For decades the capitalist rulers in Washington have used the FBI — their political police — to spy on, disrupt and frame up militant workers, Black rights fighters, opponents of its wars, and communists, and to make a mockery of the U.S. Constitution’s protections against attacks on our rights by their state. Now the Justice Department is organizing yet another outfit, to snoop on so-called domestic terrorists. It will join in trampling on rights that are crucial to working people.
Today, Democrats are screaming that “American democracy” is under frontal assault by the Republicans and the only way to save it is to strengthen their control over the capitalist government, make far-reaching changes to the Senate, Supreme Court and other state institutions, and to bolster their repressive apparatus.
From the U.S. to France and elsewhere, the rulers pour scorn on working people. French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to “piss off” the unvaccinated who are “unworthy of being considered citizens” because they do not comply with his mandates.
The capitalists’ contempt for working people is rooted in their fear of our class. More workers are willing to fight to defend ourselves from bosses’ attempts to impose two-tier wages, unsafe conditions, grueling schedules and wages that don’t match price raises.
Regardless of who the rulers’ spies target today, every extra weapon in their arsenal will be used against workers and our unions to attack our rights, weaken our struggles, and attack any initiatives we take to organize independently of them and their parties.
The hidden scope of government spy operations was brought into the open during the 13-year political fight and lawsuit brought by the Socialist Workers Party against the FBI.
For the first time, in 1986 a court ruled that the use of FBI informers to infiltrate the SWP and spy on its members and those they work with violates constitutional guarantees of privacy and freedom of association. It ruled burglaries by cops to steal documents or plant microphones violates constitutional protections against “unreasonable search and seizure.” And it ruled that the FBI’s disruption of the SWP’s activity and the lives of its members was unlawful.
By scoring an unprecedented victory, the party exposed the true face of the capitalist state and defended the rights of all working people. It created a weapon we can use today to fight against government interference in our lives and the organizations we belong to.
The Socialist Workers Party and its 2022 campaigns will battle against all moves to attack our rights from all wings of the capitalist rulers.