Few serious people would consider Greg Abbott, the current governor of Texas, to be excessively subtle or nuanced. But even by the crude standards of right-wing politics in the Lone Star State, Abbott turned some heads when he announced on October 19th, in a post on Elon Musk's "X," that college and university professors can and should be fired for mere "ideological differences" with him and his de facto fascist outlook. Right-wing politicians usually talk about such things in a slightly more guarded way, deploying euphemisms and dog whistles.
Abbott's brutal indifference to how non-fascists might react to such openly expressed calls for thought policing illustrates what life is like in the age of Trump. One of the most prominent cases that exemplifies Abbott's crusade against college and university faculty, who refuse to abdicate their responsibility to think critically about the world and speak truth to power, is that of Tom Alter, a historian at Texas State University. It is thus no surprise that he ended up in the crosshairs of the ultra-right-wing establishment in Texas, especially after Professor Alter committed the ultimate sin in their eyes: he spoke at a socialist conference in 2025.
The conference focused on when and how to build revolutionary organizations or a single revolutionary party. Several groups and organizations, such as Socialist Horizon, the International Socialist League, and Firebrand Communists co-sponsored an online gathering on September 6th and 7th. Approximately three-hundred participants came together for the online "Revolutionary Socialism Conference: Towards a Revolutionary Party." The panelists and attendees were from different socialist groups, in addition to the organizations above.
A glance at the conference program provides a more detailed picture of what the conference offered. On Saturday, September 6th, the gathering opened with a panel on "Building Workers' Power and Socialism from Below" followed by "Intifada and Anti-Imperialism from Gaza to Tehran." The frequently invoked references to the concept of “socialism from below” date back to Hal Draper's famous essay from 1966, in which he contrasted what he considered Karl Marx' and Friedrich Engels' actual notion of socialism — as being built by the working class, under genuine working-class leadership, and not merely for the working-class under the direction of some bureaucratic elite. The second panel dealt with resistance against the oppression and mass murder of Palestinians by the Israeli state, as well as the resistance of Iranians against the authoritarian nature of the Iranian regime. Among other things, that panel illustrates what some socialists call "non-campism" and others have called "third campism" during the Cold War, when it was also expressed by the slogan “Neither Washington Nor Moscow.” The adherents of this slogan defined themselves as revolutionary socialists who opposed both the US Empire, its allies, as well as the Soviet Union and its orbit, as imperialist and oppressive. They contrasted both superpowers with their own vision of a socialism centered on workers' control and participatory democracy.
The next panel, titled "Confronting the Right's Attack on Gender: Trans Liberation & Reproductive Justice," explored how being a revolutionary socialist committed to the building of a revolutionary party must entail not only fighting class-based exploitation and oppression but all forms of discrimination and marginalization. The task of a revolutionary organization is to show how the various struggles are interconnected and to organize and amplify intersectional resistance.
On Sunday, September 7th, the conference resumed with a "Building Revolutionary Organizations Today" panel, followed by a session on "Border Abolition and the Anti-ICE Rebellion." The purpose of revolutionary organizations is not some conspiratorial assault on democracy but, on the contrary, to defend and deepen whatever democratic structures already exist and to build new ones. The panel re: ICE and the border brought into focus the differences between liberal and socialist takes. While liberals are largely on board condemning the “excesses” committed by ICE, revolutionary socialists see the very existence of ICE and borders, as they currently exist, as irreconcilable with a truly free and democratic society. Borders are not "natural" but the result of immense violence, mass murder, and conquest. And their continued existence requires unacceptable levels of violence today.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott
The last two panels, "Communist Abolitionism: ACAB Includes Capitalism" and "International Perspectives for Revolutionary Socialism" concluded the conference and reemphasized the fact that the panelists, as well as the sponsoring organizations, represent not liberalism in the garb of socialism or some sort of reformist social democracy (that seeks minor improvements within and overall accommodation to capitalism). On the contrary, their deep-seated commitment to genuine democracy, and not merely in name but in substance, makes them argue that democracy is ultimately incompatible with capitalism, which produces unsustainable levels of inequality. Socio-economic inequality translates into political leverage and power, which gives those with considerable capital such political advantages over the vast majority of the population that democracy is hollowed out and replaced by plutocracy. Thus, the protection and expansion of democracy — which is the only way of safeguarding it -- demands the taming and ultimately the abolition of capitalism. The struggle for socialism, which is possible only as a struggle for democracy, must be an international struggle.
While this conference ended with the last panel, that was not the end of it. On the contrary, things began to have repercussions beyond the actual conference, catapulting one particular speaker into the national arena. Tom Alter, a tenured history professor at Texas State University and widely recognized expert on labor issues, was accused of promoting the violent overthrow of the US government. Those charges were deeply problematic for many reasons, not least because the person who levelled them described themselves as a fascist and an anti-communist cult leader, being clearly a right-wing extremist troll.
This ultra-right-wing mole entered the online conference under false pretenses and did so with the clear and malicious intent to cause harm. She made a video of Dr. Alter's talk, on the purpose of revolutionary organizations today, and edited it in such a deliberately misleading way that it essentially inverted the meaning and message of the presentation. Dr. Alter strongly advocated for democratic mass actions as the only viable path to genuine socialist and revolutionary transformation. He explicitly condemned arbitrary and spontaneous violence, stereotypically associated with “anarchism.” [While some anarchist groups have historically embraced what they called the “propaganda of the deed,” most Marxists have a well-documented record of opposing such strategies as deeply problematic. Claims to the contrary reveal an almost unfathomable level of ignorance, which is unfortunately only too common, especially in the age of Trump.]
The self-identified fascist forwarded the doctored video to the president of Texas State University, Kelly Damphousse. One might never know whether it was political opportunism, catastrophic historical ignorance, plain cowardice, or a combination thereof that motivated him to fire Tom Alter on September 10th, 2025. This utterly unprofessional and inexcusable act not only deprived Dr. Alter and his family of their income but also violated the rules and procedures of Texas State University. A judge came to the same and very obvious conclusion when he reinstated Dr. Alter on September 26th, albeit temporarily and without allowing Dr. Alter to return to the classroom. Unfortunately, it opened the path to Tom Alter's permanent firing by Damphousse, this time following all the formalities.
Dr. Alter's case unfolded within a larger context: there is, on the one hand, the assassination of right-wing provocateur and agitator Charlie Kirk, on September 10th. While the assassin was clearly not leftwing in any meaningful fashion, the Trump regime has unleashed a systematic campaign of hate and vilification against the Left — defined in the broadest terms — blaming them for something they had absolutely nothing to do with and cynically trying to use the murder of Kirk as their opportunity to crash any resistance to the authoritarian and even fascist measures of the Trump regime.
Charlie Kirk’s death was one of the most polarizing events in recent news. Before his body even went cold, fingers were pointed each way across the political aisle. It’s become the new American pastime, assigning blame rather than attacking the root problems of recurring gun violence in our country. What made Charlie Kirk different, however, is that conservatives idolized him. For racist and anti-abortion advocates, Kirk showed that it was possible to be loud and proud with those beliefs — until his life was cut short. At his funeral, Vice President JD Vance said, “They tried to silence my friend, Charlie Kirk. They tried to silence our dear friend Charlie Kirk, and today, tonight, we speak with Charlie and for Charlie louder than ever.” There has been speculation that the alleged shooter was a part of the Groyper Army, a group of Christian, white nationalists who follow a live-streamer named Nick Fuentes. No concrete evidence has been put forward to definitively name the shooter’s political affiliation. Still, if the Groyper's allegation is true, it could suggest that Charlie Kirk was assassinated for not being extremist enough, not what most conservatives think: that he was assassinated for not being liberal enough."
Fueled with rage and perhaps fear, conservatives took to any media outlet they had access to, scrutinizing the reactions to Charlie Kirk’s death, and doxing anyone they didn’t approve of on a website known as Expose Charlie’s Murderers. Fox News host Jesse Watters said, “This hits differently because Charlie was one of us, and Trump gets hit in the ear. Charlie gets shot dead. They came after Kavanaugh with a rifle to his neighborhood. They went after Musk’s cars. They just shot two Jews outside the Embassy. [...] They are at war with us.” Further encouraging Republican citizens to dox their neighbors, Watters said, “It has to stop now, and everybody’s accountable, and we’re watching what they’re saying on television, and who’s saying what.” In addition to this, Jimmy Kimmel was briefly canceled, then reinstated by ABC after comments made about Charlie Kirk’s death.
The political divide feels larger than ever in the midst of this second Trump presidency. While we should not waver in our morals, we must also not shy away from the task that is reaching out to the broader working class — including workers who have voted Republican. Those who will join our side will make us stronger and bring us closer to unification. We saw a glimpse of this unification in the aftermath of Brian Thompson's execution (the United Insurance CEO), in which case, even some Republicans, while still being sure to posture and say that the shooting was wrong, were able to empathize with the alleged shooter Luigi Mangione and his possible motivations. Our House of Representatives has proven that they can hold a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk’s death, but can’t they put their heads together to actually stop the epidemic of gun violence. The party-of-thoughts-and-prayers is so far unable to pass a funding bill to reopen our government. Though it may be intimidating in today’s day and age, it’s more important than ever for people in the US to express their First Amendment rights — and stand behind those like Dr. Alter as that right is seized from us. If the government isn’t going to act in our best interest, then we are going to have to do so.
Bill V. Mullen points out, in his Jacobin article "MAGA McCarthyism Comes to Texas State," Tom Alter was targeted by the MAGA establishment for myriad reasons in addition to the opportunities presented to them by the Kirk shooting. Dr. Alter's scholarship as a historian, deeply influenced by the late 19th- and early 20th-century American socialist leader Eugene Debs, centers on the struggles of ordinary Americans against the predatory and exploitative wealthy ruling class. His acclaimed book Toward a Cooperative Commonwealth: Transplanted Roots of Farmer-Labor Radicalism in Texas examines class struggle in Texas between the 1840s and the 1920s. Dr. Mullen, emeritus professor of American Studies at Purdue University, notes that Texas State University president Damphousse accused Dr. Alter of "inciting violence," essentially because of his socialist views. It is rather obvious that Damphousse does not understand those views and has not the slightest interest in trying to understand them. He is, whatever he claims to personally believe, part and parcel of the MAGA agenda. That agenda is fascist in its core, as countless scholars have convincingly demonstrated.
One of the most interesting recent books of serious historical scholarship that analyses the roots of MAGA ideology, particularly in Texas, is Gerald Horne's The Counter-Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of US Fascism. While Dr. Alter's book chronicles working-class resistance in Texas against exploitation and oppression, Dr. Horne's book documents how the economic and political elites in Texas have championed the most reactionary, the most racist, and the most anti-democratic policies since the creation of that state. Texas, after all, seceded from Mexico at the exact time when Mexico abolished slavery. [Although Mexico had largely abolished slavery in 1829, a partial exception was initially made for settlers in Texas.] Texas was a project of its slave-owning rulers, who at first tried to compete with the US in the slave trade and later decided it would be better joining the US and strengthening the pro-slavery forces there.
Things have not changed fundamentally in the 20th century either, as official Texas politics remains dominated by some of the most right-wing and destructive forces in American politics. One may only recall the notorious Texas oil tycoons and their malicious efforts to undermine democracy at home and abroad. They were also among the biggest political and financial backers of McCarthyism in the 1950s, which the highly respected historian Ellen Schrecker described, in her classic study Many are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America, as as the most dangerous period of political repression in US history.
Tom Alter speaking in Marcos, Texas on September 25, 2025
Schrecker emphasizes that the massive and systematic, political, as well as ideological, repression of the McCarthy era was enthusiastically supported not only by openly reactionary US conservatives but mainstream liberals too. Invoking the spurious concern of "national security," they supported a frontal assault on the core principles of democracy and liberty. Dr. Schrecker followed her richly textured study of McCarthyism more recently with an equally compelling book on the destruction of higher education in the US, titled The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s. In that work, Schrecker analyses what she characterizes as the Golden Age of US university expansion, which unfolded between the mid-1950s and the early 1970s. During that time period, universities enjoyed broad public support and generous funding, especially compared to today's dismal situation. Yet, all the hopes about colleges and universities as engines of democratization in US society were eventually undermined and dismantled by a well-coordinated conservative attack on their legitimacy and autonomy. This led to the methodical demonization of professors and students, chronic underfunding and even deliberate disinvestment. Schrecker points out that, contrary to right-wing and mainstream liberal accusations, the vast majority of professors were not "radical" whatsoever but apolitical and often hostile to the left-wing demands to make universities more open to people from different socio-economic, racial, ethnic, and gender backgrounds. She writes in her introduction that "...the inability of the academic community to meet the reasonable demands of its constituents for a more democratic campus meant that its members lacked the solidarity that an effective defense against the conservative onslaught required." Schrecker urges academics today to learn from those mistakes of the past and fight together in the face of existential threats. As one of the most renowned champions of Critical Pedagogy, Henry Giroux, has made clear in his sharply argued book Neoliberalism's War on Higher Education, the ultimate goal of the right-wing war on education is the dismantling of democracy itself and the establishment of a fully authoritarian and indeed Fascist version of capitalism.
How can ordinary people, inside and outside academia, fight back? There are several options. We need to make our voices heard. Students and faculty at Texas State University have already done so. Demonstrations and rallies have taken place in different parts of the country. We need to protest, fill the streets and public spaces, write letters to elected officials, join mass movements, unions, and organizations that champion freedom of expression and speech. Organizations like the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU), the Labor and Working-Class History Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Association of University Professors, and the Communications Workers of America have all come out in solidarity with Dr. Tom Alter. A GoFundMe campaign helps him and his family pay their bills until he can find new employment. There is also a campaign to collect signatures on his behalf and in favor of academic freedom and democracy. The case of Tom Alter goes far beyond Tom Alter and his friends, colleagues, and students. It impacts all those who care about the survival of democracy in the United States.
Axel Fair-Schulz is a political activist and an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Potsdam. Lettie Kazian is an artist and social justice activist from the Chicago area.
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