Speech: Fascism is the Enemy of the Working Class

This Speech was written and presented by Nikoli Weir on March 27, 2025 in opposition of Jared Taylor and white supremacy.

My name is Nikoli. I’m a history student at CMU and the Organizer of the Mesa County Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Let’s make one thing clear; Jared Taylor is a fascist and a white supremacist. Fascism is a movement that tries to crush the power of the working class. White supremacy is a movement that seeks to genocide and enslave non-white people. Throughout history, these movements have been one and the same.

When Hitler took power in Germany, one of the first things he did was suppress the independent labor unions and pass laws which made racial oppression the rule of the day. He enforced the policies of wealthy business elites and oligarchs, who had a vested interest in doing both of these things.

That may seem far off and disconnected from us right now, so let’s talk about something closer to home. Did you know that Grand Junction used to be a stronghold of organized labor? For over a decade in the early 20th century, working class people in Mesa county had strong unions that served their class interests. But then, during World War 1, the white supremacist Klu Klux Klan burned down the union halls and destroyed the labor movement in western Colorado. The Grand Junction chapter of the Industrial Workers of the World was destroyed, and with it the budding multi-racial working class movement in the western slope.

The whites supremacists, by destroying organized labor, carried out the program of fascism before the word fascism was even coined. The fascists in Germany and Italy continued the program of the white supremacists by segregating, enslaving, and destroying non white peoples and cultures. They were, and still are, one and the same.

Fascism is not something that is far away from us. Fascist movements used to terrorize this community. Only recently have they been beaten back into the shadows. But with the re-election of Trump they are coming back, and Jared Taylor being here today is only emboldening them.

At the end of the day, fascists are white supremacists, and white supremacists are fascists. The KKK may have been at the height of its power before the word fascism even existed, but it was nonetheless a fascist movement. Fascist movements may not always emphasize their racist and white supremacist beliefs, but in the end fascists are always racists.

People like Donald Trump and Jared Taylor represent the violent underbelly of America. They are the absolute worst that this country has to offer. They want to take the most horrific parts of this country and make them even worse than they already are.

Though he hides behind false populism and patriotism, Donald Trump is a fascist. His assault on legal protections for minority groups and his campaign of mass deportations were only the first step. Now he is trying to crush the public sector unions. He tricked the people with promises of a better America only to sell out this country to big business, and all the while Jared Taylor has been cheering him on.

Though Jared Taylor pretends to be a sophisticated intellectual, he is nothing more than a Nazi skinhead with a college degree and a suit and tie. His message is hatred and his method is violence.

They may seem worlds apart, but Jared Taylor and Donald Trump are two sides of the same coin. Jared Taylor just says clearly and proudly what Trump says vaguely and stupidly. The racial hatred that Taylor spouts is the logical consequence of Trump’s political platform. It is intended to terrorize non-white people and divide the working class along lines of race and national origin so that we never see who the real enemy is. That enemy is the millionaire and billionaire class, who prop up white supremacist movements for their own benefit.

We, the working class of all races and nationalities, are the people who keep the wheels of society turning. Without the working class, there is no society. There is a power in this, and it’s a power that the rich spend billions and billions of dollars to keep you from realizing. Fascism is the most effective lie they have ever invented, and white supremacy is how that lie is sold. Fascism disguises itself as being in the interests of the people, all the while working behind their backs to sell them out to the billionaires.

There is no compromising with fascists and white supremacists. If you give them an inch, they will take a mile. They are the sworn enemies of the people, and they are the sworn enemies of freedom. Jared Taylor represents white supremacy, which is the bread and butter of American Fascism. Fascism and white supremacy are movements that would take away the rights of not only minority groups, but from the working class as a whole. An assault on the rights of any minority group is an assault on the rights of the entire working class.

The Mesa County Democratic Socialists of America sees the fight against racism and white supremacy to be an essential part of the political struggle against fascism and the struggle for a more just and equal society, a socialist society. We must struggle tirelessly to defeat the forces of white supremacy and racial hatred.

This demonstration is proof that the working people of this town are willing and able to stand up to fascists. When everyday people like us stand in solidarity, we can never be defeated. The only force that can defeat the fascist menace, which is represented by people like Jared Taylor, is the organized working class.

Our current government is trying desperately to crush the little institutional power that the working class has left in this country. We cannot let that happen. We must stand up and fight back, or else people like Jared Taylor and Donald Trump win.

It’s important that the energy you all have today doesn’t dissipate. This can’t just be a one off protest; we must continue to put pressure on our institutions and our government by means of mass actions like this. We must fight until fascism has been wiped off the face of the earth. We must fight against racism, we must fight against xenophobia, and we must fight against misogyny and homophobia. We must fight against the millionaire and billionaire class who fund people like Jared Taylor.

We must fight for our rights as working class people. We must fight for our power as working class people. We must fight and we must win! If they win they will take away the little freedom we have left. If we win, the whole world will be freed from fascists and billionaires forever.