How NOT to Fight Fascism! The Record
Fascists were driven from the streets and from all but private property in the industrial belts of the U.S. in the pre-World War II period. This truth has been suppressed by public education controlled by the Capitalists and by their mass media. The History Channel, for instance, would have you believe that the Nazi German American Bund was defeated by Jewish mobsters! These mobsters have been notably absent in the confrontations with fascists in the Trump era. More to the point, the labor movement, the real victors over fascism in the 1930s-’40s streets and halls, has also been absent from the anti-fascist “mobilizations” of the present.
Today the labor movement, following the leadership of the Democrats, is reaching ‘across the aisle’ to work with Trump, build his ‘beautiful pipeline’ and his ‘beautiful wall’ and totally ignores the fascist sector of his base, who are becoming more emboldened and prominent and have taken their strategy of violence to the streets. During the Obama term the outright fascist groups were isolated when they formed up in Philly, Kansas City and L.A. They were unable to forge a united front with Oath Keepers and other right trending outfits. Isolated by their swastikas and jackboot appearance, small antifascist and left forces were able to stop them. But since the Trump campaign rallies unleashed mob beatings against protesters and elevated the ‘alt-right’ to the White House they have found the courage to climb out from under the slime. In an effort to ‘smash communism’ and make the streets safe for fascism they came to Berkeley, CA on April 15th, a day they called “patriots day.” They knew they would provoke a response from the “Antifa” group and some of the various leftists who had shut down Milo Yiannopoulos at the February UC Berkeley action.
But the left was unprepared. The labor leadership feels no responsibility to protect the working class from the emergence of any fascist phalanx. In San Francisco the Pelosi Democrats gathered anti-Trump forces for their ‘show us your tax forms’ rally, while in Berkeley the misnamed ‘Labor Rising Against Trump’ backed by leaders of the IWW and the TWSC (Transport Workers Solidarity Committee,) held a conference to defend public education just a few blocks away in safety at the U.C. Berkeley Campus. The left, the labor movement and the Democrats thus abandoned a handful of anti-fascists to their own ultra-left substitutionist version of politics to stop the fascists and this got their asses kicked.
Likewise this was a defeat for those who promote free speech for fascists, although these middle class muddleheads are not likely to confess that this is true. We say “NO Platform for Fascists!!” This is what the successful labor champions said in past. The logic was clear that fascists do not tolerate the speech of others and suppress the workers’ organizations by force the moment they have sufficient power. They motivate MAWAs (“Make America White Again”) with tv appearances such as the 4/12 MSNBC appearance of a leading white supremacist on Van Jones’ “The Messy Truth” program, where the fascist ‘celebrity’ said “I want to bathe in white privilege.”
The threat of fascist revival in the form of street thuggery against labor, the oppressed peoples and the left was the alt-right’s intention from the first. Picking Berkeley for their faux free speech rally was clearly a provocation. The fact that the regularly scheduled farmers market in the same place was closed is proof positive that the Berkeley City Council and the police colluded with and ultimately arranged for a street battle. The BART subway station closed!
That the fascists were able to successfully mobilize in a major, multi-racial unionized urban center and get away with it is ominous. What was needed was the mass mobilization of the labor movement, particularly the ILWU (Longshoremen), along with the black, brown and immigrant communities to sweep the fascists from the streets. The fascists on April 15th should have been met with thousands of workers and youth, backed up by disciplined, militant and trained labor defense guards to defend the workers and youth from the fascists and their cop auxiliaries and cousins.
For mass labor led mobilizations to stop Nazis/KKK and other fascist groups.
No reliance on the cops, authors of racist police brutality; no reliance on Democratic/Republican politicians, they are no friends of labor or the oppressed!
For a fighting workers/labor party.
Defend the black and brown communities and identity-victimized populations by organizing the Workers/oppressed self-defense formations in our union halls.
We call for a workers united front self-defense of our entire working class, no exclusions or exceptions.
