On this page: “Defund the Police” here ♦ 1917 Soviet Youth Looked to Collective here ♦ Wage Slavery, the Defining Issue here ♦
“Defund the Police” Protestors Welcome Red Flag: Communist Masses Will Abolish Racist, Killer Cops
SEATTLE (US), August 5—A thousand rallied at the Seattle Youth Jail and then marched to City Hall to demand “defunding” the police. A comrade reported on how she distributed this newspaper:
“Have you seen Red Flag? It’s a communist paper. It talks about what we want on the other side of the revolution. What kind of world we should build,” she’d begin.
She described how more demonstrators than ever said something like “Yeah, we need to think about that!”
Altogether, four comrades distributed 200 papers to the crowd.
At an outside, socially-distanced breakfast before the demonstration, five of us talked about similar discussions we’d had with young relatives, co-workers and friends. A comrade’s nephew was clear that capitalism had to end, but he wanted to go beyond just that. Our comrade gave him the paper for the first time. He was anxious to read it. Our comrade offered to discuss our vision of a future communist society with him any time.
At the rally, many were attracted to a two-page spread of four short articles from Seattle, Portland, El Salvador and South Africa. The theme was how communism will abolish racist capitalist policing, including historical examples and reports from present-day battles.
“This really is an international fight!” exclaimed a bicyclist after scanning the headlines of those pages. He was helping divert cars around the rally. He made sure everyone in the line blocking off the street got a paper.
After months of demonstrations, street battles, one fatality, and many serious injuries at the hands of the cops, the City Council took up the debate about defunding the police. The same day as the rally, the council passed a token proposal to withdraw funding for cops on the Navigation team. This team destroys homeless camps.
What a sad joke! Cops can still sweep homeless camps away under existing obstruction laws. Even council members conceded that the result will likely be a “rebranded Navigation team,” which will continue to attack unhoused people.
The next day, the bosses’ media turned the discussion into a debate between this pathetic resolution and the mayor and police chief’s opposition to this reform. Much ado about nothing!
This opens up further discussion about how communism would abolish police. Even the “best” reform demands to defund the police focus on removing “social work” functions (like dealing with those experiencing homelessness) from law enforcement. Many well-intentioned people think social work should be left up to the “experts” in this field.
Communist society will not rely on “experts.” The ICWP will mobilize masses to assure the needs of the working class are met, including providing decent housing and ending racism.
Mobilized masses will also guarantee whatever security is needed. This idea went over well with the line of bicyclists. To some extent, that’s what they were already doing.
*****
Soviet Union, 1917: Communist Youth Looked to the Collective, Not Cops
Activists in the “defund/abolish the police” movement are looking for revolutionary solutions. They say we have to think about what kind of world we should build after the revolution. Red Flag continues to offer examples of communists the world over whose efforts point to a society without cops and policing.
One such example was the Gorky colony in the Ukraine, created soon after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
Thousands of children had been orphaned after imperialist armies invaded in a vain attempt to squash the newly-formed Soviet state. The Gorky colony organized many of these orphans into an experiment in communist collective education and living.
Not everyone in this collective of teachers, staff and students responded well. For example, student colonist Uzhikov stole the stipend he was given to attend a nearby high school.
The Gorky collective had very little money, so this was a big deal. Still, nobody wanted to call police.
Instead, the collective’s leadership council summoned Uzhikov to meet. They decided to expel him from his work group. He was assigned individual tasks and was not allowed to talk to the other colonists. To his credit, Uzhikov agreed and worked towards restoring the trust of the collective.
A visiting Regional Education Department representative was worried about him and asked him how he felt.
Uzhikov stood up. He replied that he wouldn’t talk to the representative without his work group’s permission. The council immediately met and ended the punishment. Uzhikov learned that he had been selfish and that being part of a collective was the only way to make a society that provides for all.
Developing communist collective relationships is an important part of the process of becoming a communist.
As socialism was consolidated in the Soviet Union, this and other attempts to build communist alternatives to police were scrapped. Socialism is capitalism in another form, maintaining wages, money and exploitation. Like other forms of capitalism, it requires a police force to control the working class.
Uzhikov’s story shows one small attempt to mobilize masses to replace capitalist policing. A future article will examine how the Chinese Red Army promoted communist alternatives to police more profoundly and on a much wider scale.
*****
Wage Slavery is the Defining and Decisive Issue
“Would you care for a copy of Red Flag? It is a revolutionary communist newspaper.”
“No thank you. That is a hard sell. Some of my friends argue in favor of capitalism” said the young protester at a rally calling for justice for Vanessa Guillen.
“We fight for a world without money, exploitation, racism, sexism, borders or nations.”
“I think democratic socialism – like Venezuela is better.”
“But look what is happening in Venezuela – people are suffering and the rich still rule. After Mexico’s Carlos Slim, the two richest persons in Latin America are Venezuelans.”
“But the people haven’t left the country.”
“Quite a few, about five million have.”
“How do you know? You are not there. The news we get could be all propaganda.”
“You might be right, but we have to look at the essence. There like here – and everywhere else– we have to work for someone.”
“That is true. It is modern day slavery. We are all slaves.”
“You are right. We communists call it wage slavery. Only communism can eliminate it and liberate us from it by eliminating money and the need to work for a wage. We will collectively produce and distribute the fruits of our labor according to need. Nothing will be bought or sold, especially our labor. We can live without money. Our ancestors did so for tens of thousands of years.”
“Read my cap. It says indigenous. I’ll take your paper. Thanks for the nice conversation.”
—Los Angeles (USA) comrade
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