Minneapolis Police Department violently holding down the working class— 1934 July 20
On this date in 1934 the Minneapolis Police opened fire on strikers in the warehouse district, shooting 67 picketers and killing two men – a Teamster and an unemployed supporter.
Direct action resistance doesn't provoke fascists; it is always our best chance to stop their rise
I'm seeing some commentary about militant actions that warns that the Nazis rose to power by citing the burning of the Reichstag, or even set the Reichstag on fire themselves- and so violence at protests is either being done by or unwillingly playing into the hands of fascists.
This is, frankly, horseshit.
The Nazi Party was already in power when the Reichstag Fire happened, and the biggest block in their rise to power had always been the militant antifascists- a fact which the Nazis themselves recognized, with Hitler admitting that if antifascists had smashed their movement from the beginning, it would have been the only way to stop them.
More workers are demanding that what we produce not harm our communities
The movement by auto workers not to make cop cars, tech workers not to make surveillance equipment for repression, furniture workers not to supply ICE, GE workers to build respirators, and so on is a promising sign that the new labor militancy is not only around wages or benefits, but about workers reclaiming some degree of ownership over our work and a say in what we produce.
A brief assessment at the first lull in the uprising
Here in Minneapolis, we are in the first "trough" of the wave of the uprising. MAJOR concessions have been granted by institutions cutting ties with the MPD and the City Council (including members who have been consistently obstructionist to the movement against policing) announcing a plan for abolishing the MPD.