QIs the Communist Party USA going to begin organizing paramilitary units, like Germany's Red Front Fighters League, to counter Trump's Sturmabteilung? I think you should. I'm a US Army veteran and would be interested in joining a unit. Thanks.
ALet us answer by relating a story from the 1937 Little Steel strike led by Gus Hall and the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) in Warren and Youngstown, Ohio. After the company brought in scabs, company goons attacked the picket line. Workers retaliated and the National Guard was sent in. The union called an emergency demonstration and the workers showed up en mass, each had brought weapons. Gus (who later served 8 years in prison for his role in the Party) told the workers, "I don't know who has arms and who doesn't. But I'm gonna turn my back. Go home, you can't fight the army." When he turned around the site was empty.
Now that's leadership. You want to defend the working class - do it by using the only weapon we have: ORGANIZATION. Moving tens of millions in struggle: With strikes, sit ins, boycotts, occupations: militant mass action. These acts necessarily involve non-violent force and compulsion but without giving the excuse for armed retaliation. We can't beat the ruling class in firefights. We have to use all peaceful means available including elections. Revolutionary zeal has nothing to do with automatic weapons; rather it has everything to do applying creatively the lessons of history. We have to learn from what happened to the Panthers, and what happened at Haymarket. Let's not waste time now with the theory of weapons but employ the weapon of theory - and organization.
Now that's leadership. You want to defend the working class - do it by using the only weapon we have: ORGANIZATION. Moving tens of millions in struggle: With strikes, sit ins, boycotts, occupations: militant mass action. These acts necessarily involve non-violent force and compulsion but without giving the excuse for armed retaliation. We can't beat the ruling class in firefights. We have to use all peaceful means available including elections. Revolutionary zeal has nothing to do with automatic weapons; rather it has everything to do applying creatively the lessons of history. We have to learn from what happened to the Panthers, and what happened at Haymarket. Let's not waste time now with the theory of weapons but employ the weapon of theory - and organization.
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