https://themilitant.com/2018/08/24/white-nationalist-rally-shows-less-support-for-racism-in-us-today/
White nationalist rally shows less support for racism in US today
By James Harris
Vol. 82/No. 33
September 3, 2018
Aug. 12 "Unite the Right" action in Washington, D.C. Fascist groups have
little support in working class. Goal of liberal and left hysteria is
keeping workers chained to Democratic Party.
Reuters/Jim Urquhart
Aug. 12 "Unite the Right" action in Washington, D.C. Fascist groups have
little support in working class. Goal of liberal and left hysteria is
keeping workers chained to Democratic Party.
The following commentary is by the Socialist Workers Party candidate for
U.S. Senate in Maryland.
After all the hype on the left and in the liberal media, only two dozen
marchers showed up for the Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” demonstration in
Washington, D.C. It was dwarfed by several thousand counterdemonstrators
and self-avowed antifa, or antifascists. The small size of the rightist
turnout reveals much about the true strength of the so-called white
nationalist movement — and the hysteria about the alleged fascist danger
signaled by the election of Donald Trump as president.
The march was called by Jason Kessler on the one-year anniversary of a
rightist march he helped organize in Charlottesville, Virginia. On the
eve of that rally, some 250 white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched
with torches across the University of Virginia campus in
Charlottesville, chanting, “White lives matter”; “Blood and soil,” a
slogan used by Adolf Hitler to build the Nazi party in Germany; and
“Jews will not replace us.”
The following day some of those ultra-rightist thugs joined Kessler’s
“Unite the Right” rally of some 500. Rightist thugs and dozens of antifa
combatants — some armed on both sides — engaged in bloody skirmishes.
After the cops called off the rally, one of the neo-Nazis turned his car
into a weapon and drove into a group of counterprotesters, killing
Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.
Kessler said the goal of the anniversary action was to stand up for the
rights of oppressed white people and for free speech. Kessler denied he
is a white supremacist and said neo-Nazis were disinvited from the
rally. He did, however, invite the participation of people associated
with the KKK, Holocaust deniers, self-proclaimed Jew-haters and other
open racists.
The small size of the rally reflects the real decline in racism in the
U.S. following the victories won by the massive Black rights movement
during the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s that changed the thinking and
attitudes of tens of millions. These working-class struggles made the
expression of openly racist ideas repugnant to most working people.
This fact was totally missing in the over-the-top response given to the
announcement of the demonstration by the bourgeois media, local
governments and the left.
In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam and the city of Charlottesville declared
a state of emergency for Aug. 12 and said it could possibly be extended
for a month, earmarking $2 million for cop mobilization. In the end no
rightist demonstration took place there.
The Washington, D.C., government says it spent $2.6 million on the
massive police response. Both the National Park Service and some in the
D.C. government once again floated the idea that demonstrators should
have to cover the cost of policing their protests — which would be a
severe restriction on the right to demonstrate in the nation’s capital.
On the middle-class left, a number of groups issued semi-hysterical
flyers and announcements on the internet claiming the alt-right march
threatened the imminent imposition of fascism. They claimed virulent
white supremacist attitudes are on the rise in the working class,
reflected in Trump’s election to the presidency.
“While the openly Nazi and white supremacist forces may now be afraid to
take to the streets, that doesn’t mean they have been defeated,” the
Workers World Party said in their paper, counseling readers not to
become complacent because of the small size of the rightist action. “On
the contrary, they are not only in their klaverns and death cults, but
many wear the uniforms of local police and Border Patrol. … And the
far-right Trump appointees now in charge of so many federal agencies,”
they opined, “must be fought as they push the government even further to
the right.”
This and similar articles on the website of the Party for Socialism and
Liberation and other left groups paint a picture of a rising fascist
threat in the U.S. that they associate with Trump. The fact is there is
no growing fascist movement in the U.S. today. It isn’t that they were
scared off by Workers World or the PSL. Self-proclaimed fascists have
zero influence in the working class.
The outlook of these left organizations mimics the “resistance” to Trump
spread daily by the editors of the Washington Post, New York Times and
other liberal organs oriented to winning a Democratic majority in
Congress in the 2018 elections and impeaching or indicting the president.
The capitalist rulers today have no need to grow a fascist movement.
When they do, it will be because millions of workers are in the streets
and their rule is threatened. Whipping up hysteria that this is the
reality today can only disorient and disarm workers.
When the time comes, small bands of leftists and antifa will be of no
help in taking on fascist thuggery that’s backed by the capitalist
class. Only the working-class in their millions can organize an
effective fight against a real fascist threat, through a disciplined and
organized workers defense guard built through the unions. There are
examples of this in past struggles by the U.S. working class that our
class can learn from. One place to look is in Teamster Politics by
Farrell Dobbs, where this leader of the Teamsters over-the-road Midwest
organizing drive and the Socialist Workers Party explains how the union
turned back the fascist Silver Shirts in the 1930s.
The Socialist Workers Party candidates explain that painting a false
picture of an impending fascist threat and anti-Trump hysteria is
dangerous for working people. The rulers use this to promote
restrictions on political rights — like the idea of making you pay for
cops to “police” your demonstration.
Every move that closes down political space for workers to discuss and
debate a way forward — like preventing speakers from have a meeting on
campus because you dislike their views — is an obstacle.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Witch hunt by liberals against Trump a danger to
workers
•US, Turkish rulers clash over course in Mideast
•SWP: Speak out against bosses, gov't attacks, abuse
•White nationalist rally shows less support for racism in US today
•Join fight to end prison officials' censorship of the 'Militant'!
•Demand US rulers sign peace pact ending the Korean War!
Feature Articles •‘Teamster Bureaucracy’ is a must read for workers today
Also In This Issue •Working people welcome Eritrea-Ethiopia peace deal
On the Picket Line •Workers at Indiana construction site walk out
against racist firings
•Puerto Rico teachers protest ‘worst school start in decades’
•Teachers in New Zealand strike over pay, conditions
Books of the Month •Fidel Castro: ‘Maurice Bishop was a true revolutionary’
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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