END POLICE TERROR! DEFEND BLACK LIVES! Debemos defendernos unos a otros 10 Struggle-La-Lucha.org Vol. 3, No. 18 · Sept. 14, 2020 Suggested donation: $1 Socialist Unity Party Partido de Socialismo Unido Twitter: @StruggleLaLucha Facebook.com/strugglelalucha email: [email protected] 2020 elections & capitalist instability: How should we prepare?

By Sharon Black  Rayshard Brooks Peace Center 2

The present election is taking place in a period ‘Commitment March’ 2 of deep instability. It is fraught with incredible  Defeat the racist backlash 3 dangers and at the same time opportunities for the working class in this country. What takes place  Baltimore protests Pence 4 in the U.S. will have repercussions internationally.  Players demand justice 5 A lot will depend on what we do. On the one hand, an unprecedented movement  Attica Rebellion 5 against police terror and white supremacy has  What will Trump do? 6 swept the country. There is not a single town or city that has not been touched by protests of one  Don’t blame Russia 8 kind or another. While it is spontaneous to one  Kevin Zeese, ¡presenté! 8 degree, it is deeply political and can be character- ized as a mass uprising.  Baku, 100 years ago 9 This movement is a challenge to the capitalist  We must defend each other 10 state and it is taking up the long-delayed funda- mental question of racism and white supremacy Mass demonstrations and a general strike in Puerto Rico overthrew Gov. Ricky Rosselló in July 2019. in this country, what was described by W.E.B. Du We should prepare for a mass strike against a stolen election. Bois as the “unfinished revolution” in his famous book “Black Reconstruction in America.” Snyder imposed “emergency financial manager” Trump leaves. We need to appeal to the unions This remarkable struggle is taking place in the dictators over more than half of Michigan’s Black and to the community directly. midst of a deepening capitalist economic cri- population. If Biden prevails, it does not mean the struggle sis, possibly the worst in our lifetimes, spurred is o›. on and coupled with a deadly pandemic that has Stolen election, Trump coup He will be presiding over a capitalist crisis and killed more people in the United States than all In this context, it is impossible to ignore the has no answers whatsoever for our class. Our the U.S. soldiers killed in the Vietnam War plus possibility of the November election being either message must be to energetically push the move- four other wars combined. stolen or hijacked by the utterly undemocratic ment forward to demand: End police terror and Unemployment is at record highs. The working Electoral College system, or the serious threat of white supremacy! Health care for all! Cancel rents class will eventually face a tsunami of evictions Trump refusing to leave the White House. and mortgage foreclosures! Jobs or guaranteed and foreclosures that will certainly top those of Trump’s antics should be taken seriously, when income for all! Hazard pay and workers’ rights! the 2008 capitalist crisis. he tells people to vote twice, or spews lies that No to wars and sanctions! mail-in ballots are invalid. His attempts to dis- RNC ‘white power’ rally, DNC capitulates mantle the U.S. Postal Service are clearly in prepa- Should workers prepare for ‘October surprise’? It’s easy to sum up the Republican National ration for what might turn out to be much larger The potential for imperialist war, which is driv- Convention as essentially a “white power” ral- developments in November. en by economic forces beyond either candidate’s ly meant as a clarion call to all of Trump’s most We should look back in history at the 2000 elec- personal control, is greater than ever — whether reactionary, racist, neofascist supporters. Patricia tion between George W. Bush and Al Gore, when it is against Venezuela, Iran, Russia or China. and Mark McCloskey, who pointed guns at Black right-wing violence and vote tampering in Florida In an act of provocation, U.S. spy planes have Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis, Mo., spoke helped Bush steal the election by gaining an Elec- flown over Chinese military bases. The rhetoric there. Both are facing charges of unlawful use of toral College advantage. against China has continued unabated. a weapon. Leonardo Flores, Latin American coordinator None of the rhetoric of the RNC was hidden or Our immediate tasks for Code Pink, has documented an increase in U.S. coded. It was an outright racist attack on the bur- The capitalist state’s repressive apparatus — action against Venezuela. geoning movement, designed to spur on violence that is, the reactionary police, sheri›s, Homeland Iran continues to be under attack from severe against protesters under the cover of labeling the Security and Border Patrol, and their extralegal sanctions and military threats. BLM movement as “rioters, antifa, anarchists, forces like the Proud Boys, neo-Nazis, etc. — was outsiders and communists.” temporarily caught o› guard by the tidal wave of Intervene as an independent class force No one can forget that Trump began his first protests all across the country. Now, under the di- For much of the working class, the pending campaign by labeling Mexican immigrants as rection of Trump, they are unleashing a campaign elections are viewed as a referendum against rac- “rapists and criminals.” of terror in an attempt to crush the movement. ism and reaction. There is little illusion that a vote The Democratic National Convention was no Let’s vigorously defend and broaden support for for Biden will end the su›ering that much of the beacon of hope. Instead, it was in many respects all of those arrested, whether it is in Minneapolis, population is enduring. It is more a question of a cowardly reaction to Trump’s campaign of red- Portland, Kenosha, San Diego, Tallahassee, New getting rid of Trump. baiting and attacks on protesters. In essence, the York City or in so many other places. Some younger voters, particularly those in- DNC agenda was driven by the rightwing. volved in the Bernie Sanders movement, who Prepare for November: Republican billionaires and militarists like passionately fought for health care, the Green Colin Powell, Michael Bloomberg and former Ohio Call for general strike of the people New Deal, an end to student debt and many other Gov. John Kasich, who ran on a campaign to abol- There should be no passive acceptance of a sto- issues, view a vote for Biden as a dead end. ish abortion, shared the DNC podium. On the oth- len election, regardless of how it unfolds. Any The elections will certainly be an important ba- er hand, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was given such circumstance must be considered illegiti- rometer. But what ultimately determines the direc- a mere 90 seconds to speak. mate. The stakes are too high. tion of history, whether it is this immediate period Biden’s denunciation of “riots,” referring to The working class must prepare as much as or more long term, is the struggle between classes. the Kenosha protests, does the exact opposite of possible to intervene on its own behalf. We can’t This includes not only our class, whether unem- defending people against the arch reactionary wait for the Democrats — particularly if they are ployed or working, of all nationalities and gen- movement that Trump has unleashed. It embold- inclined to lay down and wait for another four ders, and global in character; but also bigger world ens them. years — nor concede and stand on the sidelines. developments reflecting the crisis of capitalism. More recently, the Biden campaign touted for- Instead, we should prepare for a general strike Our job as revolutionary socialists is to do ev- mer Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s endorsement of the people. Whether employed or unemployed, erything in our power to defend the current move- — a slap in the face to the people of Flint, a ma- students or youth, organized or unorganized — ment and push beyond the electoral arena. What is jority Black city whose water was poisoned; De- the goal is to shut the system down through mas- critical for the working class is to intervene boldly troit, whose assets were robbed through imposed sive action. For those who are able, plan to march in its own interests in whatever crisis presents it- bankruptcy; and Benton Harbor. Republican on Washington, D.C. and occupy the capital until self during the early winter months. ₪ Page 2 Sept. 14, 2020 STRUGGLE H LA LUCHA Atlanta activists rally for Rayshard Brooks Peace Center

By Lizz Toledo

Atlanta — The Sleep-In Activists, Community Movement Builders and many other organizations, including the Socialist Unity Party, are calling for the Wendy’s restaurant park- ing lot where Rayshard Brooks was murdered by Police O£cer Garrett Rolfe to be turned into the Rayshard Brooks Peace Center. At a rally for the Rayshard Brooks Peace Center on Aug. 30, activists called for an end to police brutali- ty, solidarity with Jacob Blake and the Kenosha protesters, and an end to racist capitalism. They called for unity among organizations and en- couraged those not yet involved in an organization to join one, because together we will find our freedom. Speakers also reminded the au- dience of mostly Black and Brown young people that we can’t expect the Democratic Party or electoral pol- itics to give us our freedom. In fact, PHOTO: SLL Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms did not get one negative response. “In this space, people were bar- trol. They are calling for a Rayshard was a speaker at the Democratic Na- Everyone I asked to sign, signed it,” becuing and feeding their neigh- Brooks Peace Center, to defund the tional Convention two weeks before. she added. bors. We had children’s activities APD, and to distribute these funds She never even mentioned Rayshard and community gardens,” another to community-controlled organi- Brooks’ name, while she pontificat- Fighting for community control longtime resident and activist told zations serving the people. And not ed about how much she cares about On June 12, Rayshard Brooks was Struggle-La Lucha. “In this space, use them to benefit corporations justice for Black lives at the hands of killed by o£cers of the Atlanta Po- you could see the roots of communi- like Wendys that contribute nothing racist police. lice Department at the Wendy’s ty control sprouting.” to the community, or the capitalist While Mayor Bottoms and other drive-through on University Av- Armed community defenders pro- agenda itself. politicians make assumptions about enue. Many community members tected the area from white suprema- We are the only ones who will make what the community wants in place witnessed the murder and were cists who occasionally drove by and liberation for all possible. By staying of the burned-down Wendy’s, the traumatised by the sight of Brooks, shot at the crowd. in the streets, fighting united, pro- Sleep-In Activists have been going a Black man and father, being shot But on July 6, Mayor Bottoms and tecting and defending each other, door to door, speaking directly to in the back, kicked while he was the Atlanta police violently stole this we will make a world where Black, people in the Pittsburgh and Peo- down, and a police o£cer standing liberated space from the community Brown and Indigenous people are plestown neighborhoods, and asking on his body as he lay dying. and destroyed the people’s memorial free to live up to our full potential. A them what they thought about re- This happened in a poor, work- for Rayshard Brooks. Days later, the world where our communities have placing the Wendy’s with a commu- ing-class, Black community that mayor sent her goons to demolish full control of policing and all public nity peace center in honor of Brooks. has witnessed and experienced the the site. safety agencies. A world where peo- “The response has been over- brutality of the APD for years. This Now, the community demands ple are more important than profit whelmingly favorable,” said orga- time, the community decided to take that not only this space, but all spac- — a united socialist world. nizer Lady A, a longtime resident control of this sacred space as a lib- es and agencies in the neighborhoods Sign the petition for the Rayshard of this community. Activists have erated zone for justice, grieving and of Pittsburgh and Peoplestown, Brooks Peace Center at tinyurl.com/ collected over 1,200 signatures. “I community control. be placed under community con- y4xaxn9q. Socialists reach out at D.C. anti-racist march

SLL PHOTOS: SHARON BLACK By Sharon Black Throughout the day, contingents of young people continued to pour in, The long shadow race riot Washington, D.C. — On Aug. 28, chanting “Black Lives Matter!” of the 1919 Chicago Struggle-La Lucha newspaper and Thousands of copies of Strug- by Stephen Millies the Socialist Unity Party/Partido de gle-La Lucha newspaper were dis- Socialismo Unido participated in the tributed, along with a supplement SLL articles include:: national “Commitment March: Get calling for reparations. • Bombings greet the Great Migration Your Knee O› Our Necks” on the 57th Andre Powell reported: “Struggle- • What did the unions do? anniversary of the 1963 March on La Lucha received a fantastic re- • Communists fight racism and evictions Washington for Jobs and Freedom. sponse! At our table, we also sold • Chicago Mayor Daley’s racist machine Tens of thousands of people gath- a much larger number of books • Never forget Fred Hampton ered at the Lincoln Memorial and the than we anticipated. People eager- • The people put Harold Washington in City Hall surrounding area, buoyed by the na- ly signed up who were interested in • A city of struggle tional uprising against police terror. socialism.” ₪ Available in a pamphlet form at tinyurl.com/1919chicago STRUGGLE H LA LUCHA Sept. 14, 2020 Page 3 Atlanta activists rally Organize to defeat the racist backlash! movement was quickly dispersed. for Rayshard Brooks Peace Center By Greg Butterfield What’s di›erent this time is that, despite the vicious backlash and very Recent events in Kenosha, Wis., real threat of violence, people are and Portland, Ore., are the biggest still in the streets — and continue to signs that a racist backlash is un- come into the streets with each new derway in the United States against racist police murder, from Atlanta to the righteous rebellion that followed Kenosha, Los Angeles to Rochester, the police murder of George Floyd in N.Y., and beyond. May and has continued through the The refusal of the people, espe- summer. cially young people, to be silenced The backlash originates with the is encouraging. But a spontaneous billionaire class of big capitalists, protest movement is not an unlim- landlords and bankers, takes shape ited resource, especially when the through its state, politicians and forces of the capitalist state are mo- media, and ends in the violent white bilized against it. supremacist gangs that are carrying out attacks on protesters and com- Unity and coordination needed munities of color, often in collabora- The urgent need is for greater uni- tion with local police. ty and coordination of people’s or - On Aug. 29, activists in Kenosha Kenosha, Wis. ganizations for the coming battles bringing food to protesters were kid- with the state and the fascists. This napped by federal agents. On Sept. 3 Shortly after, his supporters at- tion that is never asked, however.) includes developing strategies for in New York’s Times Square, cops tacked Black Lives protesters in Amidst all this blame-the- victim self-defense, new tactics to esca- escorted racist counter protesters Portland. One of the Patriot Prayer propaganda, we must remember late the struggle in the streets and to their car, which the fascists then neo-Nazis was allegedly shot dead that it was the burning of the po- workplaces, and alternative forms drove into a crowd of Black Lives by a white anti-fascist defending lice precinct in Minneapolis, and the of power to challenge the right of supporters, injuring several. In Lou- himself and other protesters. Trump righteous rebellion of the masses of the presidency, the Congress, state isville, Ky., armed fascists threat- then ordered a hit on Michael Rein- people there and in other cities, that legislatures and city councils to ened protesters demanding justice oehl, which was carried out by fed- inspired the anti-racist struggle make the rules. This is true regard- for Breonna Taylor during the Ken- eral agents on Sept. 3. Reinoehl’s as- to new heights across the U.S. and less of the outcome of November’s tucky Derby on Sept. 5. The same sassination was meant as a warning forced the politicians and big busi- presidential election. day, in Tallahassee, Fla., cops and to the anti-racist movement. ness to address the epidemic of po- The broad movement in defense Trump supporters targeted social- But the backlash extends beyond lice violence. of Black lives needs to prepare for ist student activists during protests the ultraright. Democratic presiden- whatever may come in the next sev- What’s different this time that followed the grand jury exoner- tial candidate Joe Biden has joined eral months. The least likely sce- ation of killer cops. The list goes on. in, giving speeches and airing na- There are many examples of nario is a sweeping Biden victory, For Marxists, this is not an unex- tionwide campaign ads condemning capita list backlash against popular a peaceful Trump concession and pected development. Every push for- “looters” and “rioters” — essen- movements. a return to pre-2017 governmental ward by the masses in the struggle to tially conceding Trump’s argument U.S. imperialism was taken by norms, as bad as those were. secure their rights and advance their and aiding his campaign to demon- surprise by the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Police and fascist repression at liberation is met by a counterattack ize anti-racist protesters and the which came amidst a large and polling places; massive voter sup- of the ruling class, who are desperate Black community. youthful anti-globalization move- pression; interference with the Post to protect not only their own wealth Before the police shooting of Ja- ment. For a short time afterward, O£ce and mail-in voting; manipu- and privileges but the capitalist sys- cob Blake in Kenosha, Biden gave aid while the George W. Bush admin- lation of the undemocratic Electoral tem of exploitation upon which their and encouragement to killer cops by istration was reeling, there was an College system; fascist violence in power rests. vowing not to “defund the police,” opportunity to speak and educate the streets; an “October surprise” reassuring his major funders and people about the crimes of the U.S. Anti-racist unity threatens bosses war against Venezuela, Iran or Chi- masters on Wall Street that nothing abroad. na; even a coup involving the mili- The biggest threat to the capitalist will really change if Democrats take Then came a crushing wave of re- tary or other state forces — are all system is working-class unity, and the White House. pression and propaganda. The ruling possibilities that revolutionaries the bosses’ most powerful weapon From Los Angeles to Minneapolis class took over and dominated the must reckon with. against unity is racism. That’s why to New York, measures promised by narrative, marginalizing and ostra- Underlying the volatile instabili- this summer’s massive uprising— local o£cials (mostly Democrats) cizing the struggle of the oppressed, ty at the top is the cataclysmic cri- uniting Black, Brown and white to rein in police after Floyd’s mur- and plotted new “endless wars.” The sis of capitalism, exacerbated by the workers and youth against the racist der are being quietly defanged or anti-globalization movement was COVID-19 pandemic, which has cre- cops — scares them so much. dropped altogether. crushed under its weight. ated the greatest economic crisis for President Donald Trump openly The pages and airwaves of “liber- Similarly, during the Barack the workers and oppressed since the waves the flag of white supremacy al” corporate media are filled with Obama administration, the Occu- Great Depression of the 1930s. and urges his fascist supporters to stories questioning whether anyone py Wall Street movement took the Now is the time for bold initia- greater acts of racist violence to si- really wants to “defund the police” bosses and the government by sur- tives, careful planning, and building lence and intimidate the movement. amidst a wave of shootings in major prise with its rapid spread to ev- class-conscious, anti-racist organs Trump defended Kyle Rittenhouse, cities. (Whether this “crime wave” ery nook and cranny of the country. of self defense. Time is short, but the 17-year-old white supremacist emanates from the corrupt police de- Many of today’s most dedicated or- the human material exists and con- who murdered two protesters in partments themselves, as it often has ganizers got their start with Occu- ditions are ripe for taking the first cold blood and wounded another in in the past when they felt their fund- py. But when the capitalist state got steps onto the path of revolutionary Kenosha. ing and power threatened, is a ques- coordinated and cracked down, the change. Let’s get to work. ₪ BLACK AUGUST 1619-2019 commemorates 400 years of Black freedom struggle This book examines the construction of a racial capitalist venture — slavery — where the histories of African, Native and working people overlapped. tinyurl.com/vn3qvn5 = Historical series by Matsemela-Ali Odom = Contributions by Gloria Verdieu = Carl Muhammad = Zola Fish = Mary Lou Finley = Dennis Childs = Eusi Kwayana = Mumia Abu-Jamal = Curtis Howard = Sylvia Cameron Telafaro The Social Evolution of Humanity Marx and Engels were right! Bob McCubbin Kindle or paperback tinyurl.com/vwarcv7 This study augments Frederick Engels’ ‘Origin of the Family, Private Property & the State,’ focusing on social/sexual relations, in particular, the changing social status of women. McCubbin is the author of ’Roots of Lesbian and Gay Oppression: A Marxist View.’ First published in 1976, during the first flush of the modern LGBTQ2S movement, McCubbin offers a historical analysis Vigil for Randall ‘Ka Randy’ Echanis, chair of the Anakpawis Party-List in the Philip- pines on Aug. 13. of when, where, why and how LGBTQ2S oppression developed. SLL PHOTO: BILL DORES Page 4 Sept. 14, 2020 STRUGGLE H LA LUCHA Baltimore protest hits Pence, racist attacks on voting rights PHOTO: SLL By Bayani

When Vice President Mike Pence announced an Aug. 26 visit to Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the Peoples Power Assembly called for a pro- test march and car caravan with the message, “Trump/Pence out of Baltimore!” Pence chose the location to give his acceptance speech after being nominated for a second term as vice president during the Republican National Convention. More than 20 cars gathered in South Baltimore to begin the first leg of the protest. At Fort McHenry, demonstrators were blockaded and confronted by ‘ We want Jacob Blake and his family and all the people in Kenosha to the Secret Service. Alongside the Baltimore Police Department, the know that we are behind them and we’re going to continue to fight!’ Secret Service forcibly redirect- — Rev. Annie Chambers speaking at Baltimore protest on Aug. 26. ed the caravan away from where Left, Jacob Blake, shot in the back seven times by a Kenosha, Wis., cop on Aug. 23 Pence was speaking. One organizer remains hosptalized — paralyzed from the waist down and in constant pain. reported being flipped o› by Balti- more cops while leading chants. The caravan and march took place people in Kenosha to know that we The march and caravan then several unions that represent post- just three days after police in Keno- are behind them and we’re going to headed to a post o£ce to show sup- al workers, including the American sha, Wis., shot Jacob Blake in the continue to fight!” port for postal workers, demanding, Postal Workers Union and the Na- back in front of his three children, Rev. Chambers remarked on the “Shut down racist voter suppres- tional Association of Letter Carriers. paralyzing him from the waist down. outright racism of Trump and Pence, sion, not the post o£ce.” Marchers The caravan and march were Marchers demanded justice for Blake including Trump’s 2019 comments stopped in front of a loading dock well-received by the people along and an end to racist police terror. calling Baltimore “rat-infested.” where workers were loading trucks the way, even in the neighborhoods At the opening rally at Douglas She described the administra- and gave a brief rap showing sup- in South Baltimore around Fort Homes, a public housing project in tion’s attack on the U.S. Postal Ser- port for their jobs. McHenry, which, 40 years ago, were East Baltimore, protesters sent a vice as an attack on poor people: Peoples Power Assembly organiz- working-class neighborhoods. Now strong solidarity message from Bal- “Mail is slowing down in work- ers explained that the White House they are overtaken by gentrification timore City to Jacob Blake, his fam- ing-class and poor people’s com- attack on the post o£ce is an attack and overpriced luxury condos. Res- ily and loved ones, and the demon- munities. The mail boxes are being on Black and Brown people, poor idents left their homes to film the strators in Kenosha being attacked taken up in our communities.” and oppressed people, and elderly demonstration and raise their fists by the cops and right wingers. Trump admitted that he would and disabled people. in solidarity. Longtime activist the Rev. Annie sabotage the post o£ce to prevent Organizer Andre Powell told the Baltimore made it clear: Black lives Chambers exclaimed: “We want Ja- universal mail-in voting amidst the group that these attacks were anoth- matter here, and racist rats Trump cob Blake and his family and all the COVID-19 pandemic. er attempt at union busting. There are and Pence are not welcome. ₪ Never forget Katrina — Black lives matter!

By Sharon Black Katrina will remain in history as an indictment of capitalism and the Struggle-La Lucha salutes the white supremacy inherent in the people of New Orleans and the Ka- system. trina diaspora! It’s important to point out that It has been 15 years since Hurricane during this crisis, when people were Katrina struck Louisiana, beginning literally drowning from what can on Aug. 29, 2005. Over 1,800 mostly only be called genocide, U.S. impe- Black and poor people lost their lives rialism was also conducting a geno- when the storm struck and the le- cidal war against the Iraqi people. vees broke. The unfolding disaster The war directly diverted resources created a permanent diaspora. It de- that could have been used to help stroyed whole communities and the hurricane victims. people who lived in them. Much of When the 256th Infantry Brigade the su›ering, death and destruction of the Louisiana National Guard re- was preventable. turned from Iraq on Sept. 8, 2005, In the immediate aftermath, bridg- 80 percent had lost their homes, and es were blocked and hundreds of peo- many, their families. ple were turned back from leaving the Cuba, under the direction of Pres- city. At the Gretna Bridge, witnesses ident Fidel Castro, o›ered the assis- reported that police fired over the tance of 1,586 doctors and medical heads of desperate, fleeing people. personnel, while Venezuela o›ered On Sept. 4, New Orleans police oil shipments. It was the founding of shot and killed two unarmed victims the Henry Reeves International Med- and badly wounded four others on ical Brigade, which has provided such the Danziger Bridge. vital assistance to the world during Prisoners were abandoned by pris- this year’s COVID-19 pandemic. on o£cers who evacuated them- U.S. President George W. Bush, who selves. Close to 1,000 prisoners at was deeply engaged in the war against the Orleans Parish Prison, a third of Iraq, turned down this assistance. whom were awaiting trial and not This is a salute to the work- convicted of any crime, were left to ing-class people of New Orleans and fend for themselves. When genera- the entire region, whose enduring tors failed, they waited in total spirit is reflected in the uprising that darkness in chest-high water with is sweeping the country today under New Orleans residents on the roof of a house surrounded by water, Sept. 1, 2005. no food or water for four days. Some the banner of “Black Lives Matter.” Much of the suffering, death and destruction was preventable. 517 were never found. May we never forget! ₪ STRUGGLE H LA LUCHA Sept. 14, 2020 Page 5 NBA and WNBA players strike to demand justice for Jacob Blake

By Steven Ceci anti-racists who were protesting in Kenosha, killing two of them. Rit- On Aug. 26, National Basketball tenhouse was only taken into cus- Association and Women’s National tody the next day — across the state Basketball Association players went line in Illinois, alive and unharmed. on strike in an act of solidarity with Rittenhouse reportedly attended the Black Lives Matter movement, a pro-Trump rally in Des Moines, after a 29-year-old Black man, Jacob Iowa, in January. Blake, was shot seven times in the This was the straw that broke the back at point-blank range by a white camel’s back and jump-started the police o£cer in Kenosha, Wis. wildcat strike of professional bas- Kenosha is 40 miles south of ketball players. Milwau kee, Wisconsin’s largest city The decision by Milwaukee Bucks and home of the Milwaukee Bucks players to strike quickly spread to all NBA team. the NBA teams in the playo›s. Video showed the unarmed Jacob WNBA players had already decided Blake shot as he attempted to enter to walk o› the courts. “Wednesday his car. Three of his children were night, before joining the Milwaukee in the back seat and witnessed the Bucks in strike of their scheduled WNBA’s Washington Mystics took a knee wearing T-shirts with seven bullet holes shooting in horror. Blake’s father games, the WNBA’s Washington on the back to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Then they walked off the court, refusing to play. reported that his son, now paralyzed Mystics arrived on the court wearing from the waist down, is still fighting shirts that together spelled the name for his life. of Jacob Blake. ... On the reverse side came four years to the day after dous video of Jacob Blake being shot The outrageous racist shoot- of the shirts were drawn seven bullet football star Colin Kaepernick of in the back seven times by a police ing of Blake by a white cop visibly holes, lined in dark red.” the San Francisco 49ers first took a o£cer in Kenosha, and the addi- disturbed Milwaukee Bucks guard The actions by both WNBA and knee in protest of structural racism, tional shooting of protestors. … We George Hill at his post-game press NBA players quickly spread to other inequality and the state-sanctioned are calling for justice for Jacob Blake conference in Orlando, Fla., on Aug. professional sports athletes across murder of Black people at the hands and demand the o£cers be held ac- 24, after the Bucks won game four of the country, who walked o› courts, of police. countable.” the NBA Playo›s and took a three- stadiums and fields, stopping over a For over a month, NBA athletes have Four minutes before the start of games-to-one lead over the Orlando dozen professional games in basket- been living and playing in the “bub- the game, players on the Orlan- Magic. ball, baseball, tennis and soccer. ble” at Disney World in Orlando — a do Magic followed suit, leaving the Instead of celebrating his team’s Tennis star Naomi Osaka, of Hai- protected complex to house players court and boycotting the game in victory, Hill said, “I don’t think we tian and Japanese descent, went on and prevent the spread of COVID-19 solidarity with their fellow players should be talking about basketball strike during the semifinals of the during the basketball season. from the Bucks. today. We should talk about the Blake Western & Southern Open in New This was part of an e›ort, under According to ESPN, soon after family and what’s going on. It’s dev- York, causing the tournament to be pressure from wealthy team own- they announced their refusal to play, astating and basketball shouldn’t delayed. ers, but initially supported by many the Bucks were on the phone from even be on our mind right now. We’re “Before I am an athlete, I am a players, to restart the sports season their locker room with Wiscon- thankful for the win, but none of this Black woman,” Osaka wrote in a in the midst of the pandemic. sin Attorney General Josh Kaul and really matters. Twitter post. “And as a Black woman However, since the release of the Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes to present “First of all, we shouldn’t even I feel as though there are much more video of Jacob Blake’s shooting, ten- their demands. have come to this damn place to be important matters at hand that need sions have been mounting inside The players may be subject to re- honest,” Hill said. “Coming here just immediate attention, rather than the bubble among players outraged taliation from both management and took all the focal points o› what the watching me play tennis. I don’t at the continued violence inflicted the NBA for refusing to play, because issues are. But we’re here. It is what expect anything drastic to happen on Black people by the police and the their actions violate a clause in their it is. We can’t do anything from right with me not playing, but if I can get racial injustices entrenched in U.S. contract against striking. Though here. But definitely when it’s all set- a conversation started in a majority society. the team is calling the action a “boy- tled, some things need to be done. white sport I consider that a step in There have been many discussions cott,” they risk a five-million-dollar This world has to change. Our police the right direction.” about whether the season should fine for not showing up to the game. department has to change. We as a continue and what actions players The strike by the NBA and WNBA society have to change. Right now, In the spirit of Kaepernick could take to protest this latest act of has reverberated around the sports we’re not seeing any of that. Lives These solidarity strikes are one police terror. On Aug. 26, these ten- world and will continue to reverber- are being taken as we speak, day in more expression of the widespread sions reached a boiling point when ate throughout society as a whole. and day out. There’s no consequence and growing anger towards police the Bucks refused to take the court. Let’s not forget that we are in the or accountability for it. That’s what terror and systemic racism that has In a statement released by the middle of a pandemic and all the has to change.” driven the movement in the streets team, players explained their rea- rules we are accustomed to no lon- Then, on Aug. 25, 17-year-old and now is motivating labor actions. sons for boycotting the game: “Over ger apply. ₪ self-professed Blue Lives Matter fa- The solidarity labor action by pro- the last few days in our home state of natic Kyle Rittenhouse shot three fessional athletes for Black lives Wisconsin, we’ve seen the horren- A salute to the heroic Attica Rebellion

By Sharon Black At the time of the uprising, 2,300 whose lives hung in the balance at later commented: “With the excep- prisoners were sandwiched into a the whim of a guard, take such he- tion of Indian massacres in the late “We are men! We are not beasts, and prison built for 1,600. White suprem- roic action? 19th century, the State Police assault we do not intend to be driven or acy behind the walls was evident ev- Outside of the jails and also inside which ended the four-day prison beaten as such!” erywhere, from how prisoners were many prisons, a battle was raging uprising was the bloodiest one-day — Elliot L.D. Barkley, a 21-year- housed to brutal work assignments. for the national liberation of Black, encounter between Americans since old leader of the Attica Rebellion Prisoners were allowed one show- Puerto Rican, Indigenous and Chi- the Civil War.” er per week and one roll of toilet pa- canx people. A new revolutionary who was murdered by the state. He Organizing behind the walls was placed in Attica on a minor pa- per a month. They labored for five mood was sweeping the country to role violation and was scheduled to hours a day and were paid between end all kinds of oppression. Serious organizing was going on be released approximately a week 20 cents and $1 for the entire day. For Millions of people were protest- inside Attica prior to the rebellion. after the rebellion broke out. 14 to 16 hours, they were locked in ing the Vietnam War. The women’s Many of the groups outside the pris- On Sept. 9, 1971, approximately tiny 6-foot by 9-foot cells. liberation movement was beginning on were reflected inside, including 1,500 prisoners in Cell Block D seized to blossom. Just two years later, the the Black Panther Party, the Young the Attica Correctional Facility in A revolutionary mood occupation of Wounded Knee by the Lords, the Nation of Islam and the upstate New York, after submitting It is critical to understand the American Indian Movement (AIM) Five Percenters. Many had study a 27-point manifesto in an attempt broader historical context in which took place. groups. The Attica Liberation Fac- to address the torturous conditions this rebellion took place. How could The McKay Commission (New York tion developed in this period. inside the prison. people who were so beaten down, State Special Commission on Attica) Continued on page 7 Page 6 Sept. 14, 2020 STRUGGLE H LA LUCHA Trump lays groundwork to steal election

By Gary Wilson the ruling class, but the instruments president and two months before erty, not people. used by the capitalist class to main- Congress certifies the result. Usu- Trump had the slaveholders’ Con- The newly unleashed federal po- tain its rule. ally, the actual election of the presi- stitution behind him in his claim to lice force entered the Portland, Ore., Throughout the history of the dent by the Electoral College is bare- the presidency. area on Sept. 3 and assassinated an- state — from ancient slave states to ly mentioned in the media. ti-fascist activist and Black Lives medieval monarchies to bourgeois In 2016, when it was predicted What will Trump do? Matter supporter Michael Reinoehl. republics — there has been a ten- that Trump would carry the Elector- So far in the election campaign, Attorney General William Barr tri- dency to personify the state power in al College, President Barack Obama there have been few if any di›er- umphantly announced: “Agitator the personality of an individual. In called Hillary Clinton and demand- ences in domestic and foreign policy removed.” monarchies, it was claimed that the ed she concede the election to Don- between Trump and the extreme- In the U.S., we’ve been told, one of king was the living god on earth. In ald Trump. “You need to concede,” ly conservative Joe Biden. It seems the marks of democracy is that there Japan, the emperor was considered Obama told Clinton early on election improbable that Trump could find is no national police force. The only a god right down to the defeat of the night. enough support to end more than 230 police are employed by state and Empire of Japan in 1945. In current Since Clinton was widely expected years of uninterrupted constitutional local governments, not the federal times, a president or to a lesser ex- to win, there was some concern that rule. It is this long period that gives government. That excludes the Fed- tent the prime minister personifies she might resist or at least postpone the U.S. government its legitimacy. eral Bureau of Investigation, which the state. conceding. This could have sparked The ruling U.S. capitalist class, claims it is not a national police force In the U.S., it is the president who a broader movement to keep Trump dominated by the billionaires for because it is confined to enforc- is chief of state and personifies state out of the White House, perhaps be- Trump, may not support an open ing violations of federal laws, while power. The president personifies the cause he had lost the popular vote. Trump coup, which would also put an most laws in the U.S. are state laws. state as the leader elected in a dem- When Obama called Clinton de- end to the government’s legitima- However, since the creation of the ocratic election. However, in the U.S., manding that she concede, the result cy. After all, Biden wouldn’t be a real Department of Homeland Security, which is a republic but not a democ- of the popular vote wasn’t known. change. Biden’s primary campaign established after 9/11 under Presi- racy, no president has ever been di- But at 1:30 a.m., the TV networks promises are to avoid Trump’s ex- dent George W. Bush, federal secu- rectly elected by popular vote. In- were predicting that Trump had won treme racist rhetoric at home while rity forces often wear uniforms that stead, the president is chosen by the the Electoral College vote. Under the continuing to target U.S. “enemies” identify them as “police.” These are Electoral College. U.S. electoral system, that’s all that such as China, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba the secret, unidentified federal po- U.S. presidential elections are, by matters. It turned out that Clin- and Zimbabwe. The essence of U.S. lice being used against the people design, complicated procedures. The ton had gotten almost three mil- imperialism and its policies would of major working-class cities where presidency is a national position, lion more votes than Trump. But the remain unchanged. Black Lives Matter protests have but the elections are organized by electors are chosen not on a national However, Trump could get sup- been ongoing since the Minneapo- the individual states. According to but a state basis, and on this basis, port for stealing the election as long lis police murdered George Floyd on current law and the Constitution as electors pledged to Trump were in as a pretext for constitutional rule May 25, 2020. amended, all U.S. citizens who have the majority. is maintained. Indeed, this is an old Could Trump use these paramili- reached the age of 18 and who have In theory, Clinton could have de- tradition in the U.S. Tammany Hall, tary forces to stage a coup d’etat if he not been convicted of a felony — the manded that the GOP-majority Elec- the corrupt Democratic machine that loses the Nov. 3 presidential elections? exact rules vary state by state — are toral College bow to the popular vote, dominated New York City politics Trump has hinted that he might eligible to vote for the presidential which showed that the majority did from the early 19th century until the do that. When asked by Fox News electors on Nov. 3, 2020. not want the racist far-right Trump 1960s, was notorious for the slogan, anchor Chris Wallace whether he These electors form the Electoral to be president. Also, the popular “Vote early and vote often.” Chicago, would accept the results of the pres- College and are sworn to vote for a vote was extremely close in three also home of a corrupt Democratic idential election, Trump answered: specific presidential candidate, with states — Wisconsin, Michigan, and machine, was infamous for its “Chi- “It depends. I think mail-in voting is variations among the states as to Pennsylvania — where Trump had cago Methods” of stealing elections. going to rig the election.” how this is exactly decided. After the won by extremely narrow margins It is widely believed that John F. Pressed on whether he will accept election, the electors will assemble and preelection polls had indicated Kennedy won the presidency in 1960 the results of the November election, on Dec. 14, 2020. That’s the Electoral that Clinton would prevail. only because the Chicago machine Trump responded, “I have to see.” College and the electors are expect- There was also the problem of — Mayor Richard J. Daley and the After the November 2016 election, ed, but not constitutionally bound, widespread suppression of the Black Chicago Mob — managed to steal when he lost the popular vote by al- to vote for the candidates they rep- vote. Racist voter suppression was enough votes to swing the state of Il- most three million votes to Hillary resent. The electors cast ballots and restored by the Supreme Court in a linois vote from Republican Richard Clinton, Trump insisted that he had pick a president. Immediately after 2013 decision that voided much of Nixon to Democrat Kennedy. really won the popular vote and that this vote, the Electoral College is the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Republican Nixon conceded the Clinton only appeared to win be- dissolved. was the first time that “one person, election of 1960 that Democrat John cause “unauthorized” immigrants Finally, the Electoral College re- one vote” was made law in the U.S. F. Kennedy had stolen from him, just had voted. Factcheck.org says there sults are reported to Congress, Clinton could have demanded re- as Democrats Al Gore in 2000 and is no “evidence of wrongdoing, and where the Electoral College votes are counts in these states, but didn’t. Jill Hillary Clinton in 2016 conceded numerous studies have found such to be counted and certified at a joint Stein of the Green Party demanded elections that were stolen from them. voter fraud is virtually nonexistent.” session on Jan. 6, 2021. That is when recounts in Pennsylvania, Michigan For a hundred years, from the end Trump’s current election strate- the victorious candidate formally and Wisconsin and raised more than of the Civil War until 1968, the “Jim gy counts on a turnout of “populist” becomes the president-elect. $7 million to fund it, but ultimately, Crow” system of apartheid in the racist voters combined with exten- That’s the law. But there are also the e›ort was blocked by the courts. U.S. was built in no small measure by sive voter suppression to ensure his uno£cial election rules. However, Obama and the Demo- election-stealing by the Democratic reelection in the Electoral College. One uno£cial rule is that only a cratic Party rejected such a challenge Party, achieved through the illegal The Electoral College is an undemo- Democrat or a Republican can be from the very beginning. With- and unconstitutional suppression of cratic institution that was created to president. The laws protect the sta- in a few hours, Clinton had already the Black vote. ensure the dominance of the slave- tus of the two parties as o£cial, bowed to the overwhelming pressure There are many ways that U.S. elec- holders in the U.S. and continues to putting them automatically on every and conceded the election to Trump. tions are undemocratic compared to do something like that today. (See ballot and restricting or prohibit- The media began to refer to Trump as most capitalist countries. One way “The Electoral College’s Racist Ori- ing any other parties. This limit on the “president-elect,” though from a is that elections are held on a work- gins,” The Atlantic, Nov. 17, 2019) parties in the U.S. makes it the least legal point of view he was not yet the day, not on a holiday or a weekend, as diverse of all the major capitalist president-elect. This killed any at- they are in all other countries. This The state and the president countries, where normally, there are tempt to challenge Trump’s right to makes it di£cult if not impossible In “The State and Revolution,” the many political parties. assume o£ce, which he had no dem- for most workers to vote. Russian revolutionary leader and ocratic claim to. Exhausted by work and not in- Marxist political theorist Vladimir Hillary Clinton told to concede But the U.S. Constitution was spired by the candidates, most Lenin wrote that the capitalist state before results were known written by and for slaveholders. In workers choose not to stand in line is an institution of organized vio- Another uno£cial rule is that the the words of Supreme Court Justice for hours to vote. lence that is used by the ruling class losing candidate in the presidential Thurgood Marshall, the Constitu- of a country to maintain its rule. election, whether Democrat or Re- tion and its many undemocratic fea- Voting by mail is safe “State power,” Lenin said, is rooted publican, is expected to concede as tures legalized slavery. At the time, and democratic in “special bodies of armed men hav- soon as possible to the victorious there was no bourgeois democra- An attempt to overcome this lim- ing prisons, etc., at their command.” candidate. This is expected to occur cy anywhere in the world and there itation on voting has been the intro- The capitalist state machine is the on election night, when the TV net- were no plans for democracy. In the duction of mail-in voting. Under this legislative bodies, the prisons, the works “call” the election based on Federalist Papers, democracy was system, a ballot is mailed to eligible standing armies, National Guard computer predictions of the results. dismissed as mob rule — the mob voters — either all voters or on re- and state militias, police and the This occurs weeks before the being poor people and farmers — quest to individual voters. This way, government agencies. This is not Electoral College formally elects the and slaves were dismissed as prop- Continued on page 7 STRUGGLE H LA LUCHA Sept. 14, 2020 Page 7

Billionaires for Trump would support stealing the election as long as a pretext for constitutional rule is maintained. Indeed, this is an old tradition in the U.S.

Continued from page 6 1960, Al Gore in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 all put the stability voters have time to mark the bal- of the state power ahead of the rules lot and then mail it in. They have of democracy and the legalities that more time to consider the issues and govern U.S. elections. are less likely to make a mistake in Trump hints that he will not con- marking the ballot. cede the election even if the broad- This year, the still-rising cast networks project Biden as the COVID-19 pandemic means that if winner in the Electoral College. In- you stand in line to vote in a “booth” stead, he may declare that the elec- on Nov. 3, you will not only experi- tion was rigged. ence an inconvenience, you will be Perhaps Trump will challenge risking your life and the lives of your the result in the courts, including loved ones. the Supreme Court. Remember, the It appears that the majority of U.S. Republican-controlled Supreme voters prefer Joe Biden as a “less- Court reversed the results of the er evil” to the widely hated Don- 2000 elections by handing the White ald Trump. They might be willing House to defeated Republican candi- to go out of their way or vote after date George W. Bush. Could they do an exhausting working day to help so again in 2020? get Trump out of the White House. If Trump does not concede, ac- But how many will be willing to risk Aug. 26 protest at Ft. McHenry, Md., where Vice President Pence was appearing, cording to previous practice, the their lives to do this? And of those demands end to attacks on Postal Service and voting rights. Photo: SLL media will not declare Biden the who are willing to risk their own “president-elect.” Then, Trump’s lives, how many are willing to risk rule of thumb that if voter turnout removed. If there is widespread vot- reactionary-racist base may rally in the lives of family members if they is high the Democrat wins, and if it ing by mail despite the obstacles, the streets, perhaps even in armed catch COVID-19 while standing in is low the Republican wins. Many reporting of the November election demonstrations, demanding the line to vote? elections are won by the Republicans results will be delayed. This increas- courts declare Trump the winner. The Republicans and Trump are because potential Democratic voters, es the chances that the results will be By allowing the elections of 2000 betting that many potential Biden though more numerous than Repub- contested, especially if Trump loses. and 2016 to be stolen from them voters will not be willing to risk lican voters, are not inspired enough That’s where Trump’s statements without a fight, the Democrats have the lives of themselves and/or their to bother to vote. come in that he may not “accept the made it much easier for Trump to loved ones simply to vote for Biden. Trump has also stepped up his at- results” because they will be fake, steal the election in 2020. Trump, therefore, has made a spe- tack on the U.S. Postal Service with especially if voting by mail is al- Trump has good reason to believe cial issue of opposing voting by mail. moves toward privatization. The at- lowed. The results, Trump said, will that Biden would quickly concede He claims that voting by mail en- tacks on the post o£ce are signif- “be rigged.” By “rigging,” Trump the election to him if Trump has any ables widespread “fraud.” In reality, icant because voting by mail is the means more people who are legally pretext at all for claiming he won the he means voting by people of color. only democratic and safe way to vote entitled to vote are voting. Electoral College. If Biden concedes Trump threatened to sue the this year. Under the new postmas- the election, the media will declare state of Nevada, whose legislature, ter-general, Trump appointee Louis Who will concede? Trump “reelected,” and he will be now dominated by Democrats, has DeJoy, mail deliveries have slowed The uno£cial rule is that a pres- sworn in for his second term as the passed a vote-by-mail law. Trump considerably, according to the postal idential candidate becomes the unchallenged “legitimate” presi- even claims that if voting by mail is workers’ unions. Also, many mail- “president-elect” when his or her dent of the United States on Jan. 20, allowed, not a single Republican will boxes and mail-sorting machines opponent concedes. However, once 2021. ever again be elected to any o£ce. have been removed. the candidate does “concede,” it be- If Biden doesn’t concede, it opens Though exaggerated, there is While public outrage has forced comes hard to build a movement in the possibility for a broad move- some truth in that. Under present DeJoy to promise not to remove any the streets or elsewhere to contest ment to “vote in the streets” and stop U.S. political conditions where there more mailboxes and sorting equip- a stolen election. Richard Nixon in Trump from stealing the election. ₪ is low socialist class consciousness ment, he has indicated he will not in the working class, it has been a replace those that have already been

The heroic Attica Rebellion

Continued from page 5 commissioner or governor. While the events that took place on In July 1971, the Attica Liberation Sept. 9 were spontaneous and began Faction presented a list of 27 de- as a clash between guards and pris- mands to Commissioner of Correc- oners, the level of organizing and tions Russell Oswald and Gov. Nel- what became a full-scale uprising son Rockefeller. This list of demands were the result of the revolutionary was based on the Folsom Prisoners’ leadership and consciousness that Manifesto crafted by Chicanx pris- had grown during this period. oner Martin Sousa in support of a What’s remarkable is the high de- On Sept. 9, 1971, prisoners seized the Attica Correctional Facility in New York State, November 1970 prisoner strike in gree of organization and discipline after submitting a manifesto addressing the torturous conditions inside the prison. California. of the thousands of prisoners who Then, on Aug. 21, 1971, Black Pan- took part. They elected a central to many revolutionary socialists of What happened in the immedi- ther leader George Jackson was committee, which rotated chairpeo- the potential for a workers’ state. It ate aftermath of the slaughter is too gunned down by racist guards in ple; they organized a 33-person ob- was ultimately put down in blood, painful to fully describe. Prisoners California’s San Quentin prison. servers’ committee, which included but the lessons remain. were stripped naked, beaten, made to Prisoners all across the country, in- not only attorney William Kunstler, A century later, on Sept. 13, 1971, run through gauntlets of guards and cluding several hundred in Attica, Black Panther Bobby Seale, New Gov. Rockefeller ordered the storm- brutally tortured. Guards stormed went on hunger strikes. The assassi- York State Assemblymember Arthur ing of Attica prison. With helicopters into the yard chanting “white power.” nation of George Jackson became the O. Eve, and representatives of the flying overhead, close to 1,000 state glue that allowed the Attica prison- Young Lords, but also Tom Soto of troopers, national guard troops and A battle cry for liberation ers to unite across religions, nation- the Prisoners Solidarity Committee. prison guards fired into the yard, Nevertheless, the Attica uprising alities and political factions. The first time the working class killing 39 people and wounding 85 and the massacre stirred prison- took power into its own hands was in what can only be described as a ers everywhere. It’s estimated that The prisoners’ Paris Commune the insurrection known as the Paris massacre. This took place in just 15 200,000 prisoners protested and held On Sept. 9, Attica prisoners seized Commune of 1871. The communards minutes. strikes in its aftermath. The number the facility. They took corrections canceled rents, recognized women’s The press screamed that the 10 of prison rebellions doubled. o£cers hostage to ensure that their rights, abolished child labor, took captive guards who died had their It continues to serve as a beacon protest would be heard, since they over workplaces and set up their throats slit. But autopsies showed today for those fighting against rac- had received no response to their own form of government. The com- that all 10 had been shot to death by ism and mass incarceration and for manifesto from the corrections mune served as a historical example Rockefeller’s storm troopers. workers’ rights everywhere. ₪ Page 8 Sept. 14, 2020 STRUGGLE H LA LUCHA Don’t blame Russia for Trump

By Stephen Millies U.S. capitalists continued supporting U.S. military intervention to meddle after the Soviet and coups through this program. Russia didn’t put Donald Trump Union’s breakup in 1991. U.S. Directing Operation Mocking- in the White House. Large sections election consultants bragged bird was Cord Meyer, whose wealthy of the U.S. billionaire class did, with that they helped reelect Rus- family developed the swanky Forest help from the FBI. sian President Boris Yeltsin in Hills neighborhood in Queens, N.Y. Yet most of the corporate media 1996. Mary Pinchot Meyer — Cord Mey- convicted the Russian Federation of The CIA’s payroll was filled er’s ex-partner — was murdered the crime. The country is now be- with lying propaganda ex- in what many people believe was a ing accused of using Facebook and perts. Among them were Da- death connected to JFK’s assassina- Twitter to help reelect Trump. vid Atlee Phillips and E. How- tion. The U.S. government attempt- The New York Times claims that ard Hunt. ed to frame a Black man, Raymond Russia’s Internet Research Agency Both of them worked to Crump, for the crime, but his lawyer, is “targeting Americans with mis- overthrow Guatemala’s dem- Dovey Roundtree, secured an ac- information.” What’s the real story? ocratically elected president, quittal from the jury. Jacobo Árbenz, in 1954 on be- • It was the U.S. Supreme Court that Denying El Mozote massacre gutted the Voting Rights Act —not half of United Fruit. In the Russia. decades following the CIA’s The lying continued years after Operation PBSuccess, 200,000 Operation Mockingbird was exposed. • Russia didn’t create the Elector- people, overwhelmingly In- The Washington Post and New al College that selected Donald digenous, were murdered by York Times capitulated to the Rea- Trump to be president despite death squads. gan administration after reporting Hillary Clinton receiving nearly Phillips would later play about the El Mozote massacre in El 3 million more votes. It was the Time Magazine cover from 1996 celebrates a key role in President John Salvador. Around 1,000 people, in- slave master James Madison who U.S. interference in Russia’s elections. F. Kennedy’s assassination, cluding hundreds of children, were devised the Electoral College to while Hunt went to jail for killed by U.S.-backed forces there on protect slavery. President Richard Nixon’s Watergate Dec. 11, 1981. • The capitalist media gave Trump a real danger of a U.S. war against burglary. The Wall Street Journal called the nearly $3 billion of free publici- Russia and China. Other U.S. propaganda assets in- articles written by Times reporter ty. NBC made this racist clown a Instead of allegations concerning clude Voice of America, Radio Free Raymond Bonner “communist pro- nationally known figure by giving Ukraine and Russia, Trump should Asia and Radio Martí, beamed at paganda.” Abe Rosenthal, the Times’ him his own TV show. have been impeached for racism. Cuba. In 2018, the U.S. Agency for managing editor, then transferred • Eleven days before the 2016 elec- That’s what Texas representative Global Media spent $803 million on Bonner from El Salvador to the pa- tion, then-FBI Director James and Black Congressional Caucus these lie machines. per’s financial desk in New York. Comey sent a letter to Congress member Al Green advocated. CIA executive Frank Wisner called Alma Guillermoprieto, who wrote virtually accusing Hillary Clin- the agency’s propaganda e›orts a about the massacre for the Wash- ton of crimes involving her email World’s biggest liar points at Russia “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ. The CIA ington Post, was reassigned to cover server. In 2020, the police state It’s the CIA that drenches the even operated a daily newspaper in the Maryland suburbs. apparatus is solidly behind Trump world with lies. Radio Free Europe Rome, the Daily American. Last year, Congressperson Ilhan in trying to crush the Black Lives was a CIA front. So was Radio Liber- Operation Mockingbird was the Omar righteously questioned Elliot Matter movement. ty, aimed at the Soviet Union. CIA’s influence program aimed at Abrams about his role in the coverup. • While some billionaires oppose The Pentagon spent at least $5.5 the United States. Dozens of news- Like the Wall Street Journal, Abrams Trump, the day after the 2016 trillion between 1940 and 1996 on papers, magazines and broadcasting labeled reports of the massacre as election, the Dow Jones Industrial nuclear weapons aimed at the Soviet companies willingly participated in “communist propaganda.” Average shot up 272 points. No bil- Union. That money should have been this illegal program. War criminal Abrams, who coor- lionaires refused Trump’s tax cuts spent on reparations for Black and Among them were Time, ABC, CBS, dinated death squads for Reagan, is for the super rich. Indigenous people. NBC and the New York Times — the now Trump’s point person in trying The campaign against Russia di- The socialist Soviet Union’s down- same outfits that are now attacking to overthrow Venezuela’s elected verted the struggle against Trump. fall was an immense tragedy for poor “Russian propaganda.” Journalist president, Nicolás Maduro Moros. It plays into the hands of Pentagon and working people everywhere, just Carl Bernstein, who helped expose Our enemies are in the Pentagon generals, who want to occupy Rus- as Reconstruction’s overthrow was the Watergate scandal, estimates 400 and corporate boardrooms — not in sia’s 6 million square miles. There’s for Black people in the U.S. editors and reporters wrote stories Moscow. ₪

Kevin Zeese, ¡presenté!

By Sharon Black For 37 days, Zeese, along with other protectors both inside the Struggle-La Lucha newspaper and embassy and in the streets, faced o› the Socialist Unity Party/Partido de with the Department of Homeland Socialismo Unido send our heartfelt Security and all sorts of other vile, condolences to Kevin Zeese’s fami- racist, homophobic, violent right- ly, loved ones and friends, especial- wing Guaido supporters and police ly his life partner Margaret Flowers. agencies. The state tried to starve His sudden death on Sept. 6 is a loss the protectors, then turned o› elec- for the entire anti-capitalist and an- tricity and, at one point, even water. ti-imperialist movement. But it took the forcible removal and Zeese and Flowers co-founded arrests of the four protectors who Popular Resistance. Zeese will also remained inside, including Zeese, to be remembered for his sacrifices and end the stando›. the role he played in the Embassy The Embassy Protectors faced Protection Collective in 2019. heavy federal charges. After a major When the U.S. government under defense campaign was mounted, the Donald Trump was poised to illegal- U.S. government was forced to drop ly seize the Venezuelan Embassy in the charges on all four defendants. Washington, D.C., and hand it over This became a pivotal part of the to its puppet Juan Guaido, who de- struggle in the United States to de- clared himself president of Venezue- fend the sovereignty of Venezuela la, Zeese put his body on the line and and to fight against imperialist war. became a protector of the embassy Before his sudden death, Zeese We can best remember him by re- Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers at and international law. This was in the was working on a program around doubling our e›orts to end capitalist the Venezuelan Embassy in 2019. immediate aftermath of a failed U.S. the case of imprisoned journalist exploitation and imperialist war. PHOTO: POPULAR RESISTANCE coup against democratically-elected Julian Assange, whose extradition Kevin Zeese, rest in power! ₪ President Nicolás Maduro. trial begins this week. STRUGGLE H LA LUCHA Sept. 14, 2020 Page 9 Congress of the Peoples of the East resonates 100 years later

By Bayani

For a moment, let’s travel back in time exactly 100 years to Baku, a city in what was known then as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Somewhere in the city, nearly 1,900 people gathered in a crowd- ed, noisy hall for eight days to conduct the Congress of the Peoples of the East. ‘The Internationale’ was performed Look around the assembly and we’ll see by the Eastern Orchestra. people representing not only the revolu- • Complete equality of rights; tionary working-class organizations of • Ensuring to women unconditional access the capitalist and imperialist nations, but to educational and vocation al institutions also revolutionaries representing national established for men; liberation struggles from the colonial and • Equality of rights of both parties in marriage; semicolonial world. • Unconditional abolition of polygamy; Some of them may look ragged or in grief • Unconditional admission of women to employ ment from their travels to Baku. The road between their Women delegates attending the conference. in legislative and administrative institutions; countries and Azerbaijan was perilous. After all, • Establishment of committees for the rights and most of the globe was gripped in the ravages of violent seizure of colonies, they own the land, protection of women everywhere, in cities, in World War I only two years earlier, and the first banks and factories of the colonized people. towns and villages. successful working-class revolution had seized This causes the forced migration of people state power from Tsarist Russia a year before that. because they cannot find employment in their Solidarity from workers of imperialist countries The world’s imperialist powers were eager to own lands. Readers here in the U.S. would be particularly contain this type of threat to their power. Brit- Most important was the congress’s declara- interested in the statements of John Reed, a U.S. ain had established a military blockade of Soviet tion of solidarity and support for the anti-colo- revolutionary and journalist. Russia and used it to impede travel to Baku — in nial struggles of the colonized world. Though ac- At the time, the United States was the rising one instance killing two delegates and injuring knowledging that the liberation struggles would imperialist power of the world, having violently several others when British warplanes attacked a not stop at the elimination of foreign imperialists seized Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines as ship traveling from Iran. The Armenian and Geor- nor the expropriation of land from the big land- colonies a little over 20 years before. Having re- gian governments, not yet overthrown by work- lords, the congress urged a united front between ported on and studied these wars, Reed used his ing-class forces, outright banned attendance of the oppressed classes of each country and their speech to warn the congress about the brutal na- the conference. Delegates from these countries own national bourgeoisie in order to begin inde- ture of U.S. imperialism: crossed borders in secret. pendent economic development. “You, the peoples of the East, the peoples of Asia, The congress was called after a decision by the But until the Soviet system is implemented, in have not yet experienced for yourselves the rule of Second Congress of the Communist Internation- which the working and toiling masses gain the America. You know and hate the British, French and al, a worldwide coalition of communist parties experience of self-government, the anti-colonial Italian imperialists, and probably you think that and organizations from all over the world, for the revolution will not be complete. ‘free America’ will govern better, will liberate the purpose of building unity and solidarity between peoples of the colonies, will feed and defend them. the working-class movements of the “West” with Unprecedented steps in women’s liberation “No. The workers and peasants of the Philip- the anti-colonial nation al liberation movements Despite the best e›orts of the Communist Inter- pines, the peoples of Central America and the is- of the “East.” national, only 55 of the almost 2,000 delegates of lands of the Caribbean, they know what it means the Congress of the Peoples of the East were wom- Achievements of the congress to live under the rule of ‘free America.’” en. But even this was a leap forward in the fight He further exposed the bloody role of U.S. impe- Eight days of thorough political discussion for women’s political rights — two women sat rialism in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, yielded the comprehensive Manifesto of the Con- alongside two men in the joint chair committee Armenia and, most notably, the Black nation inside gress of the Peoples of the East, which laid out the and three women won elections to the presidium. the U.S.: “With the purpose of distracting the atten- most important unities of the gathering: Perhaps the most remembered and studied tion of the American workers from the capitalists, • In the spirit of ending the power of the rich speech of the congress is that of Turkish commu- their exploiters, the latter stir up hatred against over the workers but also the power of some nist Naciye Hanim, who took the delegates to task: the Negroes, provoking war between the white peoples over others, the congress urged the “However sincere and however vigorous your en- and Black races. The Negroes, whom they lawlessly workers of the imperialist countries to unite deavors may be, they will be fruitless unless you burn alive, are beginning to see that their only hope with the peasants and other oppressed classes summon the women to become real helpers in lies in armed resistance to the white bandits.” of the peoples of the East. your work.” She insisted on the necessity of wom- John Reed provides a model for the workers of • The congress thoroughly and ruthlessly con- en’s liberation and political participation to foster the imperialist countries on the revolutionary at- demned the British Empire and its presence genuine revolution. titude to take towards U.S. imperialism and soli- and schemes in India, Turkey, Persia (now Hanim rejected a women’s movement that darity with the peoples of oppressed nations: “Do known as Iran), Mesopotamia and Arabia (ar- aimed for assimilation into feudal or bourgeois not believe the promises of the American capital- eas now roughly corresponding to most of Iraq life: “The women’s movement in the East must ists! There is only one road to freedom. Unite with and Kuwait, and parts of Syria and Turkey), not be looked at from the standpoint of those friv- the Russian workers and peasants who have over- Palestine, Egypt, China, Korea, Afghanistan, olous feminists who are content to see woman’s thrown their capitalists and whose Red Army has Armenia, Georgia and Eastern Europe. place in social life as that of a delicate plant or an beaten the foreign imperialists!” • The congress presented a thorough analysis elegant doll.” of the political economy of British colonial- Hanim also presented a list of demands that not Vital lessons for anti-imperialists ism and the forced migration of the colonized only reflected the development of the women’s The theses developed at the Congress of the peoples. In short, British imperialist capital, in liberation struggle at the time, but also pushed it Peoples of the East were built on the foundation order to survive, must go beyond its borders to forward and provided a model for women’s strug- of Lenin’s theory of imperialism and to this day find new investments and new markets, and by gles moving forward: provide revolutionaries with a stronger analysis on how to build a world revolution. Those who read this article and study the minutes of the congress may be shocked at the continuing relevance of its theses. Of course, we must always take into account the changes in material conditions of the world — the role of “number 1 imperialist” shifting from Britain to the United States, the structural shift from outright colonialism to neocolonialism, etc. But the relevance of the Congress of the Peoples of the East speaks to the timeliness of the tools of Marx and Lenin for the study of society Presidium of the congress. Delegates gathered in the conference hall. and revolution. ₪ Llamado a los revolucionarios: Debemos defendernos unos a otros del ataque estatal

Por Partido de Socialismo Unido policiales y militares en colusión con pandillas fuerzas revolucionarias dispersas geográfica y fascistas supremacistas blancas, dirigidas a so- políticamente, deben comenzar a unirse. Las organizaciones y partidos revolucionarios focar las rebeliones contra el racismo y el terror El Partido de Socialismo Unido propone un en los EE.UU. seguramente están conscientes de policial. primer paso hacia esta unidad: Debemos com- la importancia del actual período político. Hay Es por esto que el Partido de Social ismo Unido/ prometernos a defendernos unos a otros de los manifestaciones masivas en las calles, tanto Socialist Unity Party urgentemente hace un llama- ataques del Estado. Ya hemos visto a revoluciona- organizadas como espontáneas, en una total do a la unidad, coordinación y preparación entre rios secuestrados y encarcelados por su heroica rebelión contra el racismo. Una pandemia global partidos y organizaciones revolucionarias en los labor en las rebeliones. El Partido de Socialismo ha demostrado la incapacidad y la absoluta falta Estados Unidos. Una situación crítica se está de- Unido pide a todos los partidos y organizaciones de voluntad del imperialismo y el capitalismo sarrollando en el centro global del imperialismo y que planteen estos casos para que el movimiento monopolista para proteger cualquier cosa que a medida que se intensifiquen las diversas luchas, pueda amplificarlos y darlos a conocer a nuestra no sean sus ganancias. Y el terror del Estado en llegarán a un callejón sin salida sin liderazgo rev- clase para movilizar apoyo. forma de asesinatos policiales, ejecuciones ex- olucionario de la clase trabajadora. El aumento y la disminución del movimiento trajudiciales y secuestros, además del belicismo Es la responsabilidad de los partidos y or- en este período requerirá que las fuerzas revolu- imperialista, sigue siendo la orden del día en todo ganizaciones revolucionarias, armados con la cionarias evalúen, analicen y planifiquen con- el mundo. combinación de teoría y práctica revolucionaria stantemente nuestros próximos pasos. Pero lo La conciencia revolucionaria de clase está cre- de por décadas, de preparar a las masas para este que seguramente se requerirá es una unidad ciendo entre la clase trabajadora estadounidense período político y los venideros. Para eso, las más fuerte entre los partidos y las organiza- de una manera sin precedentes, y ciones revolucionarias. la clase dominante capitalista se Esperamos sin ceramente que da cuenta. Sabemos que los capi- este pueda ser el primer paso. talistas se están preparando para ¡Unidos hacia la victoria y liberación! defender su dominio de clase. Ya vemos el aumento de fuerzas

Appeal to revolutionaries: We must defend each other from state attack By Socialist Unity Party their class rule. Already we see the ramping up of revolutionary forces, scattered geographically Revolutionary parties and organizations in the police and military forces, in collusion with fas- and politically, must begin to unite. U.S. are surely aware of the significance of today’s cist white supremacist gangs, aimed at quelling The Socialist Unity Party proposes a first step political period. There are the massive outpour- the rebellions against racism and police terror. towards this unity: We must commit to defend ings into the streets, both organized and spon- This is why the Socialist Unity Party/Partido de each other from state attack. We have already seen taneous, in an all-out rebellion against racism. Socialismo Unido urgently calls for unity, coordi- revolutionaries kidnapped and imprisoned for A global pandemic has laid bare the inability and nation and preparation among the revolutionary their heroic work in the rebellions. The Socialist outright unwillingness of imperialism and mo- parties and organizations in the United States. A Unity Party calls on all parties and organizations nopoly capitalism to protect anything but profits. critical situation is unfolding in the global center to raise these cases so the movement can amplify And state terror in the form of police murder, ex- of imperialism, and as the various struggles in- them to our class and mobilize support. trajudicial killings and kidnappings, and imperi- tensify, they will reach a dead end without revo- The waxing and waning of the movement in alist warmongering continues to be the order of lutionary working-class leadership. this period will require the revolutionary forces the day around the world. It is the responsibility of revolutionary par- to constantly assess, analyze and strategize our Revolutionary class consciousness is building ties and organizations, armed with revolution- next steps. But what is sure to be required is a among the U.S. working class in an unprecedent- ary theory and decades of combined revolution- stronger unity between revolutionary parties and ed way, and the capitalist ruling class sees it. We ary practice, to ready the masses for this political organizations. It is our sincere hope that this can know that the capitalists are gearing up to defend period and those to come. In order to do this, the be the first step. You’ll find us online and in print. Nos encontrará en línea y impresos.

Socialist Unity Party JOIN US! SUPPORT US! Partido de Socialismo Unido West Coast office 5278 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles., CA 90019 Struggle-La-Lucha.org Phone: 323.306.6240 Twitter: @StruggleLaLucha East Coast office Facebook.com/strugglelalucha 2011 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218 email: [email protected] Phone: 443.221.3775 Vol. 3, No. 18 Sept. 14, 2020 Vol. 3, Núm. 18 14 de septiembre de 2020