SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, USA, August 20—For about a year, I’ve been attending a Methodist church that’s open to people of any faith, as long as they’re committed to social justice. I’ve shared that I’m a communist and one person in the congregation regularly reads Red Flag.
This summer, the Committee for Racial Justice that church members play a key role in was targeted twice by neo-Nazis. At the August meeting, I was part of the group that helped keep the fascists from pushing their way into the meeting.
After the murderous fascist attack in Charlottesville, I had an opportunity to speak more forthrightly about communism. Here’s what I said:
“Last weekend, I was in the mountains and off the grid, with eight other families from every part of the world. It felt like the future—loving and supporting relationships and cooperative work—or the promised land.
“On Monday, I came down the mountain to the reality of Charlottesville, and I’ve been playing catch-up ever since.
“A text from a friend helped: ‘Trump’s so-called good comment on the battle of Charlottesville has even been repeated by the liberal media: Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America. No, they don’t: they express the very values America was built on—racist genocide. The White House itself was built by slave labor on land the indigenous first peoples had been ethnically cleansed from.’
“But it’s not just US history. It’s capitalism. As Marx said, ‘The discovery of gold and silver in America, the uprooting, enslavement and entombment in the mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercialized hunting of black skins, signaled the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. Capitalism came into the world dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.’
“Then on Friday I was at an interfaith rally against white supremacy with a sign that said, ‘CAPITALISM AND RACISM ROSE TOGETHER, LET’S TAKE THEM DOWN TOGETHER.’ People came up to me to express agreement, including two people—a Hispanic pastor and a member of the mosque—who insisted in taking pictures of the three of us with the sign.
“Yesterday I was at a protest where the Neo-Nazis didn’t show up, but hundreds of anti-fascists did, with a sign that said, ‘CRUSH FASCISM WITH COMMUNIST REVOLUTION.’”
At this a there were a few shocked looks and a gasp. I continued. “Well, I was raised a Methodist and I’m a Communist, too, now. That’s what I believe we need.
“Anyway, a young white guy, who later told me that this was his very first protest, saw my sign and said, ‘If we were better people, communism would work.’
“I responded: ‘When we have communism, we’ll be better people. Capitalism needs racism for super-exploitation and to keep us divided. Money and wages, the need to sell your labor power to get money to pay bills and the rent, is the material basis for individualism and racism. When we do away with all that, we’ll work together as one family, to produce and share what we need. Racism will have no place. We’ll finally be able to fight to get rid of it. We can be better people right now—in fighting for that communist world.’ That’s the promised land I’m working for.”
As the service ended, several people thanked me and took Red Flag and the Fighting Racism pamphlet. The guy who reads Red Flag publicly praised my courage and later told me that if he were younger, he’d stand on the street corner with Red Flag. “There’s a role for you,” I told him.
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