You wouldn’t know it to hear the Democratic candidates for office, but right now the fascist Republican party—which now controls states throughout the South and much of the Midwest—is radically speeding up their move to strip the right to vote from Black people, Latinos, Native Americans, and other oppressed people.

The fascists are doing this under the utterly phony guise of stopping “voter fraud” (which is virtually non-existent), and “illegitimate voters” (their codeword for non-white people). If it succeeds, it would be a significant step backward—into a 21st century, fascist form of second-class citizenship for Black people in particular, at a time when the ruling class of this thoroughly racist, capitalist-imperialist system has “no use” for large sections of them.

And here’s an irony, or a contradiction: in most circumstances in this system, the vote itself is meaningless—the only thing it decides is who will administer the exploitation and oppression that is daily life in this system, here and in a way more horrific way all around the world. But the right to vote is meaningful—for if that is stripped away, it solidifies into law the notion that there are two classes of citizens in this country: those “deserving” of basic rights and those not. That’s how this country functioned for a long, long time, until people shed their blood to change it. And that’s how these fascists are moving to do it again—but on a far worse scale.

Fascist Attacks on Voting Rights Spread and Intensify Nationwide

Republi-fascists across the country are working diligently to corrupt and control the electoral process. They are threatening mob violence. Some of them are declaring in advance they won’t accept any outcome other than their own victory.¹ Suppressing the vote of many Black, Brown, and Indigenous people is central to their efforts. In the past two years, a tidal wave of restrictive voter legislation has swept across the country. These fascists are moving to utilize the full power of government to crush any opposition to their rule, and, as Bob Avakian has written, restore America to its “mythological ‘greatness’ on the basis of aggressive white supremacy, crude and brutal male supremacy and suppression of LGBT people, xenophobia (hatred and persecution of foreigners and immigrants...) .” Already, in Florida, Republi-fascist governor Ron DeSantis has unleashed police in an “opening salvo,” arresting Black people who had served prison time and charging them with ;'voting illegally,' even though they had been cleared to vote by state officials. In Harris County, Texas (Houston), Republi-fascists developed a plan to “recruit … 10,000 poll watchers from suburban Harris County, then deploy them to predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in central Houston,” where, it claims, “fraud is occurring.” This summer, some of these fascists knocked on doors in Sunnyside, a predominantly Black neighborhood, telling people to sign statements about registered voters living at the address “under penalty of perjury.”

The fascists’ point in all this is NOT to just “get elected” or “pass their policies”—yes, it is that, but even more they intend to turn the state apparatus into a qualitatively more hard-edged, repressive apparatus aimed at thrusting women, Black people, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and other oppressed people into an even more suppressed position than before, and violate the rule of law whenever they please, even more violently repressing any challenge to their rule.

The Democrats—Worse Than Useless

What have the Democrats—those self-proclaimed champions of the right to vote for Black and other oppressed people—been doing about all this as gathering storm clouds of voter suppression and denialism make it very clear “which way the wind is blowing”? Nothing and worse than nothing. They put a feeble effort into promoting a federal voting rights act—which Biden himself declared to be “doomed” as it was about to come up for a vote! Even more outrageously, the Democrats poured $19 million into supporting the campaigns of some of the most fanatical Republi-fascists in recent primaries—in the hope that getting a more openly fascist Republican nominee would enable them to “motivate” people to vote by saying, “See, if you don’t vote for us, you’ll end up with them, and you don’t want that now, do you?”

But why have the Democrats pursued such a seemingly defeatist path? Because they are more willing to live within and coexist with an outright fascist form of rule than to risk an open confrontation with fascist forces. Such a confrontation would require arousing the masses of people whom they purport and pretend to represent—women, Black people, Latinos, Native Americans, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and so on—in a way that would pose the risk of things getting out of their control and weakening America’s global dominance.

This kind of b.s. underscores the importance of spreading and fighting for this principle from Bob Avakian’s “THIS IS A RARE TIME WHEN REVOLUTION BECOMES POSSIBLE—WHY THAT IS SO, AND HOW TO SEIZE ON THIS RARE OPPORTUNITY”:

Instead of being a tail on the Democratic donkey—with its attempt to keep this monstrous system going, and to deal with the growing fascist danger, by relying on the “normal procedures” of this system and doomed efforts to “heal the divisions” that are deepening every day—people need to work for the revolution that is urgently needed, and deal with the fascist danger as part of doing that.

We Need to Build up the Basis to Overthrow This Rotten System

The right to vote for Black people was written into the U.S. Constitution 152 years ago. It took the Civil War—with over 700,000 deaths—to eliminate slavery, grant birthright citizenship to Black people, and establish this basic right in law. But after the brief Reconstruction era, it faced fierce, often murderous, opposition from every level of government, KKK vigilante lynch mobs, and white supremacist laws that placed obstacles in the path of Black people trying to exercise it. Many generations fought courageous and heroic battles to establish and extend the right to vote in practice, not just on paper.

Again, voting is not the way to bring about fundamental change in this society—but the right to vote is an essential right of citizenship. Taking it away opens the door to stripping away any other right. The attacks targeting the right to vote for Black people, Native Americans, and Latinos mark a major leap toward a much, much more vicious and blatant white supremacist regime. As part of building the movement for revolution, and beating back the fascist assault, it is important to support and defend those who are being subjected to unjust attacks on their rights.

No Going Back to Second-Class Citizenship! Defeat Attacks on the Right to Vote!

This Imperialist System has No Future for Humanity!

It’s Time to Get Organized for a Real Revolution