CAN POWER BE SERIOUSLY CHALLENGED WITHOUT A RESPONSE?

Protest against the construction of the Narita Airport, Japan (Photo by Bruno Barbey, 1971)

The history of the U.S.—the blood-soaked, urine-steeped essence of its being; the wreckage and demise of its human character under the wheels of a two-hundred-year-old headlong fight with heedless, frightened animal at the control of a machine that has mastered them—allows for no appeal on a strictly ideological level. George Wallace or Adolf Hitler would fare better at the polls of an honest election than Huey Newton and Tom Hayden. But again, what is an honest election after the fact of monopoly capital?  

Repression is indeed a part of revolution, a natural aspect of antithesis, the always-to-be-expressed defense-attack reflex of the beleaguered, toothless tiger. All arguments against this fundamental fact are false and labored to the point of being completely illogical. Can power be seriously challenged without a response? Will the robber baron, the tycoon, the Fuehrer allow us to seize his privilege without resistance? Can we steal it away from the greatest bandit of all time with sleight of hand alone? Incredible! The fascists understand the value of mass psychology, are familiar with its use, and hold all the important elements of its effective control. But they are not aware of our existence and our general strategy regarding the reaching of people.  

— George Jackson, Blood in My Eye (1972)