On January 20, an online planning meeting was held by the Detroit January 23 Coalition to organize a protest in solidarity with demonstrations in Minneapolis against Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rampage. The meeting was organized by a coalition, including the People’s Assembly, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Detroit Will Breathe, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Detroit Community Action Committee (DCAC).

Larry Porter, a national committee member of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), was invited to the meeting by a member of the DCAC. In remarks to the meeting, Porter supported the call for a general strike and raised the fundamental political issues involved in opposing the paramilitary occupation in Minneapolis and the escalating conspiracy for dictatorship. He insisted that any genuine working class protest must oppose both capitalist parties and the trade union apparatus.

A vote was held on the SEP’s participation, with the proposal defeated 7–4. Voting against the SEP’s inclusion were representatives of the PSL, the CPUSA, Moratorium Now and the Freedom Road Socialist Party. The basic political motivation was to block the emergence of an independent movement of the working class and to suppress opposition to the Democratic Party.

Below are the remarks delivered by Porter to the meeting.

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My name is Lawrence Porter. I am a member of the Socialist Equality Party and a former autoworker, and have been active in the struggles of workers here in Detroit for many decades. I would like to address a number of critical issues and call for a member of the SEP to be included in the list of speakers at this demonstration.

We are discussing at this meeting the organization of a demonstration in Detroit supporting the demonstrations in Minneapolis against ICE, state violence and the escalating drive toward dictatorship under the Trump administration. That is entirely necessary. 

But the decisive question before us tonight is not simply whether a protest takes place. It is what political perspective will guide this movement and where it is being led.  That requires political clarity.

There are two critical issues that must be addressed openly.

First: the necessity of a complete and unequivocal break with the Democratic Party

The Democrats are not an ally in the fight against Trump. They are an enemy. They represent the same capitalist oligarchy, the same imperialist interests and the same repressive state apparatus. They are responsible for the genocide in Gaza. They funded ICE. Over the past year, as Trump has openly prepared dictatorship, they have done nothing—because they fear mass opposition from below more than they fear Trump.

The only significant disagreement the Democratic Party has with Trump is over the war in Ukraine. To subordinate this movement to the Democrats is to disarm it politically.

This raises the proposal to include a speaker from the Democratic Socialists of America. We must be clear: The DSA is a faction of the Democratic Party, with members in Congress and city halls. It functions to channel opposition back into a party of Wall Street and the military.

Look at the example of Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected DSA mayor. He met with Trump, shook his hand, smiled for the cameras, and pledged a “partnership” with this gangster. He has already dropped demands to tax the rich as he develops close ties with Democratic Governor Hochul. 

If this rally becomes a platform for the Democratic Party, it will serve to contain opposition, not advance it.

Second: the role of the trade union apparatus

Autoworkers, nurses, transit workers, educators—all workers must be at the center of this fight. But we must tell the truth: The union bureaucracy does not support strike action against Trump’s dictatorship.

The UAW apparatus under Shawn Fain backs Trump’s economic nationalism. It enforces labor discipline, suppresses opposition and blocks any movement toward a general strike. More broadly, in Minneapolis, the unions have told workers they “cannot strike,” that contracts forbid action, that everything must remain legal and orderly—while the government itself operates outside the law. The Minnesota AFL-CIO has not even endorsed the January 23 event. 

These bureaucracies are closely allied with the Democratic Party. Their function is to prevent the emergence of an independent working class movement.

So we must ask plainly: Will this rally promote the very institutions that are collaborating with Trump? Or will it outline a strategy for a real counter‑offensive against fascism and dictatorship?

The central slogans of this rally must be:

• Break with the Democratic Party
• Abolish ICE, CBP and DHS
• Build an independent movement of the working class
• For a nationwide general strike to defeat the drive to dictatorship and fascism

That is why it is essential that this meeting and the rally include a speaker from the Socialist Equality Party—a party that is independent of the Democrats, opposed to the trade union bureaucracy, and fighting to build rank‑and‑file committees and a mass working class movement against capitalism itself.

If this demonstration is to be more than a gesture, if it is to contribute to a real struggle, it must advance a perspective that can guide the fight against Trump and fascism, not lead it into another blind alley.