Against SL's Expulsion from CSDC

We in the L.A. Spartacist League strongly object to the Steering Committee’s decision to prohibit us from further participation in the Community Self-Defense Coalition (CSDC). Just like the other 70+ organizations in the CSDC, we agree with its points of unity, have paid dues and attended meetings, rallies and patrol training. At every point, our aim has been to help strengthen the organization of independent self-defense against Trump’s deportation machine.

But apparently some liberal elements in the CSDC wanted the Spartacist League out because our class-struggle perspective challenges theirs. In meetings and in social media posts, our comrades have raised the importance of the CSDC going beyond liberal-favored “Know Your Rights” strategies and anchoring itself in the multiracial working class and unions to maximize its self-defense efforts in the face of an administration that is shredding all our rights. The collective strength and social weight of organized labor gives it a far more solid foundation on which to build our defenses than atomized individuals. And the unions have every reason to join this battle because the country’s rulers wield the anti-immigrant crackdown as a bludgeon against the conditions of the working class as a whole.

Instead of engaging in a frank exchange, though, these liberals anonymously whipped up sentiment against us behind the scenes. Even then, this hitjob was based not on our proposals for the CSDC or anything we raised at its functions, but on something far removed from the struggle at hand: our publicly known opposition to state interference in consensual sexual activity, irrespective of any particular characteristic (race, ethnicity, sex, gender, age, etc.) of those involved. We do not expect our political position on the question to be popular within the CSDC. But the whole point of the coalition is to assemble the largest numbers possible—despite our disparate views—to achieve our common goal.

Our position is simply to not accord the LAPD, Sheriff’s department and other state bodies the right to interfere in the lives of people in this or any other arena. After all, these are the very forces that harass and terrorize black people, Chicanos and immigrants on a daily basis and keep them oppressed and in poverty. “Age of consent” laws simply give the cops another weapon to do just that. To its credit, the CSDC does not trust Democrats, cops or sheriffs to defend the community—and for good reason, because doing so would be the kiss of death for the fight against deportations, family separations and U.S. imperialist pillage of Latin America. Our position of government out of the bedroom is an extension of that very understanding.

This decision by the Steering Committee sets a precedent of political censorship in a coalition made up of organizations who have a wide range of differences on a wide range of issues. It also moves the CSDC more toward those who want to replicate the liberal strategies pushed by Democratic politicians, union bureaucrats and CHIRLA activists, rather than provide an anti-establishment alternative. Giving the CSDC over to liberalism will do nothing to stop Trump or reverse the wretched conditions in the segregated Latino barrios and black ghettos. Under its banner, the Democrats have done a masterful job of pitting black against brown in L.A. and maintaining Latinos, black people and other minorities as a pool of cheap labor.

To all comrades in the CSDC: ¡Trucha! If political attacks such as this one against us are left unchallenged, it throws open the door to other sabotage of the CSDC’s united-front efforts. Who ends up winning? Those waging war on our communities.

We call on the Steering Committee to reverse our expulsion. Doing so would establish that the CSDC is a venue for the open discussion and debate that is urgently necessary to figure out the best way forward for its core mission, and in the process strengthen its practical activity. Either way, we will continue to focus our efforts on the mobilization of the unions and working class more broadly that is vital to community self-defense against the I.C.E. deportations and raids. If you disagree with the Steering Committee’s decision against us, contact us.