In the 2024 US general elections, Trump was elected to serve another term as president. Perceiving the looming threat of fascism, many in the US left are asking: what is to be done? The answer is clear. In fact, rarely is our task ever so clear: we must prepare to fight back against fascism. The subsequent question, and the more difficult, is: how? Our answer, in turn, is this: we must realize our common interest, link our hands, and gather into a single revolutionary, anti-fascist movement.
Over the past years, mass movements in the US have been mobilizing: most notably the Palestine solidarity movement. We salute the wave of student encampments, launched by the bravest and most radical section of the Palestine solidarity movement, which crossed the nation, including at Notre Dame. There has also been movements for womens’ rights and LGBTQ rights; as well as movements against police brutality, the continuation of racism/national oppression, the worsening climate crisis, and US imperialism. The labor movement has been revitalized with a record-setting nationwide wave of workplace organizing and strike actions1. In our analysis, all of these movements are, whether they know it or not, fighting a single enemy: capitalism. It is capitalism, through its specific form of US imperialism, which commits genocide against Palestine. It is capitalism which oppresses women, LGBTQ people, people of color, and so on. It is capitalism which suppresses and attempts to defang the labor movement so that it can continue its exploitation of workers unimpeded. Capitalism is willing to launch brutal repression against any movement of people which may threaten its rule.
As these movements have a common enemy, it will be most effective for them to unite and act as one against their enemy, the capitalist system. What is the first step towards the unification of these movements? We must study past liberation movements to understand what has worked in the past to combat fascism, capitalism and imperialism. The problems presented to us by fascism and capitalism are nothing new, in the past there has been a great deal of success in solving them. The solutions to these problems are not going to suddenly come to us out of thin air. We cannot afford to ignore the contributions of past liberation movements, and we cannot afford to ignore the lessons that they learned through their practice. Time is short, we cannot act blindly. Furthermore, the unification of our movements cannot come out of thin air, it must be forged by struggling for a common understanding of the issues of capitalism in US society, and in turn struggling for a common solution to these issues.
Revolutionary theory, when it is in the hands of the masses, is far from a purely academic pursuit. Theory transforms into a material force, as when we know the world, we can change the world; we can ‘shoot the arrow at the target’. By understanding revolutionary theory, we protect ourselves from being co-opted by politicians and capitalists, as we have a clear and thorough understanding of the enemy, and how they will try to neutralize us. It is through participating in the class struggle that we will find the solutions to issues that it raises, and in turn find the unity of our movements. “You can’t solve a problem? Well, get down and investigate the present facts and its past history! When you have investigated the problem thoroughly, you will know how to solve it.”2
STUDY LIBERATION, FIGHT FASCISM!
Michiana Revolutionary Study Group is a study group local to the city of South Bend and the surrounding area, coming together to read and discuss revolutionary theory and history. We invite all those who are interested in liberation and creating a better society to attend our studies and events.
Contact us on Instagram: @michianarevstudy
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/02/21/strikes-2023-workers-labor-department/ ↩︎
- Mao Zedong, Oppose Book Worship (May 1930), 1st pocket ed., and p. 2. ↩︎
