Theses on the Biden Era and the Tasks of Communists
3 min readNov 13, 2020
- The Biden era will mark the return of the neoliberal imperialist foreign policy prerogatives of the Clinton, Bush and Obama eras. We will see more competent direct intervention in the affairs of countries such as Bolivia and Nicaragua. Where Trump stumbled from heavy-handed blunder to blunder, most remarkably in Venezuela, the Biden team will act with surgical precision in the interests of US imperialism, especially if Susan Rice is confirmed as Secretary of State.
- Prepare for an escalation of repressive tactics against the movement at home. The Obama era saw surgical state repression of movements such as those at Standing Rock. We can expect this same state apparatus, well funded at all levels, to be turned further against the revolutionary New Afrikan movement which is the primary force driving the development of the people’s movement. Prepare for infiltration of revolutionary organizations and liberals/faux-progressives self-deputizing.
- There will undoubtedly be more mass uprisings of Minneapolis type. The Minneapolis uprising inspired many thousands of the lowest, deepest masses and was a miniature lesson in self-government and military tactics, although liberal recuperation showed the necessity of struggling for Communist leadership. Communists must conduct daily mass work among the lowest, deepest masses before uprisings take place, actively recruit them to our mass and intermediate organizations, and conduct thorough and understandable political education in the basics of struggling to win.
- The futility of voting and engaging in the electoral process must continue to be driven home through agitation and propaganda. The same old repression, the same old hunger, the same old evictions, the same old police bullshit, the same old deportations. Nothing for the masses will change under Biden.
- The New Afrikan proletarian and semi-proletarian strata in deserve special and thorough attention, however, we should realize that dogmatically including “worker” in our propaganda washes out the struggles of those on welfare, disabled people who physically/mentally can not work, and others. We should broaden our organizational category of “worker” to include sex workers and others for tactical reasons, keeping in mind the specific characteristics of these strata. Concrete analysis of concrete conditions and social investigation/class analysis must be conducted in all situations and our organizing must be based on these analyses.
- Sharpen and develop the anti-eviction movement through developing anti-eviction brigades on the building and block/street level. Conduct regular study groups, identify and train activists and sum up both victories and losses. Conduct research on laws pertaining to tenant rights in operational area to sharpen demands — this is not legalism but defending the interests of the masses and preventing left opportunist deviations that will serve only to get people evicted and thus damage the prestige of the revolutionary movement.
- Anti-imperialism must move from graffiti on buildings and moralizing to concretely pointing out and demonstrating how imperialism harms Black and Brown proletarian/semi-proletarian people at home.
- Settler “communist” or “anarchist” formations that practice opportunism among the movement must be exposed, criticized and expelled from demonstrations and movement spaces before they cause legal or physical harm to the masses, revolutionary leadership, and movement as a whole. Those who seek to intervene in affairs internal to the New Afrikan revolutionary movement, refuse to accept leadership or build/work in coalition, promote right or left opportunist lines, and turn New Afrikan activists against each other should be exposed. Ultimately they are not invested in the movement and seek only to use our people as cannon fodder for their idealism. They should be encouraged to take their foolishness into settler communities, organize their own people, and leave ours alone.
- People are still going to be hungry and at risk of homelessness. Develop creative, mass involved solutions at the neighborhood level. Hold workshops to teach people to grow their own healthy food, for example.
- Conduct workshops to teach the masses self-defense skills as the foundation of people’s militias.
