This was written as the result of discussions within an International Communist Workersā Party schools collective on the West Coast of the US. We are posting it to encourage more discussions about how we understand the current moment and the tasks before us. We invite criticisms, suggestions, letters, and more articles.
January 13, 2021–What we saw in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, was the opening shot of a fascist coup. The thousands who mobilized at the US Capitol were armed and prepared, at least, to overthrow the election, and possibly to kill some of the USAās highest elected officials.
Although the attempts in other cities were unsuccessful, what happened in Washington was not a defeat for the fascist forces. It was not the first for these forces and it wonāt be the last. On January 20, 2020, ten thousand armed fascists marched in Richmond, VA to defend gun rights (see Washington Post, January 20, 2020.).
Even after having to evacuate the Capitol in fear of their lives, the majority of the Republicans in the House of Representatives supported Trumpās obvious lie claiming massive voter fraud during the November 2020 presidential election. Republican leadership at all levels supported Trump, abandoning him only at the last minute.
Those who participated in the insurrection who were trained in the US military and security apparatus, including the woman who was killed in the Capitol, have been steeped in a long tradition of US-backed coups. Workers around the world, in Guatemala, Iran, Chile and the Congo to name a few, have lived and died under fascists imposed by US coups. This is, as Malcolm X stated after the assassination of JFK, āthe chickens coming home to roost.ā
We have said that capitalism in crisis needs fascism. Weāre seeing that now.
In the US and around the world, workers are doing their best to survive a system in its death throes. This is part of the general crisis of capitalism, where the system canāt provide jobs or housing, and canāt save the working class from COVID-19. This is a system with mass incarceration and the continuing of killing of innocent black & indigenous men and women, that cages children at the border and makes millions of the murderous opioid crisis.
The US is an empire in decline. Although Biden claims that āAmerica is backā as a world power (See RF, Volume 11, #17), Richard Haass of the Council of Foreign Relations said in the NYTimes on 1/9/2021 that January 6, 2021, marks the end of the American era. But empires donāt go down without a fight; the US is preparing for a war with their main competitors Russia and China.
The anti-Trump unity of Pelosi and McConnell is very dangerous
Many of our friends see hope in the elections in Georgia, where voters mobilized to elect two Democrats to the Senate. This will give the Democrats a narrow majority in the Senate.
Fighting to go back to capitalism-as-usual pre-Trump is no solution. One of the biggest illusions we have to overcome is that there are good [progressive] capitalists and bad [Trump and Hitler] capitalists. Capitalists are capitalists who will [and do] jail, bomb or impoverish anyone as long as there are profits to be made.
The kid-glove treatment of the Trumpites reveals the true face of capitalist politicians, Democrat and Republican, who are committed to racism and exploitation and donāt want to repudiate the fascist base thatās been mobilized. They need these same fascists to run their police force, staff their prisons and to wage their wars.
While some wonder if Democratic politicians like Biden, Pelosi and Harris can be counted on to oppose fascism, we think itās more correct to say that, in fact, the Democratic Party leadership united with the anti-Trump Republicans are the main danger. Most of the US ruling class opposes the Trump faction. We predict that on January 20 they will be firmly in control.
The illusion of democracy is extremely important to the US ruling class. Bidenās choosing a multi-racial cabinet, the impeachment of Trump, and the move to restore order on January 20 are all measures being taken to win the allegiance of the working-class masses to US imperialism.
It is also key to the continued US pretension of global leadership, especially as they move towards war. The measures that they will take now to suppress the Trump faction are a small taste of the fascism they will use to keep masses in line when they do decide to go to war. Thatās why we say the Democratic Party leadership and their allies are the main danger.
Only communist revolution can stop fascism
US capitalism is in a death spiral. Its future is one of fascism and war. Reforms have never been enough, and in this moment they are impossible. Our immediate tasks are to discuss, organize, and plan a mass revolutionary movement to put an end to capitalism and its horrors with communist revolution. We invite you to read and discuss Red Flag and to be part of that process.
We are fighting for a society where the means of production are in the hands of the massesāwhere we go away with a ruling elite and the need to sell our labor power to survive. We will organize collectives that will guarantee the well-being of every human being, producing and distributing what we need, without money and markets. These collectives will eliminate the capitalist competition for survival that forms the basis for racism, sexism and homophobia and allow us to live as one human family.
www.icwpredflag.org