"No Kings" demonstrations: the defence of "democratic rights" is a trap for the working class

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28 March 2026 saw the largest and most widespread protests in US history. Eight million people took part in 3,300 demonstrations across all fifty states. Demonstrations also took place in other countries, including Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and Thailand. In Minnesota, the epicentre of the terror waged by the immigration police (ICE), two demonstrations were organised. Rallies took place in major cities and small towns, including in Trump’s electoral strongholds.

Many demonstrators joined the rallies, concerned about the consequences of the war against Iran and disappointed by Trump’s broken promises regarding an end to the “forever wars”. Others joined the demonstrations out of anger at the economic situation, with high prices, precarious living conditions, redundancies, food insecurity - in short, widespread impoverishment. Still others took part to express their anger at the actions of ICE and the state’s increased repression. Finally, there were also those who wanted to express their disgust at the odious figure that is Trump. The slogan “No Kings, no ICE, no War” thus expresses a wide range of grievances, with each person having their own motivation for taking part.

Yet the organisers had a very specific objective: “In America, we have no kings. A masked secret police force is terrorising our communities. An illegal and catastrophic war is putting us in danger and driving up prices. Attacks are threatening our freedom of speech, our civil rights, our freedom to vote. Prices are pushing families to the brink. Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant. But we are in America, and power belongs to the people, not to pretenders to the throne or their billionaire cronies”. Admittedly, the appeal also mentions “prices”, but only to immediately link the issue of inflation to slogans about “our freedom of speech, our civil rights, our freedom to vote ”. The “people” are thus expected to defend American democracy against a “tyrant”.

Trump’s megalomania and his outrageous authoritarianism are easy targets for his opponents. But the Democrats, just like the Republicans, have a long history of justifying repression, wars, torture and the use of the police in the name of defending democracy and freedom: there have been the endless wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam, and the “war on terror”, with its assassinations, torture and abductions. Democrats and Republicans have all carried out massive, inhumane deportations: they have all given carte blanche to the police (FBI, CIA and ICE) against the working class.

Why? Because in America, power does not belong to ‘the people’ and even less to the working class: as everywhere else, it belongs to the bourgeoisie.

In America, as in every country in the world, the bourgeoisie exploits and represses the proletariat with ever-greater ferocity. And in America, as elsewhere, it peddles a whole series of lies about ‘freedom’, ‘democracy’ and ‘rights’, designed to chain the proletariat to its exploiters, to the bourgeois state and to the nation, and to obscure the fact that the ‘democratic’ state is the most effective means of oppressing the working class! The mobilisation of eight million people to defend “our freedom of expression, our civil rights, our freedom to vote” clearly bears witness to this insidious danger. By calling on the proletariat to defend the iron heel of the ‘democratic’ dictatorship, ‘No Kings’ seeks to divert workers from their class interests against capitalist exploitation, and to push them into engaging in struggles between rival bourgeois factions. Despite the good intentions of many participants, these demonstrations therefore constituted a veritable trap for the working class.

Yet many workers among the demonstrators are not inclined to rally behind the Democratic Party. In order to lure these workers, who are seeking answers, into this trap, the left wing of the movement has presented it as a movement against the oligarchy and dictatorship: “The scale of the 28 March demonstrations testifies to the depth of popular anger at the rise of dictatorship in the country and the escalation of imperialist war abroad. A confrontation is unfolding between a capitalist oligarchy that is breaking with democratic forms of government and the vast majority of the population. […] The scale of the opposition terrifies the ruling class, and the reaction of the mainstream media has been to downplay it and move on as quickly as possible”[1]. 1 Beneath the veneer of ‘Marxist’ vocabulary, the message remains the same: to defend the ‘democratic’ state against Trump’s ‘dictatorship’. Thus, far from being terrified, the bourgeoisie has been able to mobilise the workers in defence of its state and its powerful ideological weapon: democracy. It is delighted that workers’ discontent over the war is being drowned out by a movement that claims that capitalism, the deadliest system in history, could be peaceful, if we stop “warmongers” such as Trump.

It thus aims to prevent workers from realising that it is indeed capitalism that is the cause of war, and not this or that politician or party.

Admittedly, the Trump administration is a disaster for the American bourgeoisie. The war against Iran, the threats against European powers, his purge of the military and the rest of the state, the corruption within the administration—all of this is a catastrophe for the US state. But the root of this political vandalism is not Trump: it is the historical impasse of capitalism. The failure of the military adventure in Iran, Trump’s inability to stand for re-election and his growing loss of popularity can only accelerate the chaos, destruction and irresponsibility. Trump and his administration are like a wounded animal thrashing about, and the resort to repression against his political rivals and all those who oppose him will only worsen. Tensions and clashes with other factions of the ruling class can only become more hostile, and likely violent. The threat that workers will find themselves caught up in these clashes, whether called upon to defend the ‘democratic state’ or the factions opposed to Trump, is growing. The “No Kings” movement is part of this threat: that is why it is so dangerous.

The working class must refuse to be drawn into defending the democratic state. This means refusing to sacrifice itself to protect the interests of the ruling class. Its interest lies in defending its own autonomy through struggles to defend its jobs, living conditions and working conditions. In March, 3,800 workers at the JBS slaughterhouse in Colorado went on strike. The majority of them are immigrants, from Haiti, Somalia, Burma and Mexico. They refused to be intimidated by the threat of ICE and fought alongside their comrades to defend their class interests: “The strikers documented unfair labour practices, cases of labour trafficking and wage theft, as well as wages that have failed to keep pace with the cost of living in Colorado”. Since the start of 2026, there has been a series of struggles, often limited to a single company or sector, but significant insofar as they are taking place despite the putrid social atmosphere of chaos and fear. These include the strike by tens of thousands of healthcare workers in New York, California and Hawaii; the strike by University of California staff in February; the strike by Freudenberg-NOK workers in Findlay on 24 March; and the strike by 620 technicians at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard over a pay deal. 900 workers at the BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana, were locked out in March after rejecting BP’s pay offer by 98.3 per cent. Despite their isolated nature, these struggles demonstrate something very important: workers are prepared to put their interests before those of national capital.

Workers in the United States are not alone. Despite the media silence (which is very real, unlike the international coverage of the “No Kings” movement), struggles—sometimes massive—are breaking out all over the world, in Europe, Canada and elsewhere. Workers are refusing the sacrifices demanded by the bourgeoisie to pay for its crisis and its weapons. “No Kings”, on the other hand, and all those promoting these mobilisations, however critical they may be, are leading the proletariat into the defence of the national interest and the capitalist state.

J & W, 12 April 2026

 

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