The Crossroads We Face and the Struggle to Drive Out the Fascist Regime

Some Points of Orientation for This Juncture

Updated November 13, 2020 | revcom.us

 

November 7, 2020

* The Immediate Juncture and Struggle Ahead:

As we go to press, Joe Biden is leading the popular vote by a very wide margin of over four million votes, and has won the Electoral College vote, as called by the major news outlets. While a few key “battle-ground” states like Georgia and Arizona remain to be called, if this were a normal election, absent major twists of events, Biden would be on track to be the victor.

First, IF Biden were to actually be “officially” certified as the winner of the Electoral College, this would be a significant and very positive development, given what the continuation of the fascist Trump/Pence regime would mean for the people of the world and in this country. As Bob Avakian stated on August 1 in his historic statement, ON THE IMMEDIATE CRITICAL SITUATION, THE URGENT NEED TO DRIVE OUT THE FASCIST TRUMP/PENCE REGIME, VOTING IN THIS ELECTION, AND THE FUNDAMENTAL NEED FOR REVOLUTION, a Biden victory in the elections “would create far better conditions for continuing to wage the struggle against everything represented by the Trump/Pence regime and all the oppression and injustices of this system, and would be a great gift to the people of the world.”

Even if the Electoral College margins are razor thin and right now contested, and even with the fact that 70+ million voted for a genocidal racist, the terms, context, and framework are different and better with a Biden victory for the struggle needed going forward. The struggle to defeat Trump was and is a struggle against fascism, a qualitatively different form of rule, one that relies openly on terror and violence against those who oppose this regime and everyone this regime regards as a threat, without the pretense of allowing dissent and protest. The consequences for humanity of a consolidated fascist regime in the most powerful country in the world are horrific and even potentially irreversible.

A legitimate electoral victory for Biden creates far more favorable conditions for mass political resistance, for exposing and mobilizing against the illegitimacy of the fascist regime going forward. This illegitimacy stems from both the fascists’ stealing the election, their continuing threats and use of violence to back that up, and even more, the horrors of the fascist program.

Not a Normal Election—and NOT a Normal Transition

Second, this is not a normal election, with a “normal transition”—the peaceful transfer of power that has been a staple of American democracy in the last century. “Trump has told people he has no plans to concede.” So announced a major CNN-site headline, with this being echoed by his close followers, and as we go to press, continues to be the case.

This is not a surprise. Trump repeatedly refused to promise, when asked, a “peaceful transfer of power.” Trump has already announced in many ways that he will not recognize the integrity of this vote and intends to fight this, using every legal, quasi-legal, and illegal means. This includes tying up the courts with bogus lawsuits, rousing his fascist thug followers, and perhaps other things which we have not anticipated yet.

From the “bully pulpit” rhetoric of lies and disinformation, to court battles and summoning fascist thugs to harass and threaten people who volunteer to work to make the elections happen, Trump is aiming at de-legitimizing the election verdicts and results. He has forged a much harder and fighting fascist social base than he had in 2016, around the triad of white supremacy, misogyny, and America First. They feel this election is being “snatched” away before they have had a chance to implement their full fascist program. Trump advisers and longtime fascists like Newt Gingrich have gone on Fox News to rally Trump’s fanatical followers, promising (and in essence calling for) an “explosion of rage.” At many levels and in different ways, the fascists plan to fight to retain power with the Trump/Pence regime—at this moment.

Simply relying on the “normal” channels, workings, and institutions may well be disastrous.

So, for all those who want to see an end to the nightmare of the Trump/Pence regime, there is a struggle to be waged, of mass, nonviolent protests that continue until this regime is ousted! This is what is needed! The fascists must NOT be allowed to dominate the “public square” and public discourse. Combined with the fascist domination of the courts and some key state legislatures that already exists, that could be deadly. The coalition of the decent cannot now retire from the field of political battle—instead, we must pull together, organize and show up to follow through on and complete the main job before us: driving out this fascist regime.

* A More Strategic Perspective:

Even if Trump is forced out, this fascism is not going away. Fascism is not only a deeply dug-in and well-organized trend in this country, it has metastasized and made “advances” in this past period, growing and hardening its ranks. It will almost certainly attempt to come back harder. The roots and texture of this fascist phenomenon, movement, and ideology have been scientifically excavated and exposed by Bob Avakian (BA) in a series of works, unmatched by anyone else currently commenting on the topic.

This election has raised profound questions about this society. Righteous, sincere people are agonizing about how more than 70 million people voted for Trump, including not a few Black and Latino people. People are confronting the specter of civil war; they are asking WHY the Democrats keep playing by the “rule book” while Trump and the fascists shred it; and they are searching for answers.

There ARE answers, but they are not easy ones. What are the roots of white supremacy, of male supremacy and toxic masculinity, of American chauvinism, of the “hustler-ism” and wallowing in ignorance that affects people up and down the social structure... all of which stand as barriers to a world where people freely and consciously interact with each other and nature? How do we get beyond a system and society that can spawn a Donald Trump and shape people and social groups so that such a vicious person can gain a following of mindless fanatics?

All these questions have been addressed by Bob Avakian, and leadership provided, in seminal works like the film THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO, In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America—A Better World IS Possible, as well as in the recent spate of works. BA drills down scientifically to the roots of the problem and to the solution: a real revolution, and the struggle to oust this fascist regime and defeat this fascist movement as part of making that revolution. If you have agonized in this last year over this madness, if you have fought in the streets for justice—this is where you need to go, this is who you need to check out.²

* Returning to the Immediate Political Battle Ahead:

There is a fierce and ferocious struggle shaping up in society—near, intermediate, and long-term. At one level, consistent with the dynamics of fascist advance and consolidation, there may be calls for further conciliation with the fascists, “reaching across the aisle,” seeking to “understand them and their economic ‘anxiety’,” not “inciting” them, etc.

NO!

As Bob Avakian has said,

there can be no “reconciliation” with these fascists—whose “grievances” are based on fanatical resentment against any limitation on white supremacy, male supremacy, xenophobia (hatred of foreigners), rabid American chauvinism, and the unrestrained plundering of the environment, and are increasingly expressed in literally lunatic terms. There can be no “reconciliation” with this, other than on the terms of these fascists, with all the terrible implications and consequences of that!³

While the impulse and pull to follow the Democrats and their orientation are spontaneously strong in society, that will only lead to a further reinforcement, and final consolidation, of fascism. As a plain and simple fact, recognizing “the humanity of people” who got caught and are caught up in this fascist white-supremacist misogynist framework must mean struggling sharply with them to break with that fascism, NOT to “understand” them or “reach out” in some idealistic “one-on-one” conversation. We have to proceed from the most scientific understanding of a deep divide in society, between the fascist and the non-fascist sections, worldview, and program, in contrast to the Democrats’ program to try and gloss over it in the name of “unity,” “healing,” and other such notions, especially when the fascist thugs are ideologically and otherwise prepared to mobilize for something far different. It means polarizing and re-polarizing society with sharp nonviolent political and ideological struggle against the fascist juggernaut, its white supremacy, its misogyny, its America First, and its Christian fascism.

Again, what is needed, as Refuse Fascism has called for: It is urgent—it is more important than ever—that we reject this fascist regime, powerfully and in our masses, by taking the streets in nonviolent, creative, and determined action, continuing until this regime is gone and this nightmare is ended.

 

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1. By federal statute, the electors in each state meet on “the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December”—which this year is December 14—to cast their votes. Then on January 6, the House and Senate meet jointly for a formal count of the votes. Although most people believe that these votes must automatically match the popular vote in each state, in reality there are many legal ways to attempt to get around this.  [back]

2. In this context, we would particularly highlight the following works: 

• Statement by Bob Avakian, August 1, 2020  ON THE IMMEDIATE CRITICAL SITUATION, THE URGENT NEED TO DRIVE OUT THE FASCIST TRUMP/PENCE REGIME, VOTING IN THIS ELECTION, AND THE FUNDAMENTAL NEED FOR REVOLUTION
• Voting Will Not Be Enough—We Need to Take to the Streets, and Stay in the Streets Demanding Trump/Pence Out Now!
• Part 1: The Democrats Can’t Fight Trump the Way He Needs to Be Fought
• Part 2: Trump Is Already Stealing the Election and Threatening Even More Violence to Stay in Power
• Part 3: Trump’s Fascism—More Blatant and Dangerous Every Day: How a Determined Fight and Massive Mobilization Could Defeat This
• Donald Trump—GENOCIDAL RACIST
• Racial Oppression Can Be Ended—But Not Under This System
• Patriarchy and Patriotism—Aggressive Male Supremacy and American Supremacy—The Danger and the Immediate Challenge
• Patriarchy and Male Supremacy, Or Revolution and Ending All Oppression?
• Kanye West, Ice Cube—Fools, and Worse Than Fools  [back]

3. From Voting Will Not Be Enough—We Need to Take to the Streets, and Stay in the Streets Demanding Trump/Pence Out Now! Part 2.  [back]