NEEDED: Defiant and Mass Response to Trump’s Fascist Rant and Acts

June 2, 2020 | revcom.us

From a reader:

I have been thinking about the outrage of Trump’s fascist speech on Monday, June 1, just one week after the brutal and wanton murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police. His threats against the people have to be taken seriously and defiantly rejected, not just in words but with deeds. There are big implications for the beautiful newly-born movement of the many, many thousands that has taken to the streets this past week to oppose this vicious murder and the long history and present reality of the brutal treatment of Black people in this country. 

Many people now confront the challenge: Will Trump’s heightened threats, in the face of already brutal repression against the protestors, be met with increased strength and determination, or will people allow themselves to be frightened, confused, and divided?

The article “A Thoroughly Christian Fascist Speech and Display... A Serious Threat to the People” exposes what Trump intends to do to punish and terrorize all those who have felt compelled to stand up and refuse to accept this situation any longer. Trump has thrown down a gauntlet—to those who have already been heroically continuing to protest in the face of heightening repression, and with threats to his political opponents. Democrats who rule local, state, and city governments have been told that if they don’t take the gloves off the way that he is demanding, he will take over and do it for them, by sending the U.S. military to attack and suppress the people.

The police-state dictator rant by Trump, with all the threats it contained—accompanied by a show of brutal force—cannot stand. We must learn the right lessons from history: when this kind of terror is directed at a righteous movement, all too often the people have backed down. For example, in recent years the Occupy movement essentially (and literally) “folded up” after the authorities began to wield heavier repression against it. We cannot allow that to happen this time. Instead, the moves by Trump need to be met right away with an even greater mass outpouring, in which the strength and resolve in the protests against police murder is further strengthened and massively demonstrated, with FUCK TRUMP! resounding as an added rallying cry, accompanied by a powerful chorus of Trump/Pence OUT NOW!

As the article says, “Trump aims to seriously escalate the repression against this beautiful uprising, as part of an overall fascist direction and consolidation. The struggle for justice, for George Floyd–and for a world without white supremacy and a world with a whole better way for people to live–must go forward in the face of these threats.”

Already we are seeing the determination of the people—overwhelmingly young of all nationalities and genders—refusing to back down, coming back the same night and the next day in large numbers in a spirit of defiance, defying curfews and stay-at-home orders. And this is drawing forward the welcome support of many others who want to be part of this.  

There is a beautiful, if beginning sense of a culture of “us against them”—on one side a people who feel compelled to keep coming back to stand their ground for justice and change, and on the other side those in power and their followers who want to crush this. This must grow stronger and broader now and in the face of whatever is thrown up to beat people back down, drawing lines of “Which Side Are You On.” As this grows, people will be searching for and debating how do we go forward, in this movement and more fundamentally to really make the kind of radical change that is needed. 

The Revcoms must be out in the midst of all this, standing with the people and boldly and compellingly bringing our message of Revolution, Nothing Less!, and the leadership for that revolution, Bob Avakian (BA) and the new communism he has brought forward. People need to know that there is a way they can step into the movement for revolution, not in ones and twos but in their hundreds and thousands.