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.

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