In states like Iowa, fascist militia groups like the Oath Keepers--"retired" law enforcement and military personnel--come armed to Trump rallies and even congressional "town halls" to intimidate opponents. Trump trolls on the internet "dox"--publish private, identifying information about those opposing Trump, and use this information to hound them. Everyone can--and should--go online to watch the three videos released by the National Rifle Association (NRA) in late June and early July that were essentially propaganda and recruiting tools to prepare Trump's supporters to act as storm troops (the paramilitary street-fighting force that served as an arm for Hitler's rise to power in Germany). Charles Blow of the New York Times has likened this to raising an army for extralegal purposes.
Meanwhile, "progressives" like Aviva Chomsky 2 write articles attacking Antifa, posturing "from the left"--without even mentioning the word fascism and only mentioning the name Trump once in passing. This would be like writing an article condemning the communist resistance tactics in Germany in 1933--after Hitler had come to power--without mentioning Hitler or the Nazis. For anyone who doubts this is fascism, monstrous and grotesque in its implications for humanity, the work has been done--on what this regime has already done and what it has in store, in policy and in law. This is not a "pendulum swing" to a more right-wing Republican administration; this is a fascist regime--now aiming to consolidate itself, in opposition both to mass opposition and opposition from within the ruling class.
It matters that Antifa--along with other groups and individuals, including revolutionary communists--stood their ground and fought back in Charlottesville. Who among the so-called "leftists" and liberals would have preferred the outcome had they not? More bodies in the morgue? Names added to the courageous roster which now includes Heather Heyer? More broken bones? Worse yet, the picture of an openly fascist, racist mob rampaging unchallenged for the weekend would have been a tremendous political victory for the fascists: It would have demoralized those who oppose the regime, and would have emboldened still more backward racists, misogynists, and America-number-one-ers to join their ranks.
Instead, Charlottesville served as a stirring example of what people MUST do in this period. It re-polarized society in a very favorable way, with even forces in the ruling class deserting government institutions associated with Trump. But Charlottesville--including Trump's insistent defense of the "good people" marching with Nazi insignia and Klan flags--should also have served as a serious wake-up call. To those who now shake their fingers against Antifa and related groups: please take your goddamn heads out of the sand. Recognize the depth and urgency of what is going on.
What is wrong when people amass to prevent fascists from doing their sh*t when they announce their intent to do it again--as happened in cities after Charlottesville? Absolutely nothing. To the contrary--we have compared this on our site to those who would act forcefully to prevent a lynch mob from assembling, and that comparison is exactly right.
Point Number Two: There is still time, but there is not much time, to drive out this regime through mass political action. But that will require breaking with the "norms" of ordinary bourgeois-democratic rule.
Fascism has not consolidated its rule (for more on this, see revcom.us articles here and speeches given by Refuse Fascism at the recent organizing conferences here and here). The Trump/Pence regime has not yet succeeded in crushing the opposition from the people, overcoming opposition of different kinds from other sections of the ruling class, and fully imposing its program. There is still time--and a "window"--to drive out this regime with mass political action. This is why Refuse Fascism's call for November 4 is critical. Unless the time is seized, as quickly as possible, it is all too possible that the window for such mass action will shut, and the Trump/Pence regime will succeed in fully consolidating their clampdown.
But such action will require breaking with "the way things are done," the "norms" of familiar ways of doing things. It will require breaking with the kind of thinking articulated by Peter Beinart, a liberal-democratic commentator, in his attack on Antifa:
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