Juneteenth – a Righteous Anniversary and Celebration, Even More at This Moment...

TODAY in LOS ANGELES: Join RefuseFascism-LA Saturday, June 20: Hollywood and Vine 3 pm rally and march to Trump's star to demand an end to Trump's white supremacist regime. Bring symbols of what Trump really represents TO HIS HOLLYWOOD STAR- xenophobia, racism, patriarchy, anti-science Christian fundamentalism, America-first, police state, nuclear war, attack-the-press nazi !!!!!!!!!! Trump/Pence #OUTNOW Facebook Event   NEW from Revolution/revcom.us: Juneteenth – a Righteous Anniversary and Celebration, Even More at This Moment... June 19, 2020 | revcom.us June 19 – Tens of thousands of people across the country took to the streets on Juneteenth, the day on which the emancipation of Black people from slavery is celebrated. The protests and celebrations on Juneteenth were a righteous continuation of the weeks of demonstrations in thousands of cities against the police murder of George Floyd and countless other Black people who have been brutalized and killed by the police. The June 19 protests included Tulsa, Oklahoma—the site of the worse racist massacre of Black people in U.S. history, in 1921.  This took place on the eve of Trump’s Nazi rally in Tulsa—not only an insulting slap against Black people and the continuing upsurge but an ugly fascist, white-supremacist threat. There are calls for protests to continue in Tulsa and other cities the whole weekend, including from RefuseFascism and the revcoms. Check this website for updates.

TULSA 1921 TIL NOW: NO MORE! THIS MUST END! June 17, 2020 | revcom.us Donald Trump—a blatant white supremacist and fascist—is re-starting his campaign for president on June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What is the significance of this? There is an ugly history behind this. 1921, Tulsa: One of the most horrific crimes against Black people In the early years of the 20th century, a Black community of a little over 10,000 people took root in Tulsa. Black people were segregated into the Greenwood district. In time, Greenwood’s segregated economy, self-contained and self-sufficient, was so successful that it became known nationally as the “Black Wall Street.” Black-owned grocery stores, banks, libraries, hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, and more lined Greenwood Avenue. This was resented—and seen as a nightmare—by many whites. In May 1921, a young Black man named Dick Rowland got on a downtown elevator. The white woman operating the elevator screamed, and Rowland was arrested and charged with assault. The Tulsa Tribune newspaper began agitating for a lynching, and by nightfall hundreds of whites had gathered outside the jail. When a group of 75 armed Black men came to help guard the prisoner, a struggle ensued and in the gunfire that followed nearly a dozen people on both sides died. The mob of whites, deputized by law enforcement, armed by white merchants and including over 150 Tulsa police, then went on a violent rampage against the Black community of 11,000 people. The Black people heroically fought back but were badly outnumbered by police, the mob, and the National Guard.   By noon on June 1, these white mobs had murdered more than 300 Black Tulsa residents. They had turned 40 square blocks of Greenwood into a scorched wasteland. They destroyed 1,256 homes, along with virtually every other structure—including churches, schools, businesses, even a hospital and library. Not one of these criminal acts was then or ever has been prosecuted or punished by government at any level, municipal, county, state, or federal. So, what message do you think Trump is sending with this choice? In 1921, Black people had built up a community and righteously stood up against lynching—and they were met with horribly violent suppression and a reinforcement of white supremacy. 2020, New Battle Lines, the Struggle to End this Horrific Oppression In 2020, new battle lines are drawn. Black people, joined by many people of all different nationalities and races, have stood up against the violent terror of the police and institutionalized racism. People are asking why this oppression is so deeply ground into the society and what to do about this. In the face of this upsurge and this questioning, Trump has carried out and backed violent suppression and threatened even more.   Trump’s message in kicking off his campaign in Tulsa, just like his message in defending Confederate generals, is clear: the defense of white supremacy. He is mobilizing his fascist base for conflicts ahead. NO! Right now, all those who have stood up, those who have had their eyes opened, must send a message back: “NO MORE! This uprising will NOT be suppressed—it WILL go forward.” This oppression has been deeply knit into America’s capitalist-imperialist system—from the first slave in Virginia in 1619 to Tulsa 1921 right down to today. This system can NOT be reformed and must be overthrown, by an actual revolution. And, for the first time, the way to do this has been developed! There is a strategic plan for how to make this revolution. There is a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for a radically different and much better world, in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, by Bob Avakian. There is the leadership for this revolution in Bob Avakian. And there is a way for YOU to learn more about this revolution and become part of making it a reality by going to www.revcom.us and joining with the revcoms. AN END TO INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM AND MURDER BY POLICE—NOTHING LESS! AN END TO ANY WAY PEOPLE ANYWHERE ARE USED, ABUSED, AND BRUTALIZED—NOTHING LESS! REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Trump/Pence #OutNow, In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America! Download and Print (PDF): English Poster Front | Spanish Poster Front

RACIAL OPPRESSION CAN BE ENDED—BUT NOT UNDER THIS SYSTEM

NEW from Revolution/revcom.us: RACIAL OPPRESSION CAN BE ENDED— BUT NOT UNDER THIS SYSTEM by Bob Avakian June 15, 2020 | revcom.us Everywhere we go, and in everything we do, we revcoms boldly put forward: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! This is not just a slogan—though it is a very good and very important slogan. It is the concentrated statement of a very profound truth, which is also captured in our slogan: This System Cannot Be Reformed—It Must Be Overthrown! But what do we mean in saying that this system cannot be reformed, and why is that true? In Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, I speak to the “5 STOPS”—deep and defining contradictions of this system—and all the terrible suffering to which this system of capitalism-imperialism subjects the masses of humanity, and why all this cannot be ended under this system.1 Here I am going to focus on the systematic and murderous oppression of Black people, and racial oppression overall—which has been sharply exposed with the outpouring of outrage sparked by the murder of George Floyd—and discuss the basic reasons why this oppression cannot be eliminated under this system, but can (only) be ended through revolution. The continuing terror and murder carried out by the police particularly against Black people (as well as Latinos and Native Americans) is not fundamentally because the police are racist—although, speaking of the police overall, that is certainly true. The fact that the police are racist is itself an expression and a function of the fact that terror and murder against Black people (and other people of color) is required by this system—is necessary in order to maintain the “order” of this all-around oppressive system—and this would be much more difficult to carry out if the police were not racist. The Fundamental Causes of This Oppression But, going deeper, why is this terror and murder necessary for this system, in order to ensure its “order” and its ongoing functioning? The answer is that, from the beginning of this country, white supremacy has been poured into the foundation and built into the institutions and the ongoing functioning of this system. Specifically with regard to Black people, the centuries of oppression they have suffered—from slavery days to the days of Jim Crow segregation and Ku Klux Klan terror, to the present time, with the continuing systematic discrimination against Black people, in every part of society (employment, housing, education, health care, and on and on)—all this has resulted in a situation where masses of Black people today, and in particular youth, have been robbed of a means for a decent life, with many maintained in conditions of desperate poverty and deprivation. This, again, is not simply because those who are in the seats of power and deciding government policy are racist (though that is true of most of them). It is fundamentally because of the nature of the system itself and the historically-evolved requirements and dynamics of this system of capitalism-imperialism. Now, that is a big mouthful (“the nature of the system itself and the historically-evolved requirements and dynamics of this system of capitalism-imperialism”), so let’s break it down. This country was founded on the enslavement of masses of African people, as well as the genocidal subjugation of Native Americans and theft of their land (and its further development involved the conquest of huge parts of Mexico, reducing people of Mexican origin to second-class status as well). This required the propagation of racism to “justify” all the horrific oppression. Then, when the Civil War broke out over the question of slavery, and even when slavery was abolished as a result of that Civil War, given that white supremacy had been, and remained, such a crucial part of the “glue” holding the country together, the only way to “put it back together,” on the foundation of the capitalist system, was to once again forcefully assert white supremacy. That is why, very soon after the end of the Civil War, Black people were subjected to the system of Jim Crow segregation (backed up by systematic terror, punctuated by repeated lynchings), while the genocidal aggression against and theft of the land of Native Americans was stepped up, and immigrants from Mexico were subjected to ongoing discrimination and violence by the enforcers of this system. Generations later, during World War 2, because of the needs of the rulers of this country in waging that war, large numbers of Black people were able to migrate to the North and get jobs in industries that served the war effort. And then, largely as a result of the fact that the U.S. was on the winning side of that war—and the fact that the war was not fought on its territory and it experienced no damage to its industrial facilities and infrastructure—there was an expansion of the economy in this country after the war. In this situation, significant numbers of Black people were able to continue getting employment in large numbers, including some better-paying jobs in factories (making steel, cars, and so on). But, at the same time, because of the white supremacy built into the system over centuries—and the fact that really moving to overcome this would tear apart the fabric of the system and crack its very foundation—Black people continued to be subjected to systematic discrimination, including in employment (with “last hired and first fired” an accurate description of the situation of Black people with regard to employment). To cite another ugly example, government policy with regard to housing involved conscious, deliberate discrimination: after World War 2, loans were given to white people to enable them to buy their own homes, and increasingly move to the suburbs, while this was denied to Black veterans (and others) and instead Black people were piled into segregated housing projects in the inner cities. And this was part of the continuing systematic segregation and discrimination to which Black people were subjected. As a result of the Civil Rights movement and then the more radical Black liberation movement in the 1960s, some concessions were made, and there has been an increase in the number of “Black faces in high places” and a growth of the Black middle class, although their situation is far more precarious than that of white middle class people (something which was cruelly demonstrated in the 2008 crisis, which resulted in large numbers of Black people losing their homes and much, if not all, of any savings they had). And, in more recent times, huge numbers of factories and other sources of jobs for people in the inner city have closed down, often moving their operations elsewhere—particularly to countries in the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia) where the desperate situation of masses of people, including children, has left them vulnerable to being super-exploited, at near-starvation wages. All this, together with increased automation and “cybernation” of production, when combined with the ongoing segregation and discrimination built into this system, has led to a situation where huge numbers of Black people, and especially youth, have, for generations now, not only been unemployed but are left with no prospect of meaningful employment in the regular (“formal”) economy. The “Toxic Combination” of Capitalism and Racism Here we see the “toxic combination” of systematic, historically-evolved segregation and discrimination, enforced with brutal violence by the powers-that-be, together with the basic functioning and requirements of the capitalist economy—which involves the greater and greater concentration not just of wealth, but of the means of production (technology, factories and other physical structures, sources of raw materials, and so on) in the possession and under the control of large-scale capitalist enterprises and financial institutions, which are locked in cut-throat competition with each other, not just within a particular country but increasingly on a global scale, and are therefore driven to ruthlessly exploit people and constantly search for ways to even more viciously super-exploit large numbers of desperate people, including children, in a worldwide network of sweatshops. (For example, cell phones and computers depend on the mineral coltan which is mined under horrific conditions by people, including large numbers of children, in the Congo in Africa; and a large part of the clothes that are bought in the U.S. are produced by huge numbers of women working in horrific conditions in the Asian country of Bangladesh.) In this situation, and especially with the growth of the international drug trade, and its deep penetration into the U.S., many of those, in particular youth, who found themselves locked out of the “formal economy,” have turned to drug-dealing, as well as other criminal activity—something which has been encouraged by government policy that has actually resulted in the movement of large amounts of drugs into the inner city, even as the authorities seize on this situation to carry out systematic repression against the youth in particular, with such things as “stop and frisk.” The result of all this has been a huge increase in mass incarceration, as well as the continual murder of large numbers of “minority” youth by police. At the same time, the way that the U.S. has continued to dominate Mexico, as well as other parts of Latin America, and to distort the economies, corrupt the governments and bring ruin to the social relations among the people in those countries—all this has resulted in large numbers of people being forced to flee those countries and migrate to the U.S., where they are vulnerable to being viciously exploited in factories and farmlands, and other parts of the economy of this country. And large numbers of the younger generations of these immigrants have also formed (or joined existing) gangs and become involved in the drug trade and related crime. More recently, however, in at least many of the inner-city neighborhoods, for a number of reasons—including the fact that the “crack epidemic” had taken a terrible toll on people—there has been a decrease in the trade in cocaine and the high profits this brought for the relatively small number of “higher-ups” in the drug trade hierarchy. For a period, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s, given their desolation and desperation, the drug trade was a “major employer” of youth in the inner cities, female as well as male, and a major source of at least a basic income for many (even if the promise of “getting rich” remained an illusion for most). Now, even this source of employment and income—as perverse and harmful as it is—has dried up or greatly diminished for many. This has further added to the miserable situation of massive numbers of inner-city youth in particular who have no future—under this system—no future but prison, an early death or a life of desperate hustling, in one form or another, in the attempt to survive and care for loved ones. All this cannot be changed—cannot be transformed and overcome—within the confines of this system. Despite what any politician (“liberal” or outright fascist like Trump) may say, there is no way that this system could “reverse itself,” bring large parts of industry back to the inner city and provide meaningful employment, with “a living wage” for all those it is now depriving of this. Even if the government had the “political will” to try to do this, doing so (with the employment of millions of formerly unemployed or “underemployed” people at a “living wage”) would seriously undermine the competitive positions of American capitalists in the global economy. And, if they attempted to do this while at the same time trying to seriously overcome the whole historically-evolved relations of white supremacy, this would completely disrupt the social “cohesion” that “holds this country together,” with white supremacy a crucial part of this. It is one thing for “good-hearted people”—and in particular many white people—to say (and sincerely mean) that it is wrong for the police to just wantonly, cruelly murder people, and to mobilize in protest against this. But imagine what would happen if, under this system and with the way its economy functions, the government tried to adopt policies that would deal with the long-term unemployment of Black people in the inner cities, who have not only been denied jobs but also the training for the jobs that do exist—imagine what the reaction would be of many white people who would in fact lose their better-off positions as a result of these policies. Imagine what would happen if these kinds of policies were applied not just to employment, but to education, and on down the line. (We have already seen the “backlash” that was fostered in response to even minimal efforts to implement “affirmative action” programs in employment and education.) Again, this is not simply a matter that “white people are racist.” Many are racist, although many do not want to be. But the deeper problem is that given the basic way the capitalist economy works, and how everyone is encouraged to be “out for yourself”—and, more fundamentally, the fact that people are actually driven and compelled to compete with each other in every significant part of life, including employment and education—it would actually create destructive chaos and conflict among the people, and tear apart the “cohesion” of the society, to try to really and fully undo and overcome the reality and effects of centuries of racist oppression—under this system. This most definitely and emphatically is NOT an argument for holding back from struggling against every form of discrimination, inequality and oppression in every part of society. Fighting back against oppression, and wrenching concessions from the powers-that-be, is very important—in enabling masses of people to feel their own strength in standing up and standing together in opposing oppression, and drawing people from all parts of society to join in this struggle—rather than feeling isolated, beaten down and hopeless. And it is important in contributing to the ability of masses of people to gain the understanding and build up the organization necessary for the final all-out struggle to bring down the whole oppressive system. But that is just the point—as important as these mass struggles are, if they are not built toward, and do not finally get to the point of, taking on the whole system, with the aim of bringing it down, and bringing something much better into being, then, as I have emphasized before, even where concessions are won, “so long as this system remains in power, there will be powerful forces who will move to attack and undermine, and seek to reverse, even these partial gains,” and people will remain oppressed and once more weighed down with a feeling of demoralization, as they are once again divided and pitted against each other.2 The basic and crucial point is that the fight against racial oppression (and all oppression) must not remain confined within the limits of this system, and instead must be carried out and carried forward as part of the overall struggle toward the goal of abolishing this system. The fact that this oppression cannot be abolished under this system is not a reason for giving up in despair—it is a compelling reason why this system must be and can be abolished—and it is the fundamental basis for why people can be won to wage the revolutionary struggle to finally bring it down! All this is why there will not be any real and meaningful move by the powers-that-be (and any of its politicians and political parties) to overcome the centuries-long experience and legacy of brutal racist oppression and the situation it has led to today, where millions and millions of Black youth and other youth of color have no prospect of a decent future—under this system. As I have pointed out before: “So what does this system do with youth that have no future and no prospects? It contains them.... contains them violently.”3 And all this is why there is systemic and systematic police terror directed at Black people and other people of color. It is why this is brought down not only on the youth (and others) in the inner cities, but why it can and does lead to harassment, brutality and murder of any Black person, anywhere, even those with more education and status in society. If the system needs the police to “violently contain” the masses of people in the inner cities—and it does—then this is bound to “spill over” and be applied to Black people, and other people of color, more generally. The police have neither the interests, nor the ability, nor the will to make distinctions between “good” ....... (fill in the blank as to what racist terms they use) and “bad” ones. And, beyond that, the “random” nature of the brutality and murder makes it all the more effective in terrorizing people—making everyone, even the “better off,” feel, correctly, that they could be a target of this. There IS a Solution: Revolution and a Radically New and Different World It is for all these reasons that racist oppression will continue so long as people are living under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism. It is not only right but crucially important to rise up and wage a determined fight against this, but it is also crucial to recognize that this racist oppression will never be, can never be, eliminated under this system—and, to finally put an end to it, we need a radically different system. We need a radically different economic system—a socialist economic system (mode of production) that is geared to and proceeds by developing and utilizing the means of production collectively, to meet the needs of the masses of people, materially (for employment, food, housing, health care, and so on) as well as their needs intellectually and culturally, and to provide them with the means not only to live a life worthy of human beings, but also to scientifically understand the basis and need, and to more and more consciously take part in, carrying forward the transformation of society to finally and completely eliminate all relations of oppression and exploitation, and to support that struggle throughout the world. And, as one of its highest priorities and goals, this will involve the determined struggle to overcome and finally eliminate racial oppression in every aspect of society. The radically different socialist economy (mode of production) will provide the foundation on which the ongoing process of uprooting racial oppression, and all oppression, can be waged on favorable ground, and can finally succeed in overcoming all this. The following from my work Breakthroughs speaks to this key relation and process: Ultimately, the mode of production sets the foundation and the limits of change, in terms of how you address any social problem, such as the oppression of women, or the oppression of Black people or Latinos, or the contradiction between mental work and manual work, or the situation with the environment, or the situation of immigrants, and so on. While all those things have reality and dynamics in their own right, and aren’t reducible to the economic system, they all take place within the framework and within the fundamental dynamics of that economic system; and that economic system, that mode of production, sets the foundation and the ultimate limits of change in regard to all those social questions. So, if you want to get rid of all these different forms of oppression, you have to address them in their own right, but you also have to fundamentally change the economic system to give you the ability to be able to carry through those changes in fundamental terms. To put it another way: You have to have an economic system that doesn’t prevent you from making those changes, and instead not only allows but provides a favorable foundation for making those changes.4 The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America provides a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for such a radically different economic system, and for government institutions, laws and a legal system, as well as an approach to education, science, art and culture that go along with this mode of production and contribute to its continual development, opening the way to finally eliminating all oppression and exploitation.5 And in Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution (as well as other works of mine) the basic strategy is spelled out for carrying out the revolution that will make it possible to apply this Constitution in working to bring about a world free of all the unnecessary suffering and madness to which the masses of humanity are subjected under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism. This is why, and this is how, racial oppression, and all the oppression, which is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism, can be ended—but only through a revolution to abolish this system. This is why we continue to emphasize this basic truth: we have two choices: either, live with all this—and condemn future generations to the same, or worse, if they have a future at all—or, make revolution! This why we continue to boldly raise the slogan: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! 1. The text and video of this speech by Bob Avakian (Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution) is available atrevcom.us. [back] 2. The statement quoted in this part of this article is from Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution. [back] 3. Bob Avakian On Police Brutality And Murder: Consent Decrees Won’t Stop This—We Need A Revolution! This excerpt from a Question and Answer Session with Bob Avakian, after his presentation in 2018 in Chicago of the speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, is also available at revcom.us. [back] 4. This statement is contained in Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary, by Bob Avakian, which is available at revcom.us. It originally appeared in the book by Bob Avakian, The New Communism: The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation, Insight Press, 2016. Italics in the original. [back] 5. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian, is also available at revcom.us. [back] Follow: @TheRevcoms Read: www.revcom.us Watch: youtube.com/TheRevComs

TODAY 6 PM Public Forum @ Hollywood High: We Say No More! Revolution, Nothing Less!

From the National Revolution Tour: You're invited - WE SAY NO MORE!  REVOLUTION, NOTHING LESS! Public Forum TODAY, Tuesday @ 6 PM on the Lawn in front of Hollywood High School (on Sunset) How do we put an end to institutionalized racism and murder by police? How do we put an end to any way people anywhere are used, abused, and brutalized? Join in wrangling with the problems facing humanity & working toward a future society beyond these oppressive social relations. @therevcoms (323) 245.6947

Watch and share! New from revcom.us: RADICAL CHANGE IS COMING: WILL IT BE EMANCIPATING, OR ENSLAVING— REVOLUTIONARY, OR REACTIONARY? by Bob Avakian June 8, 2020 | revcom.us For those who cannot help but hunger for a “return” to some kind of “normalcy” as an answer to the madness of Trump, Pence and the rest—forget it, it is not going to happen! And nobody should want a return to the “normalcy” of this system. The “normalcy” of this system has always included the barbaric oppression of Black people and other people of color, with systematic terror, brutality and murder to enforce this oppression. It has always included vicious discrimination, bigotry and violence against immigrants, women, LGBTQ people, and any others regarded as inferior and “alien.” It has always included unjust wars for empire, and continuing crimes against humanity. It now poses a threat to the very existence of humanity through its increasing devastation of the environment and the ever present threat of nuclear war. The outpouring of protest in response to the cruel, sickening murder of George Floyd—yet another link in the seemingly endless chain of murders of Black people and other oppressed people by police, acting with a smug sense of impunity, without fear of punishment—this powerful outpouring of outrage, bringing together not only Black people but others, of all races and genders and from all parts of the world, has begun to change the whole political landscape and culture, seizing the initiative in a very positive way from the ruling Trump/Pence regime and its fascist “base,” and challenging the whole paralyzing notion that the brutal reality of this system and its “norms” is the only possible reality and everyone just has to find their place within this and “do for self” as best as possible. Faced with this rapidly changing situation, Trump has reacted with predictable threats, bullying and intensified repression, while others—who represent the same system but feel it is important at times like this to harness, “pacify” and “domesticate” the outrage—speak once again in terms of meaningless “reforms” and advocate a supposedly “softer” but still vicious version of the “law and order” which oppresses masses of people and represses any who dare to stand up against this oppression. Recognizing that it is likely to further inflame things to simply call for a return to the way things were before this outpouring of righteous rebellion broke through the suffocating routine of life under this system, there are voices representing a section of the ruling class, such as CNN’s Chris Cuomo, who are now speaking of the need for “a new normal” that will supposedly be more “just.” But there is no “normal” of this system that does not involve systematic injustice, continuing outrage and horror, for people here and all over the world. And the fascist Trump/Pence regime, which now controls key levers of power, and has called forth and cohered a mass base of fanatical followers, will accept no “new normal,” except one that carries the monstrous oppression of this system to even more barbaric extremes. If anyone is looking to the scheduled election in November as the way to solve things—painlessly and without turmoil and upheaval—first of all, it is not even certain that this election will actually be held. There is a definite possibility that Trump will find a way to “postpone” it, seizing on the continuing coronavirus crisis and/or some other pretext. (Yes, using COVID-19 as an excuse for canceling the election would be hypocritical, given the reckless way the Trump/Pence regime has approached this from the beginning—but who should be surprised by hypocrisy on their part?!) Even if the election is held, there is a real chance that Trump could “legitimately” win, given the character of the “opposition,” from Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. And anyway, Trump is already preparing the ground to say the election was “rigged” if he is not declared the winner. Remember how, before the last election, he refused to say he would abide by the results if he lost? Now, he is proclaiming that in Michigan, and some other states, preparations for people to vote by mail is massive “fraud”—when, in fact, this is not only legal but highly sensible in the conditions of the coronavirus. At the same time, Trump and the Republican Party are making other moves to suppress votes, especially of people very likely to vote against them. And all this will almost certainly go on, in an even bigger way, as the time for the election approaches. Further, if the election is held and Trump is not declared the winner but refuses to accept the results and insists he is still president, what about all those fascist followers of Trump, some of whom are already parading around with weapons and threatening people, including elected officials—what do you think they will do if Trump calls “fraud!” and calls on them to rally to his support? Remember how, during the 2016 campaign, Trump threatened his opponent, Hillary Clinton, talking about what “those Second Amendment people” might do to her? Remember how Trump has openly talked about how he has lots of supporters, among the police and the military, and among bikers and other “tough” people? And then, just recently, Trump has threatened to use the military to violently suppress protests against police brutality and murder. Even if the election takes place and Trump loses, and he is prevailed upon to accept the results, and his MAGA-hatted madmen and women do not “rise up in arms” in the short run, do you really think they are just going to “go away,” or slink off passively, waiting for the next election? Whatever takes place in relation to the election scheduled for November, nothing good will happen, and really terrible things are bound to happen, if those who cannot stand what is going on now with this regime—and the very real threat of far worse—do not find the ways, even in the conditions of COVID-19, to powerfully manifest that they are determined to drive this regime from power, without waiting for, and regardless of what goes on around, the scheduled November election.1 Digging down even deeper, the basic fact has to be faced that—even while Trump might very well use extra-legal (that is, illegal) means to remain in power—this fascist regime actually came to power in the first place not through a military take-over or some other violation of the principles and functioning of this “great democracy,” but through the “normal workings” of this system. And those “normal workings” will continue to wreak havoc in the world and on the masses of people in the world, through destruction of the environment, wars, massive displacement and desperate migration of people, on top of the ongoing savage inequalities, crushing exploitation and murderous oppression “written into the DNA” of this system and carried out by its brutal enforcers. Because of all this: in fundamental terms, this notion of a “return to normalcy” is an illusion that will be exploded by the nature and workings of the system of capitalism-imperialism to which the masses of humanity are subjected.2 For some time now, in speaking to the conditions of women, I have been calling attention to the fact that, with the changes in the U.S. and the world economy: The whole question of the position and role of women in society is more and more acutely posing itself in today’s extreme circumstances—this is a powderkeg in the U.S. today. And: It is not conceivable that all this will find any resolution other than in the most radical terms and through extremely violent means. The question yet to be determined is: will it be a radical reactionary or a radical revolutionary resolution, will it mean the reinforcing of the chains of enslavement or the shattering of the most decisive links in those chains and the opening up of the possibility of realizing the complete elimination of all forms of such enslavement.3 This is true not only with regard to women, as important as that is, but for all those who are oppressed, degraded and brutalized under this system. It is true not just for the U.S., but throughout this highly interconnected but terribly unequal world, dominated as it is by this system of capitalism-imperialism. In the beautiful outpouring of determined resistance to institutionalized racism and police terror, marked by a growing sense that this is somehow bound up with the very nature of this system and the many other injustices it continually perpetrates, we can see the potential for the revolution that can shatter those chains of oppression and open the way to a radically different and far better world, on an entirely new foundation. What remains to be done is to develop that potential into reality, bringing forward greater and greater numbers of people—through this present upsurge sparked by the murder of George Floyd, and through many diverse spheres of life and many different streams of struggle—who are fired with a determination to put an end to all oppression and are gaining the scientific understanding that this system of capitalism-imperialism is the source of all these inter-connected horrors, and are driven by the need and inspired by the possibility of bringing this system down and bringing that far better world into being. 1. Many of the points spoken to in this article regarding the dangers posed by the Trump/Pence fascist regime, and the possibility of this regime remaining in power regardless of what happens with the election scheduled for November, are spoken to and elaborated on very compellingly in The Worst-Case Scenario is Continuing to Accept a Fascist America by Coco Das, which is available atrevcom.us, reposted from RefuseFascism.org. [back] 2. The Deadly Illusion Of “Normalcy” And The Revolutionary Way Forward. This article by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us. [back] 3. This quote and the one above it are from a statement by Bob Avakian that was first published in 1985 and has been cited in a number of works since then, including Unresolved Contradictions, Driving Forces for Revolution, Part III: “The New Synthesis and the Woman Question: The Emancipation of Women and the Communist Revolution—Further Leaps and Radical Ruptures,” which is also available at revcom.us. Emphasis has been added here to the second quote. [back] See also: THE DEADLY ILLUSION OF “NORMALCY” AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAY FORWARD by Bob Avakian Follow: @TheRevcoms Read: www.revcom.us Watch: youtube.com/TheRevComs

From DC to LA - PROTEST! Saturday - Trump/Pence Out Now! No Police Murder! No Fascist Police State!

From RefuseFascism.org: Trump has unleashed US military police and threatened to call out the military nationwide to crush the righteous George Floyd protests against police murder. PROTEST! Saturday, June 6, 2020 — LA: noon, Hollywood & Vine DC: 4 pm Lafayette Square and Everywhere NO MORE POLICE MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE NO FASCIST POLICE STATE NO FASCIST MILITARY WAR ON THE PEOPLE TRUMP/PENCE OUT NOW! An uprising has begun. Day after day, night after night, coast to coast, the streets fill with Black youth refusing to face another day in fear and people of all backgrounds who have had enough of white supremacy and a culture of soul-crushing cruelty. Comparisons to 1968 fill some with dread and some with hope, but one thing is clear. Millions have been shaken awake. Trump has thrown down a heavy gauntlet to the people who have been heroically protesting in the face of heightened repression. Under the orders of Attorney General Bill Barr, federal forces hurled unrestrained brutality on peaceful protesters at Lafayette Park on June 1, driving them out so that Trump could rant like a police-state dictator and pose with a Bible for his Christian fascist followers. He invoked the Second Amendment to call out his armed vigilante militias, threatened to send the U.S. military into the streets to restore a fascist “law and order,” and bragged about dispatching “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers” into D.C. Yet the people have not cowered. In the face of all the tear gas and rubber bullets, the curfews and threats of more firepower, the rulers have proven that they are not all-powerful. For the first time under this regime, the people have seized the initiative and have not let go. In contrast to the hate and bigotry of the Trump/Pence regime, these protests are infused with a love for humanity, and those in power seem more out of touch and illegitimate by the day. The splits at the top, even among conservatives, have sharpened up. A determined struggle that doesn’t yield and won’t be provoked has created a serious political crisis. This is how regimes around the world have been forced out of power. If Not Now, When?   We cannot allow the Trump/Pence regime to drop the hammer and impose military rule. This will lead to a further consolidation of fascist power and a nightmare for humanity and the planet. Every move the regime makes to kill this uprising must be met with an even greater mass outpouring, in which the resolve of the protesters against police murder is strengthened with a growing defiant chorus resounding across the country: Fuck Trump! Nor can we wait until November, when talk of election cancellation or Trump’s refusal to leave office is a common point of conversation. Now, when people are in the streets, beginning to feel their own strength, we need to add to the struggle this demand: Trump/Pence Out Now! This fascist regime poses a catastrophic danger to the whole world, and the whole world will take heart if we rise to another level of determined resistance. We have begun, but should we fail to see it through, this and every struggle for justice will be set back. If we succeed – and we can succeed – we can begin to force the boots of violent oppressors off the necks of our brothers and sisters. Let us change the course of history, not for ourselves alone but for all humanity. This nightmare must end. The Trump/Pence regime must go! In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America. SIGN UP

From revcom.us:   Bob Avakian Says: DONALD TRUMP ISN’T “TOUGH,” HE’S A BLOATED BAG OF FASCIST FECES June 4, 2020 | revcom.us There is nothing brave or “bad” about Trump, with his threats to use the military to violently attack people protesting against the murder of George Floyd and all the racist brutality and murder by police. Anybody can act “tough” when they are calling on a massive machinery of violence and destruction, like the U.S. military, to back them up. The ones who are showing real courage and heart are the masses of people, of all races and genders, who have taken to the streets to demand an end to this brutality and murder, and have defied curfews and braved assaults from police and National Guard forces. This truly heroic struggle of masses of people needs to become even more massive, fired with the determination not to stop until there really is an end to everything that is captured and concentrated in the video of that pig in Minneapolis cruelly suffocating the life out of George Floyd—ignoring, with a calm viciousness, Floyd’s repeated pleas for his life and cries that he could not breathe. And people everywhere need to take up and give powerful expression to the demand that the strutting tyrant Trump, the fundamentalist fanatic Pence, and their whole fascist regime, must be OUT NOW! The greatest act of courage, and the greatest contribution to ending the heartless oppression and the needless suffering of human beings everywhere, would be to finally rise up and bring down this capitalist-imperialist system that has spawned this fascist regime and bring into being a radically different and much better world, on a completely different foundation, without the exploitation, degradation, brutality and terror that is the very basis and means for maintaining this system we are now forced to live under.

A statement from Bob Avakian: NOTHING LESS!

NEW from Revolution/revcom.us: A statement from Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of the revolutionary new communism To all those who have risen up so powerfully and are demonstrating to say “No More!” after the murder of George Floyd, and all the other cold-blooded murders by police. To all those who have drawn inspiration from this righteous uprising. To all those who have had the blinders forced from their eyes and have been provoked to think anew about what kind of country it is that we live in. This has raised the biggest questions about what is needed for people everywhere to live fully as human beings: AN END TO INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM AND MURDER BY POLICE—NOTHING LESS! AN END TO ANY WAY PEOPLE ANYWHERE ARE USED, ABUSED, AND BRUTALIZED—NOTHING LESS! We need a world without white supremacy and male supremacy—a world where no one is regarded as “alien”—a world without war, where people from all over the globe, with a beautiful flowering of diversity, act together for the common good and are truly caretakers of the earth. THIS IS NOT JUST A DREAM. The possibility for this is being powerfully demonstrated in this uprising of the people, of all different races and genders, from all parts of the world—refusing to remain silent or stay passive while all this oppression and brutality goes on. TO MAKE ALL THIS REAL WE NEED: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! A strategic plan for how to make this revolution, and a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for a radically different and much better world, where all this can become possible—can be found in the work I have done, including the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. You can learn more about this revolution and become part of making it a reality by going to revcom.us and joining with the revcoms. We do not need to live in this world where so much of humanity suffers so unnecessarily under this system of capitalism-imperialism that cannot exist without exploiting and degrading people, suffocating their humanity and killing them without mercy. We can do much better! Don’t listen to talk about how “it can never happen.” Look around you—what seemed impossible yesterday is happening right now! Revolution, why should we settle for anything less?

Bob Avakian: Police Murder and a Murderous System

The RevComs from the Front Lines in Minneapolis

Plus, read and share these three new brief statements from BA:   VIOLENCE? IT’S THE POLICE by Bob Avakian June 1, 2020 | revcom.us Hey!—those of you in the media, and politicians, who want to talk about violence in the protests, instead of keeping the focus where it should be—on the murder of George Floyd, on top of all the other murders by police: Why don’t you go preach to the police about violence? They’re the ones brutalizing, terrorizing and murdering people time after time! And how about arresting all these killer pigs and charging them with what they are guilty of: murder of the most depraved kind!   SOUNDING LIKE SOUTHERN SEGREGATIONISTS: IT’S NOT JUST TRUMP—IT’S DEMOCRATS TOO by Bob Avakian June 1, 2020 | revcom.us Here’s Donald Trump echoing white supremacists in the South during the 1960s, with his tweet about shooting people protesting the murder of George Floyd (“when the looting starts, the shooting starts”). Trump called the protesters “thugs” to justify shooting them. Every decent person condemns Trump. But remember when Obama called the youth in Baltimore “thugs” when their anger boiled over after the murder of Freddie Gray by police? And what about those Democratic Party politicians now, like the governor of Minnesota, and all these other officials, who speak honeyed words about “justice” but then impose “emergency police powers” and call out the National Guard to attack the people’s protests against outrageous injustice? Some of these Democratic Party politicians are not even ashamed to “sample” southern segregationists from the days of the civil rights movement—talking about “outside agitators” coming in and causing trouble with protests! All this is yet more proof that this whole system has to go!   Bob Avakian on BLACK TRUMP SUPPORTERS: WHAT IF JEWS HAD SUPPORTED HITLER?! June 1, 2020 | revcom.us All this fuss about whether Joe Biden has the “right” to say Black people who support Trump “ain’t Black” misses the mark. Yes, Black “conservatives” who support the white supremacist fascist Trump are obviously technically Black—but let’s face it, their support for Trump is a despicable act of bootlicking, as revolting as if Jews had supported the NAZIs! So what do you have to say about that, Candace Owens?! Read much, much more of the new weekly issue of revcom.us.