Master’s House in Disarray

The Democrats and the Racist Cesspool in Virginia

If one needed further proof that both capitalist parties are class enemies of the workers and the oppressed, take a look at the current strife in the Virginia Democratic Party. For Democratic politicians like Representative Donald McEachin, the party’s internal turmoil is a “nightmare.” But for the vast majority of black people and of society as a whole, the real nightmare is the deepening exploitation, brutality and cruelty of racist American capitalism, whether overseen by Democrats or Republicans. As the Dems try to figure out which group of potential voters to throw under the bus, the Republicans, who groove on overt racism, are gleeful.

When the bottom is stirred in the bourgeois political cesspool, all kinds of ugly things come crawling out. Virginia governor Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page features a photo of someone in blackface alongside someone in KKK regalia. After first admitting he was in the photo, Northam then denied it, while admitting he had worn blackface another time. The yearbook photo and Northam’s response are sickening and a kick in the face to black people and all opponents of racial oppression. Subsequent “my blackface” revelations, including by state attorney general Mark Herring, have shed more light on the anti-black racism of both capitalist parties.

Added to the toxic brew, a third top Virginia Democrat, black lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, has been accused of rape; he maintains his innocence. We do not know what happened between Fairfax and his two accusers. It is notable that only Fairfax has been threatened with removal from office through impeachment proceedings—presumption of innocence and the right to a trial be damned. As one black Virginian told the New York Times: “You’re more able to survive as a white man in America who wore blackface than as a black man that’s facing #MeToo accusations” (9 February).

The grime and slime of bourgeois politics always come with bucketfuls of corruption, deceit and hypocrisy. In an attempt to limit the damage to the “Democratic brand,” party bigwigs initially demanded Northam’s head, before shifting their ire to Fairfax. But they worry about lower black voter turnout in next year’s elections if only Fairfax is forced out. And if Northam and Herring also go, the governorship will devolve to the speaker of the house—a Republican. For Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, “This has been one of the most difficult political weeks of my life.” Brazile wasn’t so anguished when Barack Obama fired Shirley Sherrod, a black Department of Agriculture official, based upon lying accusations by Breitbart and Fox News.

Even as bourgeois pundits tout polls purportedly showing that black Virginians support Northam staying in office, black people are livid about the racist photo and the governor’s gross statements. Throughout the South, black people burn with indignation over having to walk past the hated symbols of the slavocracy while being told that the “bad old days are over.” Virginia itself was once a center of the raising and selling of slaves and the seat of the Confederacy. Many understand that this so-called “honorable Southern heritage” is bound up with past and present racist terror, lynchings and police brutality. As communists who fight to uproot black oppression through the establishment of working-class rule, we are for tearing down the Confederate rags-on-sticks and all monuments to the system of black chattel slavery.

The hullabaloo in Virginia exposes again the lie of a “progressive” New South. It also underscores the real danger of fascist attack. Less than two years ago, the white-supremacists marched with virtual impunity in Charlottesville. They chanted against Jews, beat up black people and killed Heather Heyer, a white anti-racist protester. The fascist vermin, who always have black people in their crosshairs, are plotting their next deadly attack. Labor—with its central role in production—has the power to crush fascist terror. We fight for labor/black mobilizations to stop the fascists. Ultimately, the only way to eradicate fascism is to finish the Civil War through socialist revolution.

The Democrats have been looking to use black women to help get out the vote in 2020. Don’t be fooled that having black people, other minorities and women playing a more prominent role in the other capitalist party of racism and imperialist war will be of any benefit to the oppressed. Liberals endlessly preached the lie that the election of a black man to the White House was the dawn of a “post-racial” America. But as shown by the Obama presidency, black faces in high places means continuing capitalist misery and racial oppression.

The U.S. is neither a “white man’s country” nor a bastion of “freedom, equality and democracy for all.” It is a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie—an overwhelmingly white ruling class that exploits workers of all races and brutally subjugates black people and the rest of the oppressed. Cynical talk about “reconciliation” from Northam and other Democrats is designed to throw sand in the eyes of the masses. Under capitalism—a system of private ownership of the means of production and huge profits for a tiny few—there can be no common ground between the oppressors and the oppressed. Democrats are no friends of workers and black people. Down with the two capitalist parties! For a workers party that fights for a workers America!