We have been calling Doug Mastriano a fascist for the last couple days. Let us examine and explain what fascism is.
The 13th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International described fascism as, “the open terroristic dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital.”
The increased rate of anti-semitism, police violence on PoC, violence/hate against the LGBT community in tandem with increased economic despair is no mere accident. Sections of the bourgeoisie seek refuge in fascism to cement governmental power due to the currently increasing economic crisis. In return they offer workers salvation in appealing to urgent needs and their most reactionary beliefs.
This is artfully done by the fascist GOP and Doug Mastriano. The financial ties to the GOP and, by extension, Mastriano are no secret. However many may be unaware of his reactionary beliefs and conduct. He hired anti-semite Andrew Torba as a campaign consultant. On his campaign website he vows to ban “biological males” from “women’s restrooms and sports”. He has also vowed to ban “critical race and gender theory studies” in PA school.
Mastriano, like many other GOP politicians, is a 2020 election denier. He spent thousands of dollars in campaign money to bus protestors to DC on January 6th. Some of the measures he’s proposed recently, like requiring Pennsylvanians to re-register to vote and hand control of the overseeing of elections to Republicans with the creation of the Pennsylvanian Elections Commission, would shrink democracy and disenfranchise many people.
Let us return to Dimitrov. He says, “the accession of fascism is not an ordinary succession of one bourgeois government by another, but a substitution of one state form of class domination of the bourgeoisie—bourgeois democracy—by another form—open terroristic dictatorship”.
This gives us clarity to the nature of the GOP and their future plans. They seek to substitute bourgeois democracy for fascist dictatorship. And they are doing this by running fascist candidates all over the country who are on standby for 2024. They’re trying to succeed in doing now what they failed to do in 2020. Destroy the working class and secure indefinite state power.
So is the phrase “vote against fascism” appropriate? Of course it is. And Dimitrov would agree. He argues, “before the establishment of a fascist dictatorship, bourgeois governments usually pass through a number of preliminary stages and adopt a number of reactionary measures which directly facilitate the accession to power of fascism. Whoever does not fight the reactionary measures of the bourgeoisie and the growth of fascism at these preparatory stages is not in a position to prevent the victory of fascism, but, on the contrary, facilitates that victory.”
Mastriano and others have openly laid out their plan to us, and we have demonstrated how their plan is fascist in nature. We are already seeing parts of their plan unfold with the sham impeachment attempt of DA Larry Krasner, who was overwhelmingly supported by the people of Philadelphia.
The task of a Communist is, as Dimitrov said, to fight the fascism in the preparatory stage. What is one way to fight off fascism? To mobilize the working class to vote against fascist candidate. And at the same time we must participate in on the grounds struggles that pressure politicians into passing reforms that tip the balance of forces in our favor. The fight for a united front against fascism begins with us!