The only reason why the U.S. empire hasn’t already intensified its war on dissent to the point where it’s raiding far more organizations than APSP; and taking the lives of its domestic political enemies without even a show of judicial sanction; is because the empire still has hope that it can sufficiently counter any authentic anti-imperialist efforts. It’s still primarily using controlled opposition as its tool for managing opposition towards the war machine; its main tactic at the moment is to help liberal-aligned activist groups cultivate a pro-Palestine movement which excludes everyone outside the “left” subculture, while shoving aside groups like APSP.
The gatekeeping methods the compatible left employs, where event organizers make it so that most of the Americans who oppose the war machine aren’t welcome at ostensibly antiwar rallies, are so far successful at preventing effective mobilization against the proxy wars; but these tactics can only work for so long. And when the people gain enough of a means for advancing their anti-imperialist interests, the state is going to have to try to fight off the people directly, rather than relying on its counter-gangs.
If the state gets what it wants, the Palestine rallies are going to be something the state can afford to ignore, like it could afford to ignore the demonstrations against the Iraq invasion. It wants these outbursts of resistance to be confined to an activist niche; be led by orgs that worship the spontaneity of the masses rather than drive forth the struggle; and therefore are unable to sustain their momentum. This tactic of diverting and neutralizing mass outrage can’t work, though, when the authentically revolutionary organizations are able to take advantage of these disruptions; when the actors within the struggle who haven’t been co-opted expand their relationship with the people, using the people’s passion as a way of forming such connections. It’s evident that APSP did this kind of mass work well enough during the post-George Floyd era for the state to come to view it as a threat; a threat that the state felt worthwhile to counter through raids and indictments.
That these attacks on the Uhuru organization happened, and happened within a few years following the 2020 police brutality uprisings, shows the counterinsurgency which the state waged against these uprisings wasn’t ultimately successful. It succeeded in the short term, but not in the longer term, and the state admitted this defeat when it assailed Uhuru; the Democratic Party’s having been able to pacify many of those who got involved in the struggle, and get them to either vote blue or become politically aimless, didn’t prevent Uhuru from continuing to bring Black workers into the long-term fight for liberation. All the freedom fighters needed was to exercise patience and stay principled, and it wouldn’t take long for them to become successful enough that the state got frustrated with them.
That’s the example which the rest of the USA’s anti-imperialists must learn from as we see incredible amounts of spontaneous antiwar energy, and see the state try to neutralize this energy the same way it did with the Floyd revolts. If we navigate our conditions properly, and put in the work to connect with the people, we’ll advance to the next level of strength as a movement. The controlled opposition groups the state uses, whether they’re the Democratic Party itself or more covertly harmful orgs like ANSWER, can’t get rid of the many people who will keep seeking out avenues for revolt. ANSWER’s recent attempt to render Uhuru invisible to the wider public, and the efforts by much of the left to discredit the anti-imperialist united front, can only delay the growth of these forces for so long; the progress they make within the struggle is steady and inevitable, so long as they stay dedicated to their goals.
Because the continued rise of an authentic opposition can’t be stopped with the tools our enemies are using at this moment, the state is going to resort to different tools. It’s then going to become our job to make it so these tools fail as well; and to win that next stage of the struggle, our own tools are going to need to change too.
Part of our job during that phase is going to be maintaining the same thing which got us this far: the united front. An essential part of how revolutions have historically won is by gaining the assistance of elements within the ruling institutions, namely the military; and we could get an advantage by providing an institutional force for disillusioned armed service members to defect to. But we won’t be effective enough at this without having already brought our cadres to their next stage of development. That being the one where we convert towards a military mode of practice, both in our structure and in the types of training we do.
Prior to when the anti-imperialist united front formed, a scenario where such practices would become necessary was a much more distant possibility than it is now. The antiwar and labor movements were still stuck in their old cycle of inertness, with the united front’s present members still figuring out their role and trying to build enough connections within the struggle. At this point, though, we’ve established a better basis for advancing the cause, so escalations in the class conflict have become a more immediate possibility.
The decisive moment has gotten closer, because the insular and ineffectual forces on the left that have for so long restricted the class struggle are losing their monopoly over organizing. Those old forces remain, but the elements of the movement that don’t depend on the Democratic Party are gaining their own base of support. At a certain point, these elements will become too strong for the state to keep up its present way of handling them, and the anti-imperialist movement will come under attack to an unprecedented degree.
As we build connections with the people and with our movement allies, we need to be constantly preparing for that more advanced phase in the struggle. It doesn’t have to be something we dread, because it will be an opportunity for defeating the state; we’ll need to be certain we’ve already gained the tools to prevail against the counterinsurgency, though. When the siege upon us is most intense, democratic centralism will become more important than ever; we’ll need to have cadres that are not only equipped and trained in arms, but have adopted the diligent fitness lifestyle that’s going to be essential for properly operating during this situation. With every success we have in organizing, or in the information war, we get closer to that point where we face the ultimate test. To pass that test, we need to cultivate a balance between the different aspects of our practice, which are many times more diverse than what our present conditions need from us. If we succeed enough during today’s stage, a new stage will appear, and the things required of us will become far greater.
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