This is Bob Avakian—REVOLUTION—number 115.

On Sunday April 27, RefuseFascism.org is holding emergency assemblies in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, bringing people together to wrestle with the decisive question of how to stop the Trump fascist regime.  Refuse Fascism is based on the orientation that “In The Name Of Humanity, We Refuse To Accept A Fascist America!”—and, as a concrete expression of that, it has put forward the urgent demand that the Trump fascist regime must go, NOW.

In this message, I am going to speak to some of the crucial questions relating to this.

In my message number 112, I stated this fundamental truth very clearly: Trump’s fascist rule, like Hitler’s before him, is a regime of horrors—and is completely illegitimate.

First of all, no matter how it comes to power, fascism is never “legitimate”: It is never “legitimate” to enforce a lawless dictatorial rule over people, trampling on essential rights, treating whole groups of people as less than human, and targeting vulnerable people for cruel and even murderous persecution.

In the very first days following his inauguration this January, after officially swearing to uphold the Constitution of the United States, Trump openly defied and trampled on that Constitution: He issued an “Executive Order” that was in direct opposition to the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution, which establishes that everyone born in this country is a citizen of the country.  This Amendment is not a “policy”—it is part of the Constitution itself. When this Amendment was passed, right after the Civil War, one of its most important purposes was to guarantee citizenship to former slaves; and, by its very clear language, this Amendment guarantees citizenship to everyone born in the U.S.

If Trump wanted to legally and Constitutionally change this—which itself would be a very bad, reactionary move—he could try to do so by following the procedures for amending the Constitution that are set forth in the Constitution itself. But that is just the point: Trump does not recognize any limits to his fascist dictatorship—not the Constitution, and not the laws or the rule of law and due process of law.

After illegally rounding up legal immigrants who have been convicted of no crime, denying them due process and sending them to a torture-chamber prison in El Salvador, Trump has openly threatened to do the same with citizens of this country. If this Trump regime is allowed to remain in power, no one will be safe from its fascist rule: Whoever Trump decides is an “enemy” will be targeted, with no protection from the law; Black people and other people of color, immigrants, women, LGBT people and others Trump regards as “inferior” and “unworthy” will be subjected to discrimination, oppression, persecution, brutality, and murder, without even the pretense of equality under the law, or equality and rights in any sense.

Relying on the “normal procedures” and “regular ways of doing things” will not, and cannot, defeat this fascism and put an end to its very real, and continually more extreme, reign of terror.

If the Republican Party were just “conservative,” Trump, Vance, Rubio and the rest would already have been impeached, convicted and be facing criminal charges for their flagrant violation of the law as well as the Constitution. (Back in the 1970s, when the Republican president Richard Nixon engaged in much less blatant and less extreme violations of the law, he was forced to resign, because it was made clear to him that, if he didn’t resign, Republicans as well as Democrats would vote to impeach and convict him.) But the Republican Party of today is not “conservative”—it is fascist—and that is why it continues to support Trump’s open and aggressive violation of the law and the Constitution, and of the rights that are supposed to be guaranteed under this Constitution.

The Democrats as a whole are both unable and unwilling to fully recognize and act in line with the understanding that the “norms”—“politics as usual” and the “regular way things are done”—cannot stop this Trump fascist regime, which is determined to defy and trample on these “norms,” including the Constitution and the rule of law it establishes. (Right now, major Democratic Party politicians and operatives are “debating” whether it is necessary and “good politics” to stand up for the rule of law and due process of law, in the face of Trump’s flagrant violations of this! No political force that really cares about the basic rights of the people could “debate” whether it should stand up for those rights!) So, along with the fact that elections in November, 2026 (to say nothing of 2028) would be way too late, especially given the crazed speed with which the Trump fascist regime is moving (and its refusal anyway to recognize the outcome of elections it does not like), relying on the Democratic Party is a recipe for defeat—a terrible defeat that humanity really cannot afford!

To be clear, as people with the scientifically based understanding that it is this system of capitalism-imperialism that has given rise to this fascism—and that the whole system rests on brutal exploitation, murderous oppression, and massive plunder and destruction of people everywhere, as well as the environment—we revcoms (revolutionary communists) also clearly recognize that the U.S. Constitution establishes the legal basis for the rule of this system, even as it provides for certain rights within the framework of this system. That is why, in the Declaration We Need And We Demand: A Whole New Way To Live, A Fundamentally Different System, we state very clearly that “we need a whole different system, with a whole different Constitution—the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America—which will provide much greater rights for the people, including the basic right to have the fundamentally determining role in a new society and government whose purpose and goal is to eliminate all exploitation and oppression, everywhere.” (This Declaration is available at revcom.us.) We are continuing to work for the revolution which is the most fundamental solution to the madness and atrocity of this system—a revolution which will bring into being the emancipating system envisioned in that Constitution for the New Socialist Republic.

At the same time, our Declaration also makes very clear: “So long as we are still living under the rule of this system of capitalism-imperialism, we will defend people against attacks on their lives and on the rights that are supposed to be guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.”

Right now, facing the fascist juggernaut of the Trump regime, defending the rights that are supposed to be guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution—and defending people who are subjected to lawless violation of those rights by the Trump regime—is all the more crucially important, is really a matter of life and death.  In the most basic terms, this means and requires actually defeating this fascist regime—putting an end to its rule, with its very real, and increasingly undisguised, reign of terror.

This will require courage and sacrifice for the greater good—the greater good of actually defeating this fascism:  not “looking out for self,” nor retreating into things like “mutual aid” among the opponents and targets of this fascism, something which could contribute to the increasingly massive mobilization that is necessary but cannot substitute for, and must not be adopted instead of, bringing forward that massive mobilization.

This truly life-and-death fight against fascism requires, and needs to involve, rapidly increasing ranks of people, drawn from all parts of society and all walks of life—including Black people, immigrants, college students and other youth, professionals and government workers, women, LGBT people, and others—all who actually have a profound interest in defeating this fascism:  people with a broad diversity of political views and perspectives, uniting all who can be united and overcoming all “divide and conquer” schemes, in order to bring forward the millions who can be the decisive force in driving out this fascist regime.

Musicians, prominent people in the arts, and others with a public platform, which can reach masses of people, need to use their voice and platform, now, as a major vehicle contributing to and calling forth the massive mobilization that is urgently required. There can be no excuse for any decent person to stand aside from this critical and urgent fight. Not only is active support for this fascist regime a great crime against humanity, but passive acceptance and silence in the face of this fascist regime amounts to collaboration with it and objectively aiding it. On the positive side, actively building for and taking part in the fight against this fascist regime is a great positive good and profound expression of one’s humanity.

Even the prominent conservative commentator David Brooks has called for “a comprehensive national civic uprising” against this regime; and Robert Reich (former Secretary of Labor during Bill Clinton’s presidency) has called for a sustained general strike to stop this regime. These, and other ideas and proposals for how to defeat this regime, need to be actively discussed and debated—as part of, and in the context of, the overall and crucial process of moving, with the necessary urgency, to bring forward the massive mobilization that will be decisive in fighting for the critical demand that the Trump fascist regime must go—now!

This massive mobilization could have a major impact on the dominant institutions of the country, with the possibility of creating conditions that could cause major shifts and “realignments” among them.  This is one way in which the Trump fascist regime could be removed from power.  But, one way or the other, this regime must go—and non-violent but determined, sustained and growing mass mobilization needs to be built, as the bedrock force to bring about this crucial and urgent objective, as soon as possible, before it really is too late.

In The Name of Humanity, We Refuse To Accept A Fascist America!

The Trump Fascist Regime Must Go—NOW!