From A World To Win News Service
From the front lines of the battle of Hamburg against the G20
October 9, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
A World to Win News Service. What follows is a report from supporters of the new communism gathered in the Revolutionary Communist Manifesto Group in Europe (RCMG) who were involved in the massive protests held against the G20 summit in Hamburg on 7-8 July. This gathering of the heads of the world’s most powerful imperialist states, at a time of unprecedented crisis globally, represented a blatant affront and a serious challenge to the world’s people that had to be met head-on. It was a major political event at a crucial juncture in Europe and around the world.
Dominated by the most powerful imperialist countries and accompanied by some notorious reactionaries, such as Turkey’s Erdogan and India’s Modi, it aimed to bring together the representatives of the most exploitive and oppressive rulers of the existing world in order to contend and negotiate with each other over how to prey upon the masses of the world and its resources. But the presence of the fascist Donald Trump signalled that this was more than the usual annual G20 event. The emergence of the fascist Trump/Pence regime at the head of the world’s most powerful imperialist country has dramatic implications for people everywhere. The same deep contradictions that led to the installation of the Trump regime in the US are also at work in Europe, fuelling racism, xenophobia, misogyny and a more repressive political environment everywhere. This rightward lurch by the rulers is being expressed in the growth of fascist movements around the world, including the possibility of fascist regimes in Europe itself, even in countries like Germany and France where the dictatorship of the capitalist class has long been exercised in the form of social democratic regimes.
The significance of this G20 summit called for something beyond protest as usual. Many tens of thousands of people from Germany, other European countries and even beyond were expected to take part in four days of protests against the summit and all that it stands for, united to oppose some of the most brutal aspects of what the capitalist-imperialist system dishes out to people daily. It was clear that among those who attended there would be a large spectrum who recognise, to one extent or another, the need to get rid of the capitalist system itself, including some looking for a revolutionary alternative. All of this resistance and opposition was extremely important. At the same time, it is a fact that the merciless domination and exploitation of the overwhelming majority of people and nations on this planet by a handful of rich countries will continue as long as this capitalist-imperialist system exists. It is a scathing indictment of the criminal and inhuman nature of this system that in a world where humanity’s basic needs could already be met, suffering, misery and ignorance stalk vast swaths of the human landscape.
On the stage set in Hamburg, the fascist Trump/Pence regime was receiving an official welcome and being given legitimation by the rest of the other heads of state, while whetting the appetites and fuelling competition from other imperialists, with Germany’s Merkel seizing on the occasion to forcefully assert Germany’s ambitions for a bigger role running the world. All this posed urgent responsibilities on those who understood this to greatly step up their struggle against this life-devouring capitalist world order.
Revolutionary communists took part in planning activities in Hamburg and in Berlin to prepare the anti-G20 Summit protests months in advance of the event and developed an understanding of the features shaping the political terrain and the nature and line of the forces aiming to protest the summit. The Revolutionary Communist Manifesto Group of supporters of the new communism brought forward by Bob Avakian in Europe called for an all-out mobilization to take part.
There was a firm understanding among the comrades taking part of the need to boldly take out the need and desirability of communist revolution and the importance of promoting the architect of the new synthesis of communism, Bob Avakian. With this goal in mind, the comrades wrangled with how this could be done in relationship to the major issues that the masses coming to Hamburg would be raising? The question that came into sharper focus was what kind of work to unfold among the masses? What is the relation between partial struggles and particular demands (for example, ‘‘drive out the fascist Trump regime’’) and the overall task of preparing the proletarian revolution? How do we further advance the communist work of propagating and fighting for the new synthesis under these circumstances? The political approach RCMG supporters and others united around was reflected in the slogans adopted for a main leaflet to be distributed massively in German and English: “Fight the G20 Summit of Exploiters, Mass Murderers and War-mongers! Help Drive Out the Fascist Trump/Pence Regime! Humanity Needs Revolution and the New Communism!”
In Hamburg and later Berlin, during the latter part of June, two public meetings were held to discuss ‘‘the Trump regime, the rightward lurch in Europe and the danger of fascism’’ as part of the preparations for the G20 protests. Although the number of the people attending these public meetings was not large, they nonetheless helped to bring out the urgency of fully coming to terms with the dangers posed by the fascist Trump/Pence regime, making this part of the today’s political discussion as broad as possible, and organizing to fight with this understanding. Posters with the slogans ‘‘NO! In the name of humanity, We refuse to accept a fascist America!’’ and ‘‘Drive out the Trump/Pence Regime!’’ in several languages appeared on walls in areas of Hamburg known for their concentration of youth and radical-minded people. Comrades were invited to make presentations of their views at radical street events. Several different leaflets were widely distributed in large numbers on topics such as the migrant crisis and ‘‘Das Trump Regime, der Rechtsruck in Europa und die Gefahr des Faschismus’’ [The Trump Regime, the Rightward Lurch in Europe and the Danger of Fascism].
During the tumultuous days of the G20 protests, the strong presence, resolve and visibility of a clearly multi-national force, with Avakian “REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS” t-shirts and banners with the three slogans in different languages became a recognized feature in all the major demonstrations. More than 20,000 leaflets were distributed and they were in the main eagerly received. Many curious to know who the RCMG supporters were and what they were advocating were introduced to communist revolution and the existence of the line, leadership and the strategy for the struggle to turn into an actual revolution. Several hundred copies of a pamphlet put out by the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, HOW WE CAN WIN: How We Can Really Make Revolution, were taken by those eager to check out a how a revolution could be prepared and actually win in a country like the United States. The contingent was uniting with and encouraging the more radical sections of the demonstrators while striving to promote revolutionary communism as a real pole of attraction on the anti-G20 protest terrain. There were many discussions about the crucial significance of Avakian’s further development of the theory of communist revolution on a higher and more scientific ground and the decisive importance of this for solving the problems of preparing, making and carrying forward an actual revolution aimed at the worldwide elimination of all forms of exploitation and oppression and the behaviours and thinking based on them.
One important example of how this stand was translated into action came at the 6 July late afternoon demonstration named ‘‘Welcome to Hell’’ that brought together a variety of forces around the “black bloc” anarchists and other rebellious youth who had called for it. (Trump had earlier called immigrant neighbourhoods in Europe’s big cities ‘hell”.) Riot police attacked the hundreds-strong frontline black bloc fighters because of their proclaimed intention to disrupt the G20. In the ensuing struggle, the RCMG people were able to successfully raise their revolutionary banners to regroup and lead several hundred demonstrators to continue marching into the city. This was possible because of the group’s revolutionary stand and resolve on the strength of the political understanding they were propagating, and because they took responsibility for building unity as widely as possible among those opposing the system, despite the influence of entrenched anti-communism of the black bloc leadership on many of them. In general, it could be said that the week of anti-G20 protests would not have been the same without the determined presence and struggle of the RCMG activists.
The criminality of this system is rapidly becoming more clear and unacceptable to millions and many people are even questioning the legitimacy of this system, and the need and possibility of an actual revolution urgently needs to become the focus of attention of the advanced forces. In response to these protests, the Merkel government deployed a massive, deliberately intimidating range of force, including 23 helicopters and 32 of the world’s largest water cannon. The Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, is now discussing the possibility of outright police state measures to stop such protests in the future, including electronic control measures to confine potential protestors at home, and massively stepped up video surveillance. All this is an indication that even Europe’s essentially social democratic regimes intend to and are compelled to accelerate the rightward lurch despite growing opposition. Battles will surely arise around crucial issues like immigration and the need to help drive out the Trump/Pence regime. By joining and strengthening these battles and above all by bringing out the possibility of an entirely different world, today’s embryonic communist forces can begin to transform themselves and the political landscape.
Fight the G20 Summit of Exploiters, Mass Murderers and War-mongers!
Help Drive Out the Fascist Trump/Pence Regime!
Humanity Needs Revolution and the New Communism!
This G20 summit gathers the world’s most powerful imperialist countries, flanked by reactionaries like Turkey’s Erdogan and India’s Modi. It will be highlighted by the arrival of Donald Trump, the leader of a newly installed fascist regime in the US. These are clearly not ordinary times. There is an urgent responsibility to greatly intensify the struggle and to seize upon the cracks appearing in the edifice of this life-devouring capitalist world order and put an end to it.
The summit organizers claim that the G20 has set itself the task to “shape globalization for the benefit of everyone”. This is a sick joke to most people here and around the world, because capitalism can flourish only by grinding down the majority for the benefit of the few. This bitter reality is true even in the most “advanced” democratic countries but all the more so when extended to the whole world. The basic and bone-crushing truth remains: the merciless domination and exploitation of the overwhelming majority of peoples and nations on this planet by a handful of rich countries will continue as long as this capitalist-imperialist system exists. It is a scathing indictment of the criminal and inhuman nature of this system that in a world where humanity’s basic needs could already be met, suffering, misery and ignorance stalk vast swaths of the human landscape.
Even if these rulers wished otherwise, the underlying workings of the capitalist-imperialist mode of production force them to exploit people and the planet on an ever more intensifying scale. They are driven by ever sharpening competition and rivalry between each other to use the most brutal forms of oppression and repression to uphold this mode of production and their rule.
The G20 will lead to an intensifying clampdown in Europe against “undesirables”. They will continue to tighten their borders and brutally repel desperate migrants, even as they prepare to step up the bloody military interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere that have driven millions from their homes.
The G20 summit essentially represents the outmoded strata of the capitalist-imperialist West, which has long ago outlived its place in history. The Western imperialists both fuel and conflict with the other historically outmoded social strata represented by Islamic fundamentalism, and this dynamic is pushing reactionary trends in large parts of the world. The imperialists are using this to prettify themselves as upholders of enlightenment, making it more difficult for people to distinguish their true friends and their real enemies. All this sharply underlines the urgent need for humanity to break out of and beyond this system.
The emergence of the fascist Trump/Pence regime at the head of the world’s most powerful imperialist country has dramatic implications for people everywhere. The same deep contradictions that led to the installation of the Trump regime in the US are also at work in Europe, fueling racism, xenophobia, misogyny and a more repressive political environment everywhere. This rightward lurch by the rulers is easing the way for fascist movements and the possibility of fascist regimes in European countries as well.
It is urgent to actively support the ongoing struggle to drive out the Trump/Pence fascist regime in the US! There is little time to lose before this regime fully consolidates its power. This battle goes hand-in-hand with combating the rightward shift in Europe as part of an overall struggle to get free of capitalism and imperialism once and for all.
This year’s G20 Summit is marked by intensifying inter-imperialist rivalry. Trump has made abundantly clear that he is willing to do whatever is necessary to rebuild US imperialist domination of the world. But the other imperialists cannot be allowed to use the ugly face of the Trump regime to hide their own horrendous features! Angela Merkel is trying to present herself as the “leader of the democratic world”. Her partnership with the recently elected Emmanuel Macron is being heralded as an “inclusive, humane and democratic” counter-weight to the openly backward and vicious Donald Trump. But when Europe’s political representatives talk about the need to take “more responsibility” in the world, what they mean is that Germany, France and the rest of Europe should pursue their imperialist ambitions more ruthlessly, including by means of war. While there are real differences among these imperialists over how to shore-up their system, these are differences among reactionaries. At a time when Trump calls to build a wall on the US border with Mexico, “Fortress Europe” already is responsible for thousands of migrants dying every year. And to keep the poor and persecuted out, imperialist Europe is now supporting the construction of such brutal migrant camps in Northern Africa that even German diplomats are comparing them to “concentration camps”.
Confronted with the appearance of a seemingly unbeatable enemy, there is a strong tendency to accept ‘‘the politics of the possible’’ and to become resigned to seeking only to soften the most egregious blows of the system, leaving fundamental change for future generations. Yet some calls to protest the G20 point out that the system of capitalism cannot correctly address the problems humanity faces. There is even an understanding that it should be possible to have a world where women are not dominated, where the Earth’s resources are not plundered, where people from all over the world cooperate in the common interests of humanity. Yes, all this is possible—but what all too few understand is that this can only come about through an actual revolution, not just changing the faces in power and “making the best” of a rotten framework. The need for revolution is ever sharper and more pressing, even if many people think that it was tried and didn’t work, while others see it is as an impossible dream.
The US revolutionary leader Bob Avakian emphasized, ‘‘everywhere people are rising up in rebellion but are hemmed in, let down and left to the mercy of murderous oppressors, or misled onto paths which only reinforce, often with barbaric brutality, the enslaving chains of tradition; everywhere people need a way out of their desperate conditions, but do not see the source of their suffering and the path forward out of the darkness.’’
However, there is a vision of and a scientific approach to getting beyond a world of exploitation and oppression, of misery, hunger, bigotry, patriarchy and the squandering of humanity. This is the new communism, the re-envisioning of revolution and communism developed by Bob Avakian. It is a tremendously liberating and exciting breakthrough for humanity. It is the scientific way to understand the monumental problems that seven billion people on this planet face. It provides the comprehensive strategic orientation for building a movement for a real revolution, and for making a revolution that can actually win against this system’s massive machine of death and destruction. It provides an outline of how we can create a society that meets people’s basic needs while opening up whole new vistas for cultural and intellectual ferment and creativity... How we can actually uproot racism and patriarchy, including in people’s thinking and values... How we can create an economy that is sustainable with respect to the rest of nature, and how we can build a society that takes as its starting point not ‘‘my country’’ but the interests of humanity.
We cannot be content with the prospect of protesting against these same rulers in the same ways year on year. Humanity and this planet cannot afford this! We must confront what humanity truly needs in order to do away with this system. People who know that the current world is intolerable have a serious responsibility not only to continue and step up their current resistance but also to seek out and examine the most advanced scientific understanding of how the world can and must be transformed through revolution. We need a thoroughgoing revolution—and the new synthesis of communism makes it possible!
Revolutionary Communist Manifesto Group (Europe)
June 28, 2017
On March 17, 2017, A World to Win News Service (AWTWNS) announced its transformation into a more thorough-going tool for revolution based on Bob Avakian’s new synthesis of communism. Read its “Editorial: Introducing a transformed AWTWNS” here.
Get a free email subscription to revcom.us:
Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution
If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.