Skip to content

IMT statement regarding US embassy and the workers struggle in China

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The central thesis of this statement is that the US government's public expression of solidarity with Chinese workers' struggles is a hypocritical and instrumental act of imperialism, not a genuine defence of working-class rights. The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) argues that the US ruling class systematically suppresses labour organisation at home — through laws like Taft-Hartley and the Taylor Act, through state violence and surveillance programmes like COINTELPRO, and through mass incarceration — and therefore has no moral or political authority to pose as a champion of workers abroad. The statement insists that genuine international solidarity must be strictly independent of any imperialist government and that attempts by US state institutions to co-opt socialist activity for foreign policy ends must be rejected categorically.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis is grounded in the Leninist theory of imperialism, which holds that the capitalist state is an instrument of class rule and that its foreign policy serves the interests of its own bourgeoisie against the international working class. The statement draws on the classical Marxist principle — "an injury to one is an injury to all" — to argue for a class-based internationalism that refuses to align with any imperialist power, even when that power appears to support workers' struggles elsewhere. It also invokes the Marxist critique of bourgeois democracy, exposing the gap between the US state's rhetorical commitment to freedom and its actual record of repression. The argument sits firmly within the tradition of revolutionary Marxism that rejects any form of "lesser evil" reasoning or tactical alliance with imperialist states, a position developed by Lenin against the social chauvinists of the Second International and maintained by the Trotskyist tradition against Stalinist popular frontism.

Conjunctural Relevance

The statement was published in January 2019, at a moment of heightened US-China geopolitical tension under the Trump administration. The trade war was escalating, and both powers were competing for ideological legitimacy. The US Embassy's Weibo post — which attempted to weaponise the existence of Marxist student activism in America to pressure China on labour rights — exemplifies a broader imperialist tactic: selectively invoking workers' rights to delegitimise geopolitical rivals while maintaining domestic repression. The statement situates this within the long history of US state violence against the left, citing specific programmes (COINTELPRO) and assassinations (Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton) to demonstrate that the US state is not a neutral arbiter of freedom but a class enemy. It also notes that the US incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country, a fact that undermines any claim to moral superiority on questions of democratic rights.

Where the Argument Continues

This statement is a relatively short, tactical intervention rather than a developed theoretical article. The argument about the relationship between imperialist states and workers' struggles is explored at greater length in IDOM articles on the nature of US imperialism, the critique of "democratic socialism" and reformism, and the analysis of trade union strategy under capitalism. The broader question of how Marxists should relate to state institutions — including the question of independent working-class politics versus reliance on bourgeois democratic frameworks — is a recurring theme in the Marxist tradition, from Lenin's State and Revolution to Trotsky's writings on the united front. The statement also implies a critique of any left current that would accept or welcome US state support for workers abroad, a position that connects to ongoing debates within the international left about the character of US imperialism in the 21st century.

Connections

  • Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism — the theoretical foundation for understanding the US state as an instrument of monopoly capital
  • Trotsky, The Transitional Program — on the necessity of independent working-class internationalism
  • IDOM articles on COINTELPRO and US state repression — for a fuller account of the domestic violence referenced in the statement
  • IDOM articles on the US-China trade war and geopolitical rivalry — for the broader conjuncture in which this statement intervenes
  • The Marxist tradition on the united front and the "lesser evil" — for the strategic principle that Marxists never align with one imperialist camp against another

Key Quotes

  1. "It is an act of complete hypocrisy for the US government to claim that it supports workers on strike in China when laws like Taft-Hartley and the Taylor Act remain on the books in the US."

  2. "Far from being champions of freedom and liberty, the American ruling class have a long and bloody tradition of suppressing trade unions and other mass movements of the workers and poor."

  3. "The US government, including the State Department, CIA, etc., represents the interests of the US capitalists. These interests are in direct contradiction with the interests of the international working class."

  4. "We fervently believe that the American working class is duty-bound to support the struggles of workers wherever they may take place. However, such support must always be strictly independent of the US government."

  5. "The IMT and MSA categorically reject any and all attempts to use the activities of American socialists and trade unionists to further the policy objectives of US imperialism."