US Marines Open to Discussing Communist Ideas here ♦ Honorable Veterans, Dishonorable System here ♦
US Marines Open to Discussing Communist Ideas
CALIFORNIA (USA), September 20— “In a few months, I have to decide if I’m going to reenlist or not,” said Joel, an active-duty Afro-Caribbean Marine. ICWP comrades met Joel in Oceanside, CA.
Joel’s decision is more poignant because his mother is an immigrant in constant danger of being deported. “I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get her a green card for the last three years I’ve been in the Marines,” Joel said. “It comes down to this: if they deport my mother, I will not reenlist.”
This marine’s “internal conflict,” as he pointed out, comes during a period when his Commander-in-Chief, President Trump, activated the National Guard and over seven hundred Marines to help ICE (immigration enforcement) in Los Angeles. Trump has recently activated troops in Washington and Memphis, TN. He is threatening to send troops to Chicago and Portland. At the same time, the father of two active-duty Marines was kidnapped by ICE in one of hundreds of well-publicized terrorizing raids.
Another Marine told us that his unit is conducting briefings about not bringing undocumented family members into military bases because those family members could be deported. This could very well be undocumented mothers, fathers, guardians, and other family members wanting to attend a military graduation or simply visiting their loved ones serving in the military.
“I get it. They don’t want family members to get deported, but they also don’t want morale to go down,” said another Marine.
Clearly, this is not only an internal conflict in one Marine. It is an internal conflict in the US military. The bosses have historically relied on the most oppressed masses to fight their wars. Most of the Marines that we spoke to were in their late teens or early twenties—a couple of Black youth, the rest equally divided between Latinos and whites. As is always our experience with enlisted personnel, they were hanging out in multi-racial groups. Few had deployment experience.
Comrades shared their own experiences to connect with the Marines. One comrade shared his Army experience. It was very important to him that his mother, who was undocumented, came to his graduation from boot camp. He wouldn’t risk it today.
Another comrade took out his green card, to share his perspective. Another talked about having a boyfriend in the Marines who was deployed to Vietnam. She had gone from worrying about him to organizing against the war. These stories were good to share in order to break the ice, and to break down the anticommunism in these youth.
“I’ll just put it out there,” said a veteran comrade, “I’m a communist. And this is what a real communist thinks.”
A comrade told Joel, “The elites all over the world, whether China, Russia, or the US, send their militaries off to war for their own interests. They are in power and in control. But soldiers historically everywhere have played key roles in uniting with workers and making revolution.” We went on to talk about the unity between workers and soldiers working together for the Russian Revolution during World War I.
Several Marines insisted that they had joined the military to follow orders. Even though some orders feel wrong, they felt that they had no choice. A comrade said, “There comes a time that some orders are outright wrong and immoral. Just remember that you ultimately have a mind of your own, regardless of being in uniform or not.”
One Marine, a white friend of Joel, said that he understood that there was a limit. “If they order me to shoot a kid,” he said, “I’m going to shoot the guy that gave the order.”
In total, three comrades reached fifteen active-duty Marines who either participated in extended political discussions or gathered nearby to listen and comment. The Marines who participated in these discussions all took Red Flag and our military pamphlet.
When the National Guard was deployed in Los Angeles, we visited them, had good conversations, and were able to give them our literature even during a demonstration downtown.
But there are Marines an hour and a half away from where we live. We don’t have to wait for them to be deployed to our streets. This was ICWP’s first trip to Oceanside since COVID hit. It has sparked our motivation to make more regular trips.
Honorable Veterans, Dishonorable System
The United States has always sold itself as a beacon of democracy and freedom. But as workers, we know all too well that this marketing scheme is only reserved for the elite. For the working class, it is the honey used to lure us into their trap of wage slavery.
The only value the working class has in the eyes of the elite is our labor. Once we can no longer serve their interests, we no longer have value for their system. This is true whether you are a janitor, researcher, or soldier.
The experiences of veterans Zahid Chaudhry and Bajun Mavalwalla are prime examples. Both risked their lives in US imperialist wars abroad. Only to be discarded afterwards. And then find themselves facing persecution from that same government.
Their cases illustrate how the US government, regardless of party, exploits workers and immigrants for imperialist ends. And then turns its back on them once they no longer serve ruling-class interests.
These contradictions reveal the true nature of the capitalist state as an instrument of repression rather than liberation.
Zahid Chaudhry is a disabled veteran originally from Pakistan. He has spent decades fighting for US citizenship. He has legal pathways to naturalization through marriage, fatherhood, and military service. Instead, he was targeted by the discriminatory Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP). This disproportionately delays or denies applications from Muslims.
Veteran Bajun Mavalwalla is also currently facing repression after protesting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Spokane, Washington. He was indicted on conspiracy charges despite engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience.
Federal prosecutors treated Malvalwalla as a test of their power to stretch the law to criminalize civil disobedience. They use this tactic to send a message to all who plan to resist ICE’s brutal deportation regime. Despite his service to the imperialist war machine, once Bajun Mavalwalla decided to oppose the state, he became an enemy.
These cases reveal the disposable nature of workers and veterans in a capitalist system. Workers are only useful so long as they are producing for the continued profits of the bourgeoise. Soldiers are useful so long as they advance imperialist objectives abroad and at home. Both are united in the struggle of capitalist oppression.
The hypocrisy of US democracy is undeniable. It claims to uphold freedom of speech and to respect veterans. Yet it prosecutes peaceful protest. It denies rights to veterans who have risked their lives.
Under Trump, repression takes the form of aggressive prosecutions and weaponized conspiracy charges. Under Biden, discriminatory programs like CARRP remained intact. Both parties sustain the machinery of capitalist imperialism.
These stories are not anomalies, but systemic. They demonstrate that under capitalism, workers—even decorated veterans—are expendable once they challenge the interests of the ruling class.
True liberation will not come through reforming ICE or fixing immigration bureaucracy. It will come through dismantling the structures of exploitation and building a system that values human dignity over profit and power. This can only be achieved through communist revolution.
—Comrade US Veteran
Read our pamphlet: SOLDIERS, SAILORS, MARINES, CRUCIAL FOR COMMUNIST WORKERS’ REVOLUTION here