REVOLUTION 116

Black People Should Be Among the Front Ranks in the Fight to Defeat Trump/MAGA Fascism

This is Bob Avakian—REVOLUTION—number 116.

Some people who should know better have insisted that defeating Trump/MAGA fascism is not a fight that Black people should be involved in. A number of different arguments have been made in the attempt to “justify” this ridiculous position, and here I’m going to speak to how wrong this is.

One of the main arguments is this: “White people created this mess, so let them deal with it.”

First of all, there is not one uniform, undivided white people, all supposedly united behind Trump. Although just over half the white people who voted in the recent election voted for Trump, nearly half the white voters (tens of millions) did not vote for Trump—and a significant number of white people who are not Trump supporters did not vote at all, including some who refused to vote for Harris because of the Biden/Harris administration’s support for the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people. Huge numbers of white people have been mobilizing in protest and resistance against Trump.

So, the notion that “white people,” in general and as a whole, are responsible for this situation is way too simple an explanation of the problem. (It is the case that about one-fourth of Black men who voted actually voted for the openly racist Trump, so that is another part of the problem that needs to be addressed.)

Trump is a fascist—which, particularly in this country, means aggressively enforcing racial oppression, as well as oppression based on sex and gender. He is openly moving to wipe out any mention of race (or gender) and the whole oppressive history of this country, as part of his determined drive to reverse even the partial gains that have been made, over the past 80 years, in the fight against this oppression. A number of years ago now, during Trump’s first time in power, I spoke to this very clearly:

People need to understand that Trump is a genocidal racist. He may not be trying to bring back literal slavery but he is definitely aiming to take this country back to a situation where overt white supremacy is blatantly promoted, codified in law and court decisions, and enforced through systematic, full-blown white supremacist violence.

What sense does it make to say that Black people should not be actively opposing this?!

Let’s get down into this further: If white people were responsible for slavery, did that mean that Black people should not have fought in the Civil War, in the way they did, becoming a major force in defeating the slave-holding Confederacy and putting an end to slavery?

Or, again, if white people were responsible for the open (“Jim Crow”) segregation and racist terror that Black people were subjected to after slavery was ended, did that mean that Black people should not have risen up in the Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements, in the 1950s and since—or that the gains that have been made through this struggle, against open segregation and legal discrimination, are of no importance for Black people?!

Who would make such arguments? As for those making similar arguments now—insisting that Black people should stay out of the fight against Trump/MAGA fascism—would they even have a platform for reaching people with these arguments, if it weren’t for the gains that were made through the heroic, self-sacrificing struggle of Black people against open segregation and discrimination? This has been a righteous struggle that has changed the way a lot of people see things, including a lot of white youth especially, motivating them to join in the struggle against this racist oppression. This has been powerfully demonstrated through the 1960s, and since—and again recently in 2020, in the massive, righteous uprising in response to the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd by a heartless pig.

Trump and his whole fascist regime is aggressively moving to reverse these gains, and slam Black people (and others) back into a more openly, brutally oppressed condition: how in the world can that be a reason for Black people to stand aside from the fight against this Trump fascist regime?!

Yes, oppression of Black people would exist even if Trump weren’t in power—because this oppression is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism.

What all this shows is not that all the struggle against this oppression didn’t accomplish anything. What it powerfully demonstrates is that the whole system has to go: Only through a revolution to put an end to this whole system, and bring into being a fundamentally different, emancipating system, can this oppression—and all oppression—be finally and completely ended. But allowing the Trump regime to carry out its horrific program will only make all this much worse, and make the necessary revolution much more difficult to carry out. On the other hand, defeating this fascism, through massive, non-violent but determined and sustained mobilization—uniting all who can be united against this Trump fascist regime, moving to create the conditions where this regime will be removed from power—this can strike a huge blow against oppression overall, and it can also make a big contribution to creating more favorable conditions for the all the way liberating revolution that is needed.

Another argument is that if Black people become a major force in the fight against the Trump regime, this regime will come down that much harder on the whole thing—and Black people in particular will be singled out for the most brutal treatment. The truth is that Trump is determined anyway to crush those who oppose him—and all those he regards as enemies, or “inferior” and “illegitimate” people, even if they don’t stand up against him. That is all the more reason why this Trump regime needs to be removed from power, before it can fully act to carry out its atrocious aims. To the degree that Trump and his fascist regime would seek to come down with even greater violence against Black people (or any other section of people, as the Trump regime is now doing with immigrants, for example) that is something that the whole mass movement against Trump/MAGA fascism needs to take on and beat back, as part of building the massive strength that will be necessary to actually drive out this fascist regime. It is not a reason to allow the Trump regime to remain in power and carry out its terrible atrocities.

Like every important struggle against a profound and terrible injustice, the fight to defeat Trump/MAGA fascism will require sacrifice and putting something on the line for the greater good. But allowing this regime to remain in power and carry out the terrible atrocities it is determined to impose on people here, and all over the world, will be far, far worse—while moving to create the conditions where this regime is removed from power will not only prevent very real horrors but will also give rise to masses of people more actively searching for and grappling with what kind of society and world we need to have in order to really and finally put an end to all injustice and oppression.

To go back to where I began with this message: In the history of this country, Black people have often been in the front ranks of crucial struggle against oppression and injustice, providing an inspiring example and force for liberation that has drawn forth many others, including large numbers of youth among white people. This has led to major changes in how people see things and therefore how they have acted—leading, in turn, to major re-alignments and major changes in society as a whole. And there is certainly no less basis, and no less need, for this now, in the literally life and death battle to defeat this Trump/MAGA fascism—to unite all who can be united to give powerful expression to the mass demand that the Trump fascist regime must go— now!—before it is too late.