In a hit piece on Substack, Kris Goldsmith relies on tired slander and anti-communist distortion to attack Refuse Fascism for its association with the revcoms and Bob Avakian, the revolutionary leader and architect of the new communism. Goldsmith paints a cartoon caricature of sinister communists working behind the scenes to take advantage of people in protests against fascism for "visibility." He repeats the lie that the revcoms are a "cult." Absent in his essay are any actual statements from Avakian or the revcoms.
Goldsmith laces his argument with dire warnings that Refuse Fascism and the revcoms will do damage to the fight against Trump/MAGA fascism. This is despite the fact that Refuse Fascism (an organization involving people from different perspectives which was formed just weeks after Trump's first election) has been the most consistent, and usually the only, national organization that has recognized what we are facing as fascism and called on people to act commensurately.
Goldsmith's whole argument is based on the Trumpian logic that "a lot of people are saying" so it must be true.
But repeating crude slanders and cheap lies does not make those slanders and lies any more true, or less harmful—and invoking others who have spewed the same lies and slanders does not make them any more credible. It only puts you in the company of others using unprincipled methods, and joins in the harm such unprincipled attacks do. This is especially terrible now, given the monumental stakes involved in the fight against this Trump/MAGA fascism.
Many people have called out these divide-and-conquer schemes, seeing the urgent need to unite all who can be united behind the single demand: The Trump Fascist Regime Must Go NOW! But there are unfortunately too many others who take up the "I heard it on the internet so it must be true" logic, believing lies and distortions about the position of the revcoms and Bob Avakian without having the intellectual integrity to look into it for themselves.
These attacks—and the accompanying gossip culture—do the dirty work for Trump fascism by working to undermine the broad and principled unity needed to defeat this fascism. These tactics—relying on rumor, lies and distorting people's views to isolate and silence them—smack strongly of the tactics of the right wing fascist forces in this country and the political police (the FBI, etc.) who create pretexts to go after revolutionary groups, and who engage in character assassination to discredit revolutionary leaders. (See: “In the 1960s, the Government Spread Lies to Foment Violent Conflict Within the Movement...”)
Especially as the Trump fascist regime is moving to classify all anti-fascist opposition—from Democratic Party politicians to No Kings protesters—as "domestic terrorism," these attacks are extremely dangerous. Don't fall for it.
Principled debate over strategy and analysis are essential to any movement for positive change. But that is very different than lies, slander, and personal attacks. With Goldsmith in particular, these attacks seem to be covering over and distracting from major differences about this fundamental truth: the Trump fascist regime cannot be contained, it must be stopped. And the only way to stop it is to drive it from power through sustained, nonviolent determined protest centered in Washington, DC at the seat of power. This is what the organization Refuse Fascism, involving people from different perspectives and viewpoints, has been tirelessly organizing people to do.
Three Essential Differences
Central in Goldsmith's attack is a dishonest distortion about who Bob Avakian is and what his work and leadership are actually about.
Bob Avakian (or BA) is a revolutionary leader and the architect of the new communism. He’s played a role in the revolutionary movement going back over 60 years now, to the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley and working closely with the Black Panther Party. You can learn more about him, his work and his life here.
Here, we are going to focus on three crucial points at issue: how serious is this fascism; on what basis should the dividing lines within those fighting this fascism be drawn; and what does good leadership consist of. As part of that, we’ll go into BA’s work on fascism, leadership and the importance of critical thinking so that people will actually have some basis to judge right and wrong. We’ll also show how Goldsmith avoids original sources and instead relies on rumors and innuendo and why Goldsmith’s mode of attack is not only incredibly dishonest but dangerously irresponsible.
Difference number one: How dangerous and how consolidated IS this fascism?
The single most important question facing people in this country today is the rapid imposition of fascism on America.
In his hit piece, Goldsmith talks about the “creeping normalization of fascist politics in America.” “Creeping normalization”—sorry, but that ship sailed a long time ago. “Creeping?” Please. As the Refuse Fascism call states, “Fascism is upon us.”
It’s not creeping. It’s in power and moving to consolidate that power daily. Do you want to deny the truth of what Bob Avakian said less than three months ago?
If this fascist regime is allowed to remain in power, everything that decent people have felt they could rely on to seek justice will be brutally shut down...every uplifting moral value will be reviled and repressed...every sphere of society will be remade, in terrible ways, in line with the male supremacist, anti-LGBT, white supremacist and anti-immigrant cruelty and the anti-scientific, health and climate destroying madness of the Trump fascist regime and the bloodthirsty ravings and depraved violence of fanatics heading “the department of war,” with the deranged maniac Trump having his finger on the nuclear button.
Every vision, and every active striving, for a better, more just world, for a future worth living in, will be violently suppressed and effectively foreclosed, at least for the foreseeable future.
This is not hyperbole—it is the bitter reality that is being rapidly enforced.
No, this didn’t happen overnight. Bob Avakian has studied the question of fascism in America, and he has written and spoken on it for 30 years. He’s traced its development and scientifically analyzed its deep roots in American society, as well as the dynamics driving it. Go here from 2004, here from 2017, and here from two months ago to get a sense of the content, through-line and the development of this analysis. So yes, not overnight, but way the hell away from “creeping”—and with Trump Two, all this has taken a further leap.
A History of Attacks Which Serve to Hide the Real Difference
Goldsmith hinges much of his argument on recycling old attacks on Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, a national organization that revcom Sunsara Taylor founded along with abortion provider Merle Hoffman, feminist writer Lori Sokol and others. What Goldsmith doesn't tell you is that the organizations who launched this attack were the same ones who refused to call for mass protest against the overturning of Roe v Wade. These groups focused only on distribution of abortion medication and abortion funds. While both provide an essential service, this was a losing and defensive strategy. In contrast, Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights called people into the streets with the aim of preventing the ripping away of the fundamental right to abortion nationwide.
The organizations that attacked Rise Up followed the longstanding line of the Democratic Party—minimizing the fascist danger, ceding the moral high ground to anti-abortion fanatics, compromising on women's lives, and working within the “normal channels” of this system, even as an illegitimate fascist-packed Supreme Court was ripping away basic rights, and the fascists were shredding those “normal channels.”
But, as Goldsmith does today, instead of openly debating out these differences over strategy and analysis, they relied on lies, slander and personal attacks to shut down this debate.
And whatever the intention, Goldsmith's attack on Refuse Fascism serves the same goal: keeping people's thinking and actions confined to terms set by the “normal channels” of this system, even as once again and even more rapidly, those channels are being shredded.
Goldsmith says he is seeking to protect the "Removal Coalition” from the "co-optation efforts" of Refuse Fascism. The Removal Coalition is a relatively new grouping, started in June 2025. Goldsmith writes: “Veterans, activists, and content creators gathered in Washington right now for the Remove the Regime rally have every reason to be proud. This is the kind of pro-democracy organizing we need more of—creative, strategic, and grounded in community.”
But he does not speak to the important differences over strategy. In writing about the three days of protest organized by the Removal Coalition on November 20-22, revcom.us wrote:
All this brought important energy and public pressure and opposition to Trump into the nation's capital and this is a positive contribution to the mass struggle that is needed to bring about the regime's removal. At the same time, while impeachment could be one means through which this demand is met, it is not the only means through which Trump could be nonviolently removed. Even more essential: it is unlikely in the extreme that it would be brought about without a massive, nonviolent, sustained struggle of millions demanding Trump's removal. Also, the terms and pacing of this struggle must not be set by congressional calendars and procedures; the pace of the fascist juggernaut is way too urgent for that. And while lobbying can certainly play a role, such activity cannot substitute for what must ultimately be millions in the streets in sustained nonviolent protest—centered in Washington, DC.
Goldsmith Indulges Himself in Fantasy and Delusion in the Face of REAL Danger
Goldsmith repeatedly downplays the extreme danger of Trump MAGA fascism, danger that is posed right now. He does this in a recent video when he says that “Senator Mark Kelly is being investigated for sedition—and that’s a good thing.” He paints a rosy scenario in which Kelly will certainly be acquitted and at the same time this will finally wake up the Democrats and, through a series of elections, allow for the threat of fascism to be crushed. Goldsmith blinds himself to the actual threat being posed to Kelly and to the rapid and radical fascist-driven transformations of the officer corps and military justice system (that Goldsmith assumes will acquit Kelly). He refused to deal with the actual reasons the Democratic Party as a whole has up to now not resisted fascism, and to the great likelihood that the 2026 elections—if they happen at all—will be rigged by Trump and MAGA (a process already being set in motion).
Even if somehow this extremely complicated and extremely unlikely chain of events should come to pass, it is profoundly immoral to wait until the midterms while thousands of people are being chewed up and destroyed by Trumpian fascism and the whole planet is being imperiled.
So, that’s difference number one—“creeping normalization” and relying on the Democrats vs. coming to grips with the reality of the fascist transformation of America NOW.
Difference number two: On what basis should the movement against fascism unite?
Goldsmith further argues, “Opposition to fascism, on its own, is not a political compass. What matters is what they want in its place.”
To the contrary, at this time opposition to fascism is in fact the most important political dividing line in the country. The single thing that has to unite millions—communists, Democrats, never-Trump Republicans, social democrats, all the decent people who refuse to capitulate to dark ages fascism—is the determination to drive the Trump fascist regime from power. Whether you want to restore what you see as “the promise of America,” or whether like us you advocate for getting to a world “without everything America stands for and everything it does in the world,” we must come together behind one single unifying demand: The Trump Fascist Regime Must Go NOW!
As Avakian has repeatedly argued for:
Many individuals, organizations and groups will have different views on what has given rise to this fascism, and what should replace it, and we revcoms (revolutionary communists) will continue to forthrightly put forward and argue for our views on this, and encourage others to similarly put forward their own perspectives. But this must take place in the context and atmosphere where we are all pulling together to overcome every obstacle—including “divide and conquer” schemes, from whatever source and in whatever guise—uniting all who can be united, in the millions and millions, to achieve the truly historic goal of driving out this fascist regime.
Part of Goldsmith's "warning" is that Avakian and the revcoms supposedly have sinister and nefarious goals in trying to unite with others, trying to "coopt" mass movements. Aside from the capitalist mode of thinking that movements against oppression can be "owned," we have to ask: why is wanting to defeat fascism to restore the status quo seen as a legitimate position, but wanting to defeat fascism because you are driven by the interests of humanity all over the world to live free from exploitation and oppression is somehow suspect?
Last December, in a social media message Avakian predicted that this accusation might be made by "people looking for some reason, or excuse, not to rise to the challenge of defeating this fascism"
I am not calling for a mass movement to defeat Trump/MAGA fascism as some kind of “gimmick” whose aim is not really to defeat this fascism but is to somehow “trick” people into supporting a revolution to overthrow the whole system. One of the most fundamental principles of the new communism I have developed is the need to consistently approach things in a serious, scientific way—and this means being open and honest about what our objectives are. As I said at the beginning, we revcoms (revolutionary communists, based on the new communism) are serious about defeating this fascism—because this fascism represents a very real horror not only for the people in this country but for people throughout the world.
At the same time, as I have repeatedly emphasized, this fascism has been brought forth by—has grown out of the very soil of—the system of capitalism-imperialism and its development through the history of this country. By its very nature, this system has continually brought forth horror after horror; and only an actual revolution can open the way to finally ending the terrible atrocity and needless suffering constantly caused by this system.
We revcoms will continue to work urgently to win people, in the thousands and then millions, to see the need—and to act on the need—for revolution. If it turned out that a massive movement actually succeeded in defeating Trump/MAGA fascism, without that involving the revolutionary overthrow of the whole system of capitalism-imperialism, then we would certainly not somehow be “disappointed”! We would recognize the great importance of this victory, for the cause of humanity. And we would continue to work tirelessly to carry forward the struggle toward the goal of revolution which is necessary to end the endless horrors of this whole system of capitalism-imperialism, and bring into being a much better system—as set forth in the Declaration at revcom.us: WE NEED AND WE DEMAND: A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM.
Difference number three: The question of leadership
Without a real argument of substance to make, Goldsmith falls back on the favorite of those who want you to avoid engaging Bob Avakian, that the revcoms are a “cult.” Avakian himself has spoken to this more than once, including why this kind of thing too easily gets over in the current culture.
Beyond that, though, one of the hallmarks of the new communism that Bob Avakian has brought forward is the recognition of the need for a scientific, evidence-based approach to understanding and radically changing the world. He argues for a process that fosters debate and dissent. Speaking about the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America which Avakian authored, he said:
It is a fact that, nowhere else, in any actual or proposed founding or guiding document of any government, is there anything like not only the protection but the provision for dissent and intellectual and cultural ferment that is embodied in this Constitution, while this has, as its solid core, a grounding in the socialist transformation of the economy, with the goal of abolishing all exploitation, and the corresponding transformation of the social relations and political institutions, to uproot all oppression, and the promotion, through the educational system and in society as a whole, of an approach that will “enable people to pursue the truth wherever it leads, with a spirit of critical thinking and scientific curiosity, and in this way to continually learn about the world and be better able to contribute to changing it in accordance with the fundamental interests of humanity.”
Avakian goes on to say, in this same message (“Irresponsible Opportunist Distortions Should Not Be Allowed…”),
The principles and methods that have led to the development of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America are also the basis and the guideline for how we revcoms approach working with many others, of different political perspectives, in order to unite all who can be united in massive, powerful, sustained and relentless non-violent struggle to defeat and remove the Trump fascist regime—which, from our perspective, is a crucial part of moving to bring about the revolution that will lead to the profoundly liberating system that is embodied in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, aiming for the emancipation of humanity as a whole from all systems and relations of exploitation and oppression everywhere in the world.
This is what I and the revcoms actually stand for, and have dedicated our lives and efforts to fighting for. Honest questions or principled disagreement about this is welcome and can be the basis for meaningful discussion and debate—at the same time as everyone who refuses to accept a fascist America is united as a powerful force to meet the urgent need to defeat and remove the Trump fascist regime.
That is the principle, clarity and urgency needed now. As the fascist regime is moving so so quickly to lock down an all-out fascist America which threatens humanity and the planet, it is everyone's responsibility to not fall for dishonest divide-and-conquer schemes, and call these out when you see them.
