Dear Randy Fine: You Are Far Worse Than Iran

On July 17th, Members of Congress Max L. Miller, Randy Fine, Randy K. Weber, Sr., Claudia Tenney, Derrick Van Orden, and Keith Self signed a letter calling for Calla Walsh, Jackson Hinkle, and Christopher Helali to be denied re-entry into the United States. This letter came after all three attended the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

The signees describe the trio’s behavior as “un-American” and seek to prosecute them under various anti-terrorist laws, citing their attendance of, and behavior during, the funeral as “material support for a Foreign Terrorist Organization”.

That this letter has been spearheaded by Randy Fine is equal parts ironic and fitting. Rep. Fine, a former gambling industry executive-turned-Florida Congressman, has been a fiercely outspoken supporter of Israel. When asked about how he felt about Israel’s repeated slaughtering of Palestinian children, he replied: “I don’t personally feel bad when human shields are killed.” Additionally, he once tweeted: “There is a reason the first time I shook @netanyahu‘s hand, I did not wash it until I could touch the heads of my children”. These statements are useful because of how disturbing they are; they are the statements of a man who has given his full-throated support to Israel’s genocide qua genocide (he, of course, denies its genocidal nature, but his statements that “Gaza must be destroyed” and for Israel to “#StarveAway” are telling enough). It is no accident that, of all members of Congress, it is Randy Fine who so desperately wishes to make pariahs out of the supporters of Iran and Khamenei. 

Randy Fine has spent his entire career working hard to earn the title of the most despicable member of the House of Representatives. He is a man who takes glee in demonizing Muslims and slaughtering Palestinians. He fights tooth and nail to inflict terror upon the innocent and the downtrodden. 

Put plainly: Fine has done infinitely more to support genocide and terrorism than Walsh, Hinkle, and Helali combined. Their hands are clean of those crimes. His are not.

The other signatories are hardly more innocent. Max Miller is currently facing credible allegations of domestic abuse against his ex-wife, and has a recorded history of misogyny and abuse towards women. The accusations include throwing hot water at her, putting a gun to her head, pushing her, and, perhaps most horrifyingly, breaking the collarbone of his two-year-old daughter. Previously, he has faced allegations of abusing White House worker Stephanie Grisham. Randy Weber has previously “joked” that undocumented immigrants should be thrown out of airplanes (something also potentially an homage to the “death flights” that have historically been used against communism). Claudia Tenney has a long history of trying to erase Palestine and pro-Palestine sentiment, and continues to work in support of American imperialism in Iran. Derrick Van Orden supported ICE’s murders of Nicole Good and Alex Pretti (and, of course, the countless other, unreported murders of people of color). Keith Self has supported and proposed legislation effectively banning Muslims from immigrating to the United States. Importantly, all of them have demonized communism, supporting bills that specifically target China, and often describe their political opponents as communists, and all have been career-long supporters of Israel. These six have consistently taken positions that are unpopular among the American people (ending birthright citizenship, supporting Israel, ICE, and war with Iran, etc.). One may call them principled in this way, if the principle was inflicting pain upon the world and the nation.

I would note that we communists could not ask for a better representation of our opposition. These six ghouls, supporters of imperialism, murder, and tyranny, are a part of the vanguard which leads the charge against the “communist threat”. We should ask the people to judge us by our enemies; these condemnations are worth ten times any pamphlet we could give out.

Even more revealing are the exact accusations in the letter. Despite its rallying cry that Hinkle, Helali, and Walsh are supporters of terrorism, the bulk of the text instead documents their supposed anti-Americanism, emphasizing their support of Iran, Russia, or China, and above all, their communist ideals. Had the concern been about the Iranian state’s treatment of its citizens, one might suspect it would receive more than a passing mention. In fact, it is rather telling that Fine and Co. use the terms “anti-American”, “terrorist”, and “communist” interchangeably, even baselessly calling Hinkle, Helali, and Walsh terrorists themselves. It shows that these terms, in the mind of the signatories, are all simple shorthand for anyone who dissents against American imperialism. My point isn’t one about the morality of supporting Ayatollah Khamenei or the state of Iran in general (though I will get to that). My point is that the signatories of this letter obviously do not care about Khamenei’s crimes. Randy Fine, a man who considers Muslims to be lesser than animals, does not care if Iran kills its own citizens.

For Fine, the real crime committed by Iran has little to do with its domestic policy but with its foreign policy. Iran is the vanguard of anti-Zionism in the Middle East, as well as one of the strongest resistances to American hegemony in the region. The point of this letter is not, as it so poorly pretends, to raise concern about a terrorist threat, but rather to suppress any and all domestic support for Iran.

We, as leftists, ought to take careful note of the imperialist outrage that this event has generated. To quote an aphorism from Mao, “to be attacked by the enemy is not a bad thing but a good thing”. If the imperialists attack a position as anti-American, terrorist, or communist, as they did with the anti-imperialist movements in Cuba, the Philippines, Indonesia, and so many others, it is worth examining the matter closely. This is not to say that we should lend these movements or countries uncritical support, but rather that the designation of “terrorist” or “communist” has taken on a meaning wholly separated from their standard definition. These are the terms that have historically been used to justify the most horrific acts of American imperialism (especially after the war on terror in the Middle East). 

Some leftists, though well-intentioned, balk at the concept of defending Iran, of defending the late Ayatollah, with his poor record with regard to human rights. It is certainly the case that Khamenei left in his wake many thousands or even tens of thousands of bodies, mostly of protestors (though he would call them rioters). He, like his predecessors, suppressed communists and dissenters, and continued the ban on the Marxist-Leninist Tudeh Party. 

My response is that American communists should fight against American imperialism first and foremost. Were there to be a popular movement of the working masses against their government and against imperialism, we would, of course, lend them our support. But as it stands, we are not capable of creating or organizing that ourselves; that responsibility lies with the people of Iran themselves. Our primary effort should be focused on fighting American imperialism. Is it the fault of the people of Iran that they are being asked to fight a dual front against American and governmental oppression? No; it is the failure of the American left that we have not successfully built a movement that can contest American imperialism. Until we have done so, criticism of Iran (which, even when well intentioned, can serve to legitimize said imperialism) must take a backseat to the anti-imperialist struggle.

This, additionally, explains the American left’s presence at Khamenei’s funeral. They understand that our present goal is fighting against American imperialism. Simultaneously, they know that their presence at the event acts to both rally Iran to the cause of anti-imperialism, and to demonstrate to the people of Iran that the left is fighting alongside them in the anti-imperialist cause. The value in this is that Iran’s struggle against American imperialism is, obviously, deeply tied to our own struggle against American imperialism.

I wish to make two additional counterpoints. The first is that we revolutionaries oppose imperialism not merely on moral grounds, but also to our own advantage. Marx, in his writings on colonialism, says: “Ireland is the only pretext the English Government has for retaining a big standing army, which, if need be, as has happened before, can be used against the English workers after having done its military training in Ireland”. The same is true today, with one caveat: what is being trained is no longer just the military, but also the technology employed by the military. AI has played a major role in the war in Iran, as it has been deployed to determine the best targets for airstrikes. Palantir especially has taken a major role in this, and it is hardly conspiratorial to say that Palantir will be turned upon American workers; as much was said by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. The ruling class, though brutish, is not fools, and so long as they have an excuse to train it to fight wars, they will. AI has additionally been used in an information warfare campaign, meaning that AI is not just being trained in wars of maneuver, but wars of position as well. As Marx said, “Any nation that oppresses another forges its own chains”.

The second point I wish to make is that the reality of anti-imperialism is rarely pretty. Cuba, in the ‘60s and ‘70s, put gay men and women in forced labor camps; Palestine remains patriarchal with structural disadvantages towards women. These are truths that are common talking points against anti-imperialist movements. The alternative, however, is undoubtedly uglier; in Chile, Guatemala, Indonesia, Burkina Faso, and many others, a period of popular anti-imperialism was usurped by a CIA-backed counterrevolution that not just rolled back the economic and social reforms, but also violently persecuted feminists, labor organizers, and anyone else who desired progressive social change. The United States has no interest in liberating the people of Iran, only in controlling them with violent brutality.

Turning back to the letter, it should be noted the degree to which the communist identity of Hinkle, Helali, and Walsh is emphasized, despite the fact that during the course of their attendance at this event little mention of communism was made (the majority of the event was spent rallying behind the Iranian and anti-Zionist cause). Two points from this: the first is that it helps confirm the fact that the communist left has been successful in monopolizing the anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist position. The second is that the ruling class sees this communist left as worth attacking, and attacking with fervor. While the first is cause to celebrate, the second is cause to rally. If we on the left allow Fine’s letter to materialize into real legal action, especially without a fight, we set a dangerous precedent for ourselves.

It is here that I will address one last concern. Jackson Hinkle and Christopher Helali are both important members of the American Communist Party: both were members of the American Communist Party Executive Board, and while Helali no longer holds his position as International Secretary, he is still an important part of its history and worked to build the ACP movement. So why, then, in a magazine that has been so critical of the ACP in the past, am I publishing a defense of their founding members?

The first reason is stated above: we cannot allow communism, anti-imperialism, and political dissent to become criminalized during a time that is proving to be one of our most vital opportunities in many decades. Some may say that the ACP are not genuine communists or anti-imperialists; to this I respond that whether they are or are not is irrelevant to the point. The ruling class will not differentiate between Dengists and Marxist-Leninists, nor between the progressive and conservative worker. Anyone who purports to (or actually does) advocate for communism, for anti-imperialist causes, for the betterment of the world, will be targeted by the ruling class if and when they deem us a serious enough threat. During times of harsh oppression, the ultimate goal is the eradication of the idea of change. Thus, all the worst regimes have sought to eliminate anything that could promise a better, different world. Thus, even the mere signifiers of communism, that which promises the most radical of changes, are enough to strike fear into the ruling class. And therefore, even the harshest, most hateful critic of the ACP could not, in good faith, say that they would not be persecuted were there to be another Red Scare. In this, in defending one another, we cannot be divided. Of course, in questions of ideology, we will maintain our disagreements. But the ACP, though maligned by much of the left, nevertheless represents a definitive movement within the left. 

We have proven ourselves to be the only political axis capable of seriously standing up to imperialism and capitalist domination, both presently and historically. If we are to take this mantle seriously, we must be able to put aside our differences, no matter how stark, and defend one another from an existential threat. The American left in particular, with the monumental task of dismantling possibly the most powerful empire in history, cannot afford to be divided when push comes to shove. We must send a clear message to the ruling class: if you come for any of us, we will all stand against you.

I have my gripes with the American Communist Party. But debates within the communist left should not distract from external threats to it; every blow from the ruling class which we permit without a fight will weaken us. We do not need to agree with the American Communist Party on their positions to see that an attack on them is an attack on the whole movement.

To Calla Walsh: Geese Magazine continues to stand by you and your admirable work in fighting against imperialism.

To Jackson Hinkle and Christopher Helali: I doubt we see eye-to-eye on many things, but nevertheless I find your contributions to anti-imperialism admirable.

And finally, to Representatives Max L. Miller, Randy Fine, Randy K. Weber, Sr., Claudia Tenney, Derrick Van Orden, and Keith Self: your political records are so soaked in blood that listing your crimes would take up more space than the entirety of this article. If you are looking to punish terrorists, the list of signatories at the bottom of your letter contains 6 ardent supporters.

Citation:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/ireland/ireland.pdf