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Body armored cops attack workers on behalf of capitalist bosses.
by Sean O'Torain.
There is the personal and the political. I was looking for a job in Toronto Canada in 1965. The man at the job agency said he could get me a job as a cop down in New York City. Being Irish I suppose he thought I would fit right in. I was repulsed. I said i would never take a job as a cop as I would never do anything against somebody for doing something I might do myself. His answer was I had it all wrong. This was just the kind of person to be a cop. Flexible as to who they went after and did not go after. Yeah I heard that one before I thought. My instincts were right then and they are right now and to all the young people of today I would say - never ever, never ever, take a job as a cop. The cops, that is one wing of the state apparatus, is an armed body of men and women in defense of private property and the capitalist system. And part of this in the US is crushing the working class of the minority populations, the working class as a whole and dividing the working people up amongst each other. Stay well clear of ever joint this outfit.
This is the personal. What about the bigger picture and the political? What has to be done? The capitalist class will never give up the cops until they themselves, that is the capitalist class are overthrown. The supporters of the capitalist class and their system including the liberals have the same position as the capitalists. They want the cops to continue to exist to protect them and their privileged positions. Just want the cops to be a bit more less brutal a bit more discreet that is all. But things do not work that way. Here is the bigger picture.
US capitalism can no longer afford its military invasions and occupations abroad and at the same time keep its working class at home on the living standards to which it has been accustomed over the last decades. So it has come to a decision. It has been forced by the contradictions of its own system to come to this decision. It has been moving to cut the living standards of its own working class at home. To do so it has been strengthening, militarizing the cops. In every city and town we see the increased numbers of body armored cops and huge military vehicles. We will see more of this.
At the same time the cops are being increasingly blooded psychologically. That is increasingly indoctrinated with racist ideology and divide and rule propaganda. History shows that increased repression is always proceeded by increased demonization of those to be repressed. This is what is happening in the US today. This is why the US cops are becoming more and more vicious and racist. The US capitalist class need them to be so if they are to cut the living standards of the US working class.
For those of us who are against police brutality and racism and sexism and repression we need to have a full discussion on the cops. We have to hold this discussion in the context of the cops being a military force which serves the interests of the capitalist class. No progressive person should join the cops. The cops as an institution as presently existing, that is as a force which defends, "protects and serves" the capitalist class, must be done away with. There are many tactical issues involved in this. There is how for example do we reach out to groups in the cops such as the African American Patrolmens' League, how do we reach out to the cops who joined for a job and re caught up in the vicious racist and sexist culture of the cops. The cops as an institution are being increasingly militarized and increasingly indoctrinated into racist and sexist ideas in order to make it a more ferocious attack dog for the capitalist class. The entire root of this is to make the cops more capable of getting the US working class to accept being driven back to the 1930's.
These are all questions to be discussed. The positive side of this discussion is that more than ever before the role of the cops and the behavior of the cops is being exposed through social media etc. What is very important is that must not be a narrow discussion. It must discuss the reality that the cops are agents of the capitalist class and do their bidding. Who do you think ordered the increased body armoring and the increased militarization of the cops in the last decade and more. This was a conscious decision of the capitalist class. Ending the vicious racist sexist repressive role of the cops means ending the rule of the capitalist class who control and rule the cops. The cops are puppets of the capitalist class. They are guard dogs of the capitalist class. Occasionally they get out of control and even have a go at their own masters and mistresses, it will not be enough to get them back under the control of their own masters and mistresses, it is necessary to get rid of the masters and mistresses, that is the capitalist class and in doing so end the entire institution of the caps, these armed bodies of men and women in defense of private property.
In the course of this discussion I am very keen to hear more views on the cops so called unions. I have been evolving in my thinking on this to consider whether or not they can even be called unions. At this time i am thinking that they cannot be called unions unless there are fundamental changes within them and that these are accepted by their membership. For example, a commitment that no cop union would ever allow itself to used to break strikes, that all cop unions openly commit themselves to a full recognition of their racist sexist and repressive posts and a denunciation of that past. I am only exploring ideas here. But on a few things I am definite. On the personal again. Nobody nobody should join the cops. On the political and bigger picture again, the institutions that exist today as constituted and which call themselves cops unions are not unions. they are armed bodies in defense of private property and in defense of the racism and sexism which dominates their internal lives.
There is the personal and the political. I was looking for a job in Toronto Canada in 1965. The man at the job agency said he could get me a job as a cop down in New York City. Being Irish I suppose he thought I would fit right in. I was repulsed. I said i would never take a job as a cop as I would never do anything against somebody for doing something I might do myself. His answer was I had it all wrong. This was just the kind of person to be a cop. Flexible as to who they went after and did not go after. Yeah I heard that one before I thought. My instincts were right then and they are right now and to all the young people of today I would say - never ever, never ever, take a job as a cop. The cops, that is one wing of the state apparatus, is an armed body of men and women in defense of private property and the capitalist system. And part of this in the US is crushing the working class of the minority populations, the working class as a whole and dividing the working people up amongst each other. Stay well clear of ever joint this outfit.
This is the personal. What about the bigger picture and the political? What has to be done? The capitalist class will never give up the cops until they themselves, that is the capitalist class are overthrown. The supporters of the capitalist class and their system including the liberals have the same position as the capitalists. They want the cops to continue to exist to protect them and their privileged positions. Just want the cops to be a bit more less brutal a bit more discreet that is all. But things do not work that way. Here is the bigger picture.
For those of us who are against police brutality and racism and sexism and repression we need to have a full discussion on the cops. We have to hold this discussion in the context of the cops being a military force which serves the interests of the capitalist class. No progressive person should join the cops. The cops as an institution as presently existing, that is as a force which defends, "protects and serves" the capitalist class, must be done away with. There are many tactical issues involved in this. There is how for example do we reach out to groups in the cops such as the African American Patrolmens' League, how do we reach out to the cops who joined for a job and re caught up in the vicious racist and sexist culture of the cops. The cops as an institution are being increasingly militarized and increasingly indoctrinated into racist and sexist ideas in order to make it a more ferocious attack dog for the capitalist class. The entire root of this is to make the cops more capable of getting the US working class to accept being driven back to the 1930's.
These are all questions to be discussed. The positive side of this discussion is that more than ever before the role of the cops and the behavior of the cops is being exposed through social media etc. What is very important is that must not be a narrow discussion. It must discuss the reality that the cops are agents of the capitalist class and do their bidding. Who do you think ordered the increased body armoring and the increased militarization of the cops in the last decade and more. This was a conscious decision of the capitalist class. Ending the vicious racist sexist repressive role of the cops means ending the rule of the capitalist class who control and rule the cops. The cops are puppets of the capitalist class. They are guard dogs of the capitalist class. Occasionally they get out of control and even have a go at their own masters and mistresses, it will not be enough to get them back under the control of their own masters and mistresses, it is necessary to get rid of the masters and mistresses, that is the capitalist class and in doing so end the entire institution of the caps, these armed bodies of men and women in defense of private property.