Cops and their violence are an essential part of capitalist rule
https://themilitant.com/2020/06/13/cops-and-their-violence-are-an-essential-part-of-capitalist-rule/
June 22, 2020
Alyson Kennedy, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for president,
issued the following statement June 9. Malcolm Jarrett is the party???s
candidate for vice president.
The explosion of demonstrations against the Minneapolis cop killing of
George Floyd that have swept the country ??? from big cities to small
rural towns ??? and spread around the world give a picture of what working
people in action are capable of. They???ve had a broad social impact and
paved the way for even more effective actions against cop brutality and
racist violence wherever they occur. And they???ve inspired workers
everywhere looking to stand up to the bosses??? assaults on our jobs,
wages and working conditions we confront today.
The breadth of the outpouring shows the long-term effects wrought by the
Black-led proletarian movement in the 1950s, ???60s and ???70s that tore
down Jim Crow segregation. It transformed the attitudes and conduct of
millions of working people, opening the door to unity in action by
workers who are Caucasian and who are Black.
They show that those middle-class radicals who insist racism is gaining
ground among workers today are dead wrong. There is more interest in
acting together against racist violence and discrimination than ever
before. And they confirm that in the big class battles to come, workers
who are Black will play a central role.
The protests today send a warning to cops that hundreds of thousands
will fight and can prevent cops from killing with impunity. And, when
they are organized to be large, powerful and disciplined, they can
attract and involve millions.
But calls by the liberals, Democrats and Republicans for ???reforming??? the
cops mask the true character of the capitalist ???justice??? system. More
body cams, restrictions on the use of chokeholds and more civilian
police review boards will not stop cops from inflicting lethal violence
on working people.
As Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack Barnes said in a book
that is very useful today ??? Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to
Workers Power ??? ???The historical record gives ample evidence that even
the most ???democratic??? bourgeois state is at bottom a massive and
all-pervasive apparatus of violence, dedicated to preserving capitalist
rule.???
Growing calls to ???defund,??? ???restructure??? or ???disband??? police departments
and set up something ???new??? will do nothing to alter which class the cops
serve, nor the violence they mete out.
???These institutions of class rule, of bourgeois ???law and order,??? do
brutally serve and protect the property, profits, and assumed
prerogatives of the U.S. capitalist class,??? Barnes said, ???from the
streets, factories, fields, mines, border crossings, and prisons across
the United States, to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and beyond.???
Among those joining today???s protests ??? and those inspired by them ???
there is widespread interest in the SWP???s call to action to meet the
bosses??? attacks on our wages, jobs and working conditions. Fight for a
federally funded public works program to create millions of jobs at
union-scale wages to build the hospitals, homes and schools we need. For
workers to organize in their millions to rebuild our unions and fight to
wrest ever more control over production from the bosses. To build our
own political party, a labor party, to fight for workers and farmers to
take political power out of the hands of the capitalist rulers and run
society ourselves. This is the road to end cop violence and capitalist
exploitation once and for all.
This is a perspective worth fighting for! Join today???s protests! Join
the SWP campaign to deepen this discussion on the road forward.
Worldwide protests say, ???End police brutality!???
More than two weeks after Minneapolis cops brutally killed George Floyd,
protests on an unprecedented scale continue to sweep the world. From big
cities to rural towns in the U.S. and elsewhere, hundreds of thousands,
if not millions, have joined???
Protests, workers??? resistance to bosses spur interest in the ???Militant,???
books
The protests against police brutality that are sweeping the U.S. and the
world ??? combined with resistance to the bosses??? attacks as the
capitalist economic crisis unfolds ??? have boosted interest in the
Militant newspaper, books by Socialist Workers Party???
Thousands defy Australia gov???t, protest brutality
SYDNEY ??? Tens of thousands protested across Australia June 5-6,
including more than 20,000 here, in solidarity with U.S. demonstrations
against the police killing of George Floyd as well as against Aboriginal
deaths in police custody. The cops in New???
Front Page Articles
Worldwide protests say, ???End police brutality!???
Cops and their violence are an essential part of capitalist rule
French auto workers strike over Renault plant closures
Workers fight boss attacks on jobs, pay, work conditions
Planned Parenthood wins fight to keep Missouri abortion clinic open
Protests, workers??? resistance to bosses spur interest in the ???Militant,???
books
Feature Articles
Frank Gorton built communist movement in Canada, UK, US
Also In This Issue
Thousands defy Australia gov???t, protest brutality
Supreme Court upholds attack on right to worship
Florida gov???t restrictions on former prisoners??? right to vote pushed back
Hong Kong workers mark Tiananmen Square massacre
Protest in Syria: Down with Assad! Moscow, Tehran out of our country
SWP ???stimulus??? appeal climbs over $116,000
Books of the Month
???Building socialism is a voluntary task of free men and women???
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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Carl Sagan
???Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of
wonder and awe. Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend
to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will
prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront
the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the
Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will
penetrate its deepest mysteries.???
??? Carl Sagan, Cosmos