The death of another unarmed Black man, at the hands of the police, has apparently triggered another American revolution. His murder was caught on video, by a bystander who recorded this on her cell phone. The video has gone ”viral”, and has been shown around the world. Countless people are outraged, not just in America but in numerous other countries. Protests have taken place all across America, in cities and small towns. Statues which have stood for years, in honour of such people as the Confederate General Robert E. Lee, are now being torn down. General Lee was a slave owner and staunch supporter of slavery. It was his firm belief that Black people were an inferior race, and he fought at the head of an army, in an effort to preserve the institution of slavery. Statues in honour of such people are an insult to all Black people, as well as to all minorities. For that matter, they are an insult to all those who fought for the Union in the Civil War. The sacrifice of those valiant soldiers should not be marred by honouring the memory the slave owners, the very people whom they destroyed.
The mass movement against violent police repression and racism has even spread overseas. In England, the statue of a man who lived several centuries ago was torn down and thrown into the river. The reason is that the statue honoured a man who was a slave trader. There too, the people are taking action, doing the ”right thing”, even if that right thing is not strictly within the absolute letter of the law. Some things just have to be done.
In America, the movement is very broad and deep. Even the journalists are now using the word revolution, if only in whispers, so to speak. It is clear that the word is cause for embarrassment. They are having a difficult time facing the fact that the current uprising, the protests, the marches, the calls for an end to police brutality and racism, is nothing less than a full scale revolution.
Never in the history of the country have so many distinguished figures, including former high ranking members of presidential administrations, as well as former high ranking military men, spoken out so clearly and passionately, against a sitting president.
One former four star general referred to the current protests as ”the beginning of the end of the American experiment”. This statement is perhaps not so much clear, as it is passionate.
It is characteristic of such people that they cannot bring themselves to use the word capitalism, much less socialism. The general used the expression ”American experiment”, as a reference to capitalism. Also, his expression ”the beginning of the end” is a reference to the end of capitalism. Of course, it will soon be replaced by socialism, but that is a thought which the general finds too terrible for words.
A former Secretary of Defence referred to Trump as a ”threat to the Constitution”, someone who ”tries to divide us”. In this, he is absolutely correct.
The current Secretary of Defence has just openly disagreed with Trump on the question of using the American military against the protesters. The Defence Secretary considers it to be an ”abuse of executive authority”. Trump, by contrast, has no concept of abuse of executive authority. As far as he is concerned, he has absolute authority, and fully intends to use it, as he sees fit.
Even a high ranking member of the American Senate, a former candidate for the presidency and a member of the same political party as Trump, has marched with Black Lives Matter. He is perhaps the one and only such politician to go to that great length.
For the benefit of working people who are just now becoming politically active -welcome, my brothers and sisters, my comrades!- I will mention that there is a law referred to as the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids the use of American military against American citizens. Trump responded to this by saying that the Insurrection Act of 1807 allows him to use the military within the country, in case of an ”insurrection”, as he sees fit. According to the same law, federal troops can be sent in to each state only at the request of the governor of that particular state. Trump has his own interpretation of the law. As far as he is concerned, if the governors are not doing their job, then he will do it for them!
Trump refers to himself as the ”law and order president”, yet his latest stunt made a mockery of law and order. In the interests of a ”photo op”, which is shorthand for photo opportunity, he had his Attorney General, the ”top cop” in the country, clear an area, Lafayette Park, next to the White House, so that he could march to a nearby church and have his picture taken.
The park was occupied by peaceful protesters at that time, those who were exercising their democratic right to express their disapproval, as is guaranteed in the Constitution. The Attorney General of the country then gave the illegal order and the police responded by attacking those law abiding citizens with pepper spray, tear gas, shields and clubs. So much for law and order!
Trump then very proudly marched to the church and waved around a bible. He also posed with his closest aides. The journalists were quick to point out that all were White, although one of them was a female.
Trump is able to justify this by accusing all protesters of being ”terrorists”, members of an organization he refers to as Antifa. That is short for Anti Fascist, and very likely such an organization does not even exist. If it does exist, then it stands to reason that our parents and grandparents, those who fought the Nazis in World War 2, were terrorists! Such nonsense! It is also an insult to the millions of brave men and women who fought the fascist Nazis.
As mentioned in a previous article, cracks are beginning to appear in the American Empire. Several republics are starting to take shape. On the east coast and the west coast, the two population centres, states have come together. Also, in the midwest, the industrial heartland of the country, seven states have also formed an alliance. One of those states is Minnesota, home to Minneapolis, the city in which George Floyd was murdered. In other words, the epicentre of the revolution.
That is most significant, because the City Council of Minneapolis has just decided to take revolutionary action. In particular, they have decided to disband the Minneapolis City Police! They plan to replace it with a ”new model of public safety”. Now people across the country are calling for the ”defunding” of various police agencies.
As for those who are confused concerning this ”new model of public safety”, there is a good reason for this. It has yet to take shape! It is a new creation of the revolution! The precise form it will assume remains to be seen.
The mayor of Minneapolis is dead set against this as he is in the service of the capitalists, but the City Council is reported to have a ”veto proof majority”.
It is to the credit of the journalists that they interviewed a young lady -clearly a leader- who stated that people were at first confused, suspecting that the police were not working the way they were supposed to work. But then they had second thoughts and came to the conclusion that the police are doing precisely that which they are supposed to be doing!
This is a huge step forward in the revolutionary working class movement. The members of the public are now aware, if only on an instinctive level, that the role of the police is not to protect and serve but to crush the working class! The police are nothing other than members of a state apparatus that is set up by the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, to crush the working class. It has nothing to do with ”serve and protect”!
Now it is absolutely necessary to read the Essential Works of Lenin. May I suggest starting with State and Revolution, a book which was written immediately before the November 7 revolution of 1917. That was the revolution which brought the proletariat, the workers, to power in Russia. That book is as relevant now as it was then. Working people must be made aware that the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, are in charge. The capitalists make sure that the working people are kept under control. In fact, they have a fine apparatus set up to keep the working people suppressed. As Lenin put it, ”A standing army and police are the chief instruments of state power”. (my italics)
The point being that the more advanced members of the working class, the proletariat, are correct in thinking that the police are behaving precisely the way they are supposed to behave! They are the ”chief instruments of state power”! It is the police and standing army, and in particular the National Guard, that is responsible for crushing the working class, the proletariat! It is the police and standing army that must be disbanded! Those are the ”chief instruments of state power” which the capitalists use to crush the workers!
In Russia, 1917, it was only after the successful November revolution that the police and standing army were disbanded. Then the separate independent socialist republics took shape. At that time, it was first necessary to crush the capitalists under the newly created state apparatus, the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, and only then was it possible to disband the police and standing army.
By contrast, here in America, 2020, several independent republics are already taking shape. As well, the working people are more aware that the police are crushing them. Even before the revolution, they are taking the proper steps to disband the police departments. As the City Police are one of the ”chief instruments of state power” of the capitalists, there can be no doubt that the capitalists will take a ”dim view” of the attempt of the City Council to disband one of their most useful tools. The resistance the City Council is about to meet in trying to disband the City Police will prove to be most valuable training. This will serve them well after the revolution, as they assume positions of authority, under the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
Further preparations must be made for the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. Workers, or at least the most advanced workers, must be encouraged to become members of any and all organizations, those which allow working class membership. This includes sports clubs, trade unions and political parties, especially the two mainstream parties, Democrats and Republicans. As card carrying members, party bosses, they can then run for any and all political offices. The purpose is to gain valuable experience in the class struggle, not to secure socialism through democratic elections. Regardless of what the social chauvinists say, socialism cannot be secured in that manner. On the other hand, such elections are a useful tool, to be used in the interests of raising the level of awareness of the working people.
There is also a desperate need for a true Marxist political party to lead the workers, the proletariat. Such a party can distinguish itself from the chauvinist parties by openly calling for the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
As for those individuals who are referred to as ”conscious people”, which is to say people who are well aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, may I suggest that you perform your duty. To paraphrase the old expression, ”to whom much has been given, from whom much is expected”. You have the education and training. Use it. Feel free to form a true Marxist political party:
American Communist, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 