No. 49, September-October 2017  Table of Contents Selected articles linked Click on image to left for pdf version of complete issue.

Full Citizenship Rights for All Immigrants! For Worker/Immigrant Action to Stop Deportations From Day One, Donald Trump has been waging a relentless war on immigrants. After launching his campaign for president by demonizing Mexicans as drug dealers, criminals and rapists, he smeared Muslims as terrorists. On taking office, his first act was to issue a ban on refugees, immigrants and visitors from Middle Eastern countries. Meanwhile, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) police are terrorizing immigrant communities across the country. When Trump decreed the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, threatening almost 800,000 immigrant youth with deportation, Congressional Democrats announced they had a deal. Many DACA recipients weren’t fooled, and protested that the Democrats had handed over a massive deportation machine to Trump.  The struggle for immigrant rights must be waged politically, understanding that the parties of capital are enemies of immigrants, the oppressed and working people. What’s needed to thwart the deportations is to mobilize the power of the workers movement in mass action to immobilize the “immigrant removal” system, and ultimately to paralyze capitalism. For Worker/Immigrant Action to Stop Deportations (October 2017)

The Central Enemy Is the Capitalist State The Fascist Threat, And How to Fight It Suddenly in mid-August, millions across the country and around the world were shocked into awareness of the infestation of outright fascists in the United States. People were horrified as they watched video footage of the deadly carnage as a Nazi plowed his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia. Yet while Trump tried We defend antifa against the state repression that these denunciations set them up for. But in doing so, we point out that endless inconclusive fights, or pepper-spraying them isn’t enough to stop the fascist menace. And the serious fascist outfits have made it clear that they’re not relying on their fists. What’s needed to actually stop the fascists, not just show moral indignation, is to bring out a superior power. A power strong enough to go up against the capitalist state, whose blue-uniformed enforcers stand behind (and often with) their auxiliaries in white sheets and brown shirts. That power is the organized working class, and the Internationalist Group has repeatedly called for workers mobilization and defense guards to CRUSH the fascist threat. Now, before it grows stronger. The Fascist Threat, And How to Fight It  (October 2017)

Lessons of Portland, Bay Area: Bring Out Workers Power Opportunists Undercut the Struggle Against the Fascists A strategy to fight the deadly danger posed by the fascists must take account of their role in “triggering” state repression. The liberal tactic of ignoring these violent racists while relying on the police and demonizing antifa militants only intensifies the danger. The pseudo-socialists who organize diversionary parades away from the sites of the fascist provocations are aiding the government in trying to prevent mass action that could actually drive the fascists off the streets. Militant workers action is urgently needed to bring to bear the power of the proletariat against these provocateurs who would act as a battering ram for the bourgeoisie to destroy the unions and all those who fight against oppression. With different arguments, centrist ex-Trotskyists who denigrate such efforts and reformist social democrats who seek to sabotage them are obstacles to a successful class struggle to crush the fascists. How Opportunists Undercut the Struggle Against the Fascists (October 2017)

“This Is a Union Town, Labor Shut the Fascists Down!” Fascists Forced to Flee San Francisco – A Significant Victory Statement of the Internationalist Group Fascists who planned a deadly provocation in this center of union power were dealt a humiliating defeat on August 26 as they were forced to call off their rally in a federal park near Golden Gate Bridge, then cancel a fall-back “press conference” and high-tail it out of town. This was a significant victory for all who are determined to take action against the fascists. The need to prevent their violent provocations was written in blood in Charlottesville, Virginia. Key to running off the fascists was the move by International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 to shut down the port and march to stop the fascist “Patriot Prayer” rally. Galvanized by this decision of the city’s most powerful and historically militant union, thousands of determined anti-fascists planned to join the dockers in driving the fascists out. Facing this prospect, the fascists fled. Fascists Forced to Flee San Francisco – A Significant Victory (26 August 2017)

Longshore Workers: Shut It Down! ILWU Local 10 Moves to Stop the Fascists in San Francisco On August 17, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 voted an urgent motion for labor mobilization to “Stop the Fascists in San Francisco.” The dock workers, who have a long history of port shutdowns against racism, war and police terror, aim to prevent a repeat of last week’s murderous Nazi/white supremacist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia. Fascist groups have announced a weekend of potentially deadly provocations in the Bay Area on August 26-27. Some of those involved in the Charlottesville Nazi march are reportedly planning to attend. Pointing to the example of Portland, Oregon where members of 14 local unions mobilized against a racist/fascist provocation on June 4, ILWU Local 10 motion stated, that “the San Francisco Bay Area is a union stronghold and we will not allow labor-hating white supremacists to bring their lynch mob terror here.” By using the power of independent working-class action to stop the fascists, they can point the way for all labor and the oppressed at this critical moment. ILWU Local 10 Moves to Stop the Fascists in San Francisco (18 August 2017)

Solidarity with Charlottesville Anti-Fascist Protesters! Honor Heather Heyer! Labor/Black/Immigrant Mobilization to Smash Fascist Terror Build Workers Defense Guards! The racist terror bred in the bone of American capitalism struck again this weekend, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Local activist Heather Heyer was murdered and at least 35 people were treated for injuries, as Ohio Nazi James Alex Fields rammed his car into a crowd. Fields came there to join swarms of Klan, Nazi and other fascists at a “Unite the Right” rally built by fascist leader Richard Spencer. This is the latest in a series of deadly fascist and racist provocations and attacks that have escalated since Donald Trump’s election. It is urgently necessary to mobilize labor/black/immigrant power, in alliance with all those targeted by racist and fascist terror, to smash the fascist provocations. Portland, Oregon labor militants pointed the way with the June 4 Labor Against the Fascists mobilization, which brought out several hundred workers, including members of 14 unions, against the fascist/racist provocation there. But to do that, the power of labor must be unchained from its subjugation to the bosses’ politicians and parties, centrally the Democratic Party that paved the way for Trump. Solidarity with Charlottesville Anti-Fascist Protesters! (14 August 2017)

Trump and Crazed Liberals on the Warpath – Defend North Korea! Lies, Dumb Lies, and Imperialist Whoppers Donald Trump lies about pretty much everything great and small. But when it comes to lies, size matters, particularly as concerns the lies that serve as pretexts to launch wars. Those lies kill millions, and almost every imperialist slaughter begins with them. Now we are seeing the Big Lie in action over Korea, and while Democrats may be getting nervous about the megalomaniac Republican president with his finger on the nuclear trigger, liberals have been promoting warmongering Big Lies about Korea, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Vietnam and elsewhere for decades.  Now they spread the truly dangerous Big Lie is that North Korea has nothing to fear from the U.S. military. Nonsense. If Kim Jong Un ever agreed to give up the North’s nuclear deterrent, imperialist “contingency” plans for counterrevolution and a new Korean War would immediately go live. All class-conscious workers and opponents of imperialism must stand with North Korea and its right to nuclear, or any other kind of weapons to defend itself against the imperialist behemoth. Lies, Dumb Lies, and Imperialist Whoppers (12 August 2017)

Defend the Right to Self-Determination and Independence! Mobilize Labor’s Power Against Spanish Police/Military Occupation! Mass Resistance to Police Repression in Catalonia After weeks of escalating threats and repression, on October 1 the Spanish government unleashed a massive police assault seeking to prevent  a long-awaited referendum on independence. More than 10,000 paramilitary police brought in from elsewhere in Spain set out to terrorize and humiliate the populace that was defying the orders of the Madrid government, courts, police and army by the simple act of voting. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a political heir of the decades-long dictatorship of Francisco Franco, had declared  that “disobedience is a totalitarian act” and vowed to root it out. Millions around the world saw videos showing riot cops yanking elderly retirees out of voting lines and beating them bloody. Almost 900 were injured. Nevertheless, over 2 million voted, 90% in favor of independence, although this represented only 40% of the electorate and the population of Catalonia is deeply divided on the issue. Two days later hundreds of thousands stopped work throughout Catalonia and marched to denounce the vicious police attack. The bourgeois-led Catalan nationalist movement is now stymied, facing an implacable government in Madrid and rejection of Catalan independence by the European Union. To defeat the neo-Francoist regime it is necessary to mobilize the power of the working class throughout Spain in revolutionary struggle. Mass Resistance to Police Repression in Catalonia (4 October 2017) For International Workers Solidarity! New York Protest Against Repression in Catalonia An emergency protest was held on October 6 outside a Spanish government office in New York City to denounce police repression against voters in the referendum on independence for Catalonia last Sunday, October 1. Demonstrators called for defense of the right to self-determination (the right to independence) for Catalonia, for workers unity throughout the Spanish state and for international workers solidarity actions. The urgency of the protest was underlined by reports indicating that the Spanish government is preparing to cancel Catalonia’s regional autonomy and impose direct rule from Madrid through a military/police occupation. New York Protest Against Repression in Catalonia (6 October 2017)

Against the Francoist Assault: Defend the Right to Self-Determination and Independence for Catalonia Resist Attempts to Prevent the October 1 Referendum! Forward to a Workers General Strike in All of Spain! For a Federation of Workers Republics in the Iberian Peninsula, Part of a Socialist United States of Europe! Over the last three weeks, the Madrid government, the Constitutional Court and the National Police have mounted a large-scale repressive operation in Catalonia. The central government of the Spanish state led by Mariano Rajoy is threatening to prevent by police action the holding of a referendum on Catalan independence. In the face of this ominous campaign, revolutionaries and class-conscious workers  Against the police assault by Rajoy and his accomplices it is necessary to mobilize to defend the right of self-determination and independence for Catalonia. Moreover, it’s necessary to support the holding of a binding referendum on the question and resist any attempt by the Spanish government to prevent it. Against any attempt to unleash massive repression in Catalonia, the working class in the whole of Spain must mobilize with strikes and occupations. While defending the right of the Catalan populace to decide their future, we warn that the Catalan nationalist movement is led by the bourgeoisie of the richest region in Spain. In Catalonia, only a minority support the independence movement, particularly among the workers, many of whom come from other parts of Spain or are immigrants. To defeat the neo-Francoist regime, it is necessary to mobilize the working people throughout the Spanish state, and to forge a Leninist-Trotskyist party to carry out international socialist revolution.  Defend the Right to Self-Determination and Independence for Catalonia (September 2017)  The Left in Catalonia and Independence (September 2017)  (en español) Defendamos el derecho a la autodeterminación y a la independencia de Catalunya (septiembre de 2017) (en español) La izquierda en Catalunya y la independencia (septiembre de 2017)

Internationalistische Gruppe, German Section of the League for the Fourth International, Founded On 20 August 2017, the Internationalistische Gruppe, German section of the League for the Fourth International, was founded in Berlin. Together with representatives of the international leadership, German supporters of the LFI discussed perspectives and tasks of the new organization and drew up its founding statement. Founding Statement of the Internationalistische Gruppe (20 August 2017) After having published a first issue of Permanente Revolution as the German-language newspaper of the LFI in June, we are now inaugurating a German page of the LFI web site. (Deutsch) Gründungserklärung der Internationalistischen Gruppe (20. August 2017)

Cops, Prison and Security Guards Out of the Labor Movement DSA Debacle Over Cop “Union” Organizer As the Democratic Socialists of America basked in favorable media coverage following its convention, boasting of its membership growth, a scandal broke out when it was revealed that one of its newly elected top leaders was a long-time organizer of police “unions.” Danny Fetonte, who was a big booster of the Bernie Sanders campaign in Texas, had been a representative of the CLEAT cop association. The idea of unionizing police is a typical social-democratic conception. Trotskyists, in contrast, say that cops are not workers but the professional enforcers of racist capitalist repression. We demand, all police, prison and security guards out of the unions. So while voting a police “unionist” into their leadership (who has now resigned), the DSA social democrats called the cops on the Trotskyists. DSA Debacle Over Cop “Union” Organizer (14 September 2017)