{"id":16308,"date":"2025-11-04T06:39:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T06:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/?page_id=16308"},"modified":"2025-11-04T06:45:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T06:45:50","slug":"usa-masses-say-no-kings-we-say-no-capitalists-either","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/volume-16-number-15\/usa-masses-say-no-kings-we-say-no-capitalists-either\/","title":{"rendered":"USA: MASSES SAY \u201cNO KINGS\u201d \u2013 WE SAY NO CAPITALISTS EITHER"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pictured: LOS\u2008ANGELES\u2008(USA) October 18–\u201cSoldiers, Marines: Join Workers and Students for a Communist World without Borders!\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CALIFORNIA (USA), October 26\u2014 Millions of people, in big cities and small towns across the US, turned out on October 18 to oppose Trump\u2019s fascist attacks. Many (though not most) understood that the problem isn\u2019t just Trump and his billionaire backers. It\u2019s a capitalist system in deep crisis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That the system, not a particularly nasty individual, is destroying workers\u2019 standard of living. Kidnapping our neighbors. Enabling genocide in Gaza. Dragging us deeper into worldwide war.<\/p>\n

We know many people understand that because they took Red Flag <\/i>newspapers and told us so. Many didn\u2019t. But we didn\u2019t encounter much open anti-communism. Even where the crowds skewed older and \u201cwhiter.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was widespread anger at the fascist ICE raids aimed at immigrant workers. For example, the Santa Cruz-Salinas-Watsonville area is home to many immigrant farmworkers. The rallies mainly drew white people, who carried many posters against ICE. Many were offering their homes to undocumented workers. There was a \u2018crisis\u2019 help line for immigrant defense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Democratic Party operatives (through their organization Indivisible) sponsored these rallies.<\/b> They have a two-fold strategy aimed at \u201crebranding\u201d after last year\u2019s electoral losses. On one hand, to bring angry (and often anti-capitalist) young people back into their capitalist party. On the other, to build strength among \u201cmoderate\u201d voters who find their image \u201ctoo radical.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a contradiction! And it showed. For example, pro-Palestine contingents were welcomed at some rallies and harassed at others. \u201cWe were the only two people representing for Palestine,\u201d said a friend who brought flyers to a rally in suburban Santa Clarita. \u201cPeople were polite but not very interested. Some talked about us poorly or laughed as we walked away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Event organizers promoted a circus atmosphere<\/b>. They encouraged US flags, inflatable costumes, and witty Instagrammable posters in the name of \u201cpeaceful patriotic protest.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson referred to the Civil War. \u201cIf my ancestors, as slaves, can lead the greatest general strike in the history of this country, taking it to the ultra-rich and big corporations, we can do it too!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Johnson\u2019s historical analogy was certainly not perfect. But the important thing was that it took a war to end legalized chattel slavery. Formerly enslaved Black workers who liberated themselves and enlisted in the Union army were critical to that victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeaceful patriotic protest\u201d won\u2019t liberate us from fascist wage-slavery today.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Trump lies that \u201cDemocrat cities\u201d are \u201cwar zones\u201d as an excuse to wage war on them. Silly costumes ridicule his lies. \u201cI liked the costumes and fun atmosphere,\u201d said a friend. \u201cIt shows that we\u2019re peaceful.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A comrade responded, \u201cWould you have worn costumes like that to protest the Nazis in Berlin in 1933?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her friend was startled.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI guess they would have arrested you,\u201d she admitted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We need to take fascism more seriously.<\/b> We need to learn and teach the lessons of the massive Communist Party of Germany (KPD) as Hitler rose to power. Comrades bravely fought Nazi goon squads in the streets of \u201cRed Berlin.\u201d Tragically, however, the KPD organized mainly in neighborhoods, around elections.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead of in the factories and barracks, for communist revolution.<\/p>\n

In March 1933 the KPD won one hundred seats in the national parliament (Reichstag) with almost nine million votes.\u00a0 <\/span>Two weeks later, the German capitalists and their \u201ccentrist\u201d parties turned the government over to Hitler. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fascism is the sharpest form of the class war that all capitalist rulers wage on the working class<\/b>.\u00a0 <\/span>ICWP understands that the only way to defeat it is with armed struggle for communist revolution, led by industrial workers and soldiers. And, in the process, building the communist relations necessary for a world without money: \u201cfrom all according to ability and commitment. To all according to need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many young people \u2013 whether or not they participated in No Kings \u2013already reject capitalism.<\/b> The Democrats need Brandon Johnson and \u201csocialist\u201d Zohran Mamdani to bring them back into dead-end \u2013 and deadly \u2014 electoral politics. Moderates like Kamala Harris, LA Mayor Karen Bass, California Governor Gavin Newsom can\u2019t do that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our party\u2019s urgent task everywhere is to unite in struggle with anti-capitalist, anti-fascist young (and older) activists. To build relationships with them that enable sharp political discussions about communism. To convince them to help ICWP become a revolutionary force that can defeat fascist capitalism and build the world we need and deserve.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are already convinced, let us know how you\u2019d like to help.<\/p>\n

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Pictured: LOS\u2008ANGELES\u2008(USA) October 18–\u201cLA to Gaza: End Genocide, Kidnapping and Capitalist Wars with Communist Revolution!\u201d www.ICWPRedFlag.org<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Front page of this issue<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CALIFORNIA (USA), October 26\u2014 Millions of people, in big cities and small towns across the US, turned out on October 18 to oppose Trump\u2019s fascist attacks. Many (though not most) understood that the problem isn\u2019t just Trump and his billionaire backers. It\u2019s a capitalist system in deep crisis.\u00a0 That the system, not a particularly nasty … Continue reading USA: MASSES SAY \u201cNO KINGS\u201d \u2013 WE SAY NO CAPITALISTS EITHER<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6495,"parent":16304,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16308","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16315,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16308\/revisions\/16315"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}