Getting Ready for the November election crisis

Trump prepares his crisis

Donald Trump gave a clear outline of his post elections plans in the first of the TV Presidential debates. Trump will send teams of thugs to polling places under the guise of poll watchers. Mail-in ballots will be denounced as frauds and counterfeit. A bottomless pit of legal challenges will be opened. Interminable court cases will create a crescendo of media panic. Far right organizations, such as the Proud Boys, will be “standing by.” This is the strategy of tension that he wishes to create.

The fact that Trump wishes to do these things does not mean that he will necessarily be able to do these things. We should not get ahead of ourselves. However, it would be foolish not to prepare ourselves for the possibility that they might happen. Many articles on this site have already looked at the political context of the elections. The purpose of this article is to examine socialist strategy in a November Crisis.

The first component of our strategy begins before the polls close. This is vigorous counter-mobilization against Trump’s so called “poll watchers.” These thugs will have the clear purpose of voter suppression and intimidation. We can easily visualize armed racist groups standing outside polling places in African American neighborhoods. Socialists will have to develop the appropriate tactics and alliances to confront and isolate these forces.

Supporting demonstrations for democratic rights

Turning to the post-election situation, our basic stance should be explained. Socialists support the defense, preservation, and extension of all democratic rights and civil liberties. The right of an electoral victor to assume office is a fundamental democratic right. Should Biden win the election, we support his right to become the President. We would fully participate in demonstrations calling for the results of the franchise to be implemented. Socialists will take their place in the mass demonstrations which are likely if Trump tries to steal the election.

In fact, we may well need to struggle against the Democrats to extend and deepen the movement. We have an example from history to guide us here. The 2000 Gore-Bush in Florida vote was sharply contested. The Republicans began to mobilize street actions against the Democrats during the tumultuous recount period. Jane McAlevey’s memoirs and the excellent HBO film Recount record the weak capitulation of the Democrat Party. Our aim will be to deepen the mass movement, not worry about procedural “respectability.”

We wish to see the movement extended beyond just street marches and rallies. Postal workers could refuse any DeJoy/Trump inspired actions that obstruct the efficient delivery of mail ballots. Symbolic occupations, such as took place in the Wisconsin Capitol during the great public sector battle of 2011, are another possibility. Such actions would require the organization of broad support networks.

It goes without saying that defending the results of the election is an entirely different matter from politically supporting or endorsing Biden and the Democratic Party. We will march as defenders of democratic rights, not as partisans of Biden. The far left will need to give some thought on the best ways of presenting our class independence in the anti Trump demonstrations. This problem is particularly acute given that there is no large revolutionary organization that can organize contingents and present its ideas through a central newspaper. We should examine the possibility of participating in Black Lives Matter contingents in the demonstrations. Supporters of the Hawkins/Walker campaign can also find ways of working together to make an independent presence felt.

It’s quite likely that the demonstrations against a Trump election theft will take place in a very tense atmosphere. Counter demonstrations by the far right are on the agenda. Effective marshalling of demonstrations will be important. Demonstrations will need a central leadership whose intentions and plans are clearly communicated to the marchers. Well-organized teams of marshals will be needed to defend the demonstrations. Socialists have a real body of experience here and can make an important contribution to the success of these events.

Keeping our heads

Even though he was an apologist for British imperialism, Rudyard Kipling knew how to turn a phrase. The need to “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs” is an important injunction for us. Nothing in the evil or threat of Trumpism changes the fundamental class nature of Biden and the Democratic Party. Trump may be on the warpath, but the Democratic Party is still an integral component of the US capitalist class. Mass action in the streets and in the workplaces is still the way to resist. Supporting the Democratic Party still undermines that resistance by supporting the organization that absorbs and assimilates discontent in this country.

Between now and the election, we have our work cut out for us: support all examples of fightback such as the demonstrations following the minimal slap on the wrist given the police in the Breonna Taylor murder, support the Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker 2020 Green EcoSocialist ticket, and challenge the far right “poll watcher” bullies. While working on these projects, socialists will continue to stand our ground on why the Biden and the Democrats are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Should a crisis develop after the election, our overall approach is clear: energetic support for all mobilizations in defense of democratic rights, constant support of the perspectives of class independence and struggle.