Mankind’s history is rife with conflicts, rebellions and war. One of the common denominators of these explosions of murderous insanity is the enslavement of other men.

The American Civil War is of course one of the most familiar examples. Wealthy Southerners had established vast fortunes that rested solely on the free labor that slavery furnished them. They decided to instigate secession and a civil war to enforce their assumed—and meticulously justified—right to enslave those they called inferior.

The end result of the Civil War is well-documented. The war resulted in a wide swath of destruction all across the South. It killed over 400,000 Americans. But this was the level of violence it took to end overt slavery in the United States. It was replaced by the covert slavery of Jim Crow for the following century. White supremacy has again found new life—if you can use the word life for something so malevolent—at the behest of Trump and his fans.

The Civil War was not a unique blip in the history of slavery, attempted or accomplished, resulting in mass destruction and death.

As early as 1895 Japan engaged in wars of conquest against China, Manchuria, Korea, Indonesia, Burma, British territories in Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. This was a classic fascist conquest to enslave entire nations. That war went on far too long until all Japan’s acquired territories were rolled back, at huge cost of treasure and blood, all the way to their home island in two nuclear clouds.

Hitler did the same in Europe. Again, well and exhaustively documented. Hitler’s Reich didn’t just exterminate his populations of “undesirable and inferiors.” He used them as slaves first. His “work” camps immediately killed those who could not work and simply worked the rest to death. The infamous phrase “arbeit macht frei” over the gates of Auchwitz lives not only as a reminder of that horror, but that the Nazi’s took that work and gave back death. In the end of course, every territory Hitler’s Reich controlled became rubble.

Today we have watched for over two years as another fascist, in Moscow this time, is trying to conquer and enslave the largest democracy in Europe. Images of Bakhmut and Avdiika as cities destroyed by relentless Russian artillery barrages along with endless images of destroyed civilian buildings and bodies in the street are testimony to Putin’s intent. Add thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children to the mix and the horror just magnifies. But Russia’s long tradition of using overwhelming numbers in battle have failed to get the job done. On the contrary this has drastically reduced his forces. But like his idol, Stalin, he figures he still has a lot more Russian’s he can kill to get what he wants.

History shows us that enslavement or attempts to accomplish it eventually result in the abject destruction of the enslaver. This is a history lesson our own Republican Party seems to be in such denial of that it is undermining the very teaching of history in every state they control. But just because one stops teaching history will not prevent one of becoming the effect of it.

The far-right fascists of today are the wannabe slavers of tomorrow. But it is not just those who are not white who they want hegemony over. Witness the overt destruction of the rights of women. Today it is control over them as birth vessels. If Republicans prevail on this path, things will only get worse.

History has repeatedly shown us what it takes to overcome enslavers or oppressors who have had too much time to entrench themselves. The Japanese over the vast expanse of oceans, Hitler by his physical control of Europe, the Confederacy, by its short sighted and short-lived attempt to break away from the Union—all these history lessons need not be repeated.

What’s it going to take to prevent the retrenchment being attempted by far-right fascists? The same level of effort it took to defeat them in the past. But guns, tanks, bombs and planes are not the tools that will do the job. What is needed is the superior organization involved in these efforts sans the weapons and blood.

The battlefield will be the ballot box. The fascist party so fears that device that they have worked for years now to make voting harder. They have setup defenses in states they control to try to prevent as many as possible from voting. Like the Normandy landings, we need to overwhelm those defenses. Voters need to arrive in huge numbers that cannot be denied.

Trump and the now lawless “Law and Order” Republican Party have shown the cards they intend to play—yes, Project 2025—if they can prevail in November. If they win it will be this country’s last free election. And that will create a new and darker slavery than we have ever seen.

You know what to do. If you don’t, call some local or national election headquarters and find out what you can do to help.