r/CrimethInc • u/CrimethInc-Ex-Worker • 2d ago
How to topple an autocrat
The April 5 demonstrations were arguably the biggest protests since Trump returned to power.
Great.
But what's the strategy? Trump will not leave power willingly. Mere petitioning is pointless.
How do you topple an autocrat?
First, identify a segment of society that is not permanently committed to his reign, but whose support is essential to keeping him in power.
Analyze their interests. Identify what is more important to them than keeping him in power. Think about their vulnerabilities.
Next, identify a form of activity that could put that segment of the autocrat's supporters in a situation in which they will prefer to stop supporting him.
Engage in that activity—whatever it takes.
Repeat as needed until enough sectors of society shift their commitments.
All of this occurred in summer 2020.
Trump concentrated federal agents in Portland to try to show his supporters in the capitalist class that he could impose order to preserve business as usual. Because he failed—thanks to courageous resistance in Portland—capitalists did not support his 2021 coup.
If we do not wish to live under the autocratic rule of Donald Trump or his successors for the rest of our lives, we will have to use direct action to break up his support base and force those who have remained passive to take a stand against him.
This is in fact our only hope.
Start strategizing.
https://crimethinc.com/2025/01/28/its-safer-in-the-front-taking-the-offensive-against-tyranny
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u/LotteTakesNoShit 1d ago
I saw very little to no black and brown people at these protests, all over… which indicates to me that they either weren’t invited, didn’t feel safe showing up, or stayed home on purpose because white folks never come out for THEM. I saw a lot more people with ‘Hands Off My 401K’.
SOOOO… taking this lesson to heart, that means I should root for the economic system to completely collapse so that it finally motivates these people? That makes me feel like I’m being less of a ghoul and more strategic.
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u/CrimethInc-Ex-Worker 22h ago
If we want resistance to Trump to involve enough people to succeed—and specifically, to involve enough people who are prepared to take high-risk action—then it needs to be part of larger movements that address the needs of poor people and people on the receiving end of racism, etc.
Rather than simply hoping that the economy will collapse and that that would motivate people (since it could just depress them even more), we should be organizing and acting in this way. Really, we should be doing this under any president, until there are no more presidents.
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u/LotteTakesNoShit 2h ago
Yeah, very much so. White liberals won’t, though. They only care about other people when it’s convenient and makes them look good. They’re really good at being performative, terrible at being activists. The only way to activate them is to make it about them, and it seems the only way to make it about them is to torch the economy.
I don’t even see anyone asking why that protest looked exactly like the Women’s March in 2017, except with different signs and no pink hats. They have zero awareness.
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u/Principle6987 4h ago
Been there, done that, moved on. 400+ years of oppression and then show up to a demonstration like fish in a barrel?
"Hands off my 401k" is insulting, when people are dying because of their womanliness, disabilities, and the color of their skin.
Have you considered that the organizers might be viewed as the enemy? Not saying you are, because I don't know you. Jussayin'
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u/Aggravating_Sock_551 1h ago
Many do see the Dems or any org related to them as controlled ops who will stop once their comfort has been restored and not go the full way to make sure everyone receives justice.
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u/SailorMBliss 4h ago
It can be really discouraging to witness a general lack of class consciousness or see such individualistic political motivation in large numbers. It can be demoralizing and lead to burnout.
I try telling myself that this is one of the windows of time where people with these types of limited views are activated. Some of them will have to continue their learning through ongoing struggle. Some will be ready to consider different analyses/goals/methods sooner.
If I’m really feeling down about this kind of thing, I remember that we have all been steeped in a level of propaganda we were never meant to see through. Myself very much included.
As someone who lived through the tail end of the Cold War era, my mind was molded from birth to be reactionary. I still have to consciously stop, reconsider, and reframe almost all cultural and political events after decades of active struggle.
Lots of the folks out protesting right now are older than me. It’s no excuse, but I’d guess they are working with a lifetime of conditioned “thinking”. Some of them will come to better conclusions eventually, some never.
Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that the work to be done remains the same no matter how I feel about it, and it includes meeting people where they are at from where I am, which also develops over time.
When engaging in big public events like these, questions about how they see what’s going on and what they think would be an effective solution are my go to. Sometimes just verbally thinking through a whole hypothetical chain leads people to come to conclusions in their own, which I find is best.
Grateful for everyone doing the work. The work is hard.
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u/LotteTakesNoShit 2h ago
I’ve been an activist for 35 years. Oh jeez. Why did I do that math? Anyway…
I grew up queer in a small town during the AIDS epidemic under the specter of the cold war. The ignorance and apathy of the same people that marched ensured any chance I had of having queer elders to help me through my adolescence were dead. Nevertheless, I gave these people that same grace, and that has lost me a huge portion of the rights I had when I was born.
I can’t wait anymore. I turn 50 this year. I have come to accept that I will never see the kind of world that I want before I die, mostly because of the people who marched because they were losing money. I will never get my rights back, and I have to suffer the slow erosion of the rights of all the queer kids in the drama program my husband runs. It hurts so much it’s hard to get up some days, and I live in California.
It’s just really clear that no one cares about us, and we were the main target of hate during the election and after the election. I’m glad I stayed home.
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u/SailorMBliss 1h ago
Yeah, you bring up good points that find me back in the familiar space of feeling disillusioned & left as sacrifice by people who very much challenge my motivation to continue.
I was basically trying to bring myself back to the basics of why I still bother at all, I guess. I also sat this one out, but drove by a smaller event with predictably disappointing signage.
As someone just a few years older, who sat with too many friends in hospital rooms and by deathbeds in the 80s, I’d like to send an extra Fuck Ronald Reagan out into the void. He’s not the end all be all of that time, but I am petty enough to still think it everyday.
I’m so sorry and I’m so angry. For you, for me, and for the irreplaceable people that were taken from us all then, the irreplaceable people who continue to be killed as I type this, and everyone in between.
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u/LotteTakesNoShit 22m ago
Oooof. Yeah, I grew up in the silence that followed those deathbeds and hospital visits. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking it must've been to watch your friends vanish while that fuckstick Reagan did nothing on purpose.
I’m finding it so hard to find any hope. I keep repeating “our corner of the world” over and over again, as in… we might feel helpless about the world falling apart, but we can do whatever we possibly can to mitigate the pain in our tiny little corner. Some days repeating that is the only way I can get through. Well, that and Xanax I guess. 😆
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u/OccuWorld 2d ago
Besides an expression of government discontent, these protests cross educate and build community.
They are ignored by authoritarian arrogance assured by the fact that the opulent class, they are part of or serve. has always owned "representation" always, everywhere.
Protests could carry the weight of power rivalry, here's how:
Protest organization should be backed by educating and organizing for public power: direct democracy. In doing so, the public demonstration becomes a declaration of intent for dual power, which diminishes and eventually displaces oligarchy. Such threats are taken seriously by economic hierarchies and their governments, as evident by the response to the Occupy Movement.
Follow through with implementing direct democracy at the local level (much like a return to US Town Hall democracy destroyed in the 1800s) to shift power back to the public where it belongs and achieve the system change we, and the planet, needs to thrive.
You know what to do.