Comrade Zabala (With Contributions by Comrades Redbeard and Pablo)

The close of 2022 saw the defeat of a rail workers’ campaign to better their working conditions and quality of life. The congressional representatives in the pay of the wealthy railroad barons, whose ranks include Warren Buffet, successfully deprived the workers of any concessions and enforced a nearly 100 year old Railroad Labor Act. The Act states that if workers in this industry seek to effect the economy in any meaningful way, Congress has the ability to break their strike and force them into a contract. This concise interaction is a prime example of how Americanism is Fascism, by seeking to further subject labor to the dictates of capital and wrench away any ability to peacefully struggle for concessions. What this essentially means is that union democracy is a sham and any agreements they propose, any negotiations they participate in, are able to be voided by force of the state’s armed agents. The rail bosses and the State need only to shake on a contract, and the workers must grin and bear it. This is indicative of Fascism, due to the basic structure that a Fascist system always holds: The subjugation of gender minorities, of national minorities and the repression of the labor movement. Fascism is defined broadly as the open terrorist domination of the bourgeoisie over the proletariat.

It is not an exaggeration to claim that the US Government is openly terrorist, because the evidence is staring us in the face. With every woman arrested for seeking healthcare in Arkansas, every Black child gunned down by settlers in Washington DC, and every working class family drowning in deprivation in California, we see more and more evidence. But the truth is often mystified and obscured because the fascists lie about their motives, skirt the issues, and find scapegoats. The perfect example of a fascist collaborator is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A New York representative in Congress, she positions herself under the guise of “progressive” politics, opportunistically using emotional appeals and cynical manipulation of her proletarian background and heritage as a Boricua (Puerto Rican) woman to attempt to deflect criticism and attract support. Her class and national background not withstanding, it is clear she’s tossed her hat in with the ruling class. This is made clear by an exchange that occurred after the historic vote to break the railway workers’ strike. In this exchange we can see a faux conciliatory AOC rationalizing her decision:

In these screenshots, we clearly see AOC feigning a troubled conscience, rationalizing her fascist behavior by using a “labor leader” as a scapegoat. But she’s not entirely lying. It is very likely that an opportunist in the labor camp was bought by AOC for the purpose of signing off on this devastating and devious blow. There exist multiple strata within the American working class, this is evident in the division of labor between settlers and the colonized,  between men and women, and even among settler men with varying degrees of education and skill. It would be no big issue for a politician to cherry pick a group of leaders in the targeted demographic, shake their hands publicly and privately load them with gifts, privileges, money, etc. In return for parroting the fascist decisions, the politicians reinforce their chosen leaders’ position, thus bolstering the long existing class of mis-leaders who rise from the ranks of the proletariat and its union movement, also known as the labor aristocracy. 

What can this look like in another context? Lets look at it in practice in Los Angeles CA, where City Council Member Kevin De Leon and former President of the Federation of Labor Ron Herrera were caught on camera discussing in a most racist and disgusting way how to break the growing tenants union movement in their city.  While we superficially see two different parties, the Maoist understanding of liberal democracy is realizing the corporatist leadership prevents true progress and unity. The current leadership of the union movement have a vested interest in supporting the bourgeois political class and by extension the will of the rich, not the poor. Their job is to keep us from building a militant union movement towards the goal of Communist revolution. This is why the Wagner Act was passed, and why so many big wigs in the unions have worked tirelessly to oust Communist membership. Once again, despite the perils, we see the rise of Marxist ideals in the union movement, with Communists popping up in the biggest struggles and supporting workers’ efforts. The goal of these Communists should be unification with the broad masses of the rank and file through being firm and first in struggle, political education with the most advanced on the necessity of recognizing the USA as a fascist police state, and transforming the militancy into  revolutionary fervor for the Communist struggle, generating cadre directly from the struggle. This will be difficult, but as Communists with revolutionary optimism, we know that difficult does not mean impossible.