Capitalism, anti-anti-fascism and the working class

By Dave McKee (People's Voice, Canada)

In what can only be described as an acceleration and expansion of the bellicose and dangerous far-right populist movement around the globe, the US government of Donald Trump is reportedly seeking to build an international coalition to oppose the anti-fascist left.

Washington says US counterterrorism officials are organizing a summit in the summer to discuss and develop “strategies to counter the anti-fascist movement.”

White House and State Department officials have described such groups as a “serious threat to national security,” lumping together “anarchists, Marxists and violent extremists.” The State Department claimed these organizations have waged “a terrorist campaign in the United States and across the Western world for decades, involving bombings, beatings, shootings and riots in the service of their extreme agenda.”

The move comes as Trump has faced significant domestic opposition to many of his policies. This includes a sustained two-month popular uprising in Minnesota against violent anti-migrant sweeps by ICE, which ultimately forced the president to back down and withdraw the federal agents.

Labelling virtually all opposition as “terrorist” is an alarming escalation in Trump’s rhetoric, and it suggests a significant shift in counterterrorism priorities. The fact that the US is trying to internationalize this effort – invitees to the summit include Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, India and Indonesia – suggests that such a shift may be underway in other countries as well.

Reuters reported that sources within US counterterrorism say the summit will encourage intelligence sharing and common strategies. Other reports suggest that Washington is considering multiple international conferences, beginning in May with a workshop with foreign law enforcement officials in The Hague to “teach them about the dangers of far-left groups and how to counter them.”

The US push comes as right-wing political forces in Canada are also agitating to label dissent as “terrorist.” In a move eerily reminiscent of the McCarthy era, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis has reportedly asked federal departments and agencies to determine whether any of their employees or members have current or prior association with anti-fascist and anti-racist left movements.

Right-wing politicians and media typically use the term “antifa” to refer to a sweeping range of organizations and movements that oppose fascist, racist and far-right groups.

With such a broad interpretation, virtually any political grouping, however large or small, can be described as “terrorist” or “a threat to national security” and subject to state repression.

In no small part, this is the desperate response of a system that is in crisis and decay. As capitalism’s social contradictions sharpen – evidenced by recurring and deepening social and economic crises, increased inter-imperialist rivalry and competition, and the accelerating drive to militarism and war – an increasingly broad section of the population becomes drawn into opposition and resistance. Cutting off the organizational and political leadership of this growing movement against capitalism, even if it is nascent, is of utmost importance to the ruling class.

If the commanders of capitalism, at least those in the US, are indeed planning ahead through their “Anti-anti-fascist summit,” then working people had better start doing the same.

The working-class movement needs to get to work on developing its own independent political action plan, and building up organizations and alliances that can carry it out. This includes working to win more people over to political positions like opposing NATO and other imperialist military alliances, rejecting corporate trade deals and tripartite “social dialogue” with the bosses and their governments, and insisting on the necessity of class struggle.

It also means combatting anti-socialist and anti-communist propaganda, including within labour and “left” movements. Narratives that deny the achievements of the Soviet people, or which draw false distinctions between the Cuban people and the Cuban government, or which equate communism with fascism and terror – these kinds of lies are all designed to divide and weaken the working-class movement, and to reinforce the dictatorship of capital over working people.

It’s true that capitalism is not always fascist. But it’s also true that fascism is always capitalist – and when capitalism is in crisis, it is anti-anti-fascist. This is what we are seeing now, and this is why the working class – which alone has the power to transform society – must get organized.

Labelling virtually all opposition as “terrorist” is an alarming escalation in Trump’s rhetoric, and it suggests a significant shift in counterterrorism priorities. The fact that the US is trying to internationalize this effort – invitees to the summit include Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, India and Indonesia – suggests that such a shift may be underway in other countries as well.

Reuters reported that sources within US counterterrorism say the summit will encourage intelligence sharing and common strategies. Other reports suggest that Washington is considering multiple international conferences, beginning in May with a workshop with foreign law enforcement officials in The Hague to “teach them about the dangers of far-left groups and how to counter them.”

The US push comes as right-wing political forces in Canada are also agitating to label dissent as “terrorist.” In a move eerily reminiscent of the McCarthy era, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis has reportedly asked federal departments and agencies to determine whether any of their employees or members have current or prior association with anti-fascist and anti-racist left movements.

Right-wing politicians and media typically use the term “antifa” to refer to a sweeping range of organizations and movements that oppose fascist, racist and far-right groups.

With such a broad interpretation, virtually any political grouping, however large or small, can be described as “terrorist” or “a threat to national security” and subject to state repression.

In no small part, this is the desperate response of a system that is in crisis and decay. As capitalism’s social contradictions sharpen – evidenced by recurring and deepening social and economic crises, increased inter-imperialist rivalry and competition, and the accelerating drive to militarism and war – an increasingly broad section of the population becomes drawn into opposition and resistance. Cutting off the organizational and political leadership of this growing movement against capitalism, even if it is nascent, is of utmost importance to the ruling class.

If the commanders of capitalism, at least those in the US, are indeed planning ahead through their “Anti-anti-fascist summit,” then working people had better start doing the same.

The working-class movement needs to get to work on developing its own independent political action plan, and building up organizations and alliances that can carry it out. This includes working to win more people over to political positions like opposing NATO and other imperialist military alliances, rejecting corporate trade deals and tripartite “social dialogue” with the bosses and their governments, and insisting on the necessity of class struggle.

It also means combatting anti-socialist and anti-communist propaganda, including within labour and “left” movements. Narratives that deny the achievements of the Soviet people, or which draw false distinctions between the Cuban people and the Cuban government, or which equate communism with fascism and terror – these kinds of lies are all designed to divide and weaken the working-class movement, and to reinforce the dictatorship of capital over working people.

It’s true that capitalism is not always fascist. But it’s also true that fascism is always capitalist – and when capitalism is in crisis, it is anti-anti-fascist. This is what we are seeing now, and this is why the working class – which alone has the power to transform society – must get organized.