Charlottesville: Rising Fascism & Flux

The spectacle and aftermath of Charlottesville heralds a torch-bearing fascist movement in the U.S., a danger to the main wing of the ruling class. Donald Trump, the first U.S. president since the 1930s to fail to make a categorical condemnation of Nazis, finally yielded to bipartisan condemnation and pressure from leading U.S. capitalists and generals. Even then, however, the Racist-in-Chief proposed that the fighting anti-racists—acting in defense of their working-class brothers and sisters—were equally “bad.”
Homegrown Fascism
On August 12, hundreds of Nazis, KKK, and other white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville, many carrying firearms.  Thousands of antiracists, joined by members of Progressive Labor Party, showed up to confront them.  The first Nazis to arrive were physically attacked by many. The police and National Guard were on hand to protect the fascists, but couldn’t save them from the ire of the masses.
As the fascists were leaving, a Nazi used a car to run over a multitude of antifascists, murdering 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19.
As American as a Nazi
Amid the fury of the antiracist masses, Trump was forced to read a statement saying: “Those who spread violence in the name of intolerance strike the heart of America.”  No, they do not!  These cowardly thugs were acting according to the core value on which the U.S. was founded: racist genocide. The White House was built by slaves on land stolen from exterminated indigenous peoples.   
The antifascist masses have shown courage and a willingness to repel the fascists’ violence with their own.   Many still believe that fascism “is un-American,” and that tearing down confederate statues is a patriotic attack against “traitors.” Workers and students in the U.S. and worldwide have marched in solidarity with the antifascists in Charlottesville (see page 4).  This movement has steadily increased in numbers and in its anger, intensified by Trump’s open support of the Nazis.
Danger to the Main Wing
The bosses’ media mouthpieces pulled all the strings to steer the conversation away from organized violence and toward pacifism and liberal patriotism, going so far as to suggest that satire and humor could be used to defeat fascism.  Their desperation reflects the instability within the Trump administration and growing concerns within the ruling class that Trump can competently serve their interests.
An openly fascist movement is perilous for the main wing because it ruptures the illusion of democracy and undermines their need for a strong military and a populace united in fighting the capitalists’ imperialist wars. Notice the bosses’ angst over the increasing disillusionment and alienation of the white working class:
[Trump’s] presidential campaign was built on a foundation of white working-class despair…As a study by the Brookings Institution concludes, “the American Dream of prosperity, equality, opportunity, and stable democracy is being challenged by increasing income inequality, the hollowing out of the middle class, decreasing wages and increased insecurity for low-skilled workers, and rising mortality rates.”
The perceived threat of the other [Black, Latin, Muslim, and immigrant workers] is what drove Trump’s presidential candidacy, and it has become the primary theme of his presidency (Foreign Affairs, 8/21).
While the bosses need racism to exploit and divide the working class, they can’t afford to cede their monopoly over terror to rogue free-lancers.
No Free Speech for Racists
Trump, openly championed by the Ku Klux Klan, has repeatedly blamed “both sides” for the racist violence in Charlottesville. For their part, the liberal politicians, preachers, media, and unions called for “non-violence” in the face of fascism. Keeping the capitalist state’s monopoly on violence is critical to the bosses’ continued repression of the masses and maintainance of their capitalist system.
Progressive Labor Party has a long and proud history of beating back racist and fascist organizers of all kinds.  PL believes in mass, multiracial violence against Nazis and Klansmen. But to eliminate fascism once and for all, antifascists need to join and help build a mass, working-class, anti-racist movement for communist revolution.
Communism: Workers’ Dream, Bosses’ Nightmare
The worst nightmare for the capitalists is that workers, soldiers and youth will see the necessity of working-class unity to destroy the bosses’ racist system and the Nazis thugs.  They want to stop the enraged antiracists before they can mobilize for communism. But that’s exactly what the masses need to do to smash racism and build a system to meet workers’ needs.
Some antifascists already understand that “Trump is the symptom, capitalism is the disease.”  We need to spread the knowledge that racism and sexism is the lifeline of the global capitalism. It uses these murderous ideas to divide us, enabling a few exploiters to rule us.
Communism will abolish the wage system.  We can work collectively to produce what we need, without bosses or borders. Ultimately we’ll need an armed mass revolution to build a communist society.  
Our task is to distribute CHALLENGE, and to build PLP in the factories, schools, and barracks.  We need to prepare ourselves and our friends to fight the racists whenever they show their faces, just like the brave antifascists in Virginia.  In every action and conversation, our goal must be to mobilize for communism.  We need to prepare to lead a new society run by and for the international working class. Join us and build the Progressive Labor Party Only communism can smash fascism.