Afternoon Comrades,
I finally had a moment to catch up with housework and other shit that interests me and after debating what micro-aggression piece of niche news I should devote my few hours a day today, I instead grabbed a coffee and wanted to take a step back for everyones benefit. At this point it is beyond clear that our self-titled “democracies” here in the West are fictitious instrument to gaslight us workers into believing we actually have a say in how we and the rest of the global working class gets exploited and that their shit system is speed racing towards a concrete wall. As so often in our histories when the rich dicks fucked up too much they’ll start a war abroad or at home to divert from their inbred audacities and we pay the price. Lately, and yes I did try and watch the US GOP debate for about 10 mins - rather than turning random countries with natural resources into Enron Concrete Parking Lots etc - these bastards have turned their attention inwards, irrespective of whatever their colour is in these parliaments, and thanks to previous success’ and their entire lacking of humanity, and will face us with the usual choice: fascism/barbarism or revolution.
Cool, cool, if that’s what they want then said party they will get. Before you jump off, because “meh, history…” - stay tuned. I will share a few words and ideas on one of the most relevant and practical texts on “what they fuck to do” in times like these from almost 100 years ago. Read it, adapt it to your material realities and get to work.
Clara Zetkin’s Resolution on Fascism
As far as I am concerned there should be a memorial to this person’s contribution to genuinely every battle important in our cosmos, it is frankly almost impossible to name and explain all of the fights she fought ( successfully ) in a time that was not only extremely hostile to these ideas but more specifically to women in on themselves. Whilst I wish I could by all means look into her work in regards to feminism, marxism, pacifism, communism and so on. Her work is brilliant, in-depth and valuable to no end even today.
Today I wanted to highlight her resolution on Fascism, adopted on June 23, 1923, by the Third Enlarged Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, specifically, because it not only offers an understanding of what it is, but far more importantly, how to deal with Fascists and Fascism. Considering the fact that we are truly entering the end-stages of the Empire here in the so-called “West”, I figured any help offered from the past we should take.
Especially, considering the facts that Zetkin not only viciously attacked and opposed the German Empire under Bismarck and had to exile herself, viciously and relentlessly worked against the capitalist barbarism of WW1, was a recipient of the Order of Lenin (1932) and the Order of the Red Banner (1927), organized ( successfully ) uncountable action groups that fought for women’s right, anti-fascist groups but significantly, upon the opening of the 1932 Reichstag, held a flaming speech against the barbarism of Fascism in the face of Hitler and his goons of racists murderers- you get the point. This person, at very least, deserves to be heard.
With that, here are the points she made in 1923 about how to fight Fascism in all its forms.I share this because of its absolute clarity in the multi-levelled approach of antifascist work, and yes, including violence. To me, this has always been an absolute necessary part of this work and we need to remember this going forward. Analysis and Debate are all fair and square but without action, we lose. Easy as that. For anyone interested this here is the original resolution to read for free.
A special structure to lead the struggle against fascism, made up of workers’ parties and organizations of every viewpoint, must be formed in every country. The tasks of this structure are:
1) Collecting facts on the fascist movement in every country.
2) Methodical education of the working class regarding the hostile class character of the fascist movement through newspaper articles, pamphlets, posters, assemblies, and so on.
3) Methodical education of the masses who have just become proletarians or are threatened by inevitable proletarianization regarding their condition and the function of fascism in assisting large-scale capitalism.
4) Organization of defensive struggles by the working class by forming and arming contingents of self-defense. Given that the fascists concentrate on propaganda among youth and that worker youth must be drawn into the united front, youth who are more than seventeen years old must be recruited into the common factory-based fighting contingents. Workers’ control commissions must be organized to prevent transport of fascist bands and their weapons. Fascist attempts to terrorize the workers and block expressions of their class activity must be mercilessly struck down.
5) Workers of all viewpoints must be drawn into this struggle. All workers’ parties, trade unions, and proletarian mass organizations must be called on to join the common defense against fascism.
6) A struggle against fascism is needed in parliament and in all public institutions. Strong emphasis must be laid on the imperialist and arch-chauvinist nature of fascism, which heightens the danger of new international wars.
II
This second part of the resolution is quite specific to the rise of Italian fascism. By 1923 the German variant had not become as dangerous as the Italian one, nevertheless, an important addition to the above.
Fascist forces are organizing internationally, and the workers’ struggle against fascism must also organize on a world scale. To this end, an international workers’ committee needs to be created. The task of this committee is to exchange experiences and organize international actions, above all against Italian fascism and its representatives abroad. This struggle includes the following measures:
1) A campaign of international education through newspapers, pamphlets, posters, and mass meetings regarding the Italian fascist leadership’s total hostility to workers and its methodical destruction of all workers’ organizations and institutions.
2) Organization of international mass meetings and demonstrations against fascism and against Italian fascism’s representatives abroad.
3) Struggle in parliament. Demand that parliament, the workers’ fractions within it, and international workers’ organizations send commissions to Italy to investigate the condition of the working class there.
4) Struggle for immediate liberation of arrested or imprisoned Communist, Socialist, or nonparty workers.
5) Organization of an international boycott by all workers against Italy. Refuse to ship coal to Italy. All transport workers must refuse to load and ship goods to and from Italy, and so on. To this end, create an international committee of miners, seamen, railway workers, and transport workers in every field.
6) Material and moral support of the persecuted working class of Italy through collections of funds, accommodation of refugees, support of their work abroad, and so on.
It must be brought home to workers’ attention that the fate of the Italian working class will be theirs as well, unless they block the influx of less class-conscious forces to fascism through energetic revolutionary struggle against the ruling class. Workers’ organizations therefore must display great energy, in their offensive against capitalism, in protecting the broad masses of producers against exploitation, oppression, and usury. In this way they will counterpose earnest organized mass struggle to the fake revolutionary and demagogic slogans of fascism. In addition, they must strike down the first attempts to organize fascism in their own country, keeping in mind that fascism in Italy and internationally can be most successfully resisted through an energetic struggle against it in their own country.
Do with this what you wish. The Beginning is here and we need to here for it.
Yours, warmly,
V