc countries are in NATO. Two, Latvia and Lithuania, actually border Russia, although far to the west of Ukraine.

The Crimean developments have stalled stopped the aggressive NATO project Ukraine. The overall picture remains conflicted and dangerous. It will continue to be so for some time.

The aggressiveness of U.S. policy is driven by deep and unsolvable problems in its economy. The ‘recovery’ from the financial collapse of 2008 is really only a return to profitability of the giant financial companies.

Wall Street’s demand for profits is impossible to satisfy. It attacks workers with union-busting, speed-up and lower pay. It plunders hundreds of billions in homeowner savings through predatory mortgages. Trillions of dollars are ripped off through the ‘your money or your life’ healthcare system. Consumers are chiseled out of a dollar here and a hundred bucks there every time they turn around.

The same hunger for profits drives U.S. interference and aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia and many more countries. Syria, Venezuela and Ukraine are all presently being attacked by the U.S, which uses the tactic of playing on local grievances – meanwhile pumping in money, arms, etc. to make the situation worse.

In the aggression against Ukraine, there is considerable division between the U.S. and the European Union. Russian business ties to the EU are much greater than those with the U.S. Broad economic sanctions would harm the EU far more than the U.S. The EU has its own problems. It is only an association of countries, within which Germany swings by far the most weight. Thus the U.S. cannot act against Russia without stepping on the toes of some of its ‘allies.’

On March 17 the Russian Foreign Ministry offered a proposal to the U.S. and the EU to form an international support group for Ukraine and the following principles for a settlement of the crisis were offered by Russia:

• Respect for the interests of the multiethnic peoples of Ukraine;
• Support of the legitimate aspirations of all Ukrainians and all regions of the country to live safely in accordance with their customs and traditions, to speak their native language freely, to have unimpeded access to their culture and maintain extensive contacts with their compatriots and neighbors;
• Inadmissibility of the revival of neo-Nazi ideology and the necessity that Ukrainian politicians dissociate themselves from ultra-nationalists and suppress their attempts to destabilize the various regions of the country;
• Importance of civil peace and national concord in Ukraine must be recognized to promote constructive relations in the Euro-Atlantic region on the basis of equality and mutual consideration of interests of all regional states.

There are ominous developments. On March 18 the New York Times reported, “Highlighting the tensions, the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev approved a presidential decree authorizing the call-up of 20,000 reservists, and another 20,000 for a newly formed national guard. The interim government also increased the military budget with an emergency allotment of about $680 million.”

Ukraine is a destitute country. The junta has no means on its own to make an emergency allotment of $680 million. The money must be coming from outside – and certainly not from Russia!

On March 20, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen threw the full hand of imperialist cards on the table. He wrote that Ukraine, i.e., the neo-Nazi junta, “is seeking communications gear, mine-clearing equipment, vehicles, ammunition, fuel and medical gear, and the sharing of intelligence. Provide it. Hurt the oligarchs with their London mansions and untold billions parked in Western banks. Crimea may not be recoverable but the West must make clear it will not accept a Russian veto on E.U. and NATO expansion.”

Voices like Cohen’s are not isolated. The aggressive U.S.-EU ambitions will continue to endanger world peace. The imperialist media are spreading lies and confusion. The genuine forces of the people must wage a determined struggle to expose the lies of the war makers, and enlighten the vast majority about the real sources of danger.

#Ukraine #Russia #antiwar #USImperialism #fascism #Svoboda #Euromaiden #Crimea #Europe

Mass response to the fascists’ attack

On Thursday evening the thuggish and murderous attack of the fascists of the Golden Dawn against communists met the resolute response of the people Perama (a working class district in Piraeus) with a big and massive demonstration.

As the KKE denounced, the underhand and murderous attack by the Golden Dawn’s members took place during the night of the 12th September in Perama against members and cadres of the KKE and KNE who were fly posting in order to propagandize the 39th festival of KNEOdigitis. Nine people were injured by the murderous attack and were transported to the hospital, amongst them the President of the Metalworkers’ Trade Union of Piraeus, Sotiris Poulikogiannis, and other members of the Union’s Board.

The way in which the attack unfolded and the tools that were used – they emerged from the surrounding streets with cars and motorcycles and attacked the members of KKE and KNE in an underhand way with iron bars and clubs around which they had attached sharp objects- proving the murderous character of the attack. The members of the Golden Dawn -some of them had their faces covered, others wore helmets or T-shirts of t Golden Dawn- were headed by wellknown fascists and thugs in Perama.

The murderous attack that took place on Thursday proves the Nazi character of the Golden Dawn which permanently targets the KKE because it struggles for the overthrow of the rotten capitalist system that breeds and feeds fascism and Nazism.

The attack on the members of the KKE -amongst them were also cadres of the Metalworkers’ Trade Union of Piraeus and the unions of the ship-repair zone whose activity is a thorn in the side of the employers- proves their role as stooges of the system. The working people, the unemployed, the poor popular strata must decisively condemn and isolate the fascists of the Golden Dawn and their thuggish activity and struggle together with the KKE for the strengthening of the People’s Alliance in the workplaces and the neighborhoods.

Condemnation of the murderous attack

Dozens of trade unions, mass organizations and political parties in Greece have condemned with their statements the murderous attack of the members of Golden Dawn. On Friday 13th of September masses of working people, unemployed, youth, people from the poor popular strata joined together with the KKE and KNE in one of the biggest demonstrations that has taken place in the working class district in recent years.

#Greece #KKE #GoldenDawn #fascism #Communism #CommunistPartyOfGreece #Statement #Fascist #Europe

Dickson, TN – Community members, activists and students, including Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), converged on Montgomery Bell Park in Dickson County, Tennessee on the weekend of April 5-7 to demand the park not host the American Renaissance (AmRen) white supremacist conference. On April 5 and 6, they rallied outside the Montgomery Bell Park Inn and Conference Center, where the racists’ conference was being hosted. Protesters demanded “Shut down AmRen!” and held a conference of their own on Saturday to discuss ways to fight back against racism, white supremacy and to build the power of the people.

Protesters had agreed that they would confront the white supremacists regardless of Park Manager Pat Wright and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's (TDEC) efforts to suppress free speech by denying all permit requests related to protesting AmRen's presence in the park. However, after intense public pressure and thousands of phone calls to the state, park officials and TDEC caved to some of the protesters' demands on April 5. Just a few hours before protesters planned to rally outside the inn and conference center, the state finally issued a demonstration permit after repeated permit denials.

The AmRen conference drew neo-nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, holocaust deniers, anti-immigration thugs and other racists, where they networked with each other and discussed building their organizational efforts. Protesters confronted the racists on April 5 as they gathered to register for their conference, chanting, “1,2,3,4 don’t go in that hotel door! 5,6,7,8 we don’t want no fascist state!” and “AmRen, AmRen racist fools, we don't like your attitude!” and holding signs saying, “Remember Stalingrad?”, “Go back to Europe!”, and “Inbreeding = bad genetics.”

An SDSer at the rally said, “Just last weekend we confronted the Klan in Memphis and now we are here fighting back against these terrorists again in this secluded park. The state of Tennessee has repeatedly shown itself to not only be useless in helping us stop fascists and racist terrorists from organizing, but to also do everything it can to facilitate their organizational efforts. But we are strong and unafraid and we get stronger with every confrontation. We are going to win. There is nowhere they can hide that we won't find them.”

On April 6, over 50 people gathered in a pavilion in the park to hold a counter-conference, where speakers discussed the history of white supremacy, slavery and genocide in the U.S. and strategies for fighting back against racism. There were also several speakers and workshops concerning LGBTQ liberation and women's liberation that focused on highlighting the ways these struggles are intertwined with other liberation struggles. Speakers stressed the importance of not only combating white supremacy ideologically but also the importance of confronting them in the streets. A speaker from United Mountain Defense said, “If fear of violence keeps you from confronting evil, evil will always win. It is only through confrontation that the truth comes out. There can be no excuse for inaction.”

After the counter-conference was over, people took the streets and marched on the conference center where the white supremacists had gathered. Marchers held signs and red flags and chanted, “Shut down AmRen! Shut down AmRen!” Once protesters were outside the conference center, a few AmRen attendees came out briefly to make their fascist sympathies clear with gestures such as the ‘seig heil’ nazi salute. Protesters began singing Woody Guthrie’s “All You Fascists Bound to Lose” and chanting “Smash the nazis! Stop the hate!” In short order, the neo-nazis and other white supremacists scurried to hide inside the conference center protected by police and park rangers. For several hours, until the sun set, protesters continued chanting, singing and demanding AmRen attendees to come out and show themselves.

#DicksonTN #AntiRacism #KuKluxKlan #fascism #AmericanRenaissanceAmRen

Chicago, IL – More than 60 people gathered at the Greek Consulate here, Jan. 19, in protest of the Greek anti-immigrant group, Golden Dawn. Golden Dawn has carried out violent attacks on immigrants and spouts fascist rhetoric. There were protests in Athens and in other cities around the world as part of a day of solidarity with recent victims of racist attacks in Greece. In Chicago, protesters included immigrant rights activists, Greek Americans and gay activists.

Joe Iosbaker, a Chicago anti-war activist and member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, gave the following speech at the rally:

“I'm one of 23 anti-war activists subpoenaed to a grand jury under suspicion of providing material support for terrorism – and facing 15 years in prison if ever charged and convicted.

For the U.S., the world is changing. The people of the poor nations hate the empire and are getting out from under it. After 911, the rulers here thought they could put U.S. corporations back on top through war, invasion and the slaughter of Arab and Muslim people. But that didn’t work – they are losing one war after another.

Here, then, the rulers promote Islamophobia, with the Tea Party as the anti-immigrant, anti-Arab and Muslim party.

In Greece, the workers have decided to kick over the rich class. What does the Greek ruling class do? They promote racist attacks on immigrants by the Golden Dawn.

More and more in the U.S., we’re seeing that repression comes with reaction. This is what happened during the Cold War, when the socialist camp threatened U.S. imperialism. Here at home they went for the communists. Now, as the nations of the oil rich Middle East challenge them, they are coming after Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. In the course of their War on Muslims and Arabs, they dragged in the 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists, and Carlos Montes in Los Angeles.

People tell me, ‘It’s your ideas that got you into trouble.’ And we agree with them. We were targeted because we didn’t just oppose imperialist wars; we supported the oppressed people resisting war.

Like the Greek workers and immigrants, we have to beat back the attacks and we have to continue our resistance. Tomorrow, we’ll be protesting outside the Hyatt on Wacker Drive because Pat Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney that sent the FBI to raid our homes, is being honored by John Marshall Law School. Please join us. And on Thursday, we’ll be protesting at UIC on 828 South Wolcott, where Fitzgerald is being honored as well, with an appointment to the Board of Trustees. We’ll be there at 3:30.”

#ChicagoIL #antiimmigrantAttacks #antiwar #USAttorneyPatrickFitzgerald #GoldenDawn #fascism