Charlottesville: Watershed in the united struggle against fascism

The following is a statement from Workers World Party, which sent many of its members to Charlottesville, Va., to beat back the Nazis and Klan who marched there.

The coming out into the light of day of an openly fascist movement in the United States, as happened on Aug. 11-12 in Charlottesville, Va., confirms at least three things about the state of this country.

First, the media manipulation and financial maneuvering by a significant far-rightwing section of the billionaire class to get one of their own into the White House has emboldened the most racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, misogynist, male-supremacist, murderous scum of this decaying capitalist society.

Second, the progressive movement that has grown in defense of the rights of workers, oppressed Black, Latinx and Native communities, women, LGBTQ people and immigrants refuses to be cowed by these heavily armed thugs. Those protesting the Nazis and KKK fought back with incredible valor in Charlottesville.

And third, the police and other repressive forces of this capitalist “democracy” are no protection against the ultra-right. Indeed, they allowed the gun- and club-toting bigots to hold a Nazi and Klan-type “torchlight” parade through the city — something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. The progressive movement needs to continue to be self-reliant, combative and united.

The fascists were almost exclusively white men. The counter-protesters represented a united front in action of a broad spectrum of people, predominantly young, from every demographic in this country. It was an inspiring glimpse of the kind of unity and solidarity that is needed to overcome the bigots and the plutocrats, end the daily violence against the oppressed, and bring about revolutionary social change.

Those in the ruling establishment who see their reputation in tatters are appalled by what happened, but not for the right reasons. They want to continue to exploit and dominate most of the world, but behind a veil of “democracy” and “human rights.”

They cringed when Trump first publicly commented on the murderous attack by one of the fascists, who gunned his car into a dense crowd of protesters, killing activist Heather Heyer and wounding dozens more. The bigot-in-chief could not bring himself to even mention the groups responsible, saying he condemned “many sides, many sides.” Three days after the atrocity occurred, they finally got him to go before the cameras a second time and read from a script in which the racists and Nazis were named.

The events in Charlottesville will long be remembered as a watershed in the developing movement to tear down the walls of white supremacy and all forms of bigotry and unite the popular forces fighting for a better world. The people are showing by their actions that only by taking the fight for justice into their own hands, with no confidence in the organs of state power, can they make progress.

On Aug. 14, youths in Durham, N.C., tore down a Confederate statue with their own hands, expressing their fury at the murder in Charlottesville.

Long live the independent struggle of this new progressive movement against the fascists, the cops and the capitalist establishment!