The murderer of Trayvon Martin has been set free. A shocked and angry people have taken to the streets in protest. Articles condemning the on-going racism and injustice fill the social media while the president calls for calm and a respect for law. We are seeing the beginnings of a new stage of a powerful spontaneous movement, the natural and inevitable social response to oppression.
Revolutionaries cannot impact history without becoming part of and bringing clarity to this cry for justice. They cannot, however, impact history if that is all they do. The passion of the revolutionaries in struggle must be reflected in their ability to sum up—to understand the significance of such events—to see where such events fit in to the unfolding revolutionary process. Only then can they plan ahead and organize for the inevitable coming battles.
What is the historical significance of the murder of Trayvon Martin? Since nothing can be understood outside its social and economic context, we see this murder as part of a process that involves the entire country, not only the African Americans. America has irreversibly entered the path to revolution. Wage-less electronic production is destroying our society, which is based on wage labor. The government cannot solve the problems of permanent unemployment and the decline in our standard of living. The Supreme Court has become a joke, an open defender of the corporations and against the people. Only 10% of the people have confidence in Congress. The first stage of revolution is the people losing confidence in the government. That process is well under way, and the freeing of Zimmerman adds fuel to the fire.
Looking back to the upsurge of struggle beginning in the 1950’s, we see that amongst the dozens of brutal murders and lynchings at that time, a few, such as the murder of Emmitt Till, stood out and mobilized the entire movement. These mobilizing events took place at a critical time of changes in the economy and widespread social discontent. The murder of Trayvon Martin reflects this on a higher level.
We revolutionaries must bring clarity to the movement. There are those who are content to shout “racism” as if that will solve the problem. Racism is so deeply entangled in our history that it cannot be crushed without crushing the entire system. As society polarizes, racism tends to become the form rather than the content of the struggle. That content is more clearly seen as class oppression and exploitation.
Trayvon’s murder marks the end of one stage and points the way forward. The American people face a long and difficult struggle. The contours of the enemy are becoming clear to all, and simply fighting back is no longer enough. We have to win the people over to the concept of reclaiming our country and rebuilding it on the basis of common ownership of the means of life, which will end forever the freedom to murder our children.
