The Democrats Are Acting Like Democrats—What That Means for What the People Must Do

December 17, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

These right-wing politicians (generally grouped within the Republican Party) can, will, and do actively mobilize this essentially fascist social base...yet, on the other side, the sections of the ruling class that are more generally represented by the Democratic Party are very reluctant to, and in fact resistant to, mobilizing...the base of people whose votes and support in the bourgeois political arena the Democrats seek to gain. This (Democratic Party) side of the ruling class generally is not desirous of—and in fact recoils at the idea of—calling that base into the streets, mobilizing them either to take on the opposing forces in the ruling class and their social base or in general to struggle for the programs that the Democratic Party itself claims to represent and actually in some measure does seek to implement....

As an amplification of the basic point here, it is important to recognize this: Within the framework of the capitalist-imperialist system, and with the underlying dynamics of this system, which fundamentally set the terms, and the confines, of “official” and “acceptable” politics, fascism—that is, the imposition of a form of dictatorship which openly relies on violence and terror to maintain the rule and the imperatives of the capitalist-imperialist system—is one possible resolution of the contradictions that this system is facing—a resolution that could, at a certain point, more or less correspond to the compelling needs of this system and its ruling class—while revolution and real socialism, aiming toward the final goal of communism, throughout the world, is also a possible resolution of these contradictions, but one that would most definitely not be acceptable to the capitalist-imperialist ruling class nor compatible with the imperatives of this system!

Bob Avakian, BAsics 3:11

Many people who are horrified by the Trump-Pence victory are questioning why the Democrats aren’t putting up a fight like the Republicans have and are doing. Leading up to election day, Trump declared that he would not accept the results of the election if he lost. He clearly meant what he threatened and was riling up his followers in anticipation of an all-out fight if Hillary Clinton had won. Contrast that with how, as one recent New York Times op-ed bemoaned, the top Democrats “have been almost absent on the national stage.”

Even after winning the election, Trump and Pence are leading the fascist charge, and Republicans at all levels are continuing with their rampage. They are dead-set on imposing their fascist rule and agenda. They are not going to be stopped by legal precedents and accepted “norms” in politics and other spheres of society but are quickly moving to set new fascist “norms.” Look at North Carolina, where the Republican governor, Pat McCrory, lost to a Democrat. Instead of telling people to give the incoming Democrat a “chance” (like Obama and the Democrats are doing with Trump), the Republicans refused to accept the result, claiming without evidence that there was widespread voter fraud. When this did not work, the Republicans in the state legislature pushed through bills to undercut the powers of the new governor, and McCrory has already signed one into law.

Any notion that the Democrats can be counted on to stop the Trump-Pence fascists is foolish and dangerous. There will be no savior from the White House coming to the rescue. Bernie Sanders is not going to be any help in real resistance. In fact, he’s talking about cooperating on “infrastructure investment for jobs” while opposing Trump “if” he attacks rights. This is like working with Hitler to promote jobs to make trains taking people to the death camps—but not to fund the gas chambers and ovens themselves.

The Democratic and Republican parties both represent the interests of the capitalist-imperialists who rule over the people—even as they have some sharp differences over how to best protect and push forward those interests. The Democrats will not call people out into the streets and lead a real fight to stop the Trump-Pence regime from taking power, because they fear mass rebellion, and even more so, actual revolution—much more than they oppose the fascist sections of their own class.

But this does NOT mean that the fascist onslaught is unstoppable. The huge numbers of people in all corners of society who are profoundly disturbed by the Trump-Pence victory and do not want this fascist poison are a real reservoir of resistance. The people must be organized into a force that can mount the kind of courageous, determined, massive resistance that is needed to STOP the Trump-Pence regime from taking power. We can and must rely on ourselves to do this.

from RefuseFascism.org:

Donald Trump, the President-elect, is assembling a regime of grave danger. Millions of people in the U.S. and around the world are filled with deep anxiety, fear, and disgust. Our anguish is right and just. Our anger must now become massive resistance – before Donald Trump is inaugurated and has the full reins of power in his hands.

Should we fail to rise with determination and daring in our millions now to stop this, the consequences for humanity will be disastrous. We, the undersigned, know in the depths of our beings, the catastrophe that will befall the people of the world should the Trump/Pence regime assume full power.

We therefore CALL FOR A MONTH OF RESISTANCE beginning on December 19th, reaching a crescendo by the January 20th, 2017 Inauguration.