Hi Hari, I was at a hastily-called, anti-ICE rally yesterday of 400 people in Portland, Oregon. PSL was the driving force behind the call with endorsements from Freedom Road Socialists, DSA, About Face, and some of the other, usual suspects of the Portland left. The poster was classic PSL with a call for general strike (that no one is organizing), and no identification of the sponsoring organizations. There were dozens of signs with PSL identified at the bottom of each and the first speech urged people to join up and organize against ICE. After serving in the SWP during the antiwar movement, I think I can spot a political-recruitment vehicle.
The speeches were about standing up and fighting. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT, FIGHT ICE. No one said how. No one discussed what the Trump administration might be trying to achieve, namely, position US troops in major cities before the midterm elections. Or how we might stop that. Someone needs to explain what "fight" means because if black-bloc types turnout to fight ICE with the enthusiasm that they destroyed a library in a working-class university to the tune of $1.5M, then Trump will have his insurrection, and will send Marines or airborne infantry to Portland. viola! Trump gets what he wants. How do we get what we want and how might we do it. This might be controversial for some. > On Jan 26, 2026, at 00:09, hari kumar via groups.io > <[email protected]> wrote: > > As a minimum, the slogans for this movement should include the following, > recognising that the last in particular demand – will be difficult to achieve: > ◊ Withdrawing of ICE agents from Minneapolis and other cities; > ◊ Charges and public trials against the murderers of both Ms Good and Mr. > Pretti; > ◊ Release of those in detention from the ICE raids across the USA > ◊ Public enquiry with a view to laying criminal charges against the Trump > leaders, setting and enabling the ICE attacks on the agenda. I think that the main demand should be No Troops in US Cities! It should be composed of mass organizations, including labor but going far beyond the 6% of the US workforce in private-sector unions in the US or the 14% in public sectors (public-sector unions are even more closely tied to the Democratic Party in the US to the point that electing Democrats has become their only survival strategy). I would extend the united-front strategy to include social-justice organizations, civil liberties organization, and practically everyone who oppose troops in US street. I'd focus on winning that, first, and worry about what to do with members of Trump's ICE Freikorps later. > > Ultimately – given the nature of the capitalist crisis besetting the USA – > only a Marxist-Leninist united party can prevent this continuing and > deteriorating. > Only a socialist solution can stop this societal attack on workers. But – the > General Strike held in Minnesota is a valuable sign of how the class can move. > Once again, as Lenin said – “strikes are a school of war”. The working class > is in a war. The Minnesota Strike was the first indication of how to organise > – it goes beyond the “No Kings” demonstrations of the very recent past of > June 2025. (see “The Shaping up of the Anti-Trump, Anti-Fascist Front in the > USA” MLRG.Online June 17, 2025". I'll take a look at the article when I find it. If we are at war, it is a non-violent and passive one. Trump wants us to fight, fight, fight violently and with lots of property destruction. He picked Minneapolis, I think, because that's were the BLM movement started in 2020 and was easily led into a national series of confrontations and riots. It's what he wants. Owing to the relationship of forces, the tactics that I would recommend are non-violent, mass demonstrations. If rights to speech and assembly are blocked by federal or local police, then we take a page from the SCLC/SNCC for non-violent civil disobedience. Mark -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#40384): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40384 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/117465106/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
