d FACT-CHECKING SOCIALIST TRUMP AND BIDEN ACTION P. 7 VOL. 38, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2020 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. $1 / CANADA $2 Trump Threatens Election Day Coup Into the Streets! Shut It Down! Police attacked protesters with tear gas canisters and flash grenades on June 1 , so Trump could walk to St. John’s Church for a photo-op. Photo: Erin Schaff/The New York Times By Jeff Mackler, Socialist Action’s 2020 candidate for U.S. President Billionaire-Backed President Donald Trump responded on Sept. 23 to a reporter’s question “Win, lose, or draw in this election, will you commit here today for a peaceful trans- Biden and Trump Debate fer of power after the election?” Trump said, “We’re going to have to By David Ryan ed minority ruling rich. mongering parties see the U.S. military, see what happens…We want to get rid The overt bigot President Trump sig- whose troops are stationed in 800 bases of the [mail-in] ballots, and we’ll have a Joseph Biden’s Democrats have the naled during his debate with former VP in 70 countries around the world, as cen- very peaceful — there won’t be a trans- edge on Donald Trump’s Republicans Biden that violence might be his intend- tral to “protecting” U.S. imperialism’s fer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.” with regard to billionaire backing, with ed response when he urged his Proud interests everywhere, including in the Trump subsequently repeated his threat Biden leading, according to Forbes mag- Boy racist followers to “Stand back and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair, Gener- to declare himself president on Election azine, by 131-93. This simple fact in- stand by,” if he felt the need to call in al Mark Milley, who winced in June at Day, apparently based on his presump- forms us that something is fundamental- federal troops to crush the expected and Trump’s suggestion that federal troops tion that his personal rejection of count- ly defective with the system itself. If our unprecedented mass mobilizations that be called in to quash Washington, D.C. ing mail-in and absentee ballots will ul- future depends on a Biden or a Trump will inevitably follow should he declare peaceful protestors, stated that calling on timately be upheld by the U.S. Supreme to save humanity from the multiple and himself president on Election Day af- such troops was unnecessary, “at least Court. catastrophic crises that capitalism has ter refusing to count tens of millions of for now.” At least for now! The spectacle of some dozen U.S. TV created, we are in deep trouble. On the mail-in and absentee ballots. Biden’s VP The ugly Sept. 29 Biden-Trump slug- stations broadcasting election returns on other hand, if the future depends on the pick, Kamala Harris, bragged during her fest shocked even the most cynical ob- November 3 while Trump’s White House determined center stage entrance of the subsequent debate with VP Mike Pence servers. But Trump’s endless crude in- simultaneously prepares its own count, working class masses, as we saw in the that in addition to the “seven members terruptions, torrent of lies and personal is almost beyond belief. Yet, if would- mobilization of some 20 million in 2000- of president George W. Bush’s cabinet insults notwithstanding, neither he nor be dictator Trump takes this route there plus cities in solidarity with Black Lives [who] are supporting our ticket, we have Biden proved capable of seriously ad- is zero doubt that we will see a massive Matter anti-racist protests, we have a the support of over 500 generals, retired dressing any of the critical issues facing protest mobilization of unprecedented world to win. That’s the only real con- generals and former national security ex- working people today. (continued on page 6) cern of the increasing repression-orient- perts and advisors.” No doubt both war- (continued on page 6) Upcoming Events - 2 Capitalist “Justice” - 5 SEIU Drop the Cops - 10 INSIDE Julian Assange - 3 Real Story of U.S. Empire - 7 Greek Fascists Jailed - 11 SOCIALIST ACTION Sin Fronteras - 4 Northern Lights - 8 Breonna Taylor Verdict - 12 Upcoming New Member WHERE TO Events FIND US Educational Series Bay Area, CALIFORNIA P.O. Box 10328 Oakland, CA 94610 Remembering [email protected] Continues! (510) 268-9429 Revolutionary North Bay, CALIFORNIA [email protected] Socialist Boulder, COLORADO [email protected] George Shriver Chicago, ILLINOIS P.O. BOX 578428 1936-2020 [email protected] Lexington, KENTUCKY Saturday [email protected] Louisville, KENTUCKY November 7, [email protected] Brunswick, MAINE 4pm ET [email protected] Detroit, MICHIGAN on [email protected] Socialist Action “Books in all branches of knowledge.” Soviet poster from 1925. Kansas City, MISSOURI [email protected] YouTube New Member Educational Series (816) 221-3638 All classes start at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time Minneapolis–St. Paul, MN [email protected] Speakers include: Mon., Aug. 10 Building the Revolutionary Socialist Party Naomi Allen Today: Lessons of the Russian Revolution Buffalo, NEW YORK Marilyn Vogt-Downey Jeff Mackler [email protected] Jeff Mackler Mon., Aug. 24 The United Front: What It Is, and How It Can NEW YORK CITY Change the World [email protected] Paul LeBlanc Barry Weisleder (212) 781-5157 Ann Montague Mon., Sept. 7 Class Struggle Feminism Salem, OREGON Peter Hudis Ann Montague & Lisa Luinenberg [email protected] [email protected] Eduardo Quintana Mon., Sept. 21 Leninism: Understanding Imperialism and (971) 312-7369 Fernando Torres the State Gary Porter Nashville, TENNESSEE [email protected] Lifetime revolutionary socialist activ- Mon., Oct. 5 How Haiti’s Slave Revolution Changed the ist, author, journalist, translator, organiz- World Dallas–Fort Worth, TEXAS [email protected] er Marty Goodman George Shriver’s political activity spanned six decades, including the fight Mon., Oct. 19 Marxism and Freedom against the McCarthy-era witchhunts, Gary Bills Socialist Action the early civil rights movement, the es- Mon., Nov. 2 Introduction to Marxist Economics CANADA tablishment of the Fair Play for Cuba socialistaction.ca Nick Baker Committee, the Committee to Defend [email protected] the Bloomington Defendants and the Mon., Nov. 16 Racism: Its Origins and How It Will End, A 1-647-986-1917 struggles to defend Soviet-era dissidents Marxist Understanding from Stalinist persecution. He was a reg- Ed Jurenas ular contributor to national and interna- tional socialist publications, a Russian and Spanish language translator and a fighter to build the revolutionary social- Web Events ist party in the U.S. and worldwide. His last works included the editing and trans- Thursday, October 15 lating of the works of Rosa Luxembourg Revolutionary Cuba Today Join Socialist Action! as well as a soon to be published volume Gail Walker, Co-Chair, National Network on Cuba of the writings of Cuban Trotskyist Celia Ike Nahem, Organizer for the International US-Cuba Normalization Conference Hart, daughter of Cuban Revolutionary Thursday, October 22 For info about Socialist Action leaders Armondo Hart and Hayee San- Exposing the U.S. Imperialist War Machine: Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Yemen and how to join, contact: tamaria. Joe Lombardo, National Coordinator, United National Antiwar Coalition In collaboration with George’s daugh- Judy Bello, Administrative Committee UNAC, Syria Solidarity Committee Socialist Action National Office ter Jennifer Shriver, Socialist Action is P.O. Box 10328 Thursday, October, 29 organizing a Zoom Webinar commemo- Oakland, CA, 94610 Countering Trump’s Electoral Coup Threat ration of George’s life. Speakers TBA Initial speakers include George’s fam- Call: (510) 268-9429 ily, friends and collaborators: Naomi Al- Tuesday, November 3 len, Marilyn Vogt-Downey, Jeff Mack- Jeff Mackler for President Socialist Action Election night Rally Email: [email protected] ler, Paul LeBlanc, Ann Montague, Peter with Friends of Socialist Action Hudis, Eduardo Quintana, and Fernando Torres. Join us on Saturday, November 7 at 1:00 pm PT, 4:00 pm ET at Socialist Ac- SOCIALIST ACTION Closing news date: August 28, 2020 tion’s live YouTube connection. See so- Editor: Nick Baker Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder cialisaction.org. Socialist Action (ISSN: 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. Send address changes to: [email protected] or Mail to: Socialist Action, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. For information call 510-387-7714, or RATES: For one year (12 issues, 1st class mail) — U.S./Canada/Mexico — $20. All other countries — $30. Money orders and checks should be in U.S. dollars. email [email protected]. n Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 2020 2 Julian Assange: Extradition Show Trial By Ron Ridenour a non-profit organization that claimed intelligence services (CIA, NSA) and Washington Post, and BBC TV and ra- to have published over 10 million clas- defense departments; many private com- dio have since abandoned Assange and Julian Assange has been held in iso- sified documents in the first ten years pany employees are government con- this historic case against freedom of the lation 23 hours per day at Belmarsh of its operations starting in 2006. The tractors. press. high-security prison since he was most explosive revelations include war Grand Jury selection always has gov- A 2019 study by John O’Day in Fair- dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy logs from the Afghan War and the infa- ernment employees or private workers ness and Accuracy in Reporting found in London on April 11, 2019. The United mous “Collateral Murder” video from associated with the government. That is that even muckraking journals like States government claims he violated its July 2007, in which U.S.