This article by Ross Ó hAilpín first appeared in Unity, the weekly publication of the Irish Communist Party.
On the 10 September 2025, leader of the right wing youth organisation Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk was shot dead in Utah while making a speech to supporters. If you take notice of the media, you would think that this has been one of the biggest political upsets of the year.
This article attempts to provide a Marxist analysis of the assassination and adventurist tactics as a whole. Also, it will describe the reaction from leftists and the reaction from the American government in response to Kirk’s death.
It goes without saying that Charlie Kirk was a hateful and bigoted man who not only condoned but advocated for violence against marginalised groups to an extent insurmountably greater than what was done onto him. He represented the most reactionary elements of capitalist imperialism in the modern era, hence the support he received from the ruling elites in the United States.
In the wake of his assassination, there was an outpouring of opinion ranging from outright celebration to hypocritical mourning from people who will regret Charlie’s death but will not give ongoing genocide in Gaza a passing thought.
As Marxist-Leninists we must analyse the cause and effect of this assassination, and discuss what it means for the communist movement more broadly. With this in mind it is beyond understandable as to why many on the left celebrated his assassination. He certainly does not deserve to be remembered fondly and the policies he supported and his efforts in promoting them laid the foundations for his assassination. With quotes such as the following:
When speaking on abortion and asked if he was comparing it to the Holocaust he said ‘I am, in fact, it is worse.’ Discussing gay people, he claimed that ‘they now want to corrupt your children’.
He called transgender people a ‘throbbing middle finger’ to the United States. On the ongoing genocide in Gaze, he stated ‘they brought it on themselves’ and at another event, joked to the audience stating ‘if you are a gay person in Gaza, they’d throw you off a tall building, right? Now they don’t have any tall buildings.’
Kirk was a man who condoned and made light of mass death, in the name of western imperialism. Jokes about and celebrations of his death are completely fair game considering what this man came out with. People shouldn’t throw stones in glass houses.
On the left, there has been some celebration of his assassination. Based on his aforementioned opinions, it is understandable why many feel this way.
However, as stated by Lenin, the goal of a strong, vanguard party is to be able to lead large sections of the working class into struggle. We must be connected to and leading our class against capital. Deciding on the correct strategies and tactics in this regard is an essential skill for communists. Random, adventurist assassinations have never pushed a revolution forward. They are disconnected from the people and do not lead them into struggle against capital.
As Lenin stated on Balmashamov’s assassination of Sipyagin, actions like this are ‘in no way connected to the masses’. Kirk’s assassination has not made the proletariat a stronger class and is now leading to a greater onset of fascism in the United States.
Under capitalism, rights only exist so long as they maintain or do not interfere with the status quo. After Kirk was assassinated, we have seen a large crackdown on freedom of speech. In Indiana, the State Attorney, Todd Rokita has encouraged forming a database of school employees who either celebrated or rationalised his assassination. US Congressman,
Randy Fine has reiterated this sentiment calling for the revocation of licences of teachers, lawyers and doctors. Vance has condoned this as well demanding people to ‘call their employer’ for condoning what happened to Kirk.
Given the First Amendment’s supposed defence of Free Speech, it is clear that Kirk’s assassination has justified the American ruling elite’s threatening of civil rights.
This has taken effect with people all over the country losing their job due to expressing their views on Kirk’s death. While the dismissals are technically legal because the First Amendment only defends against criminal persecution for speech, they prove where the American ruling classes interests lie. Voice an anti-establishment opinion and potentially lose your job, speech is never completely free.
This has extended beyond simple opinions, Trump has now branded Antifa a ‘domestic terrorist organisation’, despite not being an organisation, in the wake of Kirk’s assassination.
How this will be implemented is debateable but considering the former director of the FBI claimed Antifa ‘was better defined as an ideology than as a formal organisation’ the intent is clear. What is particularly shocking is since 1990, 520 lives have been claimed by far-right acts of violence, and that these make up the overall majority of politically motivated attacks since 1990.
The fact that Trump is cracking down on Antifa and not neo nazis is not a coincidence. It is worth noting that when Heather Hyer was killed in Charlottesville in 2017, there was no crackdown on the alt-right, with Trump claiming ‘both sides’ were responsible for violence. Another display of this hypocrisy is Trump’s pardoning of the 1600 people involved in the January 6 2021 storming of Capitol Hill, with someone facing up to 22 years in prison being pardoned. The contrast in reaction here is stark.
Those who serve the interests of capital get pardoned and are allowed to continue organising, while those who oppose them are punished.
To conclude, Kirk was a beyond hateful man and should not be remembered kindly. Celebrating his death is not offensive, considering he was happy to do that about innocent Palestinians.
However, as communists, we should not put our faith in random, adventurist assassinations to achieve our goals. Kirk will be replaced by somebody, obviously more hateful than him and leftist organising is now harder as a result. If you’re reading this and celebrated his death, channel that anger and hatred into something more, organise!
Join a trade union, a tenants organisation, or the party and take part in the fight against the abhorrent systems Kirk sought to maintain.
We call on all sections of the working class from the Trade Unions, Tenants Organisations and all other forms of mass organisation to continue their collaboration with each other. The great only appear great because we are on our knees, let us rise.
Sources
Al Jazeera- Firings over reactions to Kirk killing spark free speech debate in the US
BBC– What is Antifa and why is President Trump targeting it?
Fox News- Trump pardons nearly all Jan. 6 defendants on inauguration day
The Guardian- Charlie Kirk Shooting
The Guardian- US Justice Department removes Study Far Right Extremists commit ‘far more’ Violence
Lenin- Left Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder
Lenin- Revolutionary Adventurism
NPR-Neo-Nazi Who Killed Charlottesville Protester Is Sentenced to Life in Prison
Reuters- Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric inspired supporters, enraged foes
Times of India- Abortion worse than Holocaust: Charlie Kirk’s controversial views resurface: opposed termination even in extreme cases