Commemoration of the October Socialist Revolution repressed; RCWP seeking international solidarity

The Russian Communist Workers' Party of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is seeking international statements of solidarity after a demonstration commemorating the Great October Socialist Revolution was repressed November 7th in Tyumen (a city in southwestern Siberia, near the Ural Mountains and Kazakhstan).  Local RCWP leader and journalist Alexandr Kipriyanovich Cherepanov is being charged with assault on the police, with the possibility of five years imprisonment.  The RCWP sent out the article below (I changed a few typos).  Organizations can send letters in solidarity to ak_rkrp /at/ mail period ru.  Letters have already been received from groups in Greece, Hungary, Italy, France, Belgium, and elsewhere.  The RCWP-CPSU's website in Russian and English is:    rkrp-rpk.ru/

Alexandr Kipriyanovich Cherepanov

Alexandr Kipriyanovich Cherepanov was born on January 21, 1950 in a working class family.

From 1991 to the present day  he is a communist of the Russian Communist Workers' Party. He is the first secretary of the Tyumen regional committee and secretary of the Central Committee for organizational and party work. He graduated from the Oil and Gas University and the Leningrad Academy of Civil Aviation. For 24 years he worked in civil aviation as an engineer, deputy head of the Roshchino airport. Was elected a deputy of the Tyumen City Council and a deputy of the Tyumen Regional Duma of 1-3 convocations. He is editor-in-chief of the newspaper Trudovaya Tyumen. He is a staunch Leninist-Stalinist, known as an implacable fighter against the arbitrariness of officials and for his active support of the Donbass people’s struggle.

Marital status: Married, has two adult sons, a granddaughter and 5 grandsons.

_____________________________

From Russia:

We accuse the authorities of fascism!

 

On November 7, the day of the 103rd anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the city and regional authorities  of Tyumen got their test to pass. Constantly assuring us that they honour the history of the country and strongly oppose its rewriting, they simply deceive the people. And the events of November 7 very well confirmed this. Speculating on the dangers of the coronavirus, the authorities are completely brazen. Since the end of March this year, by relentlessly prohibiting the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU celebrating the memorable dates of the Soviet era, they are actually trying to erase the Soviet period and its great achievements from the memory of the peoples of Russia. They themselves rewrite the history of the country. Who gave them the right to do this?

 

The coronavirus somehow does not prevent them from holding trade fairs (as many as four at once in one day! And all on November 7!), opening hot springs, theaters, holding concerts in the Philharmonic hall and various mass events. It's not dangerous. But the Communists should be completely banned, which they were. Apparently, the well-known plan of A. Dulles is the inspiration for our authorities. Yes, the same Dulles, who planned to gradually, step by step, shake the foundations of Soviet society, destroy, and then erase the Soviet era from the memory of the peoples. To divide the nations forever into masters and slaves. Today, the Tyumen authorities are actually implementing the Dulles plan.

 

In fact, Tyumen banned Communists from all events and banned Communists in General. And the ban on Communists equals fascism. The Tyumen authorities inculcate the ideology of fascism. When they were eager for power, they "chattered" about multiparty, tolerance, and the diversity of forms of ownership. Where is it? They took power by deception and usurped it. They even managed to steal the Victory Day from the people!

 

On November 7, a mass of police officers, young and healthy, staged outrages at the Technocenter, where the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU gathered to march to the Central square of the city in honour of the 103 anniversary of the Great October. There were many elderly people among the Communists. But this did not bother the police in the least. They grabbed the first Secretary of the regional Committee A. K. Cherepanov and dragged him to the car. They threw him into the car on the floor, and a young "policeman" grabbed his hands from behind and did not let him get to his feet. I then found his photo on the Internet at night, this young, real "policeman". What was he thinking at that moment? I repeatedly demanded that he release Cherepanov's hands and let him get into the car normally. But he didn't listen. The desire to curry favour overshadowed his mind. Apparently, this new gendarme did not know that he was holding in his "claws" a Communist figure well-known not only in Tyumen, but also a well-known active figure in the international Communist movement. Alexander Kiprianovich is very well known abroad, and we will make every effort to make the outrages of the Tyumen police done with the blessing of the Tyumen authorities, known to the international community.

 

"Gendarme", apparently, does not know that Alexander Kiprianovich is far from a young man, a former Deputy of the Tyumen regional Duma of three (!) convocations. He is well known not only in the Tyumen region, but also in both Northern districts. People trust him. As a Deputy, he helped hundreds of thousands of people, without refusing to help anyone. Perhaps Alexander Kipriyanovich, helped the mother or father of this "policeman" to survive in the 1990s. The head is actually given to a person in order to think, and not just to stare. So, think "policeman", think.

 

Four police officers pushed me away from the car with A. K. Cherepanov. At this time, by some miracle, Cherepanov's wife T. N. Cherepanova managed to get into the car with Cherepanov. She firmly told the police that Cherepanov was ill, and she would not leave him, but would go with him. As it became known, a Protocol was drawn up for her under article 19.3 of the administrative Code of the Russian Federation "Insubordination to police officers". I immediately remembered the recent story of N. F. Trapsh, a woman, a veteran of the oil and gas industry, who was accused by the former Deputy head of Tyumen, M. Afanasyev, of attempted murder. This is an 82-year-old woman! So Tatiana Nikolaevna, this little woman, how could she cope with the police who tried to push her out of the minibus?

 

By banning us from holding demonstrations and rallies, the administration of Tyumen, Mr. Kuharuk and Malygin violated the decisions Of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. They are violators of the law, not Cherepanov and the Communists. And they are the ones who should be on trial, if the truth to be told.

 

None of this could have happened if the Tyumen authorities respected the people and agreed to give permission to the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU who have declared their intention to hold this event three times (!). Since this is a Holy holiday for every worker, it is simply impossible not to celebrate it. But the Tyumen authorities despise the people! And all the Soviet and red flags just infuriate them. The plans of Hitler and Dulles are much more closer to their heart. They forgot that after a new war with the people there will be a new Nuremberg trial. And that they will have to answer for all the atrocities!

 

 

In the Tyumen region, we have a  fascist dictatorship

 

November 7 is a day that is revered all over the world as the day on which the Great October Socialist Revolution took place, the day when the whole world changed and went along the path of confrontation with the power of capital to build socialism. All over the world, this holiday is revered and respected, but not in the homeland of the Great October. The bourgeois government, which seeks to silence the achievements of the socialist revolution by all possible means, removed the status of a holiday from November 7, replacing it with an incomprehensible "Day of Unity". And this year the administration of Tyumen in general committed an unprecedented act- it banned a demonstration and rally of workers on November 7. All under the pretext of fighting the pandemic. That is, it is normal to hold festivities on November 4  (the "Unity Day") or mass parties in honour of Halloween, or trade fairs with thousands oof people in Tyumen on November 7. But if people take to the streets on November 7, mass infection will immediately begin. This is the logic of power.

 

Representatives of the Communist party of the Russian Federation immediately agreed with the proposal of the Tyumen administration that laying flowers at the monument to V. I. Lenin would be enough for them on this day, but the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU understand all the significance and revolutionary essence of this day and therefore, until the very last moment, they proved to the Tyumen administration that they would hold a demonstration and rally on this day. But the city administration and law enforcement agencies really did not want such a demonstration to take place. That's why they were threatening with reprisals, forced to sign warnings and warned in every possible way not to hold a demonstration.

 

On November 7, 2020, the Tyumen authorities "distinguished themselves" throughout whole Russia by banning the demonstration of Communists of the RCWP-CPSU in honour of the Great October Socialist revolution. Even with the arrests of the Communists. Even in Moscow, where the coronavirus is rampant (according to official data), much stronger than anywhere else in Russia, and even more so than in the Tyumen region, where there are at most 150 cases a day – there the Communist party calmly held all the festive events, including a demonstration.

 

Why is this happening? Because in the Tyumen region and in the city of Tyumen, the most real fascists are entrenched, followers of Vlasov and Bandera, who fiercely hate the Communists, the red flag, Victory Day on May 9 and the October revolution. So don't be surprised, comrades. Hitler and Mussolini did the same, forbidding Communist marches, demonstrations, and rallies. They also threw Communists behind bars.

 

Tyumen's  Vlasov followers  in power did not invent anything new. A. K. Cherepanov (first Secretary of the Tyumen regional Committee of the RCWP-CPSU) writes directly to them in his letters: "Are Moore and Kuharuk ideological followers of Hitler and Mussolini?" And according to their deeds, it turns out that they are – they are ideological followers of Hitler and Mussolini.

 

As they, apparently, rejoice in the coronavirus – now they can create any lawlessness, break all the laws and nothing will happen to them. Because the coronavirus is rampant. Everything can be blamed on it- the refusal of medical care, and forcing everyone wear masks around the clock, and it gives an excuse to destroy the Communist movement by nipping it in the bud. In general, to eradicate any opposition, any dissent -this is their dream.

 

But at least one Communist party in Tyumen is still alive–  we will continue to fight for Soviet power, for socialism and against fascism, no matter how high in the government offices they hide.

 

Therefore, in Tyumen on November 7, despite the fact that the police blocked a demonstration of Communists of the RCWP-CPSU and detained three people, the March still took place, as well as a meeting with the laying of flowers.

 

On November 7, 2020, residents of Tyumen came to the traditional gathering place of the demonstration-the Tyumen Technopark. There were already a fair number of police here, and they looked as if they would not allow the demonstration to take place. Moreover, they declared several times that the demonstration was illegal and demanded to disperse. But the Tyumen residents who took to the streets that day were ready to go to the end.

When it was time to start the March, the demonstrators tried to cross the road to start moving along the sidewalk of Republic street to the monument to Lenin, but the exit was blocked by traffic police cars. The police seized A. K. Cherepanov, dragged him to the car, and threw him into the minibus. He had only been released from the hospital a couple of days ago, where he was suffering from pneumonia, with 64% lung damage. He has a bad heart, but no one was going to give him any help, they were even not going to allow him to get his pills.

 

Then the Chairman of the Tyumen regional Committee of Soviet women T. R. Tselykh and T. N. Cherepanova ran up to the car and tried to help A. K. Cherepanov, to give him medicine, but the police used brute force on them. They started pushing them out of the van. Cherepanov's wife was able to stay in the van’s doors, and the police, led by the Deputy chief of police of the Tyumen region, Lieutenant Colonel V. S. Volkovitsky, threw her out of the minibus. Other members of the RCWP-CPSU tried to block the exit to prevent the car from leaving the square. The police immediately attacked them, knocking several pensioners to the ground, and detained the Secretary of the Tyumen regional Committee of the RKRP-CPSU S. M. Tselykh.

 

As we learned already at the meeting, which took place on the Central square near the monument to V. I. Lenin, all three were going to be detained for 2 days for allegedly “attacking police officersQ. But neither A. K. Cherepanov nor his wife attacked the police. Nor did S. M. Tselykh. On the contrary, they were subjected to violence by the police. The whole process of police brutality and fascist lawlessness on the part of the authorities is captured on video and photographed. Anyone can view it on the Internet.

 

Let's go back to the procession and the meeting. The police were clearly going to escalate the conflict and intimidated people that if they did not disperse, they would all be detained. The people began to sing in unison: "Boldly we will go into battle." And we decided to go to the Central square. Then the police tried to forbid us going with flags and banners. To which they received the answer that fascism was defeated under these flags, and to carry these flags is a tribute to the memory of the real Communists who died. Some participants asked the police the question: what flag should be carried – the American flag or maybe the flag of Nazi Germany? Or shall we raise the Vlasov tricolor? To please all sorts of fascists, Vlasovites, traitors to the Soviet Motherland?!

After negotiations with the police, which were very stormy, the March along the sidewalk of Republic street began.

 

People went anyway. And they went with the banner of the party, the red flags of the USSR, the RCWP, the Rot Front, the Left front, with banners and songs. No matter what. And we reached the Central square, where the largest monument to V. I. Lenin in Russia stands. The column went along Republic street – the Central street of the city. People cheered and joined the column. Already at the entrance to the Central square, police officers tried to detain the Secretary of the Tyumen regional Committee of the RCWP-CPSU, M. A. Savelkov, allegedly for organizing a march down the street. But thanks to the activity of the marchers, it was repulsed.

 

The city administration "graciously" agreed to lay flowers for a small number of participants, after which the participants, according to the Tyumen administration, immediately had to disperse. But the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU held a full-fledged solemn meeting in honour of the 103rd anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, at which there were many bright speeches.

 

The meeting was opened by the Secretary of the Tyumen city Committee of the RKRP-CPSU V. N. Minina. After the election of M. A. Savelkov as the Chairman of the Assembly, the USSR Anthem with a Stalinist version of the text was played. After that, he gave the floor to A. K. Cherepanov, who was in the police Department No. 5. Alexander Kiprianovich congratulated everyone by phone, from the name of the Central Committee of the RCWP-CPSU and the Central Committee of the CPSU. But as soon as he started talking about the achievements of V. I. Lenin and the Soviet government, the police began to take away his phone, which he tried use to speak  for the meeting, and disrupted his speech.

 

Member of the Tyumen regional committee of RCWP-CPSU V. I. Belendir with a thunderous voice first congratulated everyone on the occasion of the Great October Socialist Revolution, and then asked, what right have the authorities of the city of Tyumen and the police to encroach on the red flag that saved the world from fascism. Our ancestors went into battle under the Red Banner, marched on Red square on November 7, 1941 to defend Moscow and the country. And now, if the authorities and the police think it shouldn’t be carried on the streets,  is it an outlaw?!!

 

Professor of the Tyumen Industrial University, doctor of technical Sciences M. Kh. Uteshev said that the revolution is beginning in the United States and is spreading to other countries of the world. And we will have a new socialist revolution in Russia. It will definitely happen.

 

Candidate of Historical Sciences L. A. Pashkova in her speech said that November 7 should be the day of national unity, if you refer to historical documents. It was on November 7 that the Kremlin was liberated from the Polish invaders (in the early 17th century) and not on November 4, as the bourgeois, anti-people government had invented. And today we need the unity of the people to expel this bourgeois power.

 

The Chairman of the Tyumen regional Committee of Soviet women, T. R. Tselykh, reported that in Tyumen, the authorities and the bourgeoisie are tightening repression against the people, introducing a ban on communism as the criminal Boris Yeltsin did. Since November 8, hot springs have been opened, so in fact the coronavirus is not as dangerous as officials write in letters in response to Communist requests. At the end of the speech, T. R. Tselykh read poems by Marina Strukova about heroes and those who stay at home:

   There are few who will get out of line

   Sleep, cowards, you will be saved by heroes -

   Three People for the whole country.

   It's easy for you – your way is to the window from the door

   And someone’s way is from fire to fire.

   Somewhere in the open field, animals howl,

   And Peresvet (Russian hero of 1380 Kulikovo Field Battle) approaches the horse.

   Sleep, cowards. On this dark night

   Candles light up in the distance.

   Your banner is torn to shreds,

   Someone picks it up out of the dust.

   There's a war going on for your tomorrow,

   There's someone who cares about faith.

   It is clear – someone protects from the enemy

   The truth that you have betrayed.

   In the muddy mud of a well-fed rest

   You're frozen forever anyway.

   Sleep, cowards, you will be saved by heroes!

   Freedom to the freedom loving ones and the bottom of shame to those who were saved.

 

This is just about those ordinary people who sit like mice in holes, huddled in their cosy apartments.

 

Chairman of the meeting, Secretary of the regional Committee of the RCWP-CPSU for youth policy M. A. Savelkov read out the draft resolution of the meeting participants. Among other requirements, it contained the demand of prosecution of the Chairman of the Committee on Inter-Ethnic Relations of Tyumen, R. V. Malygin, for illegally obstructing the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU in holding public events. Malygin, by the way, was present on the square, and the participants of the meeting together shouted to him several times " Shame!".

 

Shame on Malygin and the rest of the city and regional government officials who finally descended to fascism. However, what else to expect from those who sit in offices under the Vlasov flag. If they are sitting under such flag, then they share the ideas that the traitor General Vlasov preached, while faithfully serving the Nazis headed by Hitler. And the current Tyumen bourgeois authorities inherited this brutal hatred of the Communists and the red flag to the full extent. They jump even ahead of Moscow and its mayor Sobyanin. Hitler would have applauded them.

 

The participants of the meeting unanimously voted for the Resolution with strict requirements for the authorities to improve the social and political situation in the country and the requirement to take real measures to improve the medical situation in the region. The Resolution also included a requirement to release all detained participants of the March and not to bring them to criminal or administrative responsibility.

 

At the end, to the tune of the eternal song "And the battle continues again...", flowers were laid at the monument to V. I. Lenin. This would have been a fitting end to the day on November 7 in any other case. But not in 2020. Even during the meeting, the participants learned that the detainees A. K. Cherepanov, T. N. Cherepanova and S. M. Tselykh were threatened to be locked up in the police station for 2 days, allegedly for attacking police officers. Then many demonstrators moved to the police station to demand the release of the detainees. We managed to achieve our goal, and all three were released on the same day, at about 19 o'clock in the evening.

ICMLPO's Unity and Struggle #41 published

The winter issue of Unity & Struggle, journal of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations ( www.cipoml.net/ , available in English, Spanish, and Turkish) has been published and is available in the USA for $6 dollars from Red Star Publishers/Ediciones Estrella Roja ( redstarpublishers.org/U&S41.htm ).

Contents:

ICMLPO
Honor and Glory to Comrade Raul Marco
International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and organizations

Bolivia
Their "Democracy" and Ours
Revolutionary Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB)

Brazil
The Betrayal by the Communist Party of China (CPC) of the Working Class and the 1949 Revolution
Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR)

Burkina Faso
Solidarity with the People’s Struggles in the United States against Impunity for Police Violence and Racist Crimes
Revolutionary Communist Party of Volta

Denmark
The Strengthening of the European Union on the Backs of the Working Class
Workers Communist Party, APK

Dominican Republic
An Experience in the International Communist Movement
On the 40th Anniversary of the Communist Party of Labor
Contributions to the Critical and Optimistic Assessment
Communist Party of Labor (PCT)

Ecuador
Modern Revisionism, Direct Enemy of the Revolution and Socialism
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador – PCMLE

France
“For a Revolutionary Rupture with the System”
Communist Party of the Workers of France

Germany
“Covid and the Question of Value”
Organization for the Construction of a Communist Workers’ Party of Germany

India
Covid 19 and the Working Classes
Revolutionary Democracy

Italy
The Coronavirus in Italy, from a Class Point of View
Communist Platform – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy

Mexico
Two Years of the Oligarchic Regime of the 4T in Mexico
Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)

Spain
The Road to the Revisionist Abyss: Notes on the Historical Experience of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) – PCE(ml)

Tunisia
Friedrich Engels: the Journey of a Great Thinker and an Outstanding Activist
Party of the Workers of Tunisia

Turkey
Engels as an Organiser and Propagandist
Party of Labour (EMEP)

Uruguay
What Was and Is the Cuban Process
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Uruguay – PCMLU

Venezuela
In Venezuela the Struggle Advances in the Midst of Contradictions
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela – PCMLV

Tambien disponible en español.

FLOC "Songs for Justice" concert 12/4 and "Stop Corrupt H2A Labor Contractors" petition, and CODEPINK Iran petiton

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee and the Campaign for Migrant Worker Justice will host their annual benefit concert this Friday, December 4th at 7pm through free live-stream (suggested donation $10 dollars) and in person (with very limited, socially distant seating) at the Sofia Quintero Arts and Cultural Center in Toledo, Ohio (1222 Broadway Street).  Learn about the farm labor organizing struggle through traditional and original Mexican folk songs and narratives presented by FLOC president Baldemar Velasquez and the Aquila Negra Band.  To attend in person, sponsor, or donate (this might be tax deductible), see the links below or call 419 243 3456.  A live concert was being organized here in April.    

Several years ago FLOC released two CDs of songs, mostly in Spanish; Justice Has No Borders is still available through the FLOC Shop ( www.floc.com/wordpress/floc-shop/ ) while Canciones Por La Causa can probably be found secondhand through Amazon.com, eBay.com, etc.  FLOC also sells bumper stickers, logo caps, clothes, bags, water bottles, and art and can take direct donations.  

www.floc.com/wordpress/annual-songs-for-justice-benefit-concert/

facebook.com/events/658450938154168

FLOC also has a petition to the US Department of Labor and Reynolds American, Inc., "Stop Corrupt H2A Labor Contractors," including in eastern North Carolina:  

actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-corrupt-h2a-labor-contractors/

The Durham-based Triangle Friends of Farmworkers continues to meet monthly, through Zoom ( facebook.com/trianglefriendsoffarmworkers ).

There is also a CODEPINK petition against the assassination of Iranian physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Friday (November 27th):  www.codepink.org/mohsenfakhrizadeh  There have been many suspected, actual, or attempted murders of Iranian scientists since 2007, especially during the Obama-Biden administration, and according to Wikipedia this is the first during the Trump administration, though the prime suspect seems to be Israel ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Iranian_nuclear_scientists ).    

More comments on the election and another rally in Raleigh Saturday

Below is a comment from TMLU ( redstarpublishers.org/TMLU.htm ) and a letter to the editor.  There is also a new post about the election results at Marxism Leninism Currents Today:  ml-today.com/

 

Following the rally last Saturday (see earlier post) there will be another rally 1 - 3:30pm Saturday, the 14th at Raleigh's Halifax Mall (16 West Jones Street), announcements posted below or see these pages:  www.mobilize.us/sunrisemovement/event/363067/ or facebook.com/events/400031268036755/

 

I have to wonder if the talk of a Trump coup was really just hot air from the White House seized upon by the Democratic Party to scare the public.  Violence around an election is possible, but it seems like a successful coup would require support from the military, "the deep state," domestic and international politicians, corporate leaders, the mainstream media, etc. and I doubt Trump has much support from those sectors, even from Republicans.  A civil war would also require military, police, and government support or at least acquiescence.  I can get behind organizing against a rightist coup and for a left fightback, but not rallying support for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who are likely to block progress in many areas, after successfully preventing even a left Democrat from winning the primary and then appealing to Republicans during the election.  The left should be preparing to "push" or fight them, not whitewashing what they represent.  US coups are possible - the Supreme Court installed George W Bush and Cheney in 2000 and there wasn't enough organized outrage to safeguard the election or punish those behind the irregularities later.  Obama and Biden then excused the crimes carried out during the Bush Administration, so the guilty parties are still influential, such as at the CIA and in the media.  There is talk of prosecuting Trump for something unspecified, but they let Bush and Co. go free and complain about the chant "lock her up," though Clinton must be guilty of something after being secretary of state during a time of questionable wars and foreign policy).      

 

Special on the election results by Toward Marxist-Leninist Unity

 

While Trump represented growing fascism  

 

Biden Represents Imperialism as Usual  

 

As Karl Marx pointed out: “The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.”

 

 

This is a lesson that must be learned by those participating in the celebrations of Biden’s victory. They were mostly young members of the petty bourgeois, as were unfortunately most of the protestors while Trump was in office. The workers should be the main ones mobilizing against all reactionary policies.  

 

Biden’s victory shows that bourgeois democracy still has some strength. When it is shaken, it can use outright fascism or social democracy to shore up its interests. The defeat of Trump, and the refusal to allow Sanders to win the Democratic Party nomination, show that the ruling class does not (yet) need to use either of these.  

 

Clearly, the majority of the bourgeoisie supported Biden. Not only was Trump too erratic, but he was often seen as promoting his own personal business interests (as in his good relations with Putin) over the interests of the U.S. ruling class as a whole. He also angered major U.S. allies, particularly in the European Union, by placing tariffs on their exports, etc.  

 

While Trump was a proto-fascist, that does not mean that most of his supporters were. Unfortunately, there were many workers (mostly but not only white workers) who believed in Trump’s demagogy, such as bringing back jobs.  

 

One can see that a good number of working class (and petty bourgeois) supporters of Trump still had a certain class instinct, at least on the economic level, by the example of Florida. While the state went for Trump, a referendum for a $15 an hour minimum wage was passed with 60% of the vote, so a significant number of Trump supporters also had to have voted for this.  

 

If one recognizes any serious tactical differences between Trump and Biden, then I think my position to only vote for Biden in “swing states” was correct. In several of these states, both “major party” candidates got less than 50% of the vote, which meant that the results could have been swayed by “third party” (mainly Libertarian) candidates. But in a “safe” Democratic state like New York, the Green Party seems to have lost its ballot status, having won only about 23,000 votes. In 2016, Jill Stein won over 100,000 votes in New York State as the Green Party presidential candidate. Many who would have voted Green wasted their vote on Biden, who would have won in New York anyway.  

 

Where Did Biden Stand on Major Issues?  

 

We must remember Biden’s position on major questions, both as Senator and as Vice-President under Obama. He supported Obama when he deported more immigrants than any other president (including Trump). He helped pass laws leading to mass incarceration, particularly of Black and other oppressed peoples. He supported both invasions of Iraq. And he helped organize Obama’s trillion dollar bail-out of the banks and monopoly corporations during the 2008-2009 crisis. He will undoubtedly give away more trillions to the members of the ruling class (while giving crumbs to working people), but this will not be sufficient to get the country out of Great Depression Two. He will also involve the US in more local wars, while stepping up preparations for contention with imperialist rivals, particularly Russia and China, on a world scale.  

 

The Biden fervor will cool off after he takes office and shows that he is an ordinary imperialist president. It is the task of serious progressive and revolutionary fighters to organize for a progressive working people’s party that can take part in the class struggle in all arenas, including but certainly not only the electoral arena. This must go along with the fight to build up a genuine mass Marxist-Leninist party that can take the lead in the fight for socialism in the U.S.  

 

Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity, c/o Red Star Publishers, www.RedStarPublishers.org

Below is the comment from progressive Green Party member [ ] in opposition to the position put forward in the October 31 issue of Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity calling for a vote for Biden only in “swing” states. My answer can be seen in the main article above.  

 

I am shocked that the lead article in TMLU recommends that we vote for the other capitalist stooge and imperialist-BIDEN. The rationale is that if Trump were re-elected, he would try to impose a Nazi dictatorship and Biden would not. That is the rationale of the corrupt Democratic Party! The author of the aforementioned article forgets that U.S. presidents do not run this country; the capitalist ruling class, headquartered at Wall Street does.  It is not in its interest at this time to resort to an all out fascist regime. This election will have the most voters ever in our history go to the polls. The overwhelming majority still believes this is a democracy and that there is a real difference between the two major parties. Most voters are voting not on the issues but out of fear that the other major party will win. Capitalism cannot solve and is largely responsible for these existential issues--the climate crisis, the economic meltdown and COVID-19. As Glenn Ford of the Black Agenda Report puts it, "The Democratic Party is not the 'lesser of the two evils', it is the more effective."

 

[Signed by an influential New York Green; I'm not sure how public this message is supposed to be; see a future issue.]

 

 

NC Team Democracy:

 

North Carolinians who came together this year to protect each other, to raise our voice, and to cast our ballots will come together again in Raleigh to send a clear message -- the people will be heard and the people will rise.

We hope you can join us on Saturday at Halifax Mall. You can click here to register! [see link above]

 We’ve always known the work, and the need to build a stronger movement, would not end on November 3rd. We’re gathering because we refuse to be pushed back by fear, as so many generations have before us. With that courage, we’ll forge forward.

 When we’re fighting for progress — racial justice, affordable healthcare, economic justice, climate action, and more — we have to use every tool in the toolbox to demand the change we deserve and protect our communities. 

More details are below, or you can find them here. 

 We hope to see you on Saturday!

 In Solidarity,
Team Democracy

 

WHO: North Carolinians demanding change
WHAT: Team Democracy Presents: The People Will Rise
WHERE: Halifax Mall, 300 N Salisbury St. Raleigh, NC 27603.
WHEN: 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM

 

 

Los habitantes de Carolina del Norte que se unieron este año para protegerse unos a otros, para hacer oir sus voces y para emitir sus votos, se reunirán nuevamente en Raleigh para enviar un mensaje claro: el pueblo será escuchado y el pueblo se levantará.

Esperamos que pueda acompañarnos el sábado en Halifax Mall. ¡Puede hacer clic aquí para registrarse!

 Siempre supimos que el trabajo y la necesidad de construir un movimiento más fuerte no terminarían el 3 de noviembre. Nos reunimos porque nos negamos a que el miedo nos eche para atras, al igual que muchas generaciones antes que nosotros. Con ese coaje empujaremos hacia adelante juntos. 

 Cuando luchamos por el progreso – justicia racial, atención médica asequible, justicia económica, acción climática y más – tenemos que utilizar todas las herramientas disponibles para exigir el cambio que merecemos y proteger a nuestras comunidades.

Más detalles se encuentran a continuación, o puede encontrarlos aquí.

¡Esperamos verlos el sábado!

En Solidaridad,
El Equipo Democracia

 

QUIÉN: Los habitantes de Carolina del Norte que exigen un cambio
QUÉ: El Equipo Democracia presenta: El Pueblo se levantará
DÓNDE: Halifax Mall, 300 N Salisbury St. Raleigh, NC 27603.
CUÁNDO: 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM

 

 

 

 

 

Post-election analysis and plans from the Green Howie Hawkins - Angela Walker campaign

Below is a substantial statement sent out by the Green Party's presidential campaign Monday, November 9th, looking at the results of the election and proposing directions for Green and general left organizing over the next four years.  Apparently the NC party has again lost its ballot access, meaning time, effort, and resources will again have to be spent to get Green candidates on to the ballot in future elections (where the media can then try to ignore them), rather than focusing on getting Green candidates elected.  If the Democrats regain control of the legislature they might try to make the rules for getting on the ballot more onerous (I think it was under the Republicans that the requirements were reduced).  The statement mentions the need for a dues-paying mass party, and the North Carolina Green Party uses this model, though members still seem "isolated" (where is the Triangle branch?) and the party could do more between and beyond elections.  This statement is similar to the shorter press release posted on their campaign website November 7th:  howiehawkins.us/release-hawkins-and-walker-react-to-trumps-defeat/ 

 

"We want to express our deepest thanks to all who supported our campaign through a particularly difficult year for Greens and independent socialists. Your encouragement gave us the strength and resolve to give the campaign our all.

 

We’re not stopping. We are continuing to the fight for our program, to organize our grassroots political base, and to build cooperation across the independent green and socialist left. We have filed for the next election cycle as Howie Hawkins For Our Future so we can continue to raise and spend money on this political organizing.

 

We invite you to keep working with us.

 

We are happy to say good riddance to Trump. But we also know that Biden has no solutions. As he said to billionaire donors at a high rollers fundraiser, “Nothing would fundamentally change.”

 

We know that a lot has to fundamentally change to resolve the life-or-death problems of climate, poverty, racism, and nuclear war. We are running out of time. Real solutions can’t wait!

 

So we are continuing to speak out and organize to advance our policy demands, to strengthen local parties, to secure state ballot lines, and to help elect thousands to local offices and, on that foundation, to state legislatures and the House of Representatives. 

 

We have just begun to organize and we want you with us in this fight.

 

What Happened?

 

This election was simply a referendum on Trump. Biden was Not-Trump, nothing more.

 

The Green campaign was blanked out in the national corporate media and most of the progressive media. The Green ticket came in fourth again nationally, although our vote was substantially down from 2016. The Green Party was on 30 state ballots, down from 45 in 2015, due to the difficulties of petitioning during Covid-19 pandemic, a competitive primary that delayed petitioning before the nominating convention, and aggressive ballot petition challenges by the Democratic Party. If votes per dollar were the measure, we won in a landslide at around $1.25 per vote compared to over $13 per vote for Biden.

 

We must face the fact that we largely fell short in our two primary campaign goals.

 

One goal was to advance our policy demands, including a full-strength Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and ending the endless wars.

 

Polling shows these policy demands have majority support. Trump and Biden opposed them. Yet the media excluded us.

 

However, we were able to reach millions through social media, especially young people who are fighting for their futures and want climate, racial, and economic justice – now!

 

Our second goal was to expand ballot access for the Green Party. Our vote was too low in every state where it might have gained or extended our ballot status. We lost our hard-won ballot status in states like New Mexico, New York, and North Carolina. The Green Party still retains ballot status in many states by other criteria and we plan to help state parties secure ballot access in every state in the next few years.

 

We should also recognize that the progressive Democrats got clobbered, too – or more accurately, clobbered themselves. Once the corporate Democrats closed ranks with Biden to defeat Bernie Sanders, the progressive Democrats lined up behind Biden without making any policy demands. Their prominent personalities focused on a public smear campaign against the Greens as “spoilers” instead of advancing a progressive agenda. They now have little if any political leverage with the Biden administration. The corporate Democrats are already blaming progressive Democrats for supposedly making the presidential election too close and for the loss of some US Senate races.

 

The good news is to be found in many local Green campaigns. Emmanuel Estrada was elected mayor of Baldwin Park in east Los Angeles. Franca Mueller Paz finished second with 35% for Baltimore city council, which has been an all-Democratic one-party dictatorship for nearly 80 years. Lisa Savage’s 4% for a Maine US Senate seat in a close race was highlighted her widely appreciated presentation of a positive program in televised debates in contrast to the sour negative sniping by the major party candidates. We had over 200 Green candidates this year and at least 10 won their elections. 

 

What’s Next?

 

These local campaigns tell us what we need to do next. We need to go back to the Green Party’s roots in organizing local party chapters, leading issue campaigns in our communities, and electing people to local office. We need to rebuild the Green Party from the bottom up.

 

We want to help local parties get better organized and capable of leading issue campaigns and electing thousands as we go into the 2020s to local office, and, on that foundation, to state legislatures and the House.

 

We want to help state parties recover or gain ballot lines, starting next year, so our local candidates can more easily get on the ballot and our 2024 presidential campaign will be on the ballot in all 50 states.

 

We want to keep pushing our program in the social movements – the ecosocialist Green New Deal, the Economic Bill of Rights to end poverty and economic insecurity, community control of the police, peace initiatives, and voting rights and pro-democracy reforms, including ranked-choice voting and proportional representation.

 

We have low expectations that any significant progressive reforms can be won under a Biden administration. Biden promises a national unity administration, with Republicans in the cabinet and an emphasis on working across the aisle with Republicans in Congress. 

 

A Covid relief package brokered with Republicans in Congress is likely to be crumbs for working people and tax breaks and subsides for the super-rich and the giant corporations. Their bipartisan trickle-down theory assumes the rich will invest this corporate welfare in the real economy to create jobs when the reality is they will invest most of it in financial assets – stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate – which won’t trickle down to the rest of us as living-wage jobs.

 

The next few years will be a time for us to build popular support for our state and national policy demands and to build a grassroots party power base that can conduct effective state and national issue and electoral campaigns.

 

We think it is time for the Green Party to re-organize itself as a dues-paying mass-membership party rooted in strong local party chapters. We must face the fact that the Green Party’s 20-year experiment as a national party organized as a federation of state ballot lines has failed. The current Green base largely consists of isolated party registrants and supporters who are not organized into local party chapters or into Green issue and electoral campaigns. The party has not had the funding to provide support staff for effective party field organizing, public communications, and issue and electoral campaigns.

 

We will also continue to encourage solidarity and cooperation among Green and independent socialist groups in building a major party of the left in US politics. None of us is big enough to be the major party. All of us should work together to build that party.

 

We hope will you to stay supportive and engaged in our organizing and activities. 

 

We are determined, not defeated. 

 

In solidarity,

 

Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker"

NC Rally to Protect Our Votes with Team Democracy November 7th in Raleigh - #CountEveryVote

There will be a rally at Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh (16 West Jones Street) Saturday, November 7th (which also happens to be the 103rd anniversary of the anti-capitalist Great October Socialist Revolution in the former Russian Empire in 1917) 1 - 3pm "to demonstrate mass, peaceful support for counting all the votes and respecting the results.  Join us in celebrating our democracy and protecting our votes."  Participants are asked to wear masks and maintain social distance.  This is being organized by Team Democracy, Carolina Federation, National Domestic Workers' Alliance, NC Association of Educators, NC AFL-CIO, UNITE-HERE Local 23, Fight for $15, Black Workers for Justice, Durham for All, Down Home NC, Carolina Jews for Justice, Sunrise Movement, Siembra NC, Piedmont Rising, United Electrical 150 - the NC Public Service Workers Union, Southern Workers Assembly, Triangle Showing Up for Racial Justice, Guilford for All, and others.  For more information see: 

 

www.mobilize.us/carolinafederation/

 

facebook.com/events/354726659170975

 

I think there were similar protests in Durham and Hillsborough earlier in the week and people are observing the vote counting.

 

The votes for each office should be accurately counted and the winners installed in office, and there should be action in the streets if that doesn't happen, not only in courts, to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election.  Once the election is safely over, holding the president's "feet to the fire" can begin (preferably from the start of his term, as happened in 2017), though I think many of the people fired up over the Trump administration will stay silent while the media and some prominent leftists will take a more friendly and cooperative stance towards the executive branch if Biden-Harris wins, and there are few national level organizations not coopted by the Democrats to organize resistance.  Whether the president is Biden or Trump there is likely to be continuing police brutality, repression, loss of civil liberties, corporate welfare, anti-unionism, austerity, climate crises, corruption, coups, and the current wars will continue and more might be started, but under Biden there would be fewer protests and the media would hide what is going on or they would cover it, but with less shared outrage and sympathy, to return things to Clinton-Bush-Obama "normal."  NPR even briefly referred to the US anti-war movement during the last four years, but I don't remember them ever saying those words under George W Bush or Obama.  I have yet to hear them refer to Green and Socialist candidate Howie Hawkins or any other 2020 third party candidate for president, though I did hear about two references to the existence of the Green Party, mentioning Democratic Party attempts to remove the Green Party from ballots and when saying that there were not any third party choices this year.  Four years ago they mentioned Green candidate Jill Stein by name only after the election was over.  If eight years of Obama-Biden imperialist neoliberalism and inadequate response to climate change resulted in the last four years, how will things stand after four to eight more years of neoliberal Democratic rule with inadequate resistance from the left, economic and health crises, ever more obvious climate change, and the rise of China and other competitors in an increasingly multipolar world?  In four years there will again be the demand that Americans vote for the supposedly "lesser evil," covering over what the Democrats have done, there probably won't be a strong third party challenger, and there is the possibility of someone like Trump, but more effective at governing, and possibly less "isolationist," coming up.  It seems naïve to willfully misleading to assert that Biden will change his spots much as president, and the Republicans will probably control the Senate, as well as the Supreme Court.  If I'm not mistaken the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress at the start of Obama's first term, and so had a free hand to carry out the sweeping progressive policies they supposedly want to implement now.  On the other hand maybe things are coming to such a point that public anger won't go back underground for long if Biden wins.             

 

Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity volume 2, issue 3 out, etc.

A new issue of Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity, a Journal of Discussion and Debate, came out today, though it has not yet been posted online, at:  redstarpublishers.org/TMLU.htm

 

Contents:

On the US Presidential Elections.

Elections Won’t Defeat Fascism, Only We Can

Communist (PCUSA) for Congress in Vermont!

Poem: The Carpet Weavers of Kuyan-Bulak Honor Lenin 

Natural History Museum’s Racist Statue Still Stands

Fully Reopen the Libraries, and more

Cuomo and New York State Legislature Make Ballot Access More Difficult for Third Parties

Humor and Stupidity Article

Is There a Need for a Marxist-Leninist International?

 

Artículo en español  

 

¿Hace falta la Internacional Marxista-Leninista?

 

Also, here are a few corrections to previous posts, notes on Tuesday's elections, etc.: 

 

Bush and Obama tried to overthrow the government of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, first elected when Bill Clinton was the US president, and almost succeeded in the spring of 2002. Nicolas Maduro was first elected in April 2013 and has been targeted by both Democrats and Republicans ever since.  

 

Trump almost started a disastrous war with Iran at the start of 2020, but it could also be mentioned that, if not for Russian diplomacy, Obama seemed to be about to start a direct war against Syria in 2013, and the US has been waging a proxy war against Syria.  Since I wrote that post it could be noted that while Obama and Hillary Clinton supported the 2009 coup in Honduras and successful removed president Zelaya, a year ago Trump supported the coup in Bolivia against Venezuela ally Evo Morales of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) and, though Morales is still in exile, a recent election again gave the presidency and legislative majority to MAS.   

 

Also, did NCCU's WNCU 90.7 FM censor Democracy Now! shortly after 7:30pm Monday, October 19th because Jeremy Scahill (?) was rightly condemning Obama for killing American citizens, some minors not accused of any crime, overseas, as well as condemning Trump's violence?  The broadcast was interrupted and did not continue, without explanation.

 

Supposedly China, Iran, and Cuba want Biden elected, which would be some of his best endorsements if true (yet Biden attacks Trump from the right on China and the media is media is beginning to talk about the possibility of a war with geographically huge, populous, technologically sophisticated, and nuclear-armed China in the near future, such as on the BBC yesterday).  After a prolonged period of silence, a new issue of the Revolutionary Organization Labor, USA's newsletter is calling for voting for Biden, as are some other Marxist groups (ROL supported Jill Stein of the Green Party in 2016).  That could be the correct course, but on the other hand the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (publisher of Fight Back!) supported the Obama campaign (I think beyond just voting), and then the Obama-Biden administration spied on and harassed them for anti-imperialist organizing.  Every four years the line from some is that we have to vote for some awful Democrat, because the "ultra-right," greatest mass murderers in history (whatever Noam Chomsky has been saying) Republican Party is worse, and we can vote for a better candidate in some future election that will never come (in the meantime holding the awful Democrat's 'feet to the fire,' but more effort and money is put into electing Democrats than to criticism and holding them accountable, organizing a better option, or demonstrating when they engage in "humanitarian interventionist" wars, "pivot to Asia," shield CIA torture and NSA domestic surveillance, push "free trade" agreements and austerity, engaged in mass deportations, broke up Occupy Wall Street, wouldn't consider Medicare for All or a real Green New Deal, etc. ).       

 

Before the primary election, I think the Independent Weekly said Democratic US Senate candidate Cal Cunningham had been involved in the 751 South project, which would explain why his name seemed familiar and would be a large negative mark if true.  

Revolusjon: Norwegian troops out of the Middle East!

Below is an article from the Revolusjon newspaper of the Norwegian party Communist Platform – Marxist-Leninist (KPml).  Despite Scandinavian "socialism" (capitalist economic relations with social-democratic politics), Northern European or Nordic countries like Norway still cooperate with US imperialism, belong to NATO, and carry out imperialist military adventures abroad.

 

I supported US social-democrat Bernie Sanders in the primary, but in the heady days at the beginning of the year when it looked like someone on the left of the Democratic Party could actually become the nominee and then president, I began to have doubts.  For example, Sanders has condemned Bolivarian Venezuela, and what if his populist social-democratic administration, with cover on the left, were to succeed in overthrowing President Maduro through covert operations or war, where Bush, Obama, and so far Trump have failed?  There is little doubt that Trump, Biden, and Harris stand for economic warfare and violent interference in Venezuela and other countries, for imperialist US economic and strategic interests.

 

Special forces and Norwegian bases in Jordan and Iraq are a provocation and a threat towards the peoples of the Middle East.

 

Norwegian special forces have been operating in Jordan since 2016 to provide operational support to jihadist terrorist groups, also called "rebel groups", as part of pushing for a bloody regime change in neighboring Syria. It is a public secret that Norwegian special forces have operated illegally inside Syrian territory; the false pretext being 'combatting ISIL' (but certainly not the Nusra Front).

 

This activity will now become permanent at the training and intelligence base Camp Åsgård outside the Jordanian capital Amman.

 

The purpose of this training, which partly takes place along with Jordanian forces, is "to make the Norwegian combat force more able to carry out war operations in desert landscapes", besides providing logistical support for the Norwegian military presence in Iraq. In addition, the Norwegian intelligence service will obtain a better "overview of the Middle East".

 

This escalation is an outright provocation against the Arab peoples, who do not want a "Norwegian presence" in their region at all. Norwegian special forces and intelligence activities pose a direct threat to the Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese and freedom-loving peoples throughout the Levant.

 

We are witnessing unadorned Norwegian imperialism

 

What we are witnessing is unadorned Norwegian imperialism preparing to take part in new American "desert wars" and as mercenaries for future palace coups and regime changes that are contrary to international law.

 

The partnership with the oppressive Jordanian regime is due to the fact that the Kingdom has been a stable supporter of US imperialism in the Middle East for generations. It was not without reason that Egyptian President Nasser branded former Jordanian King Hussein "a lackey for the United States."

 

Norwegian base policy* is distorted into the unrecognizable. From having been a stabilizing element in the High North, Norway is allowing permanent US bases in our country. In addition, Norway establishes military bases and facilities in remote areas to guard Norwegian imperialist interests.

 

With its imperialist conduct and lackey services for the United States, Norway has already disqualified itself for a seat on the UN Security Council in the period 2021–2022.

 

Norwegian military forces out of Jordan and Iraq! Get Norwegian imperialism out of the Middle East!

 

* When entering the NATO Alliance in 1949, Norway made a reservation forbidding the presence of foreign bases on Norwegian soil, unless the country is under attack.

 

https://revolusjon.no/hjem/english/statements/2269-norwegian-troops-out-of-the-middle-east/

 

Communist Platform – Marxist-Leninist (KPml)

 

October 14th 2020.

The 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea

October 10th is the 75th anniversary of the 1945 founding of what is today the Workers' Party of Korea, celebrated as Party Foundation Day in DPR Korea.  The original Communist Party of Korea was clandestinely founded in Seoul in 1925, but fell apart as a national organization due to factionalism, lost the confidence of the Comintern, and was repressed by the Japanese occupiers during the 30's.  Below is an October 9th article from the official DPRK website Naenara ( www.naenara.com.kp/ , unavailable for years if not today in the ROK), available in English and several other languages.  Naenara includes information about DPRK politics, economics, history, culture, foods, the environment and natural wonders, tourist information (except for the pandemic, there are group tours through companies such as koryogroup.com/ ), photos, online books, and freely downloadable songs.  The Korean Central News Agency, founded December 5, 1946, also has articles in English:  www.kcna.kp/kcna.user.home.retrieveHomeInfoList.kcmsf   

DPRK holidays later in the year include Mother's Day (November 16th); the December 24th anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong-suk, a guerilla during the war for independence from Japan, Kim Il Sung's first wife, and Kim Jong Il's mother; and Constitution Day, marking the adoption of the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK at the 5th Supreme People's Assembly December 27, 1972, replacing the 1948 constitution (Juche replaced Marxism-Leninism in a 1992 amendment). 

Today is also the 119th anniversary of the beginning of the Wuchang Uprising in 1911, part of the Xinhai or Chinese Revolution, which overthrew the last Qing emperor and established the Republic of China with Sun Yat-sen as president.  It is still the national day in Taiwan but is also important in the People's Republic of China (China's National Day marks October 1, 1949)

According to Wikipedia, October 10th is Vietnam's Capital Liberation Day and Cuba's Independence Day, commemorating the Grito de Yara at the beginning of the Ten Years' War in 1868.  It took two more wars before Spanish rule was successfully overthrown in 1898, followed by a few years of direct military occupation and decades of subservience to the USA until 1959. 

Historic Cause of Party Founding Comes True

President Kim Il Sung buckled down to founding the Party after Korea’s liberation (August 15, 1945) on the basis of organizational and ideological preparations he had made during the period of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle.

In his speech delivered to military and political cadres of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army on August 20, Juche 34 (1945), he set forth the three-point task of founding a party, state and armed forces in the liberated homeland and set the party founding as the primary task.

In his talk to the military and political cadres and the senior officials of the Wonsan City Communist Party Organizations on September 19, he underscored the need to found the party in such a way of forming party organizations in local areas first and, on this basis, forming the central leadership organ of the party.

He dispatched the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters to different parts of the country in order to build up local party organizations.

They positively readjusted and fortified the existing Party organizations and formed new Party organizations where there had been no organization.

As a result, Party organizations at all levels were formed across the country, to say nothing of all industrial establishments.

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung met with local communists active in different parts of Korea to explain the policy of founding a unified party and led them to the efforts to this end.

He mapped out the organizational and political lines of the party to be founded in the future and took measures for training party officials, while directing the work of anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters active in all provinces.

A preliminary meeting for founding the party was convened on October 5, in which it discussed the issue of establishing the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of North Korea as the party central leadership body.

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung convened the Inaugural Congress of the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of North Korea in Pyongyang from October 10 to 13, Juche 34 (1945).

On October 10, the first day of the congress, the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of North Korea was formed and the founding of the Party was solemnly declared.

As a result, the historic cause of founding a Juche-type revolutionary party, which started from the formation of the Down-with-Imperialism Union, came true successfully.

World Can't Wait on the 19th anniversary of the Afghanistan War and Black Alliance for Peace on AFRICOM

Below is a statement by Debra Sweet, representing the anti-war group World Can't Wait ( worldcantwait.net ), on the Afghanistan War, launched October 7, 2001.  The second statement is from the Black Alliance Peace ( blackallianceforpeace.com) campaign against the US military's Africa Command; BAP recently organized an International Day of Action of AFRICOM, on the anniversary of AFRICOM's creation October 1, 2008.  Since then the US military has carried out cooperative operations in several African countries; carries out airstrikes in Somalia, at an increasing tempo under Trump; shattered Libya, which had been one of the most prosperous countries in Africa (Obama's 2011 Libya War was probably the biggest US attack on an African country), and there has been talk of splitting the wartorn country into 2 or 3 parts, not due to actual national differences, but instead over who will control Libya's oil; and adjacent to Africa, the US is part of the Saudi-led war against Yemen, aids Israeli aggression and colonialism, and the strategic Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia was held and depopulated by the UK for US military use, which continues today. 

The Democrats speak of 'restoring America's leadership in the world,' which sounds like a call to carry out more wars and coups. Would a Biden-Harris administration, no doubt better at governing than Trump, and better at lulling the public, intervene (again, in some cases) in Libya, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Belarus, Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Korea, on the maritime borders of China, or somewhere yet unknown, to demonstrate what happens to those who oppose US dictates?  Trump is a reactionary and speaks like a warmonger, but so far he hasn't started any new wars (though he came close with Iran in January), unlike Obama and Biden in their first term.  The US supported the 2009 coup in Honduras and the proxy war in Syria began during Obama's first term, followed by the 2014 coup in Ukraine, while under Trump there was the November 2019 coup in Bolivia.  Democratic Congressional leaders condemn Trump's foreign policy from the right, opposing attempts to improve relations with Russia and DPR Korea and they support overthrowing the government of Venezuela (in addition, media aligned with the Democratic Party undermined attempts to negotiate an end to the war in Afghanistan). They have long advocated moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and lavish Israel with military and civilian aid, even as it brutalizes the Palestinians and nearby countries, and undermines US foreign policy. The US planned to spend huge amounts of money on nuclear and conventional weapons under both Obama and Trump and the Obama administration wanted to “pivot to Asia” from the Middle East to oppose China. Trump and Biden both set up China as a major strategic enemy, justifying huge military spending, while other needs go unmet and austerity may be on the agenda. The “War on Terror” still isn't over after 19 years, and it isn't clear which of the two major parties will be the greater warmongering interventionist and enemy of peace over the next four years (despite the WCW and others considering Trump the greater enemy).

Also, the 25^th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation will be October 22^nd: www.october22.org/

           

WCW:  U.S. War on Afghanistan: an outrage for 19 years

19 years. The longest foreign war in the bloody history of the U.S. empire.  Afghanistan: geographically in the way of imperial conquerors for centuries, historically preyed upon by various military forces and further torn apart by the U.S. and its NATO allies in the global "war on terror."

The U.S. aggression on Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries on the globe, has to be condemned for its devilish destruction of life.  The Watson Institute at Brown University [ watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/afghan ] says, "As of October 2019, more than 43,000 civilians are estimated to have died violent deaths as a result of the war."  But, as we know from first-hand accounts by journalists, the deaths were mostly uncounted.  It's from Afghanistan that hundreds of Muslim pilgrims and farmers were kidnapped for bounty, ending up in Guantanamo for years, many having nothing to do with al Queda or the Taliban.  Despite the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld claim that the war would be launched to save Afghan women, it remains one of the most dangerous places for a woman.  43% of people have "basic" sanitation and the maternal death rate remains high.  All sides use rape as a weapon of war.  All three U.S. administrations are responsible: Bush, Obama, Trump.

The Washington Post's Afghanistan Project revealed the sheer incompetence, brutality and lying of the U.S. occupation. "Over the course of 18 years, three administrations have deployed nearly 800,000 troops (2,400 of whom were killed), dropped 40,000 bombs, filled the skies with high tech drones to spread terror and direct air strikes, and spent at least a trillion dollars. Again and again their best political and military strategists have come up with new plans and spent years trying to implement each one." But, as the Afghanistan Project sums up, “military commanders have been unable to deliver on their promises to prevail.”  Read more in “The Afghanistan Papers”: The Lies Exposed — and the Deeper Truths That Need to Come Out [ revcom.us/a/631/afghanistan-papers-lies-exposed-and-deeper-truths-that-need-to-come-out-en.html ].

This situation continues to this day, as Pompeo negotiates with the Taliban, after getting essentially nowhere.  Then there's his boss:  “If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don't want to kill 10 million people” (stated by Trump in 2019).  

 

BAP:  Is AFRICOM Moving to South Carolina?

Individuals and organizations from around the world joined the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) on International Day of Action on AFRICOM [ blackallianceforpeace.com/dayofactiononafricom ], calling for the U.S. government to shut down its African command (AFRICOM) and withdraw its bases and military personnel from Africa.

When AFRICOM was launched October 1, 2008, U.S. authorities—understanding the political ramifications—realized it would be impossible to house the command headquarters in Africa. Hence, the German city of Stuttgart was chosen as the base of operations.

The Obama administration and NATO attacked and destroyed Libya, whose leader, Muammar Gaddafi, chaired the African Union, the continent-wide structure committed to African unity and cooperation. But with Libya in disarray and no African leader to voice opposition, the U.S. Department of Defense has floated the idea of moving AFRICOM’s headquarters to Africa. Then this past week, it suggested placing it in the U.S. state of South Carolina because the Trump administration has plans to move thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany.

The arrogance involved in considering basing AFRICOM in South Carolina is exactly why an International Day of Action on AFRICOM and our ongoing campaign, U.S. Out of Africa: Shut Down AFRICOM [ blackallianceforpeace.com/usoutofafrica ], is so important. The hubris and psychopathology of white supremacy could easily lead it to make the error of attempting to bring AFRICOM to the Black-Belt South, where it would be met with ferocious opposition—all despite U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina).

BAP is clear. We are not moved by paternalistic pandering from politicians, who pretend Black lives matter in the United States while they support racist U.S. subversion, sanctions, and warmongering against Africans and other non-European peoples and nations. 

We intend to shut down AFRICOM, close all U.S. foreign military bases, and dismantle the U.S. war machine for ourselves and for the world.