tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20625098337116000702024-03-15T21:09:42.684-04:00Permanent RevolutionCommentary on issues of Marxist theory and practice.Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.comBlogger213125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-22679353331203156032024-02-20T10:27:00.005-05:002024-02-20T10:46:35.624-05:00Review: The Town of N<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody, serif; font-size: 26pt;">Once again on the crimes of Stalinism: reviewing the critical
reception of Leonid Dobychin’s novella </span></b><b style="text-align: justify;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 26pt;">The Town of
N </span></i></b></div><div><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 26pt;"><br /></span></i></b></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_IzJr5YPwpyR8gLEEKNjW1tKcRWxbFqVTmMrdTHYnyjIteDXOF0wYR4NnIDuwkVmCGiDyTSmyN8Ot8h3keFaNfg2WRwHh2Ms8fwHxkwQnFvhyphenhyphenzPREVT_C-dSTbKm6KKo3wL4Xys5nRxR7dQ_gHy12DKIAQ_XE27bPZaKRCV1vazQSY5g1UDf2q8Akun-n/s475/town%20of%20n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_IzJr5YPwpyR8gLEEKNjW1tKcRWxbFqVTmMrdTHYnyjIteDXOF0wYR4NnIDuwkVmCGiDyTSmyN8Ot8h3keFaNfg2WRwHh2Ms8fwHxkwQnFvhyphenhyphenzPREVT_C-dSTbKm6KKo3wL4Xys5nRxR7dQ_gHy12DKIAQ_XE27bPZaKRCV1vazQSY5g1UDf2q8Akun-n/w414-h640/town%20of%20n.jpg" width="414" /></a></i></b></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Owen Hsieh<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Town of N </span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">by Leonid Dobychin is a novella about a nameless boy in
provincial, pre-revolutionary Latvia. Beginning in 1901 when he is seven years
old and concluding a decade later. It has been compared to James Joyce’s <i>Ulysses</i>,
there is hardly a plot, chronological in style, it is replete with 100
different characters over 102 pages. Something of a minor epic, it has a number
of thematic threads. It delights with a litany of understated literary
references from the naive perspective of the young boy while creating a
compelling portrait of what parochial, pre-Soviet, provincial life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">While chronicling the major events in the first quarter of the
20th century with the introduction of rubber tyres, the electric light, the
gramophone and living pictures, the disastrous Russia-Japan war, and the failed
revolution of 1905, this allegory sparkles with literary metaphor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The town of N is a reference to Nikolai Gogol novel Dead Souls,
which is set in a town of the same name. Some of the characters are smug,
bigoted and mean, Gogol’s characters seem to reappear! For instance we see
another instance of a Chichikov the con man, the insipid Manilov, the
misanthropic Sobakevich, the miser Plyushkin, and the untruthful Nozydrov. It
also contains references to the works of Cervantes, Chekhov, Dostoyevsky,
Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dickens. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Innovative, playful, ironic and inventive, rich in symbolism. Each
reading delights with a series of new discoveries. Minor details that are
seemingly hardly worth examining on the first reading wait to be discovered and
rediscovered on the next read through. This is a good example of the novel that
the serious critic would aim to read once per year, re reading it anew with
fresh eyes and (ideally) a greater appreciation for the nuance with the
historical and literary references.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Translator, Richard Chandler Borden, explains Dobychin’s
method in his introduction to the novella: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“Dobychin’s texts demand close reading and rereading. Much
information necessary for appreciating their subtleties is revealed
sequentially and inexplicitly.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“[He] was an excruciatingly, slow writer, who would spend days
even months on the tiniest of details, often producing stories of but four or
five pages in length and expressing astonishment, perhaps disingenuously, that
others could churn out so many works of dimensions attractive to publishers.
The result of such laborious creation is that the reader may invest fully in
each detail - each word, each oddity of syntax, diction, or style - confident
it has been selected for its maximum informativeness. Nothing has been left to
chance.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">This book is a joy to read, a full appreciation of all the
subtleties of this novel hardly seems possible in this short review. This is a
work of genius by a modernist master.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">But sadly, the appearance of his novel preempted vitriolic
denunciation in the ensuing year that led ultimately to the authors
suicide. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“Dobychin's experimentalism was not understood by his
contemporaries, as it adhered neither to the dictates of socialist realism nor
imitated the ornamental prose of Pilniak and Zamiatin, and he remained on the
periphery of Russian literary life." <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">(Cornwell and Christian (eds.), <i>Reference Guide to Russian
Literature</i>, 1998, p. 53).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">After the replacement of the various artistic schools and unions
with the official union of Soviet Writers in 1934, and the adoption of the ‘new
line’ of socialist realism in all the arts at its congress the same year.
Dobychin had the great misfortune of publishing in 1935, a year prior to the
Stalinist campaign against formalism reaching its apotheosis. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dobychin takes the unenviable title of being probably the last
work of formalism published in this period and was savaged by the Stalinist
literary critics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Where formalists sought to analyse literatures form, structure and
style rather than its socio-political content. The adherents of Socialist
realism gave primacy to political considerations in literature, aiming to
create works that showed the positive side of Soviet life with a blend of
optimism and patriotism after the policy of socialism in one country. It
discouraged abstraction and experimentation and favoured a conventional
straightforward narrative structure. <i>The Town of N</i> was an
anathema to the socialist realists. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“Socialist realism was a special theory worked out for the sphere
of art, establishing a sort of normative aesthetic code, which could not be
deviated from without incurring penalties.” - (Boris Kagarlitsky - The Thinking
Reed, 1989, pp 112).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dobychin was singled out in 1936 as the first whipping boy and
chief formalist. With unsubtle hints that he was a class enemy and accused of
sharing the views of the novels protagonist: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">After a fierce meeting with the writers union on March 25th,
1936: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“He responded only by stating that, regrettably, he could not
agree with what had been said and departed. He disappeared the next day, after
organising his affairs and confiding plans to kill himself to an acquaintance,
he later proved to have been a police spy assigned to report on his activities.
He was never seen again.” </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">His body was fished out of the Neva river months later, a presumed
suicide. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzb9RsuOsvq6zrwtv228_HfFawZ1ESDEVK_a8Ap-3x5zry9PpV3jRqC8FMOHpMrnMS-cwT8JmZGH1CORZym3t9_axmVhOm2VN6aqibYs7G_VavTsMh0XTl6AM2noOF8LutEf89GZEBLz98IRISvYaFyHwcsr3ogd9c9R0z_tSXmH-yqBfS3Y-3fzIWceQ8/s280/Leonid_Dobychin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="220" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzb9RsuOsvq6zrwtv228_HfFawZ1ESDEVK_a8Ap-3x5zry9PpV3jRqC8FMOHpMrnMS-cwT8JmZGH1CORZym3t9_axmVhOm2VN6aqibYs7G_VavTsMh0XTl6AM2noOF8LutEf89GZEBLz98IRISvYaFyHwcsr3ogd9c9R0z_tSXmH-yqBfS3Y-3fzIWceQ8/w314-h400/Leonid_Dobychin.jpg" width="314" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Leonid Dobychin</div><span><div style="font-size: 18.6667px; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It is a tragedy that Dobychin joins the ranks of Bulgakov, Babel,
and a generation of Russian Avante Garde authors who were born from the
creative impulse created by the Bolshevik Revolution, with the democratization
of the arts and the ensuing flourishing and healthy competition of the artistic
schools of thought but were later repressed or silenced under Stalinism.
Dobychin’s life was cut untimely short, and all we have of his literary legacy
is a collection of short stories entitled: <i>Encounters with Lisa and
other stories</i>, and this novella. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It is worth quoting Trotsky and Rogovin at length to give the
concluding comments to highlight the opposing perspective of the left
opposition against the philistinism of the Socialist realists: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“While the dictatorship had a seething mass-basis and a prospect
of world revolution, it had no fear of experiments, searchings, the struggle of
schools, for it understood that only in this way could a new cultural epoch be
prepared. The popular masses were still quivering in every fiber, and were
thinking aloud for the first time in a thousand years. All the best youthful
forces of art were touched to the quick. During those first years, rich in hope
and daring, there were created not only the most complete models of socialist
legislation, but also the best productions of revolutionary literature. To the
same times belong, it is worth remarking, the creation of those excellent
Soviet films which, in spite of a poverty of technical means, caught the imagination
of the whole world with the freshness and vigor of their approach to reality.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“In the process of struggle against the party Opposition, the
literary schools were strangled one after the other.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“The bureaucracy superstitiously fears whatever does not serve it
directly, as well as whatever it does not understand”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“The struggle of tendencies and schools has been replaced by
interpretation of the will of the leaders. There has been created for all
groups a general compulsory organization, a kind of concentration camp of
artistic literature. Mediocre but “right-thinking” storytellers like
Serafimovich or Gladkov are inaugurated as classics. Gifted writers who cannot
do sufficient violence to themselves are pursued by a pack of instructors armed
with shamelessness and dozens of quotations. The most eminent artists either
commit suicide, or find their material in the remote past, or become silent.
Honest and talented books appear as though accidentally, bursting out from
somewhere under the counter, and have the character of artistic contraband.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“The life of Soviet art is a kind of martyrology.” - (Trotsky, the
Revolution Betrayed, 1937, pp 153-156). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">and: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“There is no place for talented people on Soviet soil, that party
policy in the realm of art excludes creative experimentation, the independence
of the artist, and the display of genuine mastery.” He associated the
possibility that Soviet culture might flourish with the establishment of a
democratic regime in the land, based on the political views which the
Trotskyist have been defending”. - Isaac Babel in conversation with Eisenstein
(Stalin’s Terror of 1937-1938: Political Genocide in the USSR, Vadim Z Rogovin,
1997, pp 227)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-86363710396452373312024-01-09T01:20:00.001-05:002024-01-09T01:23:24.597-05:00Review: The Palestine Laboratory<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div><p style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.0pt; margin-right: 34.85pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 34.85pt 0in 5pt; text-indent: 0.7pt;"><i>The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel
Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World</i> Antony Loewenstein, 2023,
Verso Books/ Scribe Publications <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.35pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.95pt; margin: 10.95pt 0in 0in 5.35pt;">Reviewed by Owen Hsieh, Jan. 9, 2024 <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.3pt; margin-right: 24.45pt; margin-top: 16.05pt; margin: 16.05pt 24.45pt 0in 5.3pt; text-indent: 0.25pt;">“The economy abandoned oranges for hand grenades” - <i>An
Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defence Forces Made a Nation</i> – Haim
Bresheeth-Zabner <o:p></o:p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.55pt; margin-right: 4.75pt; margin-top: 15.0pt; margin: 15pt 4.75pt 0in 5.55pt; text-indent: 0.2pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NR_J2ywXzD64YuBljryDziRb16HkgWGQIo28n5voB9An0dTtYxcBfSX2hLzrfF4tzbHk-WOU7WNSg5ssZS6hpXv6l4pY3GFm3AK_eyZgZlcDrmT0G2BF9Sb439P_UjIvS7_kbZz5PM4RKaPHSDv8rl1Bd0KMi4tR2_yk_NPnN7fuUxXbovuwrtZUlUdy/s514/palestine_laboratory.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="287" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NR_J2ywXzD64YuBljryDziRb16HkgWGQIo28n5voB9An0dTtYxcBfSX2hLzrfF4tzbHk-WOU7WNSg5ssZS6hpXv6l4pY3GFm3AK_eyZgZlcDrmT0G2BF9Sb439P_UjIvS7_kbZz5PM4RKaPHSDv8rl1Bd0KMi4tR2_yk_NPnN7fuUxXbovuwrtZUlUdy/w358-h640/palestine_laboratory.webp" width="358" /></a></div><br />In May <span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">31</span><sup style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="text-indent: 0.2pt;"> of this year, Antony Loewenstein, an independent
journalist from Australia wrote a history of the Israeli arms and
surveillance industry examining how their products are ‘battle tested’ in Gaza
and the West Bank and sold across the world. </span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.55pt; margin-right: 4.75pt; margin-top: 15.0pt; margin: 15pt 4.75pt 0in 5.55pt; text-indent: 0.2pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 5.2pt; margin-top: 14.95pt; margin: 14.95pt 5.2pt 0in 0in;">The Palestine Laboratory was published only a few months prior
to Hamas’ Operation Al Aqsa Flood and Israel’s swift and brutal
response, which has been likened to a second Nakba. Loewenstein and The
Palestine Laboratory have since garnered a lot of public interest with the
title being catapulted to the best-seller list. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 20.2pt; margin-top: 16.15pt; margin: 16.15pt 20.2pt 0in 0in;">Israel is in the top ten weapons dealers in the world, its arms
exports surged in 2021 by 55% to be worth approximately US$11.3
Billion. The production and export of arms is Israel’s leading
export and a mainstay of its economy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 8.65pt; margin-top: 16.05pt; margin: 16.05pt 8.65pt 0in 0in;">The state of Israel has repeatedly demonstrated it will sell weapons
to anyone who wants them, including pariah states such as: Apartheid South
Africa, Suharto’s Indonesia, or Chile under Pinochet. Israel has approved
every defence export since 2007 without exception. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.0pt; margin-right: 13.65pt; margin-top: 16.2pt; margin: 16.2pt 13.65pt 0in 5pt; text-indent: -0.35pt;">The Israeli arms industry is guided by a philosophy
summed up by the former head of Israel’s Defence Export Control Agency, Eli
Pinko, quoted at a private conference in 2021: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.0pt; margin-right: 3.8pt; margin-top: 15.2pt; margin: 15.2pt 3.8pt 0in 5pt; text-indent: 0.55pt;">“It’s either civil rights in some country or Israel’s
right to exist. I would like to see each of your face the dilemma and
say: ‘No, we will champion human rights in another country.’ Gentlemen it
doesn’t work.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 4.9pt; margin-right: 2.15pt; margin-top: 15.15pt; margin: 15.15pt 2.15pt 0in 4.9pt; text-indent: -0.4pt;">This can be understood by looking at Israel as playing
a role of minor partner for US Imperialism and as ‘sheriff’ for the
Middle East. Where the US has preferred covert support in lieu of public
backing, Israel has been able to act as its proxy and provide the material and
technical support to states in official disfavour. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.55pt; margin-right: -.3pt; margin-top: 15.15pt; margin: 15.15pt -0.3pt 0in 5.55pt; text-indent: -0.2pt;">“With Reagans war on communism, and Washington’s
partnering with right-wing death squads from Nicaragua to Honduras and El
Salvador to Panama, Israel’s role was viewed as indispensable in providing
both weapons and on-the-ground experience.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.1pt; margin-right: 16.65pt; margin-top: 16.15pt; margin: 16.15pt 16.65pt 0in 5.1pt; text-indent: 0.45pt;">“Israel Supported the police forces of Guatemala, El
Salvador and Costa Rica during the Cold War when the US Congress had
blocked the had blocked US agencies from officially doing so.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.25pt; margin-right: 7.5pt; margin-top: 15.2pt; margin: 15.2pt 7.5pt 0in 5.25pt; text-indent: 0.5pt;">Loewenstein has used WikiLeaks cables and a variety of
other sources to uncover information which highlights the role that
Israel has played in global politics, gaining insights and information that is
usually secreted and hidden from public oversight, subject to national security
censorship in Israeli state archives. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 4.85pt; margin-right: 4.55pt; margin-top: 15.15pt; margin: 15.15pt 4.55pt 0in 4.85pt; text-indent: 0.9pt;">Loewenstein has taken many notes from the other
notable histories of the Israeli Defence Forces, including <i>Rise and Kill
First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations</i> by Ronen Bergman
and has catalogued a wealth of other information including the role of Israeli
military contractors in patrolling and monitoring European borders to
maintain Fortress Europe, and selling spyware such as Pegasus to some of
the world’s worst human rights abusers such as Bin Salman, the Crown Prince of
Saudi Arabia, who used Israeli software to track and murder the dissident voice
of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. These secondary narratives in The
Palestine Laboratory deserve a feature length history in and of
themselves.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-1136400823312710482023-12-10T07:25:00.001-05:002024-01-17T19:11:00.989-05:00James Creegan: a Marxist maverick<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div><p class="Body"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">James Creegan, a lifelong revolutionary socialist and a good friend and
comrade, died on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023, at the age of seventy-six, following a
lengthy illness. I had the good fortune to know Jim and collaborated with him
on educational and political projects over the last ten years. Over time, I
learned something about where he came from and the forces that shaped him. Much
of the material I present is taken from a memoir Jim wrote and circulated among
a few friends. All quotations are taken from his memoir unless otherwise
indicated. This article was first published in the <a href="https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1470/a-marxist-seeker/">Weekly Worker edition
of Dec. 7, 2023.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="Body"><i>Note: An earlier version of this obituary mistakenly listed the League for a Revolutionary Party as participating in the slanderous claim that Jim Creegan was a "scab". This has been corrected. </i></p>
<p class="Body"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A.S. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8q59D2nW-cj-QovCJVfdWe-p0QOnBn4iAKFwJ296Y8VoY4RSiGJu2mSwZZk8v8siJGwwXCoHzg2hVKVcUqLzRt72RdRqgC4YvX1Bdq48EclqXQ_WHEnzobo3hHkVsrhpDlGpLb_AodtPcnXM5GZmspeYJKPow-bJy5ltAZSfLZakWP15fnFOr6kK2-8Jp/s1280/Creegan_Greece_2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8q59D2nW-cj-QovCJVfdWe-p0QOnBn4iAKFwJ296Y8VoY4RSiGJu2mSwZZk8v8siJGwwXCoHzg2hVKVcUqLzRt72RdRqgC4YvX1Bdq48EclqXQ_WHEnzobo3hHkVsrhpDlGpLb_AodtPcnXM5GZmspeYJKPow-bJy5ltAZSfLZakWP15fnFOr6kK2-8Jp/w480-h640/Creegan_Greece_2.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Jim in Greece, August 2018</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><h2><span style="font-size: medium;">Formative Years</span><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span lang="NL">Jim was a red-diaper baby, </span>born on June 27 1947.<span lang="NL">
Unlike many baby boomers, he did not rebel against his parents but learned from
them. Both his parents were in the Communist Party in the 1930</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s and
1940</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s. His father, Bernard, but </span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>“</span><span lang="NL">Barney” to his friends, was more political than his mom Selma née
Rubin. His father came originally from what is now Northern Ireland and joined
the British CP in Scotland in 1923. He came to the U.S. in 1930, where he
worked as a union organizer for the CP,
and later for the CIO. He fell out with the party in 1945 and was not active
politically after that though he maintained his sympathy for the party. When
the international Stalinist movement went into crisis, beginning with Khruschev</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s </span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>“</span><span lang="NL">secret
speech” in 1956, when the crimes of Stalinism were revealed, first to a select
audience, and eventually, to any CP member who had eyes to see, Jim</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s
father reacted by adopting a left-Stalinist orientation. His position was quite
different from that of other former members disillusioned with the CP, who were
turning to liberalism and anti-communism. When the Sino-Soviet split happened
he sided with China.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span lang="NL"> </span>From the New Left to Trotsky</span></b></p><h2><o:p></o:p></h2><div><span lang="NL">It was therefore no accident that Jim</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s
earliest political orientation as a young man leaned toward Maoism. His first
political affiliation was at Penn State in 1965, where, as a convinced Maoist,
he entered the network of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP). He was for two
years chair of the campus Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) during the
headiest days of the student anti-war and radical movements. In If I Had a
Hammer, Maurice Isserman, a historian of the American left, argues that
the children of Communists were a more essential element of the New Left than
is generally recognized. Jim</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", serif;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s experience bears this out.</span></div>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Jim had his road to Damascus moment in his senior
year when he read Isaac Deutscher's Trotsky trilogy at the suggestion of a
fellow member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). As he put it years later, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">This biography changed my
political views more than any single work I've read, and I began to take more
of an interest in Trotskyism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">His newfound interest in Trotskyism however did not
immediately translate into a political affiliation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">After graduating college in 1969, Jim returned to
his hometown, Philadelphia. He remained there for two years during which he
became active in the local chapter of the New American Movement (NAM). The NAM
was basically a grouping of New Left refugees trying to reconstitute themselves
politically. He entered graduate school in philosophy at the University of
Colorado (Boulder) in 1972. He belonged to the NAM chapter there as well, but
his main emphasis was on study--deepening his understanding of classical philosophy,
Hegel, and Marx.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Jim returned to Philly in 1977, a more educated and
convinced, Marxist than before. He had it in the back of his mind that the next
phase of his life had to include organized politics. He always believed
abstractly that any Marxist worth his/her salt must belong to a party-type
organization. In his own words, Jim wrote about this period of his life, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">I felt somewhat guilty
about not having acted upon that belief by following the more serious refugees
from the New Left who joined various parties in the early 70s. But I felt the
need for more knowledge at the time, so went to grad school instead. And I
hadn't burned my bridges to academia even after I left Boulder. I enrolled in
the Political Economy grad program at the New School (which, as it turned out,
was like what people often say about communism: appealing on paper, but
disappointing in practice), and moved to NYC in 1979.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Adventures in the Spartacist League</span><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>It was in this period that Jim began reading the
newspaper of the Spartacist League (SL), Workers Vanguard. From the start Jim
felt a kinship with its polemics. He wrote of his engagement with the SL
publication that,</p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">…it reinforced much of
what I felt about the rest of the left circa 1980: that most
individuals and organizations had moved markedly to the right along with
ruling-class-generated public opinion and emerged in far too flaccid a state to
meet the challenges of the Carter/Reagan years .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Jim</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s reaction was understandable. As a revolutionary socialist in
formation, he had a gut reaction against the abandonment of radical politics by
many of his contemporaries from the 1960</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s generation. The fact that Jim</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s
reaction coincided with his introduction to the Spartacist League is one of
those contingent events in a life that nevertheless expressed a certain logic. The
Spartacist League was vociferous in its denunciation of what they considered
opportunism on the left, more so than any other organization claiming to be
Trotskyist. It very much was in consonance with Jim</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="NL">s uncompromising convictions as a
Trotskyist. Jim later explained his affinity for this side of the SL: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">I am by temperament a
controversialist, who relishes the clash of ideas, the cut and thrust of polemic.
The witty, pugilistic style of WV seemed to me to partake more of the authentic
spirit of communism in its early pre-Stalinist incarnation, much of which my
father had retained from his youth and passed on to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Once he became convinced of the correctness of a
political stance Jim would brook no apologies for those misguided individuals
on the wrong side of that issue, and he did not suffer fools. However, after a
while Jim did have second thoughts about the Spartacist style that attracted
him initially. He pointed to their “acerbic style” and their “excessively
abrasive and hectoring "interventions" at the political meetings of
other groups.” The SL’s interventions
often degenerated into what he described as “the accusation and insult that had
become an SL trademark.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Jim’s initial deep commitment to a political
organization that gave expression to his revolutionary impulses certainly had
its admirable side. But it also harbored a fundamental problem. Once he became
convinced of something it was exceedingly difficult for Jim to pause and
retrace his steps and consider that he may have been mistaken. That was my
judgment based on many discussions I had with Jim. No matter how much his
original enthusiasm for the SL changed into a deep opposition both to their
policies and to their internal regime, he always looked back to the SL of the
1970’s as their golden age.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">To cite one example, Jim indicated more than once
that a fundamental issue which cemented his sympathy for the SL was the
full-throated support the Spartacist League provided to the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan in 1979. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Jim and I never agreed on this issue. I found the
SL’s slogan, </span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>‘</span><span lang="NL">Hail to the Red Army’ repugnant. It created the pretense that the
Russian tanks that went into Afghanistan in 1979 had a direct connection to the
heroic Red Army of 1919 that defeated the counterrevolutionary forces arrayed
against the newly established Soviet state. The Spartacist League, and Jim, had
this notion that any military intervention by the Soviet Union was an
expression of the Stalinist bureaucracy defending the gains of the October
Revolution. While it was true that the forces arrayed against the Soviet-backed
regime in Kabul were reactionary Islamists backed by the CIA it was also true
that the Soviet-backed regime did not come into existence as a result of a
popular uprising. Rather it was the inheritor of a series of coups backed by
Moscow and had little popular support. The SL by this point in its political
evolution had elevated the Stalinist bureaucracy at the expense of the
international working class. While it was incumbent on Trotskyists to defend
the Soviet Union, despite the bureaucracy, against imperialism, it did not
follow that the Stalinist bureaucracy had somehow become a progressive factor
in world politics and it certainly did not follow that Trotskyists were obliged
to support whatever global political maneuver the Stalinist bureaucracy
involved itself in. Once you substitute a bureaucracy for the revolutionary
potential of the masses, as the SL did, you wind up with some very bizarre –
for a Trotskyist – positions. The most notorious expression of this was the
publication by Workers Vanguard in 1984, of a black-bordered death notice on
its front page marking the death of the former KGB and Soviet party chief Yuri
Andropov.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">But even when Jim was an enthusiastic supporter of
the SL’s perspective, he never became an apparatchik who failed to question the
leadership, the kind of person that inhabits every group, one who is content to
follow orders. Exactly the opposite was the case. Jim always had a mind of his
own and refused to become the obsequious follower that other members of SL
became. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Jim’s description of his duties when he was a
member of the Spartacist League testifies to his unselfish spirit, sacrificing
much of his personal life and income as a soldier for the cause of the
revolution. Even years after he had left the SL Jim still thought that those
onerous work assignments were legitimate though he also became angered by the
unequal treatment meted out to different members. Jim was assigned numerous
duties on a daily basis involving newspaper sales, sales of literature and
meetings with fellow SL members, in addition to a regular and much-dreaded
early morning sale where he had to arrive at 7AM at a remote location in
Brooklyn. By way of contrast, the head of the Spartacist League lived like a
king. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Listen to Jim’s depiction of the corruption of the
Spartacist leader, James Robertson, and the regime of exploitation built around
his needs:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">Maybe now you can better
appreciate why those of us who joined the BT later on were so enraged
that Robertson, however greatly he had sacrificed to build the SL in the
past, was then having a basement playroom built with our labor for his
nocturnal escapades, flying Concorde--many times more expensive than a regular
passenger jet--having a hot tub installed ( again with organizational funds and
labor) in his NYC apartment, and demanding a special contribution over and
above dues to buy himself a house in the Bay Area.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">When Jim joined the SL, he came as part of a wave
of new recruits inspired by their campaign for a victory for the Salvadoran
rebels and opposition to a compromise with leaders of the death squads that had
plagued El Salvador. But from the start the S L never fully trusted him because
he came to them as already formed politically instead of “the preferred tabula
rasa minds, upon which the leadership could effortlessly inscribe its
wisdom and ‘organizational norms’.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">As a result, Jim was given tasks that mostly
segregated him from other comrades lest he “infect” them with his independent
spirit. He wrote, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">…because of my reluctance
to join full-throatedly in Robertson's amen chorus, I was shunted off into the
lowly position of lit director… isolated from other members on the second floor
of the SL compound, where I occupied the only permanent work station. The other
members were assigned to the upper floors, only passing on occasion the lit
shelves where I worked. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">The SL never recognized the asset they had in Jim
and instead of encouraging his political and theoretical development they kept
him occupied with lots of make-work tasks. In retrospect, the worst crime they
committed was undoubtedly their refusal to allow him to contribute to their publications
given Jim’s enormous talent for political-historical analysis. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span lang="NL"> </span>The Spartacist Afterlife</span></b></p><h2><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Jim remained in the SL for 5 years, from 1981 to
1986, until his inevitable break with them. He thereupon joined the Spartacist
spawn known as the International Bolshevik Tendency (IBT). Jim developed
differences with the SL position on various questions – the details are
unimportant – but the real driving force for his break with the SL was
undoubtedly his disgust with the cultish behavior of its leadership and the
endless series of purges of members who came into conflict with Robertson. He
thereafter found a home in the IBT where he remained for the next 10 years. The
IBT, like the SL, was obsessed with the “Russian question” and felt that one’s
position on the Russian question was the litmus test for whether one was a
genuine Trotskyist. The IBT accused the SL of deviating from the “correct”
position and the SL likewise made the same accusation of the IBT. In many ways
the IBT led a parasitic existence off the SL. But Jim found a more congenial
home within the IBT since he was finally able to publish, giving vent to his
polemical talents.</p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">In time Jim became disenchanted with the IBT. Years
later he explained that,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">They [the
IBT] believed that the program remained valid regardless of what happened in
the world. They had no clue in terms of analyzing newer developments in the
class struggle and in politics. <!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="NL" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: NL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">It troubled Jim that although the IBT had at that
time existed for 20 years it had failed miserably to attract members and was the
same tiny group that it was at its inception. One would think that if your goal
were to change the world and you remained a tiny group over the years that had
absolutely no influence on the working class, you should ask why this failure
and critique whatever practices you have engaged in that led to this sterile
abyss. One would think that, but only if one were ignorant of the ways of the
various grouplets that populate the extreme left. Such questions never occur to
them as they blithely ignore reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">One incident stands out during Jim’s tenure in the
IBT. He had worked for a number of years as a clerk at the office of the
Village Voice, a famous New York weekly that featured some of the best
journalists in the country. In 1996 the maintenance workers at the building
housing the Village Voice went on strike, part of a city-wide strike, against
the companies that were contracted by the building owners to do their
maintenance. Jim was the shop steward of the United Auto Workers branch that
represented the Village Voice employees. The striking maintenance workers
belonged to a different union and made it clear that their strike was against
the company that employed the maintenance workers, not the Village Voice. The
Voice employees, with the assent of the UAW local and Village Voice management, took out the trash themselves.
The striking building maintenance workers did not object to this accommodation.
The only other option would have been to allow the building’s maintenance
contractor to bring in scabs to do that job. The Village Voice owners also
stopped all payments to the building maintenance contractors for the duration
of the strike. In addition, the Village Voice UAW local, largely because of
Jim’s efforts, raised $3,000 for the striking maintenance workers in an
unprecedented show of solidarity. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">The Spartacist League newspaper, Workers Vanguard,
always ready to find something with which to trash their IBT rivals, said Jim
was a “scab” for participating in the Village Voice’s attempt to keep their
operations going. The IBT put out a pamphlet with the title, Sectarians,
“Scabs” & Socialists, which defended Jim against the slanderous “scab”
charge. The union local also put out a bulletin, titled Support to Strikers, So
Long to Scabs, which explained that the actions taken by the Village workers
were in support of the strike by the building’s maintenance workers. Village
Voice management also came to an agreement with the union to stop paying the
building maintenance fee until such time as the building maintenance worker’s
strike was settled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL"> </span>This was back in 1996. Move forward 20 years to
2016. Jim is suddenly confronted with the news that the IBT, which had defended
him in 1996, had now “repudiated” the pamphlet defending him and had concluded
that Jim had been a scab after all. The IBT further [falsely] claimed ignorance
of the details at the time as their rationale for having defended Jim in 1996! Jim
responded to these slanders with a brilliant piece that skewers the IBT and the
SL. It is worth quoting the beginning of Jim’s response to give you a flavor of
his inimical polemical style:</p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: center;"><span lang="NL">Old Lie Makes New Converts<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">The principal service that
the microscopic and pompously named International Bolshevik Tendency (IBT) has
performed for the left was to expose the Spartacist League (US) and its
affiliates in the International Communist League (ICL) as the personality cult
that they are. Unable to answer the truthful testimony of the IBT (and its
predecessors, the External Tendency, and the Bolshevik Tendency), the
Spartacists fired back with a cascade of lies about their accusers, worthy of
the vipers’ nest this organization had
become. Now, in a turn more pathetic than pernicious, the IBT has taken to
retailing one of the lies directed against me when I was a member of their
group over twenty years ago. I hesitate to reply only because I fear that I
might make myself look ridiculous by expending so many pixels over something
that won’t matter a tinker’s damn to anyone outside the time capsule inhabited by the Spartacist
League and its derivative groupuscules. But, as Trotsky said, the historical
record should be accurately maintained, even in its minutest details. <!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="NL" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: NL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL"> </span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Jim was denounced not only by the SL and the IBT,
but also by another Spart spawn, the Internationalist Group (IG). Anyone who
could earn the wrath of all these small-minded sectarian outfits deserves a
medal!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A revolutionary without a party</span><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"> After leaving the IBT in the mid 1990’s, Jim was
finally able to flourish as a writer, an educator, and a trenchant critic of
contemporary culture. And as I later learned
Jim was also a great raconteur, a poet, and a competent singer. Yet
ironically, in this most productive period of his life, Jim was not affiliated
with any political group. For someone who always believed that “any Marxist
worth his salt should be a member of a party” this was undoubtedly a
bittersweet period for him.</p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">As a result of Jim’s work as an activist in the UAW
local and his outspoken politics, he was forced out of his job at the Village
Voice in 2002 after new owners took it over. Jim’s next job was that of a
substitute teacher in the New York City public school system. The job was often
very gratifying as Jim’s talents as a teacher made him an instant favorite in
practically every school to which he was assigned. However as much as Jim
enjoyed teaching, the earnings of a substitute teacher in the New York public
school system are quite meager and the benefits even worse. But the job suited
Jim insofar as he often had the afternoons free to read or write. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">It was in this period that Jim’s literary and
polemical talents shined as he became a regular contributor to the UK-based
newspaper Weekly Worker. He wrote dozens of articles for the Weekly Worker
starting in 2007 and ending in June of 2022. Jim’s oeuvre was not confined to
strictly political essays, which he did masterfully enough, but also touched on
history and culture. One notable example was a review of a film by Ken Loach
about the Irish war of independence and subsequent civil war, <a href="https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/669/ken-loachs-use-of-irish-history/"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ken Loach's use of Irish
history.</span></a></span> <span lang="NL"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="NL" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: NL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span><!--[endif]--></span><span lang="NL"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">When the pandemic hit, Jim was assigned to the
well-known science-oriented high school, Stuyvesant. Jim made a huge impression
on his colleagues and students at Stuyvesant. The students knew him as the
teacher who sang the attendance call. He worked at Stuyvesant up until several weeks
prior to his death. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span lang="NL"> </span><b>Afterword</b></span></p><h2><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Ironically, Jim outlived the Spartacist League. The
SL’s founder-leader, James Robertson, died in 2019 at the age of ninety. The
cult he began did not survive his passing. The newspaper of the SL, Workers
Vanguard, ceased publication for over a year following his death. Eventually a
group based in the UK attempted to revive the corpse of the SL. They held an
“International Conference” where they attempted to diagnose the ills of the SL
that led to their demise. Jim was following these events and noted wryly that
for all their “self-criticism” the self-appointed resurrectionists of the SL
never said a word about the corruption of the Robertson regime.</p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">The International Bolshevik Tendency (IBT) suffered
a major split in 2018. The issue that precipitated the split was, as you may
have guessed, the Russian question. Following the split the IBT was left with
fewer members than it had when it started out almost 50 years ago. As Jim explained at a Left Forum panel in 2019,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 0.4in;"><span lang="NL">Now the
IBT, which was fewer than twenty members, has the rare distinction among
Trotskyist grouplets that they managed to split over the Russian question
thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union! <!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="NL" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: NL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">I met Jim ten years ago in a seminar on the Russian
Revolution organized by the Brecht Forum. When the Brecht Forum dissolved the
following year both of us continued with its successor organization, the
Marxist Education Project. Although we did not agree on every political and
philosophical question, we had enough affinity on basic issues to collaborate
on a number of projects. Among these was a walking tour in New York inspired by
Trotsky’s 9-week sojourn in that city prior to his arrival in Russia in 1917. We
also worked together, along with Marilyn Vogt-Downey, on a special broadcast on
radio station WBAI commemorating the 100th anniversary of the October
Revolution. Jim was also a participant -
and often a co-facilitator - in a series of classes on Hegel that I taught
through the Marxist Education Project. Among Jim’s many contributions to that
class series one that stands out for me was Jim’s masterful lecture on the
French Revolution. I will miss our back
and forth sparring over our different interpretations of Hegel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL"> </span>In addition to our political collaboration Jim and
I developed a personal bond. Both of us came out of the 60’s generation and
both of us joined small Trotskyist groups following a flirtation with the New
Left. It turned out that we knew several
people in common. I learned that Jim had
known my first wife before I met her, when they were both members of SDS at
Penn State. It also turned out that the groups we joined, in Jim’s case the
Spartacist League, in mine the Workers League, began life in the same
opposition faction of the Socialist Workers Party in the early 1960’s. And we
both witnessed the toll that the years of Reaganite reaction inflicted on the
60s generation. Many did not survive the
trauma when the optimism and Utopian spirit of the 60’s clashed with the
dismal, self-centered culture of the 80’s and 90’s. We both knew people whose lives were cut
short by mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide.</p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Any account by me of Jim’s political life would not
be complete if I did not mention that Jim and I had a fundamental disagreement
about the very basis of Trotskyism. Jim,
in his later years, had come to the conclusion that the premise behind the
launch of the Fourth International by Trotsky in 1938 was a mistaken assessment of the nature of the
epoch. Trotsky thought that we were living in a period of the decay and
terminal decline of capitalism and that therefore the objective conditions were
ripe for socialist revolution. Jim felt that Trotsky’s assessment of capitalism
in the 20th century was mistaken and cited the post-war boom as evidence of
that. I thought that Jim was being too
literal in his interpretation of Trotsky’s intent. While it was true that
Trotsky did not anticipate the post-war boom (not that anyone else did either)
his pronouncement on the nature of the epoch was not meant to only apply to the
immediate situation capitalism faced in the 1930’s and the decades following but
was a judgment of an entire historical period
whose length could not be predicted in advance. I also felt that while Jim’s
commitment and active participation in the struggles that emerged in the last sixty
years were second to none, he was at the same time overly pessimistic about the
potential for the rebirth of a militant working class. Jim would undoubtedly have retorted that he was
a realist, not a pessimist, and that my optimism was based on illusions I
inherited from the Trotskyist groups with which I had been associated. (Jim provided
a detailed presentation on this topic in a panel at the Left Forum.) <!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="NL" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: NL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span><!--[endif]-->
Yet no matter how strong our disagreements I knew that with Jim I was dealing
with an intellectual giant who was not
easily dismissed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">I should also mention
that Jim was a wonderful raconteur who had mastered the art of storytelling. I
always enjoyed going to an Irish pub with him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Jim’s memory will be cherished by his friends and
colleagues, some of whom have known him
since childhood, others more recently. He leaves a legacy of commitment and
independence tempered by his wit and good humor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">Alex Steiner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL">New York, Dec 2, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="NL"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvS_e79SwkeRWo3w9leOtV2zsmiA_2PpCDs1KkF4DdF8u8utA5SSBcKfz-11wbbP6Mvhc70sFRu3zfIubMVPoSO-efBFvzwXEyMshTe94XS61-cwx4GRjQY3nQIEdcN2EjodVGlzQKK3o9fkwb5xM2nHPt50GnAxhoDlAXk3D44Cs2MZSbwyqkjv7ppQ4H/s1280/creegan_Greece_1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvS_e79SwkeRWo3w9leOtV2zsmiA_2PpCDs1KkF4DdF8u8utA5SSBcKfz-11wbbP6Mvhc70sFRu3zfIubMVPoSO-efBFvzwXEyMshTe94XS61-cwx4GRjQY3nQIEdcN2EjodVGlzQKK3o9fkwb5xM2nHPt50GnAxhoDlAXk3D44Cs2MZSbwyqkjv7ppQ4H/w480-h640/creegan_Greece_1.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Jim standing in front of a monument to Lord Byron. Jim loved the English, Irish and Scottish poets.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="NL"><br /></span><p></p><div>
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Platypus
Affiliated Society, panel at Left Forum, June 30, 2019, <i><a href="https://platypus1917.org/2019/09/01/beyond-sect-or-movement-what-is-a-political-center/">Beyond
sect or movement: What is a political center?</a> </i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Excerpt
from private email from Jim Creegan, Oct. 3, 2016.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Weekly
Worker edition of April 18, 2007, <i><a href="https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/669/ken-loachs-use-of-irish-history/">Ken
Loach’s use of Irish history</a></i> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <a name="_Hlk152534713">Ibid. <i>Beyond sect or movement: What is a political
center? </i></a><i>(See note 1)</i><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Ibid. <i>Beyond
sect or movement: What is a political center?</i><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div></div></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-31823174535831837222023-11-09T03:21:00.002-05:002023-12-14T11:49:19.347-05:00The Devil that Never Dies: Calumnies in the service of historical falsification <script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpYwBaNSm-lS4oW4UWeW44OnFRamnAR2v0ScIAqq9PrVuggLBV3_JUYXz1yN2tTfNR4SN9w9-qh8P7DJe5uCYPmg8TYyv9cML2XCQsLTp-wwE_YWzf1r1G6I-NdGths4adpVWs-6_cpsUKyfDzG6aRukbD8CX3jr6ETcVN1CZ1C2sXQC3buMHMkFBtYGd/s665/the-visions-of-tondal-hieronymus-bosch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="665" height="572" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpYwBaNSm-lS4oW4UWeW44OnFRamnAR2v0ScIAqq9PrVuggLBV3_JUYXz1yN2tTfNR4SN9w9-qh8P7DJe5uCYPmg8TYyv9cML2XCQsLTp-wwE_YWzf1r1G6I-NdGths4adpVWs-6_cpsUKyfDzG6aRukbD8CX3jr6ETcVN1CZ1C2sXQC3buMHMkFBtYGd/w640-h572/the-visions-of-tondal-hieronymus-bosch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">by Alex Steiner</span><br /><div><br /></div><div><h1 style="text-align: justify;"><br /></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On
Sept 27 of this year the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>published an article with the imposing title,
<b>1982: Marxism, the revolutionary party, and the critique of Healy’s <i>Studies
in Dialectics, </i></b>by <span style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Christoph Vandreier, a leading member of the </span><i>Sozialistische
Gleichheitspartei </i>(Socialist Equality Party) of Germany. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
article is a transcript of a lecture the author gave at the Socialist Equality Party Summer School of 2023. The lecture included the following diatribe about me and
Frank Brenner,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">North’s polemic against Alex Steiner
and Frank Brenner is undoubtedly particularly important. North, in his
engagement with Steiner and Brenner, developed further the very conception we
discussed during the last hour. The book is a Marxist attack on all the various
schools of subjective idealism such as postmodernism, the Frankfurt School, and
existentialism. It is a powerful defense of materialism. As David North writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The real issue is that you do not agree
with the International Committee’s insistence that the fight for socialism
requires the development, within the working class, of both a profound
knowledge of history—particularly that of the socialist movement itself—and the
most precise and concrete understanding possible (by means of ever more exact
conceptual approximations) of the objective movement of the world capitalist
system in all its complex, contradictory and interconnected forms. What you
refer to falsely as “objectivism,” is the Marxist striving to accurately
reflect in subjective thought the law-governed movement of the objective world,
of which social man is a part, and to make this knowledge and understanding the
basis of revolutionary practice. For all your talk about “dialectics” and the
“fight against pragmatism,” everything you write demonstrates indifference to
the requirements of developing a working-class movement whose practice is
informed by Marxist theory. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is remarkable how in Steiner and
Brenner the conceptions of Healy, their theoretical mentor, merge with all the
anti-Marxist theories floating around in the universities. This itself
underlines once again the importance of the struggle against Healy’s
conceptions and shows how important it was to continue this struggle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Their rejection of the Enlightenment
and therefore of reason, their insistence on utopia and a breaking up of the
family, etc., are all animated by the same spirit: to detach Marxism from
science, from the close study of the class struggle and its history, and to
transform it into a beautiful idea that fits the life of petty-bourgeois
existence. Marxism is not supposed to solve the crisis of revolutionary
leadership, but the sexual problems of Frank Brenner.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
have not had much to say about the WSWS recently. This is not because we think
there has been any sign of a positive turn in that organization. In fact its
trajectory continues in the direction of extreme sectarianism and open
hostility to the working class combined with crude opportunism. This is a
combination, a unity of opposites if you will, not as unusual as some may
think. As Trotsky wrote of the sectarians in his time, ‘<i>The urge to stand to
the left of Marxism leads fatally to the centrist swamp</i>’. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
We have previously documented the SEP’s occasional prostration to bourgeois
nationalism, echoing the opportunist practice of Healy as well as that of the
despised ‘Pabloites’. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
reason we have devoted little attention to the SEP and the WSWS in the recent
period was because our personal focus has changed from journalistic activity to
theoretical and cultural activities, and we saw no reason to follow the twists
and turns of this organization. In any case we have said pretty much all there
is to say about the WSWS and the SEP and there is nothing more that needs to be
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as they say ‘the devil never
dies’, and no matter how many times slanders have been responded to, politically
and morally bankrupt individuals will repeat the same slanders over and over
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the staying power of lies and slanders has
grown exponentially with the rise of social media and the world of ‘alternative
facts’ they create. Nevertheless the historical record demands a response even
if it will only impact that handful of readers who remain committed to the
search for truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Vandreier
tosses in his attack on us in the midst of a hagiographic account of North’s
battle against Healy’s butchery of dialectics and his “consistent” struggle for
Trotskyism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We debunked this false narrative
long ago. <b><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
do not have any personal animus toward Mr. <span style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Vandreier. I never met him and I have no doubt he
is sincere in his beliefs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is simply acting
on the basis of how he has been trained for political leadership by David
North.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that he has allowed
himself to be molded into an unquestioning acolyte of North - his lecture is
peppered with dozens of quotations from the great man himself -indicates that
he is not exactly what one would call a critical thinker. However, while Mr.
Vandreier may not know any better, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>special responsibility for the evolution of
the SEP and its sister organizations into the semi political cult it is today
must fall on the shoulders of those older comrades who should have known
better. In this connection special mention must be made of Fred Mazelis, David
Walsh, Bill Van Auken, Fred Choate, Ulrich Rippert, Chris Talbot, Nick Beams and a
handful of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the absence of any pushback or criticism
within the leadership of the SEP and its international partners,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>no mechanism existed for correcting North’s errors.
Like Healy, he was given a free hand. The result was an abandonment of theory,
an unchecked drift toward extreme sectarianism and an organizational structure
that does not tolerate any internal criticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For decades every National Conference of the Socialist Equality Party approved
every resolution brought before it with a unanimous vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The SEP is not the only organization on the
left that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>does not tolerate internal debate,
but it is unique in openly bragging about it. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
</span><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">The <a href="http://permanent-revolution.org/">permanent revolution</a> web site has
over the years published dozens of essays as well as entire volumes comprising
our assessment of David North and the organization he has led since 1975. </span><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
am responding to Vandreier not because I care about his personal attacks against
me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Frank Brenner. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a personal attack would only concern me
if it comes from someone for whom I have some respect. I provide this material
rather to demonstrate to those who are able to intelligently reflect on the
issues raised, that David North as an essential part of his <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gross falsification of the history of his
organization, has for decades spread a fictitious narrative not only about me
and Frank Brenner, but also about the intellectual history of the Frankfurt
School and other philosophical trends of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. He has
embellished over the years a mythology about his unique role in rescuing
Trotskyism from oblivion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Vandreier’s
lecture, as well as the other lectures of the SEP Summer School are the latest
episodes in this decades long disinformation project. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because some people mistakenly believe that
North is a spokesperson for Marxism and Trotskyism, his words and actions
unfortunately influence what some people believe Marxism is all about. This
constitutes nothing less than a crime against the political and intellectual
integrity of Marxism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
summarize Vandreier’s allegations against Frank Brenner and me, he claims that:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">1.</span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">. </span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Gerry Healy was our “theoretical
mentor”.</span></div><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">We reject the Enlightenment and reason.</span></div><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">That we “insist” on Utopia.</span></div><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">That we support the breakup of the
family.</span></div><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">All the above are expressions of our
commitment “to detach Marxism from science, from the close study of the class
struggle and its history, and to transform it into a beautiful idea that fits
the life of petty-bourgeois existence.”</span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><br /><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let’s
take a look at each of Vandreier’s claims.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>1.</b> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;">What does it mean to say that Gerry Healy was
our “theoretical mentor”? Admittedly, when we joined the Workers League in the
early 1970’s we were impressed by Gerry Healy’s consistent defense of
Trotskyism against opportunism and by his ability to speak directly to workers
and convey to them the ideas of revolutionary socialism in a manner they could
easily grasp. David North also commented
on this side of Healy in a political obituary he wrote many years ago. To quote
North,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>Healy
possessed an uncanny ability to articulate and convey that conviction, and
therein lay his astonishing gifts as an orator. He had the rare ability to move
a mass audience. At the peak of his form, he could literally raise thousands to
their feet. And this effect was achieved by inspiring his audiences with
confidence in the power of the historical principles of the Fourth
International and the revolutionary strength of the English working class. </i><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
North wrote here is absolutely true. Practically anyone who joined the movement
in this period, including David North, was inspired by Healy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of us at that time knew anything about
Healy’s abuse of female comrades, something that was only made public in
1985.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This period also predated by
several years Healy’s adoption of what he called the “practice of cognition”, the
sad caricature of dialectics that became Healy’s focus and which was
accompanied by a capitulation to bourgeois nationalism. Is Mr. Vandreier
claiming that we were more “influenced” by Healy than David North or for that
matter any other comrade who entered the movement in this period?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is he claiming that we have adopted, and
remain faithful, to this day, to Healy’s butchery of dialectics? As a matter of
fact we published a critique of Healy’s mangling of dialectics that in every
respect is far superior to anything David North wrote. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Or is Mr. Vandreier simply repeating the smear campaign against us that David
North has prosecuted for the past two decades? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>2.</b> Mr. Vandreier claims that we “reject
the Enlightenment and reason”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We answered this intellectual slander 16 years
ago!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In summing up our discussion of the
Enlightenment, we wrote,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>…in
recent years, the traditional liberal defense of the Enlightenment has been
complemented by a distinct form of right-wing Enlightenment boosterism.
Proponents of this intellectual trend include such figures as Sam Harris and
Christopher Hitchens. Harris, in his book, Letters to a Christian Nation,
defends a version of Western Enlightenment culture that is distinctly chauvinist
and supportive of “humane” imperialism. Hitchens, as is well known, is a former
leftist who has become an enthusiastic supporter of the Bush Administration and
its “War on Terror”. But Hitchens puts his own spin on his support for the Bush
Administration. He claims that the Left has abandoned the Enlightenment (and
indeed there is some truth to that statement when applied to most petty
bourgeois radical groups) whereas the Bush Administration is defending those
very values by exporting the principles of Western democracy to Iraq. </i><b style="font-style: italic;">In the
face of such gangrenous claims to the legacy of the Enlightenment, the task of
Marxists, one would think, would be to stake out an understanding of the
Enlightenment such that it is clearly differentiated from both the liberal and right-wing
narratives</b><i>. Conversely, an oversimplified and schematized version of the
Enlightenment can only lend credence to the liberal and right-wing accounts.</i><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our
discussion of the Enlightenment then, far from rejecting it and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>celebrating <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>irrationalism, was a warning that Marxists
must differentiate themselves from the liberal and right wing ‘defense of the
Enlightenment’. Failure to do so, ironically, only lends aid and comfort to
irrationalism. This is evident on college campuses today where the failure of
Marxists to articulate their own narrative of what was positive about the
Enlightenment and what was missing in it, is grist for the mill for the rise of
“wokeness” and other intellectual rubbish that rejects the Enlightenment and
the tradition of rationalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Missing a
Marxist critique, it is understandable why radicalized college students, who
have been taught that the Enlightenment is compatible with and even encourages capitalism,
imperialism, patriarchy and racism, would embrace a philosophy of
anti-Enlightenment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This antipathy to
the Enlightenment is no mystery when its leading ‘defenders’ are right wing
polemicists such as the late Christoher Hitchens and Sam Harris or worse still,
the neo-cons in the State Department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And to be sure, while Marxists should defend the progressive side of the
Enlightenment against the “woke” crowd, they should also not forget the various
lacunae that characterized the Enlightenment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a fact that misogyny, racism and antisemitism was taken for
granted by some of the key defenders of the Enlightenment such as Voltaire and
Kant. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>3.</b> Vandreier claims that we “insist” on
Utopia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The impression is thereby
conveyed that we are calling for a return to the Utopian Socialism of the 19<sup>th</sup>
century and rejecting the scientific Marxism that superseded it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All this and related smears by North about
our “neo-utopianism” are based on a willful misreading of an essay by Frank
Brenner that we published 20 years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The essay is an historical account of the role of utopian vision in
inspiring the masses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way
there are discussions of the how the right wing of Social Democracy tried to
counterpose utopian vision to scientific socialism, how the history of the
socialist movement continues a tradition born in Ancient Greece of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the “good life”, eudaemonism,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>how the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>role of the family is impacted by changes in the relations of
production, and many other issues that should be of interest to Marxists. I would
not expect the crude name-callers of North’s entourage to appreciate such a
serious intellectual approach to the subject matter – these are after all
people who believe that anyone on the left who is not under their control is a
member of the “pseudo-left” -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and I have
little doubt that Mr. Vandreier never read the essay, but one of the lessons it
draws is that the common belief “…that once Marxism had made socialism into a
science, utopianism became irrelevant” is mistaken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brenner, commenting on this common
misconception wrote, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
primary text on which this view is based is Engels’s <b>Socialism: Utopian and</b>
<b>Scientific</b>, and there is no question that there, as elsewhere, both he
and Marx subjected utopian socialism to a profound critique that was crucial to
the whole project of a scientific socialism. But that critique didn’t render
utopianism irrelevant, any more than the advent of Marxism rendered Hegel’s
philosophy or Smith and Ricardo’s political economy irrelevant. The development
of Marxism was a dialectical one, a ‘transcendence’ that terminated the
ideologically rooted illusions and limitations of its predecessors, while at
the same time preserving – or perhaps more correctly, rediscovering – their
positive content. This is widely understood in relation to Hegel, whose influence
on Marx was evident long after the latter had settled accounts philosophically
with Hegelianism. The utopian socialists, however, have been ignored, even
though there is ample indication in the writings of Marx and Engels that the
ideas of Saint-Simon, Fourier and Owen continued to play an important role in
their thinking.</span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
prove the last point, Brenner provides a quote from Marx’s writing on the Paris
Commune,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From
the moment the working men’s class movement became real, the fantastic utopias
evanesced – not because the working class had given up the end aimed at by
these Utopians, but because they had found the real means to realize them – but
in their place came a real insight into the historical conditions of the
movement and a more and more gathering force of the militant organization of
the working class. But the last two ends of the movement proclaimed by the
Utopians are the last ends proclaimed by the Paris Revolution and by the
International. Only the means are different and the real conditions of the
movement are no longer clouded in utopian fables.</span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>4.</b> Vandreier claims that we advocate the
breakup of the family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a statement
has an uncanny resemblance to the mudslinging of the far right that liberals
and socialists are out to destroy the traditional family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it has about as much truth value as the
ravings of Steve Bannon. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
is but another echo of a gross distortion of our position that North has been
spreading for two decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The charge
is aimed chiefly at Brenner because he has written extensively about the
changing role of the family, gender relations and how they are being
transformed today. He also discussed the theories of some of the
Freudo-Marxists about how the nuclear family structure in bourgeois society
becomes an engine of psychological and ideological repression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of his theoretical work in this area,
North claimed that Brenner was advocating the dissolution of the family
structure and that a revolutionary transformation of society was not possible
until a new family structure replaced the one we have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is of course complete nonsense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brenner was pointing out that it is capitalism,
not he, that is responsible for the dissolution of the nuclear family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What other conclusion can you draw when more
than 50% of the population is driven to divorce and break-up, and when birth
rates are declining, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as a direct result
of economic pressures faced by the working class today? Brenner was also making
the point that a fundamental change of the family structure will face a long
and difficult path even after a revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is the same point made by Trotsky in an essay in his anthology, <b>Problems
of Everyday Life</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
regard to family relations and forms of individual life in general, there must
also be an inevitable period of disintegration of things as they were, of the
traditions inherited from the past which had not passed under the control of
thought. But in this domain of domestic life the period of criticism and
destruction begins later, lasts very long, and assumes morbid and painful forms
which, however, are complex and not always perceptible to superficial
observation.</span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brenner
also recognized, contrary to North’s accusation against us, that revolutions do
not and cannot wait for all forms of cultural backwardness to be overcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we wrote 18 years ago,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
for workers being able to make a revolution despite lingering backwardness on
matters like the family, there isn’t anything difficult or idealist about
understanding how that can happen. A male worker can be a revolutionary and yet
abuse his wife. A working-class family can support the socialist cause and yet
be homophobic or not want their children to marry anyone from a different race
or religion. It is obvious that in any mass revolutionary movement, such
contradictions will abound. Of course making the revolution will itself be a
transformative experience, but on its own it cannot resolve all these problems.</span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>5.</b> Finally Vandreier concludes that we
“…detach Marxism from science, from the close study of the class struggle and
its history, and to transform it into a beautiful idea that fits the life of
petty-bourgeois existence.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is an embellishment of another falsehood initially spread by North almost 20
years ago – namely that we have no real interest in the class struggle and the
development of concrete political perspectives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the record belies this claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have written extensively on a multitude of topics relating to the
class struggle in the US and internationally and have often subjected the
perspectives of the WSWS to a withering critique.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any casual perusal of the
permanent-revolution web site will bear that out. But this claim made by North
about our Ivory Tower indifference to the class struggle was never more than a
distraction to turn attention away from the focus of our concern over the
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that was our insistence,
following in the footsteps of Trotsky, that training in dialectics is essential
to the building of a revolutionary movement. We have maintained and still
maintain that the abandonment of training in dialectics, and for that matter
any education in even the basics of Marxism, is the reason why the SEP and its
sister organizations have turned into sclerotic sectarian cults. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
anticipated their overt anti-unionism long ago when we undertook a theoretical
review of their understanding of unions as part of our critique of their
actions during the New York transit workers strike of 2005. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
riposte about our being drawn to the comforts of a middle-class lifestyle is
one of those afterthoughts thrown in to poison the well against us. Indeed we
have had families and careers and enjoy the modest pleasures we are able to
afford, but we have never travelled in business class as North has done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor have we had the luxury of travelling all
over the world to attend film festivals as David Walsh does. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
a parting shot there is the ad hominem outburst by Mr. Vandreier about Frank
Brenner’s “sexual problems.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If writing
about the changing roles of the family, gender and sex as Brenner has done,
qualifies one as having sexual problems, then one would have to add Frederick
Engels <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to that category as even a
cursory look at his study of the family will bear out. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
will further address some of the more egregious historical falsifications contained
in Vandreier’s lecture in a subsequent installment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>1982:
Marxism, the revolutionary party, and the critique of Healy’s <i>Studies
in Dialectics</i><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/09/28/heal-s28.html">https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/09/28/heal-s28.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>Sectarianism,
Centrism and the Fourth International</b>, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2009/05/sectarianism-centrism-and-fourth.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2009/05/sectarianism-centrism-and-fourth.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
See for instance our essay, <b>The WSWS as a Left Apologist for Bourgeois
Nationalism in Iraq</b>, <a href="https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch02.pdf">https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch02.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
See our essay, <b>Distorting the history of the International Committee</b>, <a href="https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/distorting_history.pdf">https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/distorting_history.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>Gerry
Healy and his Place in the History of the Fourth International</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/special/library/healy/11.html">https://www.wsws.org/en/special/library/healy/11.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> See <b>A
Charlatan Exposed</b> <a href="https://permanent-revolution.org/archives/charlatan_exposed.pdf">https://permanent-revolution.org/archives/charlatan_exposed.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>Marxism
without its head and its heart</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch06.pdf">https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch06.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>To
know a thing is to know its end </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/to_know.pdf">https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/to_know.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Marx
and Engels, <b>On the Paris Commune</b>, pages 165-6.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>From
the Old Family to the New</b>, July 13, 1923, in <b>Problems of Everyday Life</b>,
p. 39, <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/women/life/23_07_13.htm">https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/women/life/23_07_13.htm</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>Marxism
without its head or its heart</b> p. 219<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch08.pdf">https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch08.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>Marxism
without its head of its heart</b> p. 132-135 <a href="https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch05.pdf">https://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch05.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Frederick
Engels, <b>The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State</b>,
International Publishers, 1972,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm">https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-33281623446004193582023-06-18T07:23:00.002-04:002023-06-18T07:40:09.123-04:00Trotsky’s grandson Esteban (Seva) Volkov<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtwDuV0O7GhsDU8oqMT37XFn4QNJLyDxNNtfQC8vPgmkpBiYXOgOeOu2yQVpisk2hVSoq5moJRVUd-OOU3DVndGblEC3eDNUEE2Wfkllctzlh1rwZ6u5YQj-yqMf5c0BPkohpKr8xD82rmIINqn19UqwjccKFHWPeKjC6n21DYrgzc_Zmdf0GIqAF7g/s620/trotsky-andvolkov_image_public_domain-1.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="620" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtwDuV0O7GhsDU8oqMT37XFn4QNJLyDxNNtfQC8vPgmkpBiYXOgOeOu2yQVpisk2hVSoq5moJRVUd-OOU3DVndGblEC3eDNUEE2Wfkllctzlh1rwZ6u5YQj-yqMf5c0BPkohpKr8xD82rmIINqn19UqwjccKFHWPeKjC6n21DYrgzc_Zmdf0GIqAF7g/w640-h272/trotsky-andvolkov_image_public_domain-1.webp" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Seva with Trotsky and Natalia Sedova in Coyoacán.</span></span><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)" face=""Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span class="black-40 nowrap" color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4)" face=""Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11.2px; white-space: nowrap;">[Photo: Museo Casa de León Trotsky]</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Trotsky’s grandson,
Esteban (Seva) Volkov, died on June 16, 2023 at the age of 97. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">I am deeply saddened by the death of Esteban.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">He was a remarkable person who maintained the
legacy of his grandfather his entire life while also creating a successful
career in a new country with a new language and raising a family.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">His greatest accomplishment was the
establishment of the Trotsky Museum in Coyoacán Mexico and its survival in the
teeth of opposition by the local Stalinists and government bureaucrats.</span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It is difficult to
imagine the horrors that the young Seva experienced. He was barely 14 years old when his
grandfather was assassinated. By that time, he had lived through the arrest and
subsequent murder at the hands of the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union, of his father
Platon Volkov, a leading member of the Left Opposition. His mother, Trotsky’s daughter from his first
marriage, Zinaida, committed suicide while trying to get medical attention for
her depression and tuberculosis in Germany.
Seva was taken in by his uncle,
Trotsky’s older son, Leon Sedov. Sedov
was essentially Trotsky’s ambassador to the supporters of the Left Opposition
in Europe and was the linchpin for the creation of the Fourth International. Sedov
was himself assassinated by Stalinist agents in France in 1938. Seva was
reunited with his grandparents in Mexico only after a bitter custody dispute following
the assassination of his uncle. For a young child these series of shocks could
be nothing less than a holocaust on an individual scale. It is therefore all the more remarkable that
Seva did not grow up to be a bitter and depressed individual whose spirit was
broken. Instead, Seva was imbued with the same optimism about the future of
humanity that characterized his grandfather. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I was present at a number
of conferences in the U.S. where Esteban spoke but I only had one brief personal
exchange with him. That was at a
conference on <i>The Legacy of Leon Trotsky and U.S. Trotskyism</i> held at
Fordham University in New York in July of 2008. I spoke to him at the
very end of that conference and only had time to express my appreciation of the
work he had done in keeping the flame of his grandfather’s legacy alive. Even
then, at the advanced age of 82, Esteban had the demeanor of a tall and
handsome man whose eyes expressed both his resolve and his generosity. He
looked far younger than his years. On that occasion my then soon to be partner,
Nina, gave Esteban a flower and he graciously kissed her, in the manner of old-world
etiquette.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I made trips to Coyoacán
on three different occasions. On one of
those trips with my colleague Frank Brenner, we had the good fortune to be
escorted by a guide who had extensive knowledge of the background behind the
struggle to maintain the museum against continuous attempts by the Stalinists
in Mexico to shut it down. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The last time I saw Esteban was virtually, through a
remote video conference at the First International Conference on Trotsky held
in Havana, Cuba in May of 2019. He was
interviewed from the Trotsky Museum by Alan Woods, a long-time scholar of
Trotskyism, a leader of International Marxist Tendency and one of driving
forces behind the new edition of Trotsky’s biography of Stalin. (See our article on announcement of the
publication of the book on Stalin, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2016/08/76th-anniversary-of-trotskys.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2016/08/76th-anniversary-of-trotskys.html</a>
and our summary of the last day of the Conference on Trotsky in Havana, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2019/06/first-international-academic-meeting-on.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2019/06/first-international-academic-meeting-on.html</a>
). In addition to the interview with Esteban,
the Trotsky Museum was one of key backers of the conference in Havana. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">An obituary and two interviews conducted by Alan Benjamin
with Esteban Volkov on the subject of Trotsky’s assassination can be found by following
this link : <a href="https://socialistorganizer.org/2023/06/17/esteban-seva-volkov-trotskys-grandson-1926-2023/">https://socialistorganizer.org/2023/06/17/esteban-seva-volkov-trotskys-grandson-1926-2023/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Esteban Volkov was the
last living witness to Trotsky’s assassination. His presence will be missed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Alex Steiner, June 18,
2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEEfyNxTG3zDN-ixOisi8egStvUtZCXR4Ud4MLxABnntfcJliMzc2NnVChw3yd8dsCUuPu-3DFnO_L1pMrdw5zCjLw0E1vc_g8av1owpOsQyk-6bn4-KrZngxQj1fVFJV0lVXgcQVBdIucdotsYuVrc3gRnTC28FHjRCuNz_6K1gMPG3edxzGszmrzOg/s439/seva-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="439" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEEfyNxTG3zDN-ixOisi8egStvUtZCXR4Ud4MLxABnntfcJliMzc2NnVChw3yd8dsCUuPu-3DFnO_L1pMrdw5zCjLw0E1vc_g8av1owpOsQyk-6bn4-KrZngxQj1fVFJV0lVXgcQVBdIucdotsYuVrc3gRnTC28FHjRCuNz_6K1gMPG3edxzGszmrzOg/w640-h464/seva-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;">Esteban (Seva) Volkov in 2012</span></em></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-92170559080988235912023-04-06T05:36:00.001-04:002023-04-08T23:49:22.075-04:00A Celebration in New York<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1U0rJtNvRD3_jIFmT-BA8Eh2u2yz9yBzeeDp9v00mRQKQg9ixCTamuc7jfaWo1-wGI3kAZVpk5lHFoMJjEQWYL-ayJQIDuJOQpEgXDarJMNjh4NeoLc9BjfF2ZPAHMmgl0wWmviBaR-5noHy_luPj5IG0xXfo_jXlLI3COTBxq832KzVAa31hFJDTmA/s2016/fuck_trump.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1U0rJtNvRD3_jIFmT-BA8Eh2u2yz9yBzeeDp9v00mRQKQg9ixCTamuc7jfaWo1-wGI3kAZVpk5lHFoMJjEQWYL-ayJQIDuJOQpEgXDarJMNjh4NeoLc9BjfF2ZPAHMmgl0wWmviBaR-5noHy_luPj5IG0xXfo_jXlLI3COTBxq832KzVAa31hFJDTmA/w640-h480/fuck_trump.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div>by Alex Steiner</div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">I
walked down to the Criminal Court building in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon to
witness the spectacle of the arrest and arraignment of former President Donald
Trump.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">I was wondering how far I could
walk before coming up against the police barricades.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">I didn’t have to walk very far to find
out.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">There was a crowd of probably a
thousand or so just North of the court house.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">
</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Navigating my way to the front I soon ran into the expected police barricades.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">No one, including journalists, </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">who were not on a special list, could get
through the police lines.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">This crowd, let’s
call them the “northern encampment”, there being a similar group south of the
court house, seemed to be mostly curious rather than overtly political.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">One was a tourist from France who was
comparing this event, somewhat dismissively, to the demonstrations against
Macron in Paris. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">There </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">were </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">a
good number of people there who were of no strong political persuasion but made
the pilgrimage downtown just to see Trump taken down.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">I have to admit that I could empathize with
them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Others
just came out because it was a beautiful spring day in New York and a great
occasion to participate in a kind of street theater that New York is known for.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
were of course a few Trump supporters, but they were a tiny, if very noisy,
minority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mass mobilization of
violent MAGA shock troops in the heart of liberal New York, the nightmare scenario
of MSNBC and the New York Police Department, never materialized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I later learned that Marjorie Taylor-Greene
made a brief appearance but left after a few minutes when she realized the
expected MAGA crowd never showed up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">I
watched a trio of what appeared to be graduates of a Connecticut prep school
sitting in a rickshaw, yelling “Trump, Trump, Trump” over and over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A single African American protester yelled back,
“Fuck Trump, Fuck Trump, Fuck Trump.” A sign peeking out behind the heads of
the trio proclaimed them as “<b><i>EXTREME MAGA</i></b>”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It reminded me of the label on chocolate bars
that try to distinguish themselves by adding the word “<b><i>Extreme”</i></b>
to<b><i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Dark Chocolate</i></b>”. The
owner of the rickshaw, an older Asian gentleman, did not look very happy
hosting these snot-nosed wealthy kids from the suburbs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Not
making any progress in my attempt to get to the front of the court house from
the northern encampment I decided to try the view from the West of the court building.
I walked over to a green space called <b><i>Collect Pond Park</i></b> which was
filled to capacity by a crowd of protesters and onlookers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This site sits on top of a natural spring and
in the 17<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup> century was a source of clean drinking
water for the island of Manhattan. It also served as a pristine natural landscape
in the middle of downtown Manhattan. Families would come there for picnics. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the early 19<sup>th</sup> century however the
pond became heavily polluted and morphed into a disgusting sewer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one of New York’s earliest sanitation projects,
the pond was paved over and eventually turned into a small park in the middle
of Manhattan’s court district.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">There
was a distinctly festive atmosphere to the crowd in the park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the yelling back and forth between pro
and anti-Trumpists had a rhythmic charm to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A loud <b><i>“Free Donald Trump”</i></b> was immediately followed by an
even louder <b><i>“Fuck Donald Trump”</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A band was performing at the top of the park featuring a chant of “Fuck
Donald Trump” in some kind of rap harmony accompanied by drums and cymbals.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="314" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CAW-vrFuH24" width="515" youtube-src-id="CAW-vrFuH24"></iframe></div><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">There
was a view through a metal fence of the entrance to the court house across the
street but the only thing one could see were dozens of tents set up directly in
front of the court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These housed the
major news organizations that were covering Trump’s arrest, including
Associated Press, Eurovision, Washington Post, New York Times, etc. There were
in addition to the tents what must have been dozens and perhaps hundreds of
news trucks parked in the streets nearby from local radio and television stations
all over the country. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a mystery
to me what they could be reporting on since the only real news that day was the
release of the indictment against Trump and his “Not Guilty” plea in
court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only a few reporters were
allowed to enter the court room to view the procedure and no cameras were
allowed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But all these news outfits were
in the business of creating their own illusion of “breaking news” by filming a
reporter standing in the street and providing non-existent “information” such
as by speculating which door Trump will use to enter the building. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg744Alo0Qpr-c02tZGCpPdw4UvEQkjfxvUK8UsjoG4i0J5_JLl960YedFM0emxQR9Ip-rdGOY5PeT02aRqc9ZtSPH3UWMlUR4xfqm_LFPi1sGENkjp49G1Ym-jn5p-WuGy4B7WGUMD2A5s1d2Fi1WrRGmyoMIQJj73w95k1esR5_15Axhi28a6L_oPaw/s2016/tents_Centre_St.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg744Alo0Qpr-c02tZGCpPdw4UvEQkjfxvUK8UsjoG4i0J5_JLl960YedFM0emxQR9Ip-rdGOY5PeT02aRqc9ZtSPH3UWMlUR4xfqm_LFPi1sGENkjp49G1Ym-jn5p-WuGy4B7WGUMD2A5s1d2Fi1WrRGmyoMIQJj73w95k1esR5_15Axhi28a6L_oPaw/s320/tents_Centre_St.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Political
discourse, such as it was, consisted mostly in people holding up posters or
giving out flyers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were also
animated discussions taking place although the ones I heard seemed to have as
much content as the “Free Trump - Fuck Trump” dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a few people who seemed to be
regulars of the downtown court scene who were giving out their flyers to a
captive audience that they rarely get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One middle-aged woman gave out very tiny flyers, maybe<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>3 by 4 inches with a hand-written message
that had the character of a hieroglyph. The words were so small and in such hard
to read handwriting that all I could make out were a few odd words. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gather she was protesting some injustice
either to her personally or to someone close to her that took place across the
street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were others handing out
more traditional flyers, denouncing Trump with the slogan <b><i>“No one is
above the law”</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw one
hand-written poster that said something like, <b><i>“Free Julian Assange and
Defend Trump against a political witch-hunt”</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coupling of the demand to free Julian
Assange, favored by the left, with the accusation that Trump is the victim of a
political witch hunt is typical of those organizations calling for an alliance
between the extreme left and the extreme right, a ‘Red-Brown’ coalition. This
characterizes, to one degree or another, the recent politics of comedian and
podcaster Jimmy Dore, Max Blumenthal and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The irony here is that when Trump was President
his Administration went after Julian Assange with the same zeal as the current
Biden Administration. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">I
had an extended conversation with one person in the park whose poster caught my
eye, <b><i>“Indict all Republican enablers, co-conspirators”</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is exactly right and it is the one thing
that the January 6<sup>th</sup> Committee completely elided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many leading members of the Republican Party
in Congress were up to their ears in the conspiracy to steal the election from
Biden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And practically every single Republican
in Congress protected Trump and his lieutenants from any kind of accountability
for their crimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The person holding the
poster was a Vietnam War veteran named George Robinson. I got into a
wide-ranging political discussion with George and he agreed that not only
Trump, but other recent Presidents should be prosecuted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also agreed that the rise of Trump was
made possible by the Democrat’s abandonment of the working class. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrhqNf6dtXvy_B3WPvKujLWH0mEY8k0dWkMEEVQU8vYCBkOU2vYb521uXBzqn1qsGKJUzpRYbgb8JkzKzINPCaYjtxuWkxz4hkdJYJZCzPoCgHEHP7i1rQLYaUZjpxNVNZVTb4vBZUU3MyvTj_wEPzWxZu374LYsZOE6yp1PaTiAq09umQahGld2ToaA/s2016/George_Robinson.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrhqNf6dtXvy_B3WPvKujLWH0mEY8k0dWkMEEVQU8vYCBkOU2vYb521uXBzqn1qsGKJUzpRYbgb8JkzKzINPCaYjtxuWkxz4hkdJYJZCzPoCgHEHP7i1rQLYaUZjpxNVNZVTb4vBZUU3MyvTj_wEPzWxZu374LYsZOE6yp1PaTiAq09umQahGld2ToaA/w300-h400/George_Robinson.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Vietnam War veteran George Robinson</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Of
course there is no denying that there is a political dimension to the charges
brought up against Trump.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">But there is
at the same time a legal dimension that cannot be ignored.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Were these same charges brought up against anyone
else there is little doubt that they would have been brought to trial, convicted
and sentenced years ago.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">And one can
argue that Trump should have first been indicted on the much more serious
crimes of tampering with the election in Georgia and of inciting the mob used
in the failed coup of January 6.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Those
cases have been sitting around for many months, with the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, unwilling to move on the recommendations of the January 6</span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</sup><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">
Committee.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Finally, one can point to the
rank hypocrisy of the Democrats push to prosecute Trump when they are at the
same time protecting President Biden and former Presidents Obama, Bush and
Clinton for their many crimes.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">All these
facts are true,</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">but when it comes to
shaping our attitude to the arrest and prosecution of Trump, they are somewhat
besides the point.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Americans have a
right to celebrate the fact that some measure of accountability is finally
being exacted on this monstrosity who came out of the sewers of the New York real
estate Mafia and who was instrumental in the transformation of the Republican
Party into a party of neo-fascism. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">So while
we work out the broader political context of Trump’s arrest,</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">give us this moment to celebrate what will
hopefully prove to be the downfall of a tyrant.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3qgAx65La9mYYBapddprDLRzXkVrhGacAimf5lSkorvgwYVP5U_zYMsWdQkv0Nx5dKWLZHwNWsARFPT76VfpD5fYzUdZeALOV58rkcx0Oayx3jI-WpzKV-XJ3M43lIZHqaHAmwgSKHFzmh3ssFzNVc4-dJHG1pgBoZgrQoHxnfpg2ej5-ZUCEptlMg/s2016/lock_him_up.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3qgAx65La9mYYBapddprDLRzXkVrhGacAimf5lSkorvgwYVP5U_zYMsWdQkv0Nx5dKWLZHwNWsARFPT76VfpD5fYzUdZeALOV58rkcx0Oayx3jI-WpzKV-XJ3M43lIZHqaHAmwgSKHFzmh3ssFzNVc4-dJHG1pgBoZgrQoHxnfpg2ej5-ZUCEptlMg/w400-h300/lock_him_up.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /></div></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-83707600927397772582022-10-28T20:47:00.001-04:002022-10-28T22:40:28.009-04:00UAW at a Crossroads<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PagV8-_Paf4-YbLZ5YyfZWABd7S_l6T6wHNrRJyur_RHAiX8OjSTc1Obf8aIk32SWx_RtrI22ww34n8_L4ukPiFV4xaeyD3RmCcqaiPAfATdL6EUs8PWKoNP9U-vTOCX7zMSWUDYoNp1F5MoFGCDhUYEyHnang4KCNsYhJjLZfNe4wC_DPdnKajQ-A/s900/flint_sit_down_strike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="900" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PagV8-_Paf4-YbLZ5YyfZWABd7S_l6T6wHNrRJyur_RHAiX8OjSTc1Obf8aIk32SWx_RtrI22ww34n8_L4ukPiFV4xaeyD3RmCcqaiPAfATdL6EUs8PWKoNP9U-vTOCX7zMSWUDYoNp1F5MoFGCDhUYEyHnang4KCNsYhJjLZfNe4wC_DPdnKajQ-A/w640-h392/flint_sit_down_strike.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Flint sit-down strike</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Note</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-align: justify;">: We are publishing a statement
by Peter Ross and Steve Zeltzer on the current election campaign for the
International Executive Board of the United Auto Workers Union (UAW). The
statement provides an excellent overview of the history of the UAW from its
roots as a militant working-class organization in the 1930's, to its
degeneration in the post-war period and its current status as one of the most
corrupt unions in the country. We do not necessarily agree with everything in
this statement, but it is nevertheless an important contribution to a
continuing debate about the future of the American working and its unions.</span></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">One issue
that we disagree on is the use of the phrase "united front" in the
context of building an alliance with other groups in the union. While we
wholeheartedly agree that different groups should be able to collaborate on
issues they have in common and work together in joint campaigns, calling this
kind of activity a "united front" opens the door to theoretical
confusion. The "united front" was a very specific tactic developed in
the early years of the Communist International and later the Trotskyist
movement that called on the mass parties of the working class, particularly the
Communist Party and the Social Democrats, to bring together their forces in a
joint struggle against fascism and reaction. The slogan had particular
resonance in the struggle against fascism in Germany and France in the 1930's.
Raising this slogan today when mass parties of the working class no longer
exist or have become so corrupted - as for example the British Labour Party -
that they can hardly be considered working class parties anymore, does not help
in educating the masses about the need for independent political action by the
working class. It is even worse when the "united front" slogan is
applied in the context of statements signed jointly by several tiny political
groups. It sows illusions that such groups have the capacity to become mass working-class
organizations. Hal Draper dealt with this particular form of wishful thinking
many years ago in his excellent essay, </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2062509833711600070/3616180443526013014" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Anatomy
of the Micro-Sect</a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Given that caveat, the statement
by Ross and Zeltzer deserves a wide audience. They point out the significance
of the fact that one of the candidates in the UAW election, Will Lehman, has
made a powerful impression by calling out the UAW bureaucracy and raising the
question of socialism in his campaign. At the same time Ross and Zeltzer point
out the schizophrenic position of the Socialist Equality Party which is behind
the Lehman campaign. While running a candidate for a leadership position in the
UAW, the Socialist Equality Party has very recently called for the destruction
of the UAW and urged workers to vote against the union in the recent union
organizing drive of Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">When Peter Ross tried to raise
the question of the contradictory position of the SEP in relation to their
campaign in the UAW in a comment on the World Socialist Web Site, he was
censored by the editors of that online publication. We are adding Ross's
unpublished comment on the WSWS in an appendix.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Alex
Steiner</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">UAW at a Crossroads</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peter Ross and Steve Zeltzer</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(United Front Committee for a Labor Party)</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
October 20, 2022</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last Monday, the United Auto Workers began mailing out ballots for
the election of the union’s International Executive Board, its highest
governing body. This is the first election in the history of the UAW in which
every member will be able to vote directly for the leadership of their union.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This historic election comes two months after the UAW held its
once-in-four-years Constitutional Convention—the first convention in which
rank-and-file members were able to put themselves up for election to the union
leadership.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These and other changes to UAW rules were put in place by a 2-1
vote in a union-wide referendum, which was part of a consent agreement with the
federal government, after 17 executives were federally indicted for
embezzlement and racketeering. The corruption scandal, which began in 2017, has
rocked the union leadership, many of whom are implicated in taking company
bribes and stealing dues money from the membership. The federal government has
also installed a monitor, who in July issued a report on the leadership’s lack
of transparency and violation of the terms of the consent agreement.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The imposition of more democratic processes by the federal
government has opened up some new possibilities for militant workers, but no
confidence should be placed in the capitalist state to democratize the union.
The new rules leave the bureaucratic apparatus untouched. It retains its
function as a proxy of management, whose role it is to negotiate and enforce
concessionary contracts in the workers’ name. The interventions of the
capitalist state are not aimed at truly democratizing the union, but at providing
its bureaucratic apparatus with a veneer of democracy, in order to preserve its
legitimacy in the eyes of workers and stabilize it as an instrument of labor
management. That the American government felt the need to intervene in union
affairs is itself a damning indictment of the rot at the heart of the UAW and
exposes the character of the bureaucracy as a junior partner of the
capitalists. The union belongs to the workers! The rank-and-file must demand:
feds and bureaucrats alike, out of the UAW!</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Movement for Union Democracy</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only a movement from below can truly bring democracy back to our
union. Recent reform efforts have been led by </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://uawd.org/"><span style="color: #1155cc; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Unite All Workers for
Democracy (UAWD)</span></a></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, a grassroots movement of UAW members from around the
country, which commanded substantial influence at this year’s convention. The
Administration Caucus, which has ruled the UAW for decades, usually sets the
agenda for the conventions in a choreographed series of speeches and
Administration Caucus-sponsored resolutions. But at this year’s convention,
they were unable to prevent resolutions drafted by the rank-and-file and passed
by union locals from reaching the floor for discussion.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">UAWD-sponsored resolutions included one to start strike pay from
day one instead of day eight, and increase strike pay from $275 to at least
$400 per week. The International Executive Board (IEB) voted for the pay
increase just prior to the convention, in an effort to take the initiative from
UAWD, but convention delegates went a step further, passing the resolution to
begin strike pay from day one and increasing strike pay to $500 per week, at
the initiative of a striking Case tractor factory worker.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A UAWD-drafted resolution calling for the UAW to amend its constitution
to require it to oppose contracts with tiered pay and benefits also made it to
the floor and was the subject of extensive debate but was ultimately defeated.
The two-tier system has been backed by the Administration Caucus as supposedly
the only way to save autoworkers’ jobs in the face of company cost-cutting and
outsourcing. It is both a betrayal of the newer members and a weapon against
the demands of the more senior members, and it is a wedge which the management
and bureaucracy use to divide the union membership.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the final day of the convention, the Administration Caucus
attempted to reassert its authority by forcing a revote on the increase in
strike pay. Many of the delegates had already returned home by this point, and
the Administration Caucus, working behind the scenes to pressure delegates, was
able to rescind the increase in pay. These are the actions of a bureaucracy
that is so used to ruling, it doesn’t know how to respond to rank-and-file
opposition, and clumsily exposes itself in its efforts to retain control.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another telling episode from the convention was the refusal of the
Administration Caucus-dominated International Executive Board to invite a
contingent of GM workers from Silao, Mexico—who recently founded the independent
union SINTTIA—to attend the convention. Instead, they invited the so-called
Solidarity Center—an international operation of the AFL-CIO—which receives $75
million per year in corporate and federal money from the National Endowment for
Democracy. The AFL-CIO has a long history of collaborating with the CIA and
American government in suppressing workers’ struggles, propping up corporatist
trade unions against independent unions, and overthrowing governments around
the world, including in Brazil, Guatemala, Guyana, and the Dominican Republic.
They worked to sabotage a peasant movement in El Salvador, supported the
apartheid regime in South Africa, and participated in backing right-wing unions
in Chile prior to the 1973 coup, which resulted in the deaths of tens of
thousands (see also, the </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://aflcio-int.education/"><span style="color: #1155cc; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Labor Education Project on AFL-CIO International
Operations</span></a></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">). While the multinational corporations have spread production all
over the globe, the AFL-CIO prevents workers from mounting an effective
response by organizing internationally. In the age of globalization, the only
way to rebuild the labor movement is on an international basis, and this means
a rebellion against the AFL-CIO.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Radical Roots of the UAW</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is a long history of militant working-class struggle in the
UAW. Following a long decline of the craft unions organized in the American
Federation of Labor (AFL)—long-controlled by their own ossified
bureaucracies—the onset of the Great Depression and a wave of militant
struggles opened a new era in the American Labor Movement. In 1934, a wave of
powerful general strikes in Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Toledo, led by
socialists and left-wing workers, showed that the organized working class could
defeat the employers.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This eruption of class struggle gave a powerful impetus to the
development of the Labor Movement. The following year, the Congress of
Industrial Organizations (CIO) was founded, originally as a committee within
the AFL, and then, after it was forced out, as an independent organization of
industrial unionists. The UAW, also founded in 1935, was divided from its
inception between a group aligned with the radical-led CIO and a group aligned
with the conservative, class-collaborationist AFL. Due to the efforts of
militant workers and socialists, the UAW followed the CIO out of the AFL, and
went on to grow rapidly. The 44-day Flint Sit-down Strike of 1937 forced
General Motors to recognize the UAW, and within the next few years, it also won
recognition from Chrysler and Ford.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The power of auto workers during the period of the UAW’s founding
came from taking direct action on the shop floor to stop production. This
approach was successful in protecting the health and safety of workers and also
in stopping the firing of union militants and rank-and-file leaders. There was
also significant support at this time for the formation of a Labor Party,
independent of both the Democrats and Republicans.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The nature of the UAW gradually changed in the following years, as
the union became established and took on a dual role as both the negotiator and
enforcer of labor contracts. In March 1939, a group of ten UAW locals led by
Trotskyists came together to support the formation of a Labor Party and to keep
power in the hands of the rank and file. This was opposed by a conservative
faction led by Walter Reuther and a faction led by the Communist Party, but the
Trotskyists' Union Building Program was adopted, along with a resolution
calling for the formation of a Labor Party in the United States. However, the
leadership of the CIO remained subordinate to the Democratic Party.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the World War II era, the UAW’s Executive Board signed a
no-strike pledge to assist the American war effort. This was backed by the
Communist Party. After the war, communists and class struggle militants were
systematically purged from the trade unions. The AFL and CIO merged into a
single anti-communist and pro-imperialist alliance, and the labor movement went
into sharp decline. The Administration Caucus began its life during this period
as an anti-communist grouping founded by then-UAW president Walter Reuther, who
remained president until his death in 1970. The Reuther leadership vehemently
opposed the militant tactics that had built the UAW, and they eventually signed
contracts that ended this power on the job, while solidifying their own
leadership.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The UAW bureaucracy became little more than an adjunct of the
Democratic Party. At a UAW convention in San Diego in 1995, then-President Bill
Clinton, who had been invited to speak, told union leaders that he would
support NAFTA whether they liked it or not. After this speech, the craven UAW
officials gave him a standing ovation despite his open declaration that he
would push deindustrialization via this corporate trade program. The UAW and
AFL-CIO tops have been right behind not only Clinton but also Trump, who passed
the USMCA, a trade agreement replacing NAFTA that is aimed at further
consolidating the North American trading bloc in preparation for conflict with
China.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today, Flint, Michigan—the site of one of the great victories of
American labor—is a decaying city in the deindustrialized area around Detroit,
known to most Americans as the town whose residents were poisoned by their
water supply. Flint is emblematic of the decay of American capitalism and the
defeats of the Labor Movement. Yet after a lifetime of rule by the
Administration Caucus, which has overseen one concessionary contract after
another and helped run the Labor Movement into the ground, rank-and-file workers
have shown that there is still a spark of life in the UAW.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Almost a century ago, American Trotskyist James P. Cannon
described the Flint Sit-down strike in these terms: “The revolt, which no
bureaucracy could contain, was spearheaded by new people—the young mass
production workers, the new young militants whom nobody had ever heard of…” The
strike was propelled by the “bitter and irreconcilable grievances of the
workers: their protest against mistreatment, speedup, insecurity; the revolt of
the pariahs against their pariah status.”</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today, after decades of attacks on living and working conditions,
there is a new generation of workers who are being driven into struggle against
the capitalists and the union bureaucracies. A wave of strikes, unionization
drives, and renewed working-class militancy has shown that workers will not
continue to accept endless wage cuts, sellout contracts, and attacks on their
livelihoods. It is up to this new generation of workers to return the UAW to
its radical roots, sweep away the bureaucracy, and turn the union back into a
weapon to defend the rights of working people.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reformism and Sectarianism: Two dead-ends for the working class</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Administration Caucus has clearly been taken aback by the
level of support and organization among the rank-and-file for the upstart
reform movement. But now that they know the strength of this movement, they
will make every effort to crush and disperse it.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Three weeks after the convention, UAW Region 1 “CAP Coordinator”
Brian Negovan flagrantly violated the “Official Rules for the 2022
International Officer Election” by attempting to prohibit campaign leaflets
from being passed out outside a meeting of a retiree’s chapter. UAW
Presidential candidate Will Lehman’s campaign has reported a similar act of
intimidation by Local 598 District Committeeman Sean Meachem, who confronted
Lehman and a team of volunteers who were leafleting outside a GM plant, took photographs
of them, and called GM security to remove them from the premises.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8j60ar2_4LRwDoEYNol5K9J9q9ichfwDsaGziYgcOyWu6EV7ID0P7hY234jlalJQKzuhcqa_BLkkp3EjS8BbCWmRFOTmoV-VDnXGuWbP3po9GkbqsJcz0Nj_FuXYd_4O3ZXV0MklV1qmn8c9r6iqWGuE7TfVvyhGkQVDLQ1d2LW3EImCaxg5kcvj8w/s1932/Lehman.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1087" data-original-width="1932" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8j60ar2_4LRwDoEYNol5K9J9q9ichfwDsaGziYgcOyWu6EV7ID0P7hY234jlalJQKzuhcqa_BLkkp3EjS8BbCWmRFOTmoV-VDnXGuWbP3po9GkbqsJcz0Nj_FuXYd_4O3ZXV0MklV1qmn8c9r6iqWGuE7TfVvyhGkQVDLQ1d2LW3EImCaxg5kcvj8w/w400-h225/Lehman.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lehman—the only avowed socialist in the campaign—has rightly
highlighted the Administration Caucus’s use of intimidation tactics, something
that UAWD has failed to do. He has won a hearing in the UAW for raising issues
no other campaign will broach: above all, the need to entirely dismantle the
bureaucratic machine and replace it with democratic institutions controlled by
workers themselves. He was the only candidate, in the election’s one
presidential debate, to speak to the real conditions workers face, to attack
not only the current bureaucrats but the bureaucratic apparatus itself, and to
call for organizing workers on an international basis.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lehman’s campaign—conducted by the Socialist Equality Party, which
publishes the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS)—has centered on “abolishing the
bureaucracy” and calls on union members to form so-called “rank-and-file
committees” as an alternative. But the SEP’s committees are not broad-based
organizations aiming to draw in the widest possible layers of militant workers
and educate them in the class struggle. Rather, the SEP insists that the
committees must be in full political agreement with itself on all issues.
Hence, these committees are typically founded by and subordinate to the party,
and generally consist of only a few members.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Workers want and need organizations they control, which give them
a voice and allow them to become active agents in fighting for their own lives
and livelihoods. The role of a Marxist is to aid the workers in their struggles
for political independence and to fight for a revolutionary political
perspective. This requires that Marxists immerse themselves in the movement,
not section themselves off into isolated committees, which are doomed to
sterility and irrelevance. It requires a willingness to build United Fronts,
capable of drawing into struggle as many workers as possible, including those
who have not yet come to revolutionary conclusions. Marxists must fight
intransigently for a revolutionary program, but they do not demand that workers
adopt all their positions as a precondition for uniting around common,
transitional demands.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The “Trotskyists” in the SEP would do well to recall the </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/04/lp.htm"><span style="color: #1155cc; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">1938 discussion</span></a></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> between Trotsky and
Cannon on whether the Socialist Workers Party should support the movement in
the CIO for the formation of a Labor Party. Trotsky called for the SWP to join
these efforts as a necessary tactic for organizing the mass trade union
movement politically, while maintaining an independent existence and
revolutionary program for the SWP. Trotsky concludes, “To say that we will
fight against opportunism, as of course we will fight today and tomorrow,
especially if the working-class party had been organized, by blocking a
progressive step which can produce opportunism, is a very reactionary policy,
and sectarianism is often reactionary because it opposes the necessary action of
the working class…”</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Indeed, the SEP has long since gone over to an outright
reactionary position, attacking the trade unions in general, and calling for
workers to leave them for their own committees. For the purposes of this
campaign, they now claim that they seek to abolish the bureaucracy, not the
union itself, since the latter would make their campaign an obvious absurdity.
This is pure sophistry, as a brief look at their past positions makes clear. <span style="background: white;">In a WSWS article, “The middle-class ‘left’ and the UAW-GM
contract”, published October 12, 2007, the authors write: “The Socialist
Equality Party would advise workers, should the UAW come to their plant, to
vote to keep it out. Joining the UAW would not advance workers’ interests one
iota.” Elsewhere, WSWS refuse to differentiate between the union and its
bureaucracy, calling the UAW an “agency of corporate management” and stating
that their task is to “destroy, not bolster, the ‘persuasive power’ of the UAW
and to build a powerful political alternative.” Last year, WSWS called for a
“No” vote for the unionization of an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.
Again and again, the website calls for the replacement of the trade unions by
rank-and-file committees, i.e., the abolition of the former, even to the point
of opposing the organization of unorganized plants</span>—<span style="background: white;">a direct attack on the union and the working class.
Such backward positions not only discredit the SEP</span>—they give priceless
ammunition to the bureaucracy, which can and will be used against other revolutionaries
in the UAW.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rather than criticizing the SEP on this basis, the left-wing media
outside WSWS has instituted an unprincipled black-out of Lehman’s campaign.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In contrast to the SEP, UAWD took the initiative in mobilizing
pro-reform elements across the UAW during both the ‘one-member-one-vote’
campaign and the convention. Their platform calls for abolishing the multi-tier
system, opposes corruption and the existing labor-management partnership, and
has put forward the old slogan ‘30 Hours Work for 40 Hours Pay’ in answer to
the mass-layoffs brought about by automation and cost-cutting. However, UAWD
fails to even address the issues that Lehman’s campaign has raised and limits
its aims to superficial reforms rather than building the organizations the rank
and file will need to confront the Administration Caucus. Their presidential
candidate, Shawn Fain, attacks individual bureaucrats but scoffs at the idea
that the bureaucracy itself must be dismantled. Fain often hails the
anti-communist Reuther as representing the supposed good old days of the UAW.
While the UAWD platform calls, in vague terms, for “international solidarity”
and makes a meek call for a “re-examination” of the UAW’s relationship with the
Democrats, they have not pressed these issues in the IEB campaign and have
provided little in the way of a concrete program. They have run on the whole,
an insipid, pro forma campaign, completely lacking in militancy. It is little
wonder that they have proved unable to mobilize mass support in the union after
the convention.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps most glaringly, neither UAWD nor the SEP has publicized
the ongoing strike of 700 Case tractor factory workers in Racine, Wisconsin, or
attempted to use their campaigns to mobilize workers across the UAW to defend
the strike.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Neither of these camps is capable of bringing real change to the
UAW. What is needed is a true oppositional caucus, committed to building a mass
movement in the UAW that will sweep the bureaucracy out of the union and
replace it with new institutions of worker democracy. Until such a caucus
exists, revolutionaries should work both in UAWD and outside of it, building
United Fronts with the reform forces around certain demands, while openly
criticizing reformism and fighting for a revolutionary perspective.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An oppositional caucus can only exist if it is absolutely
independent of the Democrats, which led the bureaucratization of the unions,
and have spent decades, together with their “Republican colleagues,”
dismantling all that is left of the old Labor Movement. The first political
task for a renewed Labor Movement will be to carry out a struggle against the
Democrat-aligned bureaucracies and pose a political alternative: a mass
democratic Labor Party in the United States.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The critical fight is to organize the large number of auto plants
in the South, the Midwest, and Mexico. This has been an abject failure by the
business-unionist officialdom of the UAW. We need to win these organizing
fights by supporting a mass movement of workers in these communities that backs
up organizing with direct action. This is how the UAW was built.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Fight in the UAW in a New Era of Class Struggle</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Workers all over the United States are suffering from the same
conditions as UAW workers. They are dealing with the same sell-out bureaucrats
and the same bosses who want to make profits on their backs. More layoffs and
speedups are in store. We have to unite as a class to shut down industry
because that is the only way we will win our demands. Negotiations do not
result in any victories without militant struggles. When workers see the power
they have through mass mobilizations, there is no stopping that power.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Workers must reclaim the ability to take direct action on the job
to protect health and safety and prevent contract violations. The NLRB will not
help us. </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Biden Administration has underfunded and
understaffed this agency while the federal government has provided $210 million
for so-called “democracy” and "labor rights" union work in Mexico
(supplied to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs through the USMCA trade
agreement).</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The auto companies aim to further gut the auto industry as they
transition to the production of less labor-intensive electric vehicles. Auto
workers and other UAW members should take up UAWD’s call for equal pay for a
shorter work week, so that no one need lose their job, and workers can benefit
from the enormous technological advances their labor has made possible.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The union movement must take as its starting point the
international unity of the working class against the capitalist class and its
political parties. In the UAW, this means building direct international links
with other workers at GM, Ford, Caterpillar, and all other auto, truck, farm
machinery and parts companies around the world, and taking direct action
internationally with our fellow workers when they need it. We cannot allow the
bosses to pit workers here against those in other countries or pit our members
against each other with two-tier wages and substandard contracts. We need real
union solidarity in action.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With no one in Washington representing their interests, many
working-class people, including some in the UAW, have turned to the faux
populism of the Republican Party, which is now moving toward fascism and
dictatorship. The issues of growing racist attacks and the rise of fascism were
not debated or even brought up at the UAW 2022 Convention by any grouping, but
these issues are critical not only to UAW members and their families but the
entire working class. In the past, the UAW supported the struggles against
racism and the right to vote in the South, yet the present bureaucracy refuses
to support a mobilization against the danger of a fascist coup. Instead, they
rely on the Democrats. UAWD should link up with the Vermont AFL-CIO, which is
fighting to build a democratic Labor Movement and organize the working class
against the threat of another coup by the fascists in the Republican Party. We
also need to defend Black, Brown, and Asian members, who face increasing racist
attacks in the plants and in our communities.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is also a growing threat of a catastrophic war between the
US and China and Russia. The UAW, as one of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO,
has long supported US imperialism around the world. We must end the trillions
of dollars that are spent for the war machine while our cities and communities
are falling apart and working people don’t have affordable housing, healthcare,
or a good public education system. Both the Democrats and Republicans are
bipartisan when it comes to more wars and privatization. We need to organize a
national fight against wars abroad and privatization of public education,
public services, and public lands. The enemies of UAW members are not Mexican
or Chinese auto workers and the people of these countries, but the billionaires
and capitalist class that are exploiting people throughout the world and use
xenophobia, racism, and nationalism to pit worker against worker.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this time of social collapse, we must rebuild our unions and
take the first steps toward a Labor Party, founded and controlled by working
people. Only such a party, capable of organizing the entire working class, can
successfully oppose the giant transnational corporations and open a new era in
the struggle for socialism.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Appendix: </span></b><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Censored comment by Peter Ross on the World Socialist Web Site </span></b><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">I
applaud Lehman for bringing socialist ideas before the UAW membership for the
first time in many years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">He
consistently attacked the bureaucracy and counterposed to it the power of the
rank-and-file. He also raised the important question of international
organizing several times. Fain’s answers, in contrast, were vague and
uninspiring. The idea that the union can be democratized while leaving all the
old institutions intact is absurd.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">But Lehman
should have provided concrete proposals on HOW to abolish the bureaucracy and
what it would be replaced with, i.e. both immediate and long-term organizing
goals for the rank-and-file committees, how they would elect an international
leadership and measures for democratizing the union, to include the ability to
immediately recall officials, pay limited to that of a skilled worker, open and
direct elections, more regular conventions and mass meetings, creation of a
union-wide forum to facilitate discussion, etc. Without these sorts of demands,
the call to abolish the bureaucracy is vacuous. Also needed is a plan of action
to organize the unorganized auto plants concentrated in the southern US and
eastern Mexico.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">If the SEP
were serious about building rank-and-file committees, it would pursue United
Front tactics aimed at drawing in as many militant members as possible. In
practice, the SEP views the committees as proxies for the party, which has the
effect of isolating them from wider union politics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">Lehman was
able to participate in this debate not due to major organizing victories in the
rank-and-file, but because of new rules brought about by the intervention of the
federal government into the union. His candidacy would not have been possible
without the victory of one-member-one-vote, in which UAWD played a key role.
Where was the SEP in this struggle? Criticizing the bureaucracy is one thing,
but without serious organizing efforts, these are only words.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">If Greenhouse
misquoted Lehman, that is indeed an egregious mistake, but union liquidationism
is exactly what the SEP has preached for many years. Does Lehman know the
history of his party? In an article by Jerry White and Barry Grey, “The
middle-class ‘left’ and the UAW-GM contract”, published October 12, 2007, the
authors write “The Socialist Equality Party would advise workers, should the
UAW come to their plant, to vote to keep it out. Joining the UAW would not
advance workers’ interests one iota.” Elsewhere, the WSWS calls the UAW an
“agency of corporate management” and says its task is to “destroy, not bolster,
the ‘persuasive power’ of the UAW and to build a powerful political
alternative.” Last year, WSWS called for a “No” vote for the unionization of an
Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. Again and again, the website calls for
the replacement of the trade unions by rank-and-file committees, i.e., the
abolition of the former.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">The SEP has
now opportunistically altered its line for the purpose of this campaign, since
to run a candidate for UAW IEB president while calling for the replacement of
the UAW would have been an obvious absurdity. Now the WSWS says it doesn’t want
to abolish the trade unions — only their bureaucracies. Its demands remain just
vague enough that it can claim this is what it meant all along.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">As Trotsky
pointed out, opportunism is the flip side of sectarianism. The SEP has leapt on
an opportunity to be heard and has had no trouble adapting its line to whatever
was most convenient to the campaign, without really moving away from its
sectarian and abstentionist politics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">Letter from Peter Ross
to members of the SEP and the Will Lehman campaign</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">I
am a graduate student worker and member of UAW 2865, and a former provisional
member of the Socialist Equality Party.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">I attempted to post the below comment on September 26 to
the WSWS article “The UAW presidential debate: A rank-and-file socialist
confronts the apparatus,” by Joseph Kishore. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">(<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/26/pers-s26.html&source=gmail&ust=1667089222690000&usg=AOvVaw2ENUhhGPSzVoYgTeDIJv5P" href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/26/pers-s26.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #dca10d;">https://www.wsws.org/en/<wbr></wbr>articles/2022/09/26/pers-s26.<wbr></wbr>html</span></a>)
I attempted to post the comment three times, and I don’t believe this was a
mistake or technical issue. It’s incredibly hypocritical that an organization
that protests internet censorship so forcefully would censor a critical
comment, and it shows an incredible backwardness and lack of understanding of
socialist methods. Will Lehman and members of the LA branch, do you really
stand by this action?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">I would add a few things to my original comment. I don’t
think I sufficiently emphasized that Lehman made many powerful points. He was,
as Kishore’s article notes, the only candidate to speak to the real conditions
workers face and the only candidate attacking not only the current bureaucrats
but the bureaucratic apparatus itself. He also, importantly, called attention
to the undemocratic methods of the bureaucracy, including their attempts to
intimidate and silence his campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">But I repeat: For years, the SEP has based its politics
on the claim that unions can’t be reformed, yet now it runs a candidate for UAW
president and say it wants to abolish the bureaucracy, not the union. To
say the abolition of the bureaucracy wouldn’t be a reform of the union is pure
sophistry. The party has in the past opposed the organization of unorganized
plants. Obviously, this was a direct attack on the union, not its bureaucracy.
I am still astounded that SEP members seem not to have noticed this glaring
contradiction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0in; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">If the party had truly reversed itself and was now
seriously engaged in fighting for rank-and-file power in the UAW, I would be
compelled to support your campaign. But the SEP remains committed to sectarian
politics - it refuses to build united fronts and it continues to
reject and attack the Transitional Program.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-6317423478205748032022-09-29T00:02:00.006-04:002022-10-23T14:26:01.713-04:00Revisiting the events of Jan 6<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></span></a><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaz4PnzObX7DJwH9VYYFEMXocZBdsoCc8yimVrVvKMRM4su4NWYPO0ixOO7edTKEM5A7znAaFYUUC7sJvrsctXrop1rwvwAcW2dknJd1nEeLkk3ju9_ef2XqE9GKTBDP8jG7ib3TBzRo5q3Np2DsrfYPpf7dyGbzJPRvQssVL_ns8JUpq5-L7iFjvWg/s1600/breaking_into_capitol.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaz4PnzObX7DJwH9VYYFEMXocZBdsoCc8yimVrVvKMRM4su4NWYPO0ixOO7edTKEM5A7znAaFYUUC7sJvrsctXrop1rwvwAcW2dknJd1nEeLkk3ju9_ef2XqE9GKTBDP8jG7ib3TBzRo5q3Np2DsrfYPpf7dyGbzJPRvQssVL_ns8JUpq5-L7iFjvWg/w640-h426/breaking_into_capitol.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">...if the fear
of falling into error is the source of a mistrust in Science, which in the
absence of any such misgivings gets on with the work itself and actually does
know, it is difficult to see why, conversely, a mistrust should not be placed
in this mistrust, and why we should not be concerned that this fear of erring
is itself the very error. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Hegel, <i>Phenomenology
of Spirit</i>, Introduction)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">by Alex Steiner </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A little over a year ago we
reprinted an article by Bryan Palmer on the events of Jan 6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article was titled, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/03/010621-insurrection-that-wasnt.html"><i>The
Insurrection that Wasn't</i></a><i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>One
cannot help but be struck by the irony of that title given all we have learned
over the past year about the depth of Trump’s aborted coup attempt as a result
of the investigative work of the House Jan 6 Committee as well as other ongoing
investigations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly, we have to
admit that the emphasis of the article, captured in that title, was off
base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all the information that has
come out since, it can hardly be denied that Trump and his accomplices did
indeed conspire to stage a Presidential coup in order to nullify the results of the
2020 Presidential election and maintain power through a Bonapartist
dictatorship built around the cult of Trump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was and remains a watershed moment in the history of the American
republic. There has been nothing like it since the Civil War and it is not by
accident that much of the symbolism of the failed insurrection of Jan 6<sup>th</sup>
borrowed from the heraldry of the Confederacy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The attempted coup was made
possible by the rapid transformation of the Republican Party from what was
traditionally a Center Right party into a neo-fascist authoritarian party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is still a work in progress but it is very far
along and clearly there is no going back to the Republican Party that our
parents and grandparents knew. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The historian
of Italian fascism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, speaking of the recent election victory of
the Italian neo-fascist Giorgia Meloni, made the following point about the
trajectory of the Republican Party,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">…the GOP,
I’ve been saying for a long time, has to be seen as a far-right authoritarian
party in the model of European parties. And what’s going on right now, we’re
having — history is being made before our eyes. The party is remaking
itself to support whatever form of illiberal rule it wants to have in the
United States. And, of course, we’re seeing this at the state level, in Texas
and especially in Florida.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And so, when a
party is remaking itself, it pushes some people out, and these are, let’s say,
moderates, like Cheney, Kinzinger, all these — all the people who were
anti-Trump. And who is being invited in? Lawless people, violent people. That’s
why, if you want to get ahead in the GOP, your campaign ad has to have you
and an assault rifle. People who participated in January 6th — criminals — are
being invited to run for office, and actual extremists, like Mark Finchem in
Arizona. He is an Oath Keeper. He is very proud. He’s very public about being
an Oath Keeper, a member of the violent extremist group. And so, he is now the
Arizona candidate for secretary of state. So, getting ahead in today’s GOP,
being an extremist is a help to that, because they are remaking themselves as a
far-right party. So there are going to be, I predict, a lot of interchange
between Meloni’s neofascists and the GOP. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It should also be emphasized that
a major contributor to the Jan 6 coup attempt was the subservience of the
Democratic Party to the corporate elite and their abandonment of the social
contract with the working class that was central to the coalition built by the
Democratic Party since Roosevelt’s New Deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This created a political vacuum where millions of working-class victims
of neo-liberalism felt betrayed by their putative defenders and abandoned the
Democratic Party in droves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of
those disinherited working-class voters gave one last chance to Barack Obama. When
Obama’s “Hope and Change” turned out to be nothing but desolation and more pain
embodied in the opioid crisis that devastated so many working class communities,
the feeling of abandonment by the Democratic Party and the liberal elite turned
into rage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a perfect storm for
a demagogue like Trump who manipulated the enraged middle class and working-class
masses into the social basis for the MAGA movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The psychology behind convincing tens of
millions that the billionaire and corrupt businessman Trump was a genuine anti-establishment
spokesman and represented the interests of the working class was already
anticipated years earlier in Thomas Frank’s book, <i>What’s the Matter with
Kansas</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The evisceration of the norms of
bourgeois democratic forms of rule and the plunge into authoritarianism and a
revival of fascism is not limited to the United States of course but is part of
a well-documented international phenomenon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the political expression of the global crisis
of capitalism which has evolved into a crisis of legitimacy. It is the final
chapter of a decades long process that has seen the atomization of the working
class, the practical disappearance of class solidarity and the near complete
isolation of the left from the working class. Given these conditions, it was
almost inevitable that right wing faux populism would step in to fill the
vacuum. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seen in this context the events
of Jan 6, as well as the continuing efforts by Trump and the Republican Party
to overthrow the 2020 election should not be a complete surprise. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, since Jan 6 the authoritarian turn of
the Republican Party has hardened. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whereas
the Republican Party has been a minority party for decades, winning office only
as a result of gerrymandering and relying on the anti-democratic institutions
enshrined in the Constitution to stay in power, a document drawn up by 18<sup>th</sup>
century landowners and slaveholders, they had in previous years tried to hide this
inconvenient truth from the public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
more! Today they proudly broadcast their desire to overturn elections, to deprive
millions of the right to vote and to impose draconian legislation through an unelected
Supreme Court that takes away rights that had been previously won in long
struggles. With its overturning of the Roe v Wade decision the Supreme Court
has stepped back into the role it has harbored for the great majority of its
200 plus years existence, a bastion of reaction and protector of privilege, a
role only briefly interrupted by the short interregnum of the liberal Earl
Warren Supreme Court of 1950s and 1960s. This was nicely summarized by the
historian Alan Singer,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Politically
conservative decisions by the Supreme Court have been the norm, with possibly
the only exception being the Warren Court of the 1950s and 1960s. From 1840
until the Civil War the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members_text.aspx">Supreme Court</a> was
a pro-slavery Court dominated by Southerners Roger Taney (Maryland), James
Wayne (Georgia), John Catron (Tennessee), John McKinley (Alabama), Peter Daniel
(Virginia), and John Campbell (Alabama). After the Civil War the Court
dismantled civil rights protections for formally enslaved Africans and free
Blacks with a series of decisions culminating in <i>Plessy v. Ferguson</i> (1896). <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/17/761551835/second-founding-examines-how-reconstruction-remade-the-constitution">Eric
Foner</a> argues in <i>The Second Founding</i>,” the post-Civil War 13,
14, and 15th Amendments “were nullified in the generation after Reconstruction,
that, little by little, the rights - the right to equal protection of the law,
the right to vote, things like that - were just taken away in the South with
the acquiescence of the Supreme Court of the United States.” Post-Civil War
Supreme Courts through the 1930s were also notoriously pro-capital and
anti-labor, even declaring unconstitutional early New Deal legislation aimed at
addressing conditions during the Great Depression. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Dobb’s decision overturning
Roe was therefore no anomaly but a return by the Supreme Court to its proper
home. Although the Court has been moving in a reactionary direction for many
years there is no longer even the fig leaf of pretense that the Court
represents some version of impartial justice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has more than anything else in recent
memory punctured the liberal myth that the “moral arc of the universe is long
but that it bends towards justice”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These words, originally penned by the radical abolitionist Rev. Theodore
Parker, have been repeated by Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Barack
Obama. While those words are inspiring, they can also become a rational for
complacency and duplicity as they did when Obama uttered them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The negation of those illusions may be the
single most positive effect of the Supreme Court decision. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Returning to our consideration of
the Palmer essay, one problem was its concentration on the amateurish and
sometimes comical as well a tragic antics of the Jan 6 mob that stormed the
Capitol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be fair, given the lack of
information available at the time, Palmer could hardly be blamed for concentrating
on this aspect of the Jan 6 events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was also to Palmer’s credit that he exposed the indignation of the Democrats in
relation to Jan 6 for what it was, an opportunity to demonstrate their fealty
to the bourgeois state and its repressive institutions. They never missed a
chance to wail against the violation of the sanctity of the “People’s House”. This
hypocrisy on the part of the Democrats is a continuing saga.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The FBI raid on Trump’s residence in
Mar-a-Lago has been used by the Democrats as an opportunity to pay homage to
that most reactionary institution of the American police state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the same FBI that has been responsible
for the murder and false imprisonment of tens of thousands of political
dissidents over the decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And their
colors have not changed as witnessed by their recent raid on the offices of the
African People’s Socialist Party. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
have yet to hear any prominent Democratic politician say anything negative
about this latest atrocity of the FBI. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But for all that we now know that
the mob that attacked the Capitol was only one element of a complicated scheme
to overturn the election and far from the most important element. The real
nature of the conspiracy could only be discerned in hindsight from testimony of
those who were privy to the behind the scenes plotting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is now clear that Palmer, and us,
attributed far too much import to Trump’s penchant for acting out in a kind of
primal rage without any strategy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
true enough that Trump’s sociopathy manifests itself in bouts of rage and even
violence, but what was not known at the time were the plans directed by his
close lieutenants to use the chaotic attack on the Capitol as a pretext for declaring
a State of Emergency. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There was in fact a months-long
plan hatched long before the election by Trump and his inner circle to overturn
the election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first chapter was the
legal phase where the counting of ballots in many constituencies was challenged
in court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Trump lost all those
court cases the next phase kicked in, the attempt to convince state
legislatures controlled by Republicans to invalidate votes and to name hand-picked
Electors who would vote for Trump regardless of the outcome of the popular
vote. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When that looked like it would
fail, the next plan was to pressure the Vice President, Mike Pence, to refuse
to certify the election and send the outcome of the election to Congress or the courts where
the Republicans would prevail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
Pence refused to go along the mob was released to spread mayhem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while there was certainly amateurish
posturing by the mob, there were also within its ranks highly trained fascists
armed to the teeth and looking to assassinate members of Congress. As it turned
out those who thought that the coup consisted of this mob were not looking in
the right place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mob as dangerous as
it was, was never a serious candidate for overthrowing the United State
government and taking power even given the crippling of the Capitol police and
the refusal by Trump’s man in the Pentagon to intervene with National Guard
troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump and his inner circle were
well aware that the mob could not by itself effectuate a regime change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what they were hoping for was to use the
mob as an excuse to declare a national emergency and martial law, giving Trump
the pretext he needed to overturn the election. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In addition to revising our
estimate of the level of coordination between the legal and extra-legal, i.e., insurrectionary actions of Trump’s phalanx of rioters on Jan 6, it is also
worth revisiting some of the prognostications in Palmer’s essay,
prognostications that were written in the heat of events as they were unfolding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, take this one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Impeachment has
proceeded, but its <i>finale</i> in a Senate trial has been deliberately
delayed by Republicans, who are happy enough, under the circumstances, to have
the Democrats carry the impeachment can. Biden is anything but enthralled with
the prospect of an impeachment trial and would much prefer that Trump simply
fade away into the Mar-a-Logo night. If enough GOP Senators get on board with
the ultimate Congressional sanction of convicting Trump in the forthcoming
impeachment trial, it will be because there are those among the Republican
elected elite who want to cut the Party loose from Trump. This will unleash an
unseemly raft of repugnant pretenders to the throne and allow vindictive
venalities like Mitch McConnell a chance to settle a score with an ex-President
who did them dirt. If, however, impeachment fails to get the two-thirds Senate
majority vote required to convict – which appears likely – it will allow Trump
to yet again claim, however tortuously, victory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Palmer wrote this essay after
Trump’s impeachment by the House of Representatives but before the delayed
impeachment trial in the Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is nothing he needs to apologize for here given what was known at the
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But given the greater
understanding we now have we can revisit this period with better clarity. It
seemed to many for a moment that there was a possibility of Republicans
breaking with Trump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly the
Democrats hoped for this outcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In so
doing they were relying on the tried-and-true formula that has guided American
politics since the post-war era, that when the dangers of extremism are
exposed, the political compass will move toward the center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On this was based the hope that some kind of
post-Trump Republican party would be able to collaborate with Democrats on
behalf of the “greater good”, i.e., the defense of capitalism and U.S. hegemony
internationally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what was not noticed was that the movement
to the center was no longer the guiding light of American politics. The rules
had changed and sometime in the past few years a nodal point was reached.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Movement to the center turned into its
opposite. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more Trump acted against
the rules, the more outrageous his actions became, the more support he
garnered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hope for “responsible
Republicans” replacing the Trumpists in the Republican Party was seen to be an
illusion. The purge of dissident Republicans like Liz Cheney from the ranks of
the Republican Party is now almost complete. The Democrats held onto these
illusions long after their due date because to acknowledge the reality of a
neo-fascist Republican Party implied a political battle they are unable and
unwilling to confront. The logical conclusion to draw from this is that the
fight against Trumpist reaction must be undertaken independent of and opposed
to the Democratic Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only an extreme
Left - “extreme” in the sense that it brooks no illusions in capitalism and
openly calls for a new socialist society - can pose a viable alternative to the
extreme Right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">While the attempted coup
orchestrated by Trump and his allies failed due to the refusal of the national
security state and the military to go along with Trump, there is no assurance
that another attempt, this time better prepared, could not succeed in the
future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That being said, talk of a
“fascist coup” as some left groups have done, is a formula for spreading
confusion rather than clarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If what
Trump and the MAGA movement represent is fascism, it is definitely a different
variety of fascism than the classical fascism of the 1930’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What Trump and the Republicans are trying to
achieve in the U.S. has more in common with the “illiberal democracy” of Orbán‘s
Hungary than the fascism of Mussolini’s Italy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the historian Andrew Gawthorpe has observed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In some ways
Orbán resembles Trump, but in the eyes of many conservatives he’s better
understood as the man they wished Trump would be. Where Trump was a thrice-married
playboy who boasted of sleeping with porn stars and managed to lose the 2020
election, Orbán seems both genuinely committed to upholding conservative
cultural values and has grimly consolidated control over his country, excluding
the left from power indefinitely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Among the
terrifying implications of the American right’s embrace of Orbán is that it
shows that the right would be willing to dismantle American democracy in
exchange for cultural and racial hegemony. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But while the methods of
achieving power and the social basis for the neo-fascism of the 21<sup>st</sup>
century is very different than its predecessors in the first half of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century – a topic that would require a separate article - there is also an
ideological kinship between these two phenomenon that should not be ignored;
extreme nationalism, xenophobia, racism, anti-semitism, anti-intellectualism, misogyny, the
systematic employment of violence against political opponents and the
destruction of class solidarity and all independent institutions of the working
class. Furthermore, today’s neo-fascists have worked for decades to rewrite the
history of fascism and normalize the fascist butchers of the 1930’s while
demonizing their left-wing opponents. This is the common heritage that unites Giorgia
Meloni with Steve Bannon and Victor Orbán. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNaAKDnjVZyczyuU_y4j6chqhSDVxbD3y2DQ-CxpBch8Lq3iTQzykT5-xzCmnC33QYqeCowm8xOzM8oxyyDCQhy8bsZVuohMPK4MmMII4kQJxRwBhsL90iN1KN6gZjSUBmMl9RSK4MzbYQODP2Ylq4KY9hxgcuk9_v7sPJA_GQpv79ffBqfMVQ6iuyAg/s1920/Benito-Mussolini.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNaAKDnjVZyczyuU_y4j6chqhSDVxbD3y2DQ-CxpBch8Lq3iTQzykT5-xzCmnC33QYqeCowm8xOzM8oxyyDCQhy8bsZVuohMPK4MmMII4kQJxRwBhsL90iN1KN6gZjSUBmMl9RSK4MzbYQODP2Ylq4KY9hxgcuk9_v7sPJA_GQpv79ffBqfMVQ6iuyAg/s320/Benito-Mussolini.webp" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kG6gYe2xF3j3kLT9daTVCXhG5G8cvXliPYET5TVYsEhZNxoFA115lVvezNqtczlbcvq6jnP32HMIy85DDm1cS5QU7KvXkPJ5jZfc4yu6qecdgobW8FkAkYh2Z1X8QeL8734K9Pjgf52_lFAXVjAAMGAW7jiJBdyBSVni5n_9Eeu0HEHbDUEgdsenzA/s1200/Giorgia-Meloni-1.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kG6gYe2xF3j3kLT9daTVCXhG5G8cvXliPYET5TVYsEhZNxoFA115lVvezNqtczlbcvq6jnP32HMIy85DDm1cS5QU7KvXkPJ5jZfc4yu6qecdgobW8FkAkYh2Z1X8QeL8734K9Pjgf52_lFAXVjAAMGAW7jiJBdyBSVni5n_9Eeu0HEHbDUEgdsenzA/s320/Giorgia-Meloni-1.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We should learn from this that sometimes
one has to revisit immediate reactions to events. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is no crime to admit your estimation of a
particular event was one-sided and revise it as new facts emerge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That in fact is the very model of the
scientific method. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Heading2Char"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 107%;">Epilogue</span></span>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Marxism does not consist in a set
of formulas whereby one can predict the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While it is necessary to anticipate tendencies at work in the current
situation on a national and international scale, it is not possible to work out
in advance which of the possibilities inherent in a fluid dynamic will
prevail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These must be tested through
practice and observation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who
claim that their perspectives are “always confirmed”, who never acknowledge a
misstep or a reversal, are a sad caricature of Marxism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We anticipated in general the
direction of the Trump presidency shortly after the 2016 election. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wrote,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The crisis of
liberalism is also the crisis of liberal democracy. The incoming Trump
administration will be fundamentally different from its predecessors: it will
be an authoritarian government, rule by a strong man…<span style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span>The cancer of social inequality has eaten up liberal
democracy. This doesn't mean that Trump is omnipotent, quite the contrary. It's
easy to foresee many and varied crises that will afflict the new administration
and possibly even lead to Trump's impeachment. But whatever happens personally
to Trump, there will be no going back to “the days of decency”. Either the
system will continue its descent into authoritarianism and worse, or a new,
social, democracy will emerge from the ruins of its liberal predecessor.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But we had no way of knowing
exactly how this turn to authoritarianism would play out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immediate reactions to events, while valuable
and necessary, have to be revisited in light of new information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Failure to do so is a sign of formulaic
thinking, the very opposite of a dialectical approach. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A perfect example of formulaic thinking can be
found in the following assessment from the International Editorial Board of the
World Socialist Web Site, published three days before Russia’s invasion of the
Ukraine. They belittled the possibility of an invasion, writing, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.3in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In its report on
the planned summit, the Washington Post wrote, “Although senior U.S.
officials say they believe that Putin has made a decision to invade, White
House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that U.S. officials ‘are
committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins.’ She
confirmed that Biden accepted the invitation again, if an invasion hasn’t happened.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.3in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This statement
is absurd. If Putin had already decided to invade, as Biden claimed at his
press conference on Friday, Putin would not be inviting Biden to a summit. Can
one seriously believe that having given the final go-ahead to a vast military
operation, Putin can simply shut it down with a wave of his hand? <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As it turned out the WSWS
International Editorial Board was dead wrong, while the public pronouncements
from U.S. intelligence were correct, a Russian invasion of the Ukraine was
imminent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That in itself should not be a
reason to berate the WSWS Editorial Board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Lots of pundits, many of whom were serious students of Ukraine and
Russia, were caught flat-footed when Putin launched the invasion on February
24.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while it is true that when the
CIA makes public their assessment of an impending military crisis they often
lie or distort, in this case they achieved their goal, spreading anti-Russian
sentiment, by simply reporting the truth, that Putin had indeed mobilized the
Russian military for an imminent invasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The real problem comes when one
refuses to own up to a mistaken assessment or even acknowledge that it ever
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike some of the pundits who
were caught off guard, and who did some serious re-examination of their
assumptions, the World Socialist Web Site continued as if nothing had happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
mode of operation is par for the course for this sectarian outfit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can search the archives of the WSWS as
much as you like, and you will never find an admission that they were wrong
about anything. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">One hopes that our reassessment
of the events of Jan. 6 provides some insight into the genuine science of
Marxism as opposed to its dogmatic caricature.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alex Steiner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br clear="all" />
</span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Interview
by Amy Goodman on <i>Democracy Now!,</i> Sept 26, 2022. <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/26/giorgia_meloni_italy_prime_minister_fascism#transcript">https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/26/giorgia_meloni_italy_prime_minister_fascism#transcript</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> T<i>he
Dobbs Decision Punctures the Supreme Court's Sacred Mythology</i>, Alan J.
Singer, <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/183297">https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/183297</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>01/06/21:
The Insurrection that Wasn't, </i>Bryan Palmer, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/03/010621-insurrection-that-wasnt.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/03/010621-insurrection-that-wasnt.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>Conservatives
want to make the US more like Hungary. A terrifying thought.</i> Andrew
Gawthorpe, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/20/conservatives-republicans-cpac-hungary-orban">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/20/conservatives-republicans-cpac-hungary-orban</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>Trump
and the crisis of liberalism,</i> Frank Brenner, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2016/12/trump-and-crisis-of-liberalism.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2016/12/trump-and-crisis-of-liberalism.html</a>
<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>Stop
the drive to World War 3!,</i> <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/authors/Statement-of-the-WSWS-International-Editorial-Board"><span style="background: white; color: black; text-decoration: none;">Statement of the WSWS International
Editorial Board</span></a>, <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/21/pers-f21.html">https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/21/pers-f21.html</a>
<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-29316486143760262352022-09-14T08:04:00.001-04:002022-09-14T12:53:45.721-04:00Review: A useful retelling of the catastrophic Currowan fire<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"></p><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black;">Review: A useful retelling of the catastrophic Currowan fire.<br />
<br />
#Australia #Bushfires #Climate Change #Book Reviews<br />
<br />
Owen Hsieh<i><br />
<br />
Currowan: The Story of a Fire and a Community During Australia's Worst
Summer</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Bronwyn Adcock</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">20 Sep 2021</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Black Inc.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">288 pp</span></p><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiIOjbM-FGACLW6KZdpD9K-5youwEAjb1ox2mwnnkA1u_1VKwfOpUPpxm0yet1DWvYqdj7yd0MYo4KFwgnZ1E8qUWoQsoN8vdfhnnJU7q0CWwrJDcWR68HYHVqoME622OWgSF3x5t8QITjfXyRTw9yWRGVrC23WaUXJPCr2MBqT0EOcyXq8_bux6zSg/s796/Currowan%20(online)_0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="520" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiIOjbM-FGACLW6KZdpD9K-5youwEAjb1ox2mwnnkA1u_1VKwfOpUPpxm0yet1DWvYqdj7yd0MYo4KFwgnZ1E8qUWoQsoN8vdfhnnJU7q0CWwrJDcWR68HYHVqoME622OWgSF3x5t8QITjfXyRTw9yWRGVrC23WaUXJPCr2MBqT0EOcyXq8_bux6zSg/w418-h640/Currowan%20(online)_0.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
</span><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Currowan</span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;"> is a dramatic history of the Currowan
bushfire which tore through New South Wales with devastating effect in the 2019-2020 fire
season. The fire began with a lightning strike in November 2019 in remote
bushland. It quickly grew out of control, scaling up to burn through half a
million hectares, destroy hundreds of homes and lead to the death of three
people. The fire was only extinguished in February 2020, after heavy rains
bought flooding to the Eastern most part of NSW.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Bronwyn Adcock is a very competent journalist
and author. She is a long-term NSW resident, living in a forested semi-rural
area hard hit by the fire. Her own experience, and connections to the land and
community inform a visceral, raw retelling of the events leading up to the natural
disaster, throughout the period and its aftermath.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">In her prologue Adcock describes the
endemic conditions of drought and heatwave in NSW. In a warming and drying
climate, extreme fires will increase in both frequency and magnitude. No
exception to the rule, the Currowan fire was at one point “880 square
kilometres in size. Unlike normal fires which move in one direction it was
burning on all points of the compass – reaching out to multiple communities”
(p. 77).</span></div><div><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMF9z2p9pLZO4_DGDw4rm51A_z7mgKhMUvWfWKh-_d3ciMcMKl7ytgesx3yjcYxNW7VL4frtKp0Bbc5D6OhdkRZWVsVoO6ZXcAtOHEpuCJ9jhNsHW-QF13k7wfV0aehOFJ57jVwQESrOv0bDSlNdlS-put-ql2YTi18tDnKSOXyoXzGPNjiDvFLFMkQ/s1024/boy_in_Currowan_fire.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMF9z2p9pLZO4_DGDw4rm51A_z7mgKhMUvWfWKh-_d3ciMcMKl7ytgesx3yjcYxNW7VL4frtKp0Bbc5D6OhdkRZWVsVoO6ZXcAtOHEpuCJ9jhNsHW-QF13k7wfV0aehOFJ57jVwQESrOv0bDSlNdlS-put-ql2YTi18tDnKSOXyoXzGPNjiDvFLFMkQ/w640-h360/boy_in_Currowan_fire.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><i>Iconic image of 11 year old Finn Burns piloting a small boat used by his family to flee the flames on land. </i></blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br /></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Documenting the events of the fire,
from its discovery, the extensive spread to its eventual control, Adcock
provides something of a panoramic view of the fire-fighting effort, with
interviews from high ranking fire captains, frontline fire-fighters, farmers,
and various other community members. People survived with little in the way of
government support, largely by dint of their grit and ingenuity. These are
amazing tales. </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">As one example; Adcock writes about
local residents fitting their trucks out with small water tanks and improvised portable
firefighting units (cubes). As the RFS became overwhelmed these DIY operators
saved many lives and homes.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.4in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Late one night, Dave and his sons raced out
to help an elderly man they knew whose home in the forests was about to be
swamped by the fire. Debbie stayed in town, trying unsuccessfully to get a fire
truck sent out – but with their cubes the boys managed to save the house and
the man’s life.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p></p></blockquote><div><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"></p><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">In the concluding chapters, Adcock
writes about the clean-up effort, the emotional toll of visiting her ‘partially
damaged’ property, seeing the associated loss of community and the ‘eerie
stillness’: “There was no sign of wildlife, not even a single bird – the
silence was so loud as to be deafening”. The sense of loss and grief is
palpable.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br /><br /><br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Adcock's discussion of the technical
aspects of firefighting is fascinating. She explains the phenomena of Crowning
fires – in which the fire races rapidly through the tree canopy, and ember
attacks as the hot air from the fire throws burning branches and leaves high
into the air and can light new spot fires up to one kilometre in front. She
even includes eyewitness accounts of the rare Pyrocumulonimbus phenomena in
which <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.4in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">“…hot air from an intense fire burning over a
large area rises up in a smoke column, drawing in cooler air, before punching
through the stratosphere upwards of 15km above the ground. It’s here that the
cool air and latent heat combine to create a thunderstorm inside the smoke
plume, producing lightning, turbulent winds and vertical blasts of air that hit
the ground. Under such intense conditions, fires can spread rapidly in any
direction, embers fall instead of rain, and spot fires start dozens of
kilometres away. Fire tornados have even been known to form.” (p. 99)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Adcock also discusses the efficacy of
the various methods of control – backburning areas ahead of the fire to deprive
the fire of fuel, while blacking out the flare ups. She also discusses wet and
dry fire-fighting methods and references changes to wind speed and direction.
Adcock frequently refers to the importance of utilising aerial support such as
water bombers to control the fire.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">She questions the efficacy of leasing
large air tankers from the northern hemisphere, an increasingly unviable
strategy given there is increasing competition for fire-fighting resources in a
warming climate globally. This is really the main thrust of the book,
polemicising for greater aerial resources.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
<br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">She gives one example of a spot fire
starting in a remote, deep forested Gully north of her farm, despite its quick
detection, and their pleas to RFS air traffic control for resources to initiate
rapid initial attack, their request is denied and the spot fire grows to a
large uncontainable fire that rampages through the bush, snowballing to open a
new front which threatens lives and homes (p. 89).</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">While
she makes many valid and useful comments exposing the missed opportunity with
the lack of aerial support, that isn't the only opportunity for improvement.
The fire brigades Adcock met with are heavily reliant on a small, aging
volunteer force using outdated equipment.</span></p><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbmrrOZbzUXSGFpez8vSfehAHbZt8cCkmFd6yJ4MeUHZDiMSBZ4kBH6Nb1tHd3SpHPeoy5Hfo-v9KbS-_i1dddds25caCTaedUFyugT_QIqT_WHLW51JJ6r2RczjRI9getvmRHP3hmh7SI8rMV4BW-AXj7G9xAEFldZxW7PYF3LtYK8DcnAZ09lFh6Q/s600/Australia_in_flames.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbmrrOZbzUXSGFpez8vSfehAHbZt8cCkmFd6yJ4MeUHZDiMSBZ4kBH6Nb1tHd3SpHPeoy5Hfo-v9KbS-_i1dddds25caCTaedUFyugT_QIqT_WHLW51JJ6r2RczjRI9getvmRHP3hmh7SI8rMV4BW-AXj7G9xAEFldZxW7PYF3LtYK8DcnAZ09lFh6Q/w640-h426/Australia_in_flames.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br /></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">Adcock is a very gifted writer and
conveys well the emotional impact of living through a catastrophic bushfire.
She uses her long-standing ties to community to draw insight and capture the
impact of the fires on a broad swathe of society – rather than simply her own
household. She also explains the technical component of firefighting very well.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">While Adcock urges greater resourcing and aerial support for
fire-fighting, she has little to say on mitigating and averting climate change,
apart from a brief mention of “the climate wars”, bemoaning “a decade of lost
time, where a persistent campaign was waged by vested interests in the fossil
fuel industry fanning scepticism about the existence of climate change” (p.
16). It would appear that she has accepted that idea that climate change is
here to stay and is unavertable as good coin. This is to the book’s detriment.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><br />
<br />
</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: text1;">The fires of 2019-2020 were
catastrophic in every sense of the word and the brutal images of the fires will
be burned into public consciousness for a very long time. The towns of
Mallacoota and Cobargo have become household names and are forever associated
with the disaster. The dystopian images show us what the future entails for
many country towns across Australia if firm action is not taken to mitigate and
avert the worst of climate change.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><o:p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.6667px;">Owen Hsieh is an independent Marxist living in Western Australia, an avid bibliophile with a special interest in Eastern European Literature. Favourite authors include Dovlatov, Bulgakov, Pelevin, Serge and others.</span> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU"><o:p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.6667px;">Twitter @OwenHsieh3</span></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-51361487758630117142022-04-22T02:52:00.000-04:002022-04-22T02:52:21.195-04:00War in the Ukraine: the socialist response, Part III<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJDk3ppPdftYPGM_NcNJnS2bIOFEUzhGzWELFFmmbFz4kgLo_J8o4MD4KvkphgrD_XQyzS6m7P8wr0_754k9Z_ZhUSn5XZsWBw0p-dnasYHDZ54SQXHodETqyK-ECAWwk_piVHoAD2osifjGLPecuqTh8YYI8UzT-61DbUt2rwm4uCJzbydZsrNegRQ/s1170/hospital_mariupol.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1170" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJDk3ppPdftYPGM_NcNJnS2bIOFEUzhGzWELFFmmbFz4kgLo_J8o4MD4KvkphgrD_XQyzS6m7P8wr0_754k9Z_ZhUSn5XZsWBw0p-dnasYHDZ54SQXHodETqyK-ECAWwk_piVHoAD2osifjGLPecuqTh8YYI8UzT-61DbUt2rwm4uCJzbydZsrNegRQ/w640-h426/hospital_mariupol.webp" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Hospital in Mariupol destroyed by Russian missile</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><div><h1 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The enemy is nationalism</span></u></span><span style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> by Frank Brenner</span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Note: This is the third and concluding part of a series on the Russia-Ukraine war.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2022/04/war-in-ukraine-socialist-response-part-i.html">Link to Part I</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2022/04/war-in-ukraine-socialist-response-part.html">Link to Part II</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f6fcfd; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f6fcfd; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
war is a brutal demonstration of the reactionary essence of nationalism.
Putin’s rationale for the invasion is ‘Eurasianism’, but this isn’t much more
than a Slavophile variant of right-wing populism. Instead of Trump’s MAGA,
Putin is pushing to Make Russia Great Again. Of course there are many
differences in the details and in Trump and Putin’s back stories, but the political
thrust is similar. Two critical factors are at play here: neoliberal capitalism
mired in crisis since its 2008 heart attack, generating ever greater levels of
social inequality, and a politically atomized working class. This has made for
the political vacuum that right wing populism exploits with nationalism, which
lets you rail against ‘elites’ and ‘globalism’ but never against global
capitalism; and lets you appeal to a collective identity based on nationality
or language, religion, race etc., but never based on class. Populist
nationalism is designed to harness the widespread sense of grievance of the
masses in order to direct it against scapegoats. Since it can’t end or even
lessen class exploitation and social inequality, populist nationalism’s
objective is constantly to restoke that sense of grievance. Conspiracy theories
are tailor made for such a political agenda, and they thrive in the toxic
atmosphere of social media. Ultimately the only way out of this deadlock (short
of socialist revolution) is an eruption of murderous violence: populism turns
into the annihilation of the populace, or at least of those ‘others’ set up as
scapegoats: immigrants, minorities, Muslims, Jews, gays and lesbians, Roma
people, socialists. Directed outwards, as for instance when ‘Make Russia Great
Again’ collides with ‘Make American Great Again’, that violence manifests as
war.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is a defining feature of our times that humanity faces existential threats (the
pandemic, climate catastrophe and now the renewed threat of nuclear war) that
can only be overcome through global cooperation. And yet the establishment politics
of every capitalist society resists that – and the more pressing the need for
that cooperation, the more tenacious the resistance, even to the point of
blowing up the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Unpack
the Ukraine war, and on every side, you find imperialist and nationalist
insanity. This is as true of NATO’s aggression against Russia as it is of
Putin’s filthy war. It is also true of Ukraine’s own politics, which since the
Orange Revolution of 2004-5 has offered nothing to Ukrainian workers and young
people apart from broken promises, widespread corruption and the unbroken
dominance of oligarchs, no matter which political clique is in power. In all
these years the only substantive issue has been choosing which imperialist
master Ukraine will submit to. No doubt many workers and middle class people
have illusions in the European Union, as was the case in many eastern European
countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. On the other hand,
discriminatory policies by the post-Maidan regimes in Kiev have alienated
Russian speakers in the eastern part of the country; indeed had the invasion
not happened, there was a good chance the current president, Zelensky, would
have lost the next election to a candidate whose base of support was from those
regions, joined by a sizable number of disaffected Ukrainian speakers. Not that
such a result would have achieved much more than tilting the political balance
of Ukraine a bit towards Russia and away from the West, and in any case that
possibility has now been foreclosed by the invasion. You get the impression of
a country caught between two dead-ends, shuffling from one to the other with
every election cycle. The invasion has generated fervent patriotic unity around
Zelensky, but that probably won’t last very long after the trauma of the war is
over. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">In the West the mainstream
political narrative is that this is a war of good versus evil, in Russia it’s
the same with the sides reversed. Bob Dylan’s fine antiwar ballad, <i>With God
on Our Side</i>, was written in reaction to the Vietnam War, but its message is
still relevant. Each stanza covers a different American war, always with the
bitterly ironic refrain that we had “God on Our Side”. Here’s the stanza on the
Cold War, which sounds eerily prescient today:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #202124; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I've learned to hate the Russians<br />
All through my whole life<br />
If another war comes<br />
It's them we must fight<br />
To hate them and fear them<br />
To run and to hide<br />
And accept it all bravely<br />
With God on my side</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">You could think of Dylan’s
song as being a riff on a famous line coined by Samuel Johnson: “Patriotism is
the last refuge of a scoundrel.” The powers-that-be have never been comfortable
with this bit of unvarnished truth, but it applies full force to all the major
actors in the Ukraine war. Why did Putin invade? Certainly security concerns
about NATO and the imperialist ambitions of Russian capitalism were primary reasons
but it’s also clear that domestic political considerations played a significant
role. Putin only won his last election through widespread voter fraud, and the
measures his government has taken since, especially the wholesale downsizing of
the public pensions system, were hugely unpopular. In light of that, it seems
evident that Putin is a patriotic scoundrel looking to solidify his precarious
hold on power by taking refuge in a war. But this is also true of Joe Biden. His
domestic agenda is stalled in Congress, his poll numbers are way down because
of inflation and there is every likelihood that his party will lose badly in this
year’s mid-term elections, which in turn will leave him a lame-duck president.
And so, while the geo-political interests of US imperialism were undoubtedly
the key factor in shaping US policy, Biden is yet another patriotic scoundrel
who finds it convenient at this time to take refuge in a war, at least by proxy.
And finally there is the Ukrainian president Zelensky, also facing a likely
electoral defeat. Before the final crisis that led to war, his government had
become increasingly reckless and provocative in its relations with Russia,
particularly with its sabotaging of the Minsk II agreements, which were
supposed to defuse the bloody stand-off in the Donbass region. (Socialists in
Ukraine who criticized Zelensky on this score eventually had their
organizations banned and their publications suppressed.) Zelensky also
threatened to abandon the Budapest Accord of 1994, which raised the prospect of
Ukraine re-acquiring nuclear weapons. Zelensky may have been bluffing about
this, but it was the rhetorical equivalent of playing with matches in a room
full of open gasoline cans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">And that is the point. It’s
not that the individual motives of these leaders are decisive on their own,
it’s rather that the politics of nationalism and the economics of global
capitalism have saturated the world with dangerously toxic fumes. Each leader
pursues their own national and political self-interest, each sees their
policies as ‘pragmatic’ and ‘realistic’ – and yet the end result is mass
slaughter, cities turned to rubble and the nightmare prospect of nuclear war. It
is the revolutionary socialists, for so long disparaged as hopeless utopians,
who are the only true realists. To operate as a ‘pragmatist’ inside a lethal
social system is to become an enabler of apocalypse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">A few words about the right
of nations to self-determination. Socialists defend that as a democratic right,
and those leftists who support Putin’s invasion are betraying socialist principles.
But for socialists, democratic rights are not abstractions or absolutes. We are
‘class reductionists’, a term of abuse directed at Marxists by the identity
politics crowd which we should proudly plead guilty to. Democratic rights can’t
be defended outside the struggle against capitalism. Separate the two and you
end up, to take a striking example, like Black Lives Matter, a mass protest
movement against racism that was co-opted by political and corporate elites
with breathtaking ease. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The Ukrainian masses will never be able
to determine their own future within a capitalist Europe. Hopes for a better
life through membership in the European Union are misplaced, more a matter of glitzy
pop culture images and bourgeois political propaganda than hard facts. Many in
eastern Europe now look back on the Soviet era with some nostalgia for a time
when social necessities like health care and access to education were
guaranteed, despite the heavy hand of Stalinist state repression. If Ukrainian
workers want to see what their future in the EU would be like, they need only
look at the economic shock therapy imposed on Greece in 2015.</span><span style="color: #500050; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Here is our description at the time
of what Greek workers and middle class people were facing:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #500050; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #500050; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The country's debt is 180 percent of its GDP. That is a staggering
number, far beyond the realm of the reasonable. You could think of it this way:
if everyone in Greece worked for nearly two years but CONSUMED NOTHING, that
would repay the debt. Of course, they'd all be dead because they couldn't buy
any food. It's almost as if we're in Alice in Wonderland territory, except the
story line is much starker and far less entertaining. Of course, that isn't
quite what the European elites are demanding of Greece. No, all they want the
Greek government to do is generate a 2% or 3% annual surplus for the
foreseeable future, with that surplus being skimmed off to repay the banks.
Which sounds reasonable, except it would be the kind of reason only Alice's
Queen of Hearts would appreciate. It means the government will be stripped of
all its disposable income: it will have nothing to reinvest in a country that has
already endured a depression for six years and where official unemployment sits
at 25%. It will mean, in other words, ongoing austerity for the foreseeable
future. How long is that future? Here is an answer from a recent comment by the
BBC's economics editor Robert Peston: “It would take around half a century for
Greek public sector debt to fall to a level regarded as sustainable.” Then
Peston adds: “A half century of austerity? In what modern democracy would that
be regarded as a realistic option?” <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #500050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">Seven years later not much
has changed: Greece remains in a state of perpetual debt peonage. In the event
of a global recession, which is all but certain as a result of the Ukraine war
and the sanctions against Russia, economies like Greece will face collapse and its
government will have hardly any resources to cushion the impact. Or look at the
United States, the world’s richest country, where the income of billionaires
rises exponentially while 40 percent of Americans – 130 million people – don’t
have $400 in the bank if needed for an emergency. This is the grim reality
behind the shiny fantasies of the American Dream. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">Given all that, we can draw
a clear conclusion: national self-determination without socialism is
nationalism. And that can only produce the grotesque social inequalities of
oligarch rule and lead eventually to the horrors of fascism and war. <i>For
nations to be truly free, they must be free of capitalism</i>. So the paradox
is that self-determination can only be achieved <i>in opposition to</i>
nationalism. Traditionally the socialist alternative to the EU has been
expressed in the slogan: For a United Socialist States of Europe! It’s an ideal
that needs to be revived as a rallying cry for workers throughout Europe. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzZVhv27zrh4PhCGOSXQE3IBHuFkReDwI4J_R-QVWQsjwrV4gtbS19GsuWxwLVuY3vrtztYPB_TeN2lkWL328fd03IdHEJ6y4yFdmjR2Fwc1Mx35FYysKNqr7ItaqIPdptzaAvVnsACArfL57lyIQhlwkJha46oWuFliRJWyqjDxudetjb_jDCh0TNw/s1000/Dylan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzZVhv27zrh4PhCGOSXQE3IBHuFkReDwI4J_R-QVWQsjwrV4gtbS19GsuWxwLVuY3vrtztYPB_TeN2lkWL328fd03IdHEJ6y4yFdmjR2Fwc1Mx35FYysKNqr7ItaqIPdptzaAvVnsACArfL57lyIQhlwkJha46oWuFliRJWyqjDxudetjb_jDCh0TNw/w400-h400/Dylan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A comment by Alex Steiner</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">But how do we get from the
embrace of nationalism to international class solidarity? That is a question that is never asked by
those who - in words only - oppose Ukrainian nationalism. I think Trotsky had something relevant to say
about this, when writing in a different context in 1939, he derided sectarians
who were opposed to the right of Ukraine to self-determination. He wrote,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">The sectarian simply
ignores the fact that the national struggle, one of the most labyrinthine and
complex but at the same time extremely important forms of the class struggle,
cannot be suspended by bare references to the future world revolution. With
their eyes turned away from the USSR, and failing to receive support and
leadership from the international proletariat, the petty-bourgeois and even
working-class masses of Western Ukraine are falling victim to reactionary
demagogy. Similar processes are undoubtedly also taking place in the Soviet
Ukraine, only it is more difficult to lay them bare. The slogan of an
independent Ukraine advanced in time by the proletarian vanguard will lead to
the unavoidable stratification of the petty bourgeoisie and render it easier
for its lower tiers to ally themselves with the proletariat. Only thus is it
possible to prepare the proletarian revolution.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a name="_Hlk101485027"><o:p></o:p></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">In the context of today's invasion
of the Ukraine by an imperialist Russia, it is incumbent on the revolutionary
left to be the most consistent supporters of Ukraine's right to
self-determination and resist Putin's invasion. This is crucial in the battle
to win the hearts and minds of the Ukrainian masses who are currently largely
under the sway of right wing and fascist forces. At the same time the
revolutionary left must warn the Ukrainian masses about the alternative trap of
aligning themselves with U.S. imperialism and NATO. The slogan of the day must
be ‘<b><i>neither Moscow nor Washington but an independent socialist Ukraine as
a step toward the United Socialist States of Europe.’</i></b> That Is the only
way to concretize the struggle for internationalism and overcome the
destructive force of nationalism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";"> </span></p><div>
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>50
Years of Austerity</i>, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2015/06/50-years-of-austerity.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2015/06/50-years-of-austerity.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Independence
of the Ukraine and Sectarian Muddleheads</i>, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2014/06/independence-of-ukraine-and-sectarian_3730.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2014/06/independence-of-ukraine-and-sectarian_3730.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div><!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
<hr align="left" class="msocomoff" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div><!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
<div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_1" language="JavaScript"><!--[endif]--><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a name="_msocom_1"></a><!--[endif]-->
<p class="MsoCommentText"><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<!--[if !supportAnnotations]--></div>
<!--[endif]--></div>
</div></div><div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-32335701518267608892022-04-20T02:47:00.002-04:002022-04-21T21:31:55.462-04:00War in the Ukraine: the socialist response, Part II <script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNsZES4njJY9vKnYX3tuy8wfaaq2Yg454UOUW1DzdSJQ7DEbtEAyoSq2yjCe1RyitqpNan8M452AJ2OgQXm7xBiJuNA_Z9OFDGkbwrrYD2Gwnm4tjNrO9lrdBjcYDI5LYNA7bPU9KCk_V2jmaA2HCm63Vi3IgE3wBgmFH6wGVNIXi2bLQBkwQ8MgdJwQ/s600/UkraineHistory_tsarist_empire.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="600" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNsZES4njJY9vKnYX3tuy8wfaaq2Yg454UOUW1DzdSJQ7DEbtEAyoSq2yjCe1RyitqpNan8M452AJ2OgQXm7xBiJuNA_Z9OFDGkbwrrYD2Gwnm4tjNrO9lrdBjcYDI5LYNA7bPU9KCk_V2jmaA2HCm63Vi3IgE3wBgmFH6wGVNIXi2bLQBkwQ8MgdJwQ/w400-h369/UkraineHistory_tsarist_empire.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Ukraine swallowed by Tsarist Empire, 1650-1812</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Alex Steiner</span></span></h2><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: small;">[This is a continuation of <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2022/04/war-in-ukraine-socialist-response-part-i.html">War in the Ukraine: the socialist response, Part I</a> ]</span></span></div><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Ukraine’s right to self-determination<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">A cornerstone of a Marxist
approach to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine is Ukraine’s right to
self-determination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a principle
that was strongly advocated by Trotsky in an essay published in 1939 that we
had previously discussed. In an introduction to Trotsky’s essay that we
published shortly after the Euromaidan events of 2014 we noted that,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">…the task for revolutionaries is not to fold up
their arms and ignore the national aspirations of the masses, but to put
forward a program that can begin to pry away the Ukrainian working class from
right wing nationalists and fascists…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Moreover, it is not possible to oppose the
right wing regime in Kiev and their fascist allies by conceding the Ukrainian
national question to the right, unless that is, one is convinced that the
consciousness of the Ukrainian masses does not matter and that the only thing
that can be done is to support Putin's Russia as if it were a bulwark against
Western imperialism and fascism. </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This
is even more true today than it was in 2014 when the very existence of the
Ukraine as a sovereign state is threatened, not to mention the lives of
millions of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Socialists must support
without reservations the right of Ukraine to defend itself against the Russian
invasion. Socialists must call for an immediate cease fire, for the withdrawal
of all Russian troops from the Ukraine and encourage as far as possible acts of
solidarity between the Russian and Ukrainian working class as part of a
struggle against their respective governments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is difficult to see how this can be done concretely given the lack of
any major political force in either Russia or Ukraine that opposes Russia’s
invasion of the Ukraine on the basis of socialist principles of international
class solidarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are therefore
involved in what is primarily an educational endeavor. But the very significant
opposition to the war in Russia, where tens of thousands have been arrested,
shows the potential for building an international anti-war movement. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxwS4ul37KV-z1CdhktMq6t0LP4O62aecK21fj2O1PdY0wugVqJjdgNfvpC10zv5lFyjKUV1eB7EhpNuyp_lKGK7Bha1FGb_rHo4NwfwiZoWJFyO59RW81FbsSLNoV9GYWTALlXqGvoHI1cKFf0R8-yiKYWiSBWLq3MVIlmg4e_j1QXAAZilWQq_Keg/s600/UkraineHistory_USSR.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="600" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxwS4ul37KV-z1CdhktMq6t0LP4O62aecK21fj2O1PdY0wugVqJjdgNfvpC10zv5lFyjKUV1eB7EhpNuyp_lKGK7Bha1FGb_rHo4NwfwiZoWJFyO59RW81FbsSLNoV9GYWTALlXqGvoHI1cKFf0R8-yiKYWiSBWLq3MVIlmg4e_j1QXAAZilWQq_Keg/w400-h369/UkraineHistory_USSR.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Ukraine Socialist Republic of USSR</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Is Ukraine a fascist
country?<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Some
of the arguments put forward by left groups who support Putin’s invasion of
Russia, whether they do so with reservation (what they call “critical support”)
or enthusiastically, is the charge frequently raised that the Ukraine is a
hotbed of fascism and therefore doesn’t deserve to be defended by
leftists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There has been much ink
spilled on the subject citing the Azov Brigade (a neo-Nazi battalion embedded
into the Ukrainian military), the persecution of left wing Ukrainians by
fascists, the major role that fascists played in the overthrow of the Yanukovych
regime in 2014 that brought the present right wing government in Kiev to
power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of these arguments are
correct. Ukraine does have a fascist problem. While we reject the arguments of
those who would write off the entire Ukrainian working class by claiming they
are without exception fascists, it must also be acknowledged that Ukrainian
fascists play an outsized in the political and military affairs of the country.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is lots of documentation of the war
crimes of Ukrainian fascists by Amnesty International and other international
organizations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also a good deal
of information about ties between the Ukrainian fascists and American fascists.
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> That
is one more reason why calling for military equipment to aid Ukraine when funneled
through NATO must be opposed. It is clear that under those circumstances a good
portion of those weapons will wind up in the hands of fascists. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But
Ukraine is not a homogenous society and the great majority of the population of
45 million aren’t supporters of fascism or (for now anyway) supporters of
socialism. </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">Should we abdicate all efforts to reach the
Ukrainian working class with the principles of socialist internationalism
because their government and military harbor a significant assortment of <a style="mso-comment-date: 20220330T1826; mso-comment-reference: SH_1;">fascists</a></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">?
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";">The
surest way to bolster fascism inside Ukraine is for socialists to reject the
country’s right to self-determination. It is also the surest way to undermine
the courageous opposition to the war inside Russia. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman \(Body CS\)";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Is Ukraine solely a proxy
of NATO imperialism?<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Another
argument employed to justify the position of those left groups who turn their
back on Ukraine is the claim that the country does not really exist as an
independent actor in these events, that it is solely a proxy of NATO
imperialism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This argument is similar to
the one labelling all of Ukraine as “fascist” mass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will concede that in many respects Ukraine
is under the thumb of the U.S. and NATO although it is nominally
“independent”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless this
position is just another excuse for looking the other way when thousands of
civilians are being bombed by Putin’s vicious assault on the cities. We concede
that Ukraine is not a fully independent actor in these events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the conclusion to draw from this fact should
be not to cheer on Putin’s assault but to recognize that every country in the
world is to one degree or another subject to the system of global
capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only meaningful
liberation is the one where the working class begins to take matters in its own
hands and oppose the policies of its own government. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those groups on the left who claim to support
“solidarity between the Ukrainian and Russian working class” but dismiss
Ukraine as simply a pawn of NATO imperialism and refuse to explicitly oppose
Russia’s invasion are simply indulging in empty sloganeering.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The larger context in
addressing the national question – an inter-imperialist conflict<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Finally
what we consider the legitimacy of Ukraine’s right to self-determination must
not be taken in isolation from the larger context of the inter-imperialist
conflict between Russian and NATO/U.S. We cannot lose sight of the basic truth that
Ukraine’s right to self-determination is intertwined with NATO’s hostile
actions against Russia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do not take
either side in this conflict and stress that those who live in countries allied
with NATO have a particular responsibility to oppose NATO and specifically to
oppose NATO’s intervention in the war. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Opposition to sanctions
and the anti-Russian witch-hunt<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Finally
we must oppose all sanctions against Russia and the anti-Russian witch hunt
currently being pushed by the EU and the Biden Administration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sanctions are a form of economic warfare and
therefore just another means of carrying on and extending the war. Support for
sanctions by NATO countries is in fact support for the war drive by NATO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we understand why many of those who
wish to show their solidarity with the Ukrainian resistance support sanctions,
it is the duty of international socialists to oppose them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many precedents in the history of the
revolutionary socialist movement for opposing sanctions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, when writing about fascist
Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1936, Trotsky emphasized that,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The struggle against war, properly understood
and executed, presupposes the uncompromising hostility of the proletariat and
its organizations, always and everywhere, toward its own and every other
imperialist bourgeoisie. Yet among the announced adherents of the London Bureau
congress are to be found such notorious supporters of the League of Nations
(i.e., imperialist) "sanctions" as the Italian Socialist Party, which
is presumably to organize a common struggle against war with opponents of these
"sanctions," such as the British ILP claims to be. A prerequisite for
the proletarian struggle against war is not unity between
pro-"sanctionists" and anti-"sanctionists" but the ruthless
separation of them. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Along
with economic sanctions we have witnessed a torrent of sanctions aimed at prominent
Russian cultural figures. Russian cultural figures - from chess players to musician
to sportsmen - are suddenly banned from international events or have their
engagements cancelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These kind of
actions, which have the unanimous support of the mainstream press, are a
retrogressive step back to the days of McCarthyism and must be opposed. Russian
musicians and sports figures are not responsible for the acts of the Putin
regime. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></o:p></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_4k-199yyJXuJ7QUen2L1eMb3FarfAkuHrOdIR-C_mm0XnaaWs57qsUUAJ-uracJnAfUHXAqqJO_YKXCC5uhTk480G5sy-ApyWy4pyBIwWYckfQ9sQj31z7VzCyEgE6f8mQztdHB1hvvLjoruGi2OAlGZZjfDkS4auGHoWeyjemumEmxb3ZiaQrDBsg/s600/UkraineHistory_after_USSR.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="600" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_4k-199yyJXuJ7QUen2L1eMb3FarfAkuHrOdIR-C_mm0XnaaWs57qsUUAJ-uracJnAfUHXAqqJO_YKXCC5uhTk480G5sy-ApyWy4pyBIwWYckfQ9sQj31z7VzCyEgE6f8mQztdHB1hvvLjoruGi2OAlGZZjfDkS4auGHoWeyjemumEmxb3ZiaQrDBsg/w400-h369/UkraineHistory_after_USSR.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Independent Ukraine following dissolution of Soviet Union</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">War Crimes<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Now
that Putin’s initial goal of a lightning victory in Kiev has morphed into the
reality of an undisciplined army forced to retreat and regroup for a long term
siege the inevitable byproducts of shocking war crimes have been exposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here the willful blindness of much of
the left to the culpability of Russia is clearly on display.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No sooner had the revelations about civilians
being executed in the town of Bucha hit the news than the chorus of left wing Putin
apologists chimed in with excuses, pseudo-legal arguments <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>defending Putin and even the concoction of an
alternate reality to explain this war crime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crudest attempt to absolve
Putin of war crimes came from those radical groups who are most attuned to
conspiracy thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They immediately
claimed that the evidence of Russian war crimes in Bucha was a case of a “false
flag” operation manufactured by NATO and Ukrainian fascists. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Now
we would be the last to deny that “false flag” operations have not played a
role in the bloody history imperialism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are examples one could cite of the use of false flag operations for
providing a <i>casus belli</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for initiating
or escalating a war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hitler manufactured
a false flag operation as an excuse for invading Poland in 1939 and starting World
War II. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But false flag operations are relatively rare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dressing up your own soldiers in the uniform
of another country and staging a phony attack of your own territory does not
happen often. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On reason for the sparse
use of this method is that it is incredibly difficult to pull off without being
exposed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much more common is the use of
propaganda and disinformation to paint your opponent as committing a heinous
crime. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Gulf of Tonkin incident, often cited as an
example of a U.S. false flag operation is actually not so clear. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were two separate incidents involving a
North Vietnamese attack against an American warship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first one actually took place while the
second incident never happened. It was the second incident, the one that never
happened, that was used to stampede an act of Congress authorizing a serious
escalation of the war. Whether the Gulf of Tonkin incident can be classified as
a false flag operation or as a disinformation campaign to justify military
action is a matter of debate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A genuine false flag operation was planned by
the U.S. military against Cuba in 1962 but never got beyond the planning stage because
of resistance from the civilian sector of the Kennedy Administration. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> On
the other hand, the use of disinformation, with the cooperation of the mass
media, to paint your opponent as committing an atrocity has been an all too
common weapon used to justify a military offensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The false claim that Saddam Hussein had “weapons
of mass destruction” as an excuse by the Bush Admiration to launch the Second
Gulf War is a well-known example of this mechanism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLYPp1SFiXRbFq_Eti-ZsRF734EhYd1MPQkGxCyH-HmpfJe0S_lIhOBY-XkZKP1LMTq8YEP06aKtCy3zR5t5mVKd6O1QeiOz-mBnKEeJj7Biqgnhj-NWS0o1o1gYVlqDhw3KFt7iGCRCLXG-7JMGgMg1gwOm7sfmoIrkmde0s4y9irHLil-9sidpbpA/s1024/ukraine-warcrimes-explainer2-jumbo.webp"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLYPp1SFiXRbFq_Eti-ZsRF734EhYd1MPQkGxCyH-HmpfJe0S_lIhOBY-XkZKP1LMTq8YEP06aKtCy3zR5t5mVKd6O1QeiOz-mBnKEeJj7Biqgnhj-NWS0o1o1gYVlqDhw3KFt7iGCRCLXG-7JMGgMg1gwOm7sfmoIrkmde0s4y9irHLil-9sidpbpA/w400-h266/ukraine-warcrimes-explainer2-jumbo.webp" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25rem; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;">Karim Khan, right, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, at a mass </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25rem; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;">grave this week in Bucha, Ukraine, with the Ukrainian prosecutor general, </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25rem; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;">Iryna Venediktova.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #888888; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 1.125rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 1px; line-height: inherit; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1px;">Credit...</span><span style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;">Fadel Senna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">As
to the execution of civilians in Bucha, there is no evidence that this was a false
flag operation carried out by Ukrainian fascists.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Rather, although not all the facts have been
established, the overwhelming body of evidence clearly indicates that Russian
soldiers were the perpetrators of these war crimes in Bucha. </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[22]</span></span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">
It should also be remembered that war crimes against civilians has lots of
precedent in wars led by Putin.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Second
Chechnya War provides a stark example of Putin’s willingness to use extreme
methods against civilians to achieve a strategic goal. </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[23]</span></span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> At
the same time the actual scope of these crimes has yet to be determined. While
it is clear that some civilians were summarily executed, we do not know how
many of the total number of civilian casualties in Bucha were due to deliberate
executions and how many perished as incidental targets during street to street
fighting. An official from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, speaking
anonymously, recently provided some context on the massacres at Bucha,</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It is ugly, but we forget that two peer
competitors fought over Bucha for 36 days, and that the town was occupied, that
Russian convoys and positions inside the town were attacked by the Ukrainians
and vice versa, that ground combat was intense, that the town itself was
literally fought over. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But
for Putin apologists on the left, “bringing context” to Russia’s actions in the
Ukraine means nothing else but finding excuses for Russia’s culpability in the
war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it comes to a discussion of
the war crimes in Bucha,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>our Putin
apologists are quick to point out that the U.S. has been guilty of much worse
war crimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is of course true, as Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine cannot compare to the toll enacted on civilians by the U.S.
wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and its current sponsorship of Saudi Arabia’s war in
Yemen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the obvious thing to remember
is something that most people should have learned as six year-olds, that two
wrongs do not make a right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crimes
of U.S. imperialism, even though they outweigh the crimes of Russian
imperialism by several orders of magnitude, do not excuse the crimes of Russian
imperialism in the Ukraine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor does
citing the crimes of the Ukrainian fascists against the Russian speaking
minority in the Ukraine excuse Russia’s war crimes. Yet some on the left act is
they do just that since their only response to the news of the massacre of
civilians by Russia is to cite other war crimes of the U.S. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Another
variety of Putin apologists on the left are those who, while stopping short or explicitly
claiming that the Bucha massacre was a false flag operation,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>seek to provide pseudo-legal arguments that
cast doubt on Russia’s culpability and invite the jury to conclude that perhaps
there was indeed a false flag operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A good example of this mode of operation can be found on the World
Socialist Web Site. Arguing like a good Mafia lawyer, the WSWS writer Andre
Damon claims that because he has not been convinced of the evidence of Russian
war crimes, then the only possible explanation is that those war crimes either
never happened or someone else must have carried them out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He writes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Given the systematic use by the United States
of false allegations of atrocities to justify wars all over the world, and
absent clear and convincing evidence, there is no reason to view the claims of
a massacre in Bucha as anything other than war propaganda, aimed at enraging
the population to justify military escalation. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It
doesn’t seem to occur to Mr. Damon that it is very possible that the
allegations of atrocities at Bucha are true and that at the same time they are
being used as a pretext “to justify military escalation.” One also wonders what
kind of high bar Mr. Damon requires for finding “convincing evidence” of a
Russian massacre in Bucha. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As if that
were not enough, Damon goes on to argue a hypothetical situation that even in
the worst case scenario, his client, Putin, could not be accused of any crime. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if it were established that
Russian troops fired on civilians—and that has not been established—that would
not mean that they were acting under the instruction of the Russian government.
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In
other words, “even if you proved that soldiers ultimately reporting to Putin committed
this crime, and you have not yet proven that, Putin would still be legally
protected because you cannot prove that those soldiers were acting under the
direct order of my client Putin.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Damon does not seem to be aware that it
is a well-established principle of international law,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>going back to the Nuremburg Trials against
Nazi war criminals, that the political and military leadership of a country
whose military has committed war crimes or crimes against humanity is
ultimately responsible for those crimes.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> If
Russian soldiers committed war crimes in the Ukraine, then it is Putin and his
leading generals who bear ultimate responsibility and in theory could be put on
trial. Of course, we know that in the real world this will never happen just as
Bush will never be tried for the war crimes of American soldiers in Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is important not to dismiss the
principle that the political and military leadership of a country bears the
ultimate responsibility for the war crimes of its armies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">On
the other side of the apologists for Putin are those who would demonize Russia.
This includes the entire liberal mainstream of the Democratic Party and their
admirers on the left, including the mainstream press. They paint Russia and
Putin in particular as singularly evil, as a genocidal maniac on the order of
Hitler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have used the evidence of Russian
war crimes as a pretext for further escalating the war in the Ukraine. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus we have Biden making the claim that Putin
is guilty of the crime of genocide. The Ukrainian President, Zelensky, has used
the Bucha massacre as a bargaining chip to pressure NATO to provide more direct
military aid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the U.S. and NATO has
complied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Biden Administration just
authorized another $800 million in military aid to the Ukraine, including for
the first time sophisticated offensive weapons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a dangerous escalation of the conflict that poses a real threat
of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The possibility of the use of nuclear weapons
has even been hinted at by both sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Where
is the left in this situation of unprecedented danger for the entire
planet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically it is everywhere and
nowhere. The left is all over the map in providing opinions about what is
happening – opinions devoid of any serious analysis. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time the left is nowhere when it
comes to providing guidance to end the war. What is called on is a massive
anti-war movement, a campaign to de-escalate the conflict, calling for an
immediate cease fire and the withdrawal of Russia forces from the Ukraine. But
instead what we are seeing is an anemic and divided left where some groups are
lining up behind Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine and others are lining up
behind NATO escalation of the military confrontation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Support for either side in this conflict,
encouraging more military action, is a betrayal of the most elementary
principles of international socialism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is also suicidal in the current situation where the danger of escalation
into nuclear war is closer than at any time in history. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_Hlk101305415"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYr7m9Zo6EI85Oy6_l3ruC58HGkFYUIBfaEFzTOR-ecf_JL0KhebcKXLLu1XhRf0NPn_ULaUhgX5GMobHif4NNThlq1PCeoHvEdUixzSU6cBTWtMhXjBDxSmVjGP_xkeN4cvMxq2CJ9QtQoIkRx5-ltfwPcwG6NJn18-ZaDFm4VHQ_qTg4zyaT3ObbPA/s3600/DraftUkraineCoTApril15,2022.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3600" data-original-width="2550" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYr7m9Zo6EI85Oy6_l3ruC58HGkFYUIBfaEFzTOR-ecf_JL0KhebcKXLLu1XhRf0NPn_ULaUhgX5GMobHif4NNThlq1PCeoHvEdUixzSU6cBTWtMhXjBDxSmVjGP_xkeN4cvMxq2CJ9QtQoIkRx5-ltfwPcwG6NJn18-ZaDFm4VHQ_qTg4zyaT3ObbPA/w454-h640/DraftUkraineCoTApril15,2022.png" width="454" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>Independence
of the Ukraine and Sectarian Muddleheads</i>, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2014/06/independence-of-ukraine-and-sectarian_3730.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2014/06/independence-of-ukraine-and-sectarian_3730.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>Amnesty
International Briefing, Ukraine: Abuses and war crimes by the Aidar Volunteer
Battalion in the north Luhansk region,</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/eur500402014en.pdf">https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/eur500402014en.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><i>"Defend the White Race": American
Extremists Being Co-Opted by Ukraine's Far-Right,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2019/02/15/defend-the-white-race-american-extremists-being-co-opted-by-ukraines-far-right/">https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2019/02/15/defend-the-white-race-american-extremists-being-co-opted-by-ukraines-far-right/</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Leon
Trotsky: Resolution on the Antiwar Congress of the London Bureau (1936), in:
Documents of the Fourth International, New York 1973, p. 99<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One example of this rush to judgment is the
following article from Philip Agee’s magazine, Covert Action,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/04/06/was-alleged-russian-army-massacre-of-civilians-at-bucha-actually-a-false-flag-event-staged-by-ukrainian-nazis/">https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/04/06/was-alleged-russian-army-massacre-of-civilians-at-bucha-actually-a-false-flag-event-staged-by-ukrainian-nazis/</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText">While many of the articles in Covert Action Magazine provide
valuable insights into the machinations of U.S. imperialism, they also suffer
from an all too eager acceptance of unverifiable conspiracy theories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article here cited provides lots of
information about a particularly vile Ukrainian fascist but implies that the
massacre in Bucha was a “false flag” operation solely on the basis that the subject
of the article, Sergey “Botsun” Korotkikh, entered Bucha shortly after the
Russians left!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>False
flags are real, but far less widespread than social media suggest</i>, <a href="https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/what-is-a-false-flag/">https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/what-is-a-false-flag/</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>U.S.
Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba, </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1">https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Among
sources that investigated the war crimes in Bucha were Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch and the New York Times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
can argue that the New York Times has a built in bias against Russia and that
is certainly true, but is it credible to then claim that this bias extends to
the facts reporters on the ground are revealing or that not a single survivor
of the massacre at Bucha has come forward to expose the alleged “false flag”
operation conducted by Ukrainian fascists? Some sources:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><i>Ukraine: Russian forces extrajudicially executing
civilians in apparent war crimes – new testimony,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/ukraine-russian-forces-extrajudicially-executing-civilians-in-apparent-war-crimes-new-testimony/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/ukraine-russian-forces-extrajudicially-executing-civilians-in-apparent-war-crimes-new-testimony/</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><i>Ukraine: Apparent War Crimes in Russia-Controlled
Areas,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/03/ukraine-apparent-war-crimes-russia-controlled-areas#">https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/03/ukraine-apparent-war-crimes-russia-controlled-areas#</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><i>Bucha’s Month of Terror,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/11/world/europe/bucha-terror.html">https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/11/world/europe/bucha-terror.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><i>Satellite images show bodies lay in Bucha for weeks,
despite Russian claims,</i> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/world/europe/bucha-ukraine-bodies.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/world/europe/bucha-ukraine-bodies.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>War
Crimes In Chechnya and the Response of the West,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/29/war-crimes-chechnya-and-response-west">https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/29/war-crimes-chechnya-and-response-west</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>How
U.S. Intelligence Sees Russia's Behavior After Bucha,</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/how-us-intel-sees-russias-behavior-after-bucha-1697074">https://www.newsweek.com/how-us-intel-sees-russias-behavior-after-bucha-1697074</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>The
Bucha atrocity allegations: A pretext for escalating NATO’s war against Russia,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/04/06/pers-a06.html">https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/04/06/pers-a06.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ibid.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>The
leadership clause in the crime of aggression and its customary international
law status</i>,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/80696/the-leadership-clause-in-the-crime-of-aggression-and-its-customary-international-law-status/">https://www.justsecurity.org/80696/the-leadership-clause-in-the-crime-of-aggression-and-its-customary-international-law-status/</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>
<div style="mso-element: comment-list;"><!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
<hr align="left" class="msocomoff" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div style="mso-element: comment;"><!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
<div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_1" language="JavaScript"><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-comment-author: "Stan Hister"; mso-comment-providerid: "Windows Live"; mso-comment-userid: 906474dc006b9fb0;"><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a name="_msocom_1"></a><!--[endif]--></span>
<br />
<!--[if !supportAnnotations]--></div>
<!--[endif]--></div>
</div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-14510615273321722882022-04-17T23:38:00.003-04:002022-04-23T13:58:49.170-04:00War in the Ukraine: the socialist response Part I<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDevtcuX7nlAlXfmbGGApzEu7WN10kzy9Q87Y8M47xNw4GzUOLPl036aQugUGJvpvuPeLoF594pI-n53lmenQ3E4dPR6QLDetbLgaJOCofopTdzMuZheXgYTEbF2K13YZy3DTonZJ_E55N2ZhDOU9jbxXQo3PdZgCWdKvH0oSofbTMybB18sWEGZsGg/s1200/Russian_convoy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDevtcuX7nlAlXfmbGGApzEu7WN10kzy9Q87Y8M47xNw4GzUOLPl036aQugUGJvpvuPeLoF594pI-n53lmenQ3E4dPR6QLDetbLgaJOCofopTdzMuZheXgYTEbF2K13YZy3DTonZJ_E55N2ZhDOU9jbxXQo3PdZgCWdKvH0oSofbTMybB18sWEGZsGg/w640-h480/Russian_convoy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Russian convoy in first weeks of the invasion of Ukraine</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">by Alex Steiner</span></div><div>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;">Note: This is part one of a three part series.</span></h2><div><span style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2022/04/war-in-ukraine-socialist-response-part.html">Link to part II</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2022/04/war-in-ukraine-socialist-response-part_22.html">Link to part III </a></span></div>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A new era<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb 24,
2022, a new historical epoch came into being.
It was the end of the post-Cold War period that began with the collapse
of the Soviet Union in August of 1991. Only time will tell what name will be
associated with this new epoch but one thing is clear, it is not simply a
return to the period of the Cold War that began shortly after World War
II. On the contrary the era we have
entered is far more dangerous than the period of the Cold War. At least during
the Cold War period there were certain rules of engagement that both sides
respected with a few notable and frightening exceptions such as the
confrontation that occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But there are no such rules that guide
conduct among global nuclear powers in this new period. As one Cold War historian recently lamented,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I sense a period
ending. I am now deeply afraid that Mr. Putin’s recklessness may cause the
years between the Cold War and the Covid-19 pandemic to seem a halcyon period
to future historians, compared with what came after. I fear we may find
ourselves missing the Cold War. <a></a><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span></span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If Putin’s recklessness is one marker of the
present danger, so are Biden’s recent rhetorical outbursts. Twice he has
denounced Putin as a war criminal, and in a speech in Warsaw, he declared that
Putin “cannot remain in power” – an open call for regime change, something that
no previous US administration allowed itself to do even in the worst moments of
the Cold War. That Biden is a doddering old man who went off script for a
moment (only to have his officials and European allies walk back the comment)
changes nothing about the fact that the fate of the world is in the hands of
reckless imperialists on both sides. This is how world wars begin – and how,
via nuclear annihilation, the world could come to an end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Europe is seeing the largest military conflict
since World War II. This coincides with an unprecedented pandemic, a global
economic crisis further aggravated by the war, the rise of neo-fascist
movements challenging the legitimacy of liberal bourgeois democratic regimes in
the West. At the same time the past decade has seen a re-emergence of the class
struggle with strikes and massive protest movements throughout the globe. All
remaining illusions that we have entered a post-historical period dominated by the
Western model of bourgeois democracy no longer burdened by war and class conflict
have been shattered. That is not to say
that this happened overnight. The
disintegration of the post-Cold War myth of an “end of history” has been evident
for some time , but one can say that the Russian invasion of the Ukraine was
the final nail in its coffin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As with all endings there are also new
beginnings. The end of the post-Cold War
equilibrium, the increasing danger of nuclear war, is accompanied by new
possibilities of social revolution. Which
road will be taken depends to a great extent on the consciousness of the
working class. This is where the need
for a revolutionary leadership arises. While the working class spontaneously moves
to socialist consciousness, bourgeois consciousness is also spontaneously
reinforced. As old illusions fall away, new forms of bourgeois consciousness
emerge. The role of Marxists is to
participate in the struggles of the working class with the goal of raising the
level of class consciousness. In the
context of the Ukraine-Russian War that goal becomes concretized to raising the
level of international class solidarity between the Ukrainian and Russian
working class. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We do not pretend that any groups claiming to
be Marxist will have a significant impact on the course of events in the
Ukraine. It’s been at least three generations since mass socialist parties were
in a position to challenge the bourgeois order. The long period of isolation of
Marxists from the working class amidst the general level of the atomization of
working class consciousness preclude any immediate impact. But there is a critical educational program
with which Marxists are tasked. The
question needs to be raised, “What should be the proper response to the
Ukraine-Russian <a>War</a><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span>?”
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This task takes
on added significance because the outbreak of wars typically splits the
political left, and this war is no exception. Given that the radical left was
already badly fragmented, it would be more accurate to speak of splintering
instead of splits. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The principle of opposition to war<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We must start by elucidating some basic
principles. A fundamental principle is that we are anti-war. If we are not anti-war, we are part of the
problem. We recognize as Marxists that
capitalism is the ultimate cause of war and that a consistent strategy for
opposing war is to fight for the socialist alternative to capitalism. But that
principle by itself does not tell us what it means to be anti-war in any
specific situation. Unlike pacifists we do not think it is possible to orient
oneself with abstract slogans. Rather
it is necessary to locate the path of opposition to war concretely based on one’s
assessment of the immediate situation within the context of global
capitalism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When it comes to the complex situation that we
face today in the Russian-Ukraine war, there has been an almost unanimous
collective failure to assess the dynamics of this conflict and find the proper
orientation. Much of the left have indeed abandoned an anti-war stand in
relation to the Russian-Ukraine conflict, while still claiming to be anti-war.
It is simply impossible to be anti-war if you are cheering for the victory of
one side or the other in the current conflict. What is happening in the U.S. and other
countries, is that given the vacuum on the left of a clear anti-war stand, the
right has stepped in to fill that gap. This
is clear enough in the U.S. where the liberal media has fallen into lockstep
behind the militarism and the anti-Russian witch-hunt of the Biden
Administration. It is not surprising that right wing enemies of the Biden
Administration such as Tucker Carlson from Fox News, has taken advantage of the
subservience of the liberal media to the war plans of the Biden Administration
by appealing to anti-war sentiments. But it is also true that those groups on
the left that claim that Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine is some kind of
progressive measure that Russia was “forced” to undertake due to the threats of
NATO expansion have equally abandoned an anti-war position. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Who are the principals in the conflict?<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To start with it is crucial to determine the
nature of the states involved in the conflict. The question of who attacked who
first, while not irrelevant, is not
decisive. More fundamental is one’s assessment of the nature of the warring
parties involved in the conflict. But before we can even ask that question, we
should first be able to identify the warring parties. Strangely, there is not
even a consensus on that simple matter. Some groups on the left think the
conflict is between NATO and US imperialism on one side and Russia on the
other. The Ukraine, a nation of 45 million
people, barely enters into their consideration, being dismissed as little more
than a proxy of NATO. Analysis of the war among much of the left
consists in deciding which side, either NATO or Russia deserves to be
supported. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To take one example from the American left,
Jeff Mackler of Socialist Action writes the following about the divisions in
the U.S.:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘The Ukraine
crisis has taken its toll, at least for the moment, on the still modest forces
of the U.S. and international antiwar movements, with two poles emerging with
counterposed strategic conceptions. In the U.S. a growing minority, perhaps a
majority, feels compelled to denounce with equal fervor both sides, Russia on
the one, and US/NATO on the other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In sharp
contrast, organizations representing the major antiwar coalitions demand: “No
to US/NATO War in Ukraine! No wars with Russia! No sanctions! No to NATO
and NATO expansion” – a central cause of the present crisis – and, “Fund human
needs, education, housing, the environment & healthcare not war!”’ <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">From Mackler’s description of the conflict,
one would never know that Russia invaded the Ukraine. Mackler also reduces the available options
for the anti-war movement to denounce “with equal fervor” Russia and NATO or to
only denounce NATO and remain silent about Russia. It never seems to occur to
him that it is possible to concentrate our fire on NATO, which is certainly a
responsibility of those of us living in NATO aligned countries, and at the same
time denounce the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. In contrast to Mackler, who represents a
typical position of what can be called the radical left, the narrative
unanimously pushed by the mainstream media, in line with the Biden
Administration, as well as some groups on the left, completely leaves out any
discussion of NATO and decontextualizes Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine,
portraying it as a simple morality tale of good Ukraine vs. evil Russia. We will get back to this shortly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></h2><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Russian as an imperialist power</span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In our estimation Russia is clearly an
imperialist power, although a second class one in comparison to the U.S. We discussed
this previously in a piece written shortly after the initial outbreak of
hostilities between Russian and the Ukraine in 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Recently the
question of one’s assessment of the Russian state has become a key issue among
left wing groups, particularly those claiming to be Marxist. The reason
for this is all too obvious when we consider the events of the past few years
in Syria and the Ukraine. In both situations Russia is directly involved in a
political and military conflict that places it squarely at odds against forces
supported by U.S. and European imperialism. In the case of Syria tensions
have escalated to the point where there is a real danger of a direct
confrontation between the Russian and American military. The possibility of the
world’s two largest nuclear powers engaging each other militarily brings back
memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis at the height of the Cold War.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In such a
situation the task of revolutionary socialists is to formulate and fight for a
strategy and a program that is opposed to imperialist war and defends the
interests of the international working class. Historically, the response
of revolutionary socialists to imperialist war has been the slogan “The main
enemy is at home”. This means that in a conflict between two imperialist
powers, it is impermissible to support either one or the other as a “lesser
evil”. The historic responsibility of the working class in the
imperialist countries is to work for the defeat of their “own” Imperialist
power. On the other hand, when a conflict emerges between an imperialist
power and a colonial or semi-colonial country, it is necessary to defend the
struggles of the colonial people against imperialism. Given this
historical background it becomes clear why one’s assessment of the nature of
Russia becomes a key theoretical question. Were we to consider Russia an
imperialist power then we are duty bound to oppose Russian imperialism just as
strongly as U.S. imperialism. On the other hand were we to consider
Russia a colonial or semi-colonial country oppressed by the great imperialist
powers, then we are duty bound to support Russia in its conflict with
imperialism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Given the
centrality of the question of the nature of Russia one would think that groups
claiming adherence to Marxism and to the traditions of Bolshevism would have
done a good deal of theoretical work based on solid evidence before coming to
any conclusions about the nature of Russia. One would think that but one
would be wrong. On the contrary, with few exceptions, most of those
groups derive their assessment of the nature of Russia not from any original
research or theoretical work but strictly from their political
prejudices. And those political prejudices are roughly divided into two
camps. On the one side there are the traditional social chauvinists who
tend to adapt to their own ruling class. Besides moribund Social
Democratic parties these groups include outfits like the ISO who have ties to
the trade union bureaucracy. In the other camp are what some have called
“inverted social chauvinists”. These are groups who oppose their own
bourgeoisie but do so by supporting whoever is in conflict with them. The
policy followed by the inverted social chauvinists is sometimes mislabeled as
“anti-imperialism”. In the U.S. the paradigm of inverted social
chauvinism is the neo-Stalinist Workers World Party which lets no opportunity
pass by for supporting whatever imperialist power or dictatorship is in
conflict with U.S. imperialism. They are guided by the rule, “The enemy
of my enemy is my friend.” <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Some groups on the left not only disagree that
Russia is an imperialist power, but condemn anyone who takes that position as a
stooge of NATO and the CIA. A typical
example is the following diatribe from the World Socialist Web Site aimed at a
group who dared to call Russia an imperialist nation,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The IMT’s role
amid the current war drive is to repackage with “Marxist” phraseology the
propaganda of the US State Department and other NATO countries that they have
no intention of militarily intervening against Russia. They seek to lull leftward-moving
workers and young people to sleep by promoting illusions in the continued
viability of the capitalist system. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The particular target of this statement, the
International Marxist Tendency (IMT), is
of no importance. You can fill in whatever
“pseudo-left” organization is the WSWS target of the day. Any group that does
not agree 100% with the analysis of the WSWS is by definition guilty of
“lulling” unnamed “leftward moving forces to sleep”. As we have previously
noted in our essay from 2014, while the WSWS/SEP vigorously denies that Russia
is an imperialist power it has no real analysis of what Russia is though it
acts as if it is some kind of semi-colonial country. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There are exceptions among Marxists to this
cavalier attitude to this important question, namely those who take seriously
the theoretical issues involved in assessing the nature of Russia and look to
the Marxist theory of imperialism to get a handle on it. A seminal text in this
area is Lenin’s work, <i>Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism</i>. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
While Lenin’s work is certainly not the last word on the subject and
imperialism has continued to evolve and take on new forms in the 100 years
since Lenin was writing, any serious discussion on imperialism must confront
this classic work. We have pointed to what we consider the excellent analysis
of Michael Pröbsting on the nature of Russia whose point of departure is a
discussion of Lenin’s work when confronted with the economic and political
tendencies of the 21<sup>st</sup> century. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
The upshot of Pröbsting’s investigation
is that Russia is indeed an imperialist power, though one significantly weaker
than the U.S. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Pröbsting writes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
characteristic of an imperialist power has to be seen in the totality of its
economic, political, and military position in the global hierarchy of states.
Thus, a given state must – following Lenin’s dialectical advice about
examining <i>'the entire totality of the manifold relations of this thing
to others’</i> – be viewed not only as a separate unit but first and
foremost in its relation to other states and nations. An imperialist state
usually enters a relationship with other states and nations whom it oppresses
in one way or another and super-exploits – i.e., appropriates a share of its
produced capitalist value. Again this has to be viewed in its totality, i.e.,
if a state gains certain profits from foreign investment but has to pay much
more (debt service, profit repatriation, etc.) to other countries’ foreign
investment, this state can usually not be considered as imperialist. Finally we
want to stress the necessity of considering the totality of a state’s economic,
political, and military position in the global hierarchy of states. Thus we can
consider a given state as imperialist even it is economically weaker but
possesses a relatively strong political and military position (like Russia
before 1917 and, again, in the early 2000s). Such a strong political and
military position can be used to oppress other countries and nations and to
appropriate capitalist value from them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There have been a number of challenges to Pröbsting’s
analysis but none of them are convincing.
There are those who challenge Pröbsting’s statistical analysis. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Others
claim that Russia does not provide an exact fit into the criteria Lenin
discussed for classifying a nation as imperialist. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Still another argument departs from
Lenin’s analysis and attempts to define imperialism exclusively in economic
terms without any attention to the political and military conditions of a
nation. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Lenin clearly never intended his analysis of imperialism to be strictly an
economic one. He wrote in the preface to
his pamphlet,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This pamphlet was
written with an eye to the tsarist censorship. Hence, I was not only forced to
confine myself strictly to an exclusively theoretical, specifically economic
analysis of facts, but to formulate the few necessary observations on politics
with extreme caution, by hints, in an allegorical language—in that accursed
Aesopian language—to which tsarism compelled all revolutionaries to have
recourse whenever they took up the pen to write a “legal” work. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2WNRtJ1A_6EnMzkV1--VPToiv1sDnb-IBBDxB7dr4FWmdMwHHsfH_AfF-dHwksvas9dB3qx5SXc2BNgAY1DUhbKyq7m2WmgD_bJaiIIUyYhaFOB7bnmxgR_jKmiU4Hbe7q_-ejkz5XZ11SLwXbXhh63Iq6H85Z7O9q82MKJ4Bw9OQ1_dDDwHjoL5AgA/s500/Africa_1914.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="467" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2WNRtJ1A_6EnMzkV1--VPToiv1sDnb-IBBDxB7dr4FWmdMwHHsfH_AfF-dHwksvas9dB3qx5SXc2BNgAY1DUhbKyq7m2WmgD_bJaiIIUyYhaFOB7bnmxgR_jKmiU4Hbe7q_-ejkz5XZ11SLwXbXhh63Iq6H85Z7O9q82MKJ4Bw9OQ1_dDDwHjoL5AgA/w374-h400/Africa_1914.jpg" width="374" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A common approach of those who deny that
Russia is an imperialist power is to compare the economy of Russia to that of
the United States – the United States being the example <i>par excellence</i>
of an imperialist power. This approach,
which claims to be Marxist and claims to be faithful to Lenin’s analysis of
imperialism, is actually a sad caricature of a Marxist analysis of
imperialism. When Lenin characterized
imperialism as “the highest stage of capitalism”, he had in mind the general
features that were then emerging of a global economic system. How each country fits into that system is a
question of its relations with other countries, not whether it meets or does
not meet one or more of the criterion for being classified as an imperialist
power. These relationships can be very
complex and cannot simply be reduced to the binary opposition between an
imperialist aggressor and a colonial subject. While a relationship of domination of one
nation over another is a feature of imperialism, the forms in which that
domination is realized can vary tremendously.
Furthermore a nation can be dominated by a more powerful neighbor and at
the same time can in turn dominate other less powerful neighbors. There are different forms of imperialism
today. Indeed, even in Lenin’s time imperialism took on different forms and
imperialism has evolved in an exponential fashion since that time. One hundred
years ago the imperialist “norm” consisted in direct colonial rule. If you look at a map of Africa from the late
19<sup>th</sup> or early 20<sup>th</sup> century you will see that it has been
divided up into a patchwork of colonies between the great powers of Europe (and
even some not so “great” powers such as Belgium.) Today, while direct colonial rule still
exists, it is a curious exception to the norm. The norm today is the indirect
domination of a country that is formally independent but is forced to enter
into an unequal economic relationship with one or more predator countries. A
good example of this contemporary form of imperialism is the subjugation of
Greece by the European Union. Whereas Greece does not fit the stereotypical image
of a semi-colonial country, it has in fact been forced to cede its sovereignty
in all but name in order to insure the payments of its debts to the European
bankers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now to return to a consideration of Russia, those who raise the question, “Has Russia
reached the <i>highest stage of capitalism</i>? “,<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
are asking the wrong question. They
fail to recognize that when Lenin discussed “the highest stage of capitalism”,
he was not thinking of it as a measure against which individual countries had
to be judged but as a network of evolving relationships into which each country
participates in different ways. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If you try to fit Russia into the template of
the U.S. economy, then it clearly does not fit.
It is certainly true for instance that Russia does not have a large and
highly evolved financial sector. To many
this becomes a kind of acid test as to whether Russia is an imperialist
power. But that is because they are
cherry picking certain features of the Russian economy and isolating them. They are not looking at Russia’s relationship
to the world economy and its neighbors as a whole and they dismiss the
political and military dimension as well.
If the size of the financial sector were really the decisive acid test,
then we would have to conclude that Germany, which has a rather weak financial
sector compared to its industrial sector, is also not an imperialist
power. Is that really true? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Furthermore Lenin recognized that an
imperialist power can exist that has almost no financial sector, seemingly
challenging his emphasis on the importance of the financial sector for his analysis
of imperialism. But Lenin was not a
formalist, recognizing that definitions can be tentative and relative and
should not be considered an albatross around ones neck. For example, Lenin considered Tsarist Russia to be an imperialist
nation.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Yet there is no doubt that Tsarist Russia did
not fit into the criteria that would have defined it as being at “the highest
stage of capitalism.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is clear that these are complicated
questions and require serious historical and theoretical work. In addition to a
consideration of the economic, political and military dimensions we may also
take a look at the ideological dimension
that informs the ruling elite in Russia for it too plays a role in
formulating a picture of Russia as an imperialist nation. It should be clear to
all but the willfully blind apologists for Putin, that Russia, in invading the
Ukraine, is pursuing its own
geo-political interests as much as it is reacting to legitimate fears of being
encircled by a hostile NATO. If anyone
doubts that all they have to do is read the speech Putin gave on the eve of the
invasion where he expressed unambiguously the war aims of the Russian oligarchs
he represents. It was one of the most
reactionary speeches any world leader has given in decades. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Putin provided a historical explanation of the
war he was about to launch in which it was the destiny of the Russian nation to
absorb the Ukraine, whose sovereign existence he considered to be an
illegitimate product of Bolshevism, specifically of Lenin. He blamed Lenin for the “crime” of separating
Ukraine – and other countries as well - from what had been the Tsarist
empire. He said,<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I will start
with the fact that modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia or,
to be more precise, by Bolshevik, Communist Russia. This process
started practically right after the 1917 revolution, and Lenin
and his associates did it in a way that was extremely harsh
on Russia – by separating, severing what is historically Russian
land. Nobody asked the millions of people living there what they
thought.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He went on to blame the problem of the
Ukraine, i.e. its independence, on the terrible policies of the October
Revolution which replaced that “prison of nations”, the Tsarist Empire, with a
voluntary union of Soviet Socialist Republics. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And yet, it
is a great pity that the fundamental and formally legal foundations
of our state were not promptly cleansed of the odious
and utopian fantasies inspired by the revolution, which are
absolutely destructive for any normal state.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO3X9pbNdE4NF4O1QrhisH8s_7Dd_maDPe-4NdHPYDsE1HFeA-sxuyJhN_wVX3per9-mnGQnkEHO94Wf_jFYEyeJw4WF5H4SFe9-4FEzTb8tyFnD1xjrcULMkWucmk9HiwOQmmhDadLMFxAXahqKtpqRkAUP87zfKHVXz-fd6hPb59eqmv9KY1ay-NdQ/s550/putin-russia-kievan-rus-ukraine-GettyImages-1006661018.webp"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="550" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO3X9pbNdE4NF4O1QrhisH8s_7Dd_maDPe-4NdHPYDsE1HFeA-sxuyJhN_wVX3per9-mnGQnkEHO94Wf_jFYEyeJw4WF5H4SFe9-4FEzTb8tyFnD1xjrcULMkWucmk9HiwOQmmhDadLMFxAXahqKtpqRkAUP87zfKHVXz-fd6hPb59eqmv9KY1ay-NdQ/w400-h268/putin-russia-kievan-rus-ukraine-GettyImages-1006661018.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Putin’s speech was an articulation of a
reactionary imperialist ideology known as Eurasianism. It was born 100 years ago, shortly after the
October Revolution, giving voice to a sentiment shared by those who wished to replace the October
revolution with a revived Tsarist Empire. Its current variant was developed by
the extreme right wing Russian, Aleksandr
Dugin. Jane Burbank, a Russian
historian, recently summarized Dugin’s philosophy as <a>follows,</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In Mr. Dugin’s
adjustment of Eurasianism to present conditions, Russia had a new opponent — no
longer just Europe, but the whole of the “Atlantic” world led by the United
States. And his Eurasianism was not anti-imperial but the opposite: Russia had
always been an empire, Russian people were “imperial people,” and after the
crippling 1990s sellout to the “eternal enemy,” Russia could revive in the next
phase of global combat and become a “world empire.” On the civilizational
front, Mr. Dugin highlighted the long-term connection between Eastern Orthodoxy
and Russian empire. Orthodoxy’s combat against Western Christianity and Western
decadence could be harnessed to the geopolitical war to come. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There is a common thread of fascist ideology
that ties together Putin’s espousal of Eurasianism with those white
supremacists and neo-Nazis in the U.S. who believe that there is a conspiracy
by liberals and socialists and Jews to “replace” white Americans with people of
color and immigrants. And it is this ideology that expresses the class
interests of the oligarchs around Putin. Moreover, Putin has expressed this ideology for many
years. In a discussion held in 2013, he declared that Eurasia was a major
geopolitical zone where Russia’s “genetic code” and its many peoples would
be defended against “extreme Western-style liberalism.” <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Putin’s speech should have been an eye opener
for those on the left who dismissed the possibility that Putin was acting on
behalf of the geo-political ambitions of a great power, and not merely reacting
to provocations from NATO. Unfortunately
the great majority of those on the left who were not cheerleaders for NATO and
the Biden Administration paid short shrift to Putin’s speech. They claimed that Putin was only reacting
like a dog who feels threatened and is incapable of taking positive actions in
his own right. And as we have previously
noted, so invested were some left groups with the notion that Russia was the
sole victim in this scenario that they framed the conflict as NATO attacking <a>Russia</a><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a class="msocomanchor" href="file:///C:/Users/philo/Documents/Ukraine%20war%20edit.docx#_msocom_4" id="_anchor_4" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_4">[</a> </span></span>. It is true that NATO provoked Russia, but that does not make the disturbing fact
that Russia has invaded the Ukraine go away.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>I’m a Cold
War Historian. We’re in a Frightening New Era</i>,<b> by <span style="background: white; color: #333333;">Mary Elise Sarotte, New York Times, March 1, 2022, </span></b><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/opinion/russia-ukraine-cold-war.html"><b><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/opinion/russia-ukraine-cold-war.html</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></b><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <a href="https://socialistaction.org/2022/03/01/the-crisis-in-ukraine-major-challenge-to-the-u-s-antiwar-movement/">https://socialistaction.org/2022/03/01/the-crisis-in-ukraine-major-challenge-to-the-u-s-antiwar-movement/</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Russia
as an imperialist power</i>, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2015/11/russian-as-imperialist-power.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2015/11/russian-as-imperialist-power.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[4] </span><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/03/10/imtw-m10.html">https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/03/10/imtw-m10.html</a> </p></div><div id="edn4"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/">https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> We
discussed Pröbsting’s work in the previously cited essay<i>, Russia as an
imperialist power,</i> <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2015/11/russian-as-imperialist-power.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2015/11/russian-as-imperialist-power.html</a>.
You can download Pröbsting complete analysis here: <a href="https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/imperialist-russia/">https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/imperialist-russia/</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Jan Norden has challenged Pröbsting ’s statistical analysis in, <i>The Bugbear
of Russian Imperialism</i>, <a href="http://www.internationalist.org/bugbearrussianimperialism1405.html">http://www.internationalist.org/bugbearrussianimperialism1405.html</a>
. We questioned Norden’s analysis in the
essay we wrote in 2015, <i>Russia as an Imperialist Power</i>, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2015/11/russian-as-imperialist-power.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2015/11/russian-as-imperialist-power.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
This methodology of challenging the classification of Russia as an imperialist power
was most recently formulated by the website classconscious.org. <i>Setting the
Record straight: Ukraine, Russia and imperialism</i><b>, </b><a href="https://classconscious.org/2022/03/09/ukraine-russia-and-imperialism/">https://classconscious.org/2022/03/09/ukraine-russia-and-imperialism/</a>
<b>. </b>Pröbsting has penned a detailed response, <i>Once Again
on Russian Imperialism (Reply to Critics),</i> <a href="https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/once-again-on-russian-imperialism-reply-to-critics/">https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/once-again-on-russian-imperialism-reply-to-critics/</a>. We will further examine these arguments shortly.<i><o:p></o:p></i></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Michael Roberts, a British Marxist economist has developed a formula for
determining whether a particular country is a net exporter of surplus value –
and therefore an oppressed country, or a net importer of surplus value – and
therefore an oppressor country and thus an imperialist power. See for instance
his blog, <i>The economics of modern imperialism, </i><a href="https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2019/11/14/hm2-the-economics-of-modern-imperialism/">https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2019/11/14/hm2-the-economics-of-modern-imperialism/</a>
. Roberts further claims that the
political and military dimension of a nation play no role in determining
whether it is an imperialist power or not. Rather, adopting a vulgarized
approach to historical materialism, he insists that the economy is the “cause”
and the political and military dimension are the “effects” solely determined by
the economic status of a nation. <b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
V.I. Lenin, <i>Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism</i>. <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/pref01.htm">https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/pref01.htm</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><i> </i></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Setting
the Record straight: Ukraine, Russia and imperialism</i><b>, </b><a href="https://classconscious.org/2022/03/09/ukraine-russia-and-imperialism/">https://classconscious.org/2022/03/09/ukraine-russia-and-imperialism/</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Pröbsting
has already covered this topic
exhaustively. One example of Lenin’s
attitude toward Tsarist Russia appears in the Preface to his study, <i>Imperialism,
the Highest Stage of Capitalism.</i> He explains
that when writing his pamphlet in 1916 he had to adopt a bit of subterfuge in
order to get past the Tsarist censorship. He substituted a refence to Russia,
which would have raised some alarm bells, with a relatively harmless reference
to Japan. He writes,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.4in;">I was forced to quote as an
example [<i>of an imperialist nation</i>] —Japan! The careful reader will
easily substitute Russia for Japan, and Finland, Poland, Courland, the Ukraine,
Khiva, Bokhara, Estonia or other regions peopled by non-Great Russians, for
Korea.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 0.4in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>The
Grand Theory Driving Putin to War</i><b>, </b>by Jane Burbank, New York Times,
March 22, 2022, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/opinion/russia-ukraine-putin-eurasianism.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/opinion/russia-ukraine-putin-eurasianism.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><a href="https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/vladimir_putin_meets_with_members_the_valdai_international_discussion_club_transcript_of_the_speech_/?sphrase_id=701234">Vladimir
Putin Meets with Members the Valdai International Discussion Club. Transcript
of the Speech and the Meeting — Valdai Club</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div><!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
<hr align="left" class="msocomoff" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div><!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
<div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_1" language="JavaScript"><!--[endif]--><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a name="_msocom_1"></a><!--[endif]-->
<p class="MsoCommentText"><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"> </span></span></p></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-59194111150028686232021-11-13T04:34:00.004-05:002021-11-13T04:48:41.530-05:00Trotsky and the Cuban Political Crisis<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div>Note: We are reprinting an English translation of an article
penned by Frank García Hernández in the Cuban online publication, <i>Communistas</i>.
The original article is here: <a href="https://www.comunistascuba.org/2021/11/trotski-y-la-crisis-politica-cubana.html">https://www.comunistascuba.org/2021/11/trotski-y-la-crisis-politica-cubana.html</a></div><div>We wish to thank Robert Montgomery for providing this English translation.</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While we may not agree with everything presented in this
analysis, it is on the whole a sign of the increasing political maturity of the
Marxist left opposition in Cuba, acknowledging the important contribution of
Trotsky’s analysis of Stalinism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
written by a courageous leader of that movement Frank García Hernández, who
organized the first International Conference on Trotsky in Havana, Cuba in May
of 2019. See our coverage of the conference:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2019/05/first-international-academic-meeting-on.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2019/05/first-international-academic-meeting-on.html</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2019/06/first-international-academic-meeting-on.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2019/06/first-international-academic-meeting-on.html</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">by Frank García Hernández</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt;">In addition to the triumph of the Bolshevik Revolution, the birthday of
Leon Trotsky was commemorated on November 7. His analysis on the degeneration
of the Soviet bureaucracy is an essential instrument to understand the
political crisis that Cuba is going through. Similar to the Soviet bureaucracy,
the Cuban government has been moving away from the reality experienced by the
working class. The most resounding example of this is the very fact that the
July 11 protests took place. </span><a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt;">
Added to this, as another sign of disconnection, is the way in which the
official discourse has handled the protests, criminalizing them and reducing
them to supposedly having been functional to the counterrevolution.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XgpJKhhfm6s/YY-FLWIBuUI/AAAAAAAADQo/4lSj3tucGpcUQL1AZQMJhlXUrQ4SyR1HgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/cuba-trotsky%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XgpJKhhfm6s/YY-FLWIBuUI/AAAAAAAADQo/4lSj3tucGpcUQL1AZQMJhlXUrQ4SyR1HgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h320/cuba-trotsky%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><o:p><br /></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt;">After the July 11 demonstrations, the Cuban government did not realize
the urgent need to create new mechanisms for citizen participation. The way the
government understood how to approach the working class was not by stimulating
socialist democracy but by making visits to the popular neighborhoods. In
general, these visits, planned vertically from above and announced in advance,
end up putting on makeup over the area where the high official will pass, and
later everything remains the same.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In a recent interview to a foreign media, a high Cuban leader declared
that in Cuba there was neither hunger, nor unemployment, nor poverty. This
serious case of a break with reality can only have two motives. Either, the
most dangerous one: the bureaucracy is unaware of the reality of the country;
or, it knows about it but transmits a triumphalist discourse which causes
discontent among broad sectors of the Cuban working class. In December 2020,
the Minister of Economy Alejandro Gil informed that in 2021 the Gross Domestic
Product would grow by 6%. Contrary to this, in the past sessions of parliament,
Gil announced that the GDP had fallen by -13%. The same official announced in
May 2021 that this year Cuba would receive at least 2 million tourists.
According to Cuba's National Statistics and Information Office, as of September
the country had not exceeded 190 thousand tourists and health restrictions for
foreign visitors will only be lifted on November 15. In three months, of which
only 45 days will be without restrictions for international travelers, Cuba
will not be able to receive the 1 million 810 thousand tourists it needs to
meet the figure announced in May by the Minister of Economy; even if Gil knew
that up to that month only 120 thousand tourists had entered Cuba.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JD440u9j-EU/YY-GfLObmcI/AAAAAAAADQw/EcRwSrEvvQgSotCnRdZ218MzlRVcpHieACNcBGAsYHQ/s621/turistas.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="595" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JD440u9j-EU/YY-GfLObmcI/AAAAAAAADQw/EcRwSrEvvQgSotCnRdZ218MzlRVcpHieACNcBGAsYHQ/w384-h400/turistas.jpeg" width="384" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">To this worrisome scenario, it should be added that an important sector
of the Cuban youth is becoming increasingly depoliticized, identifying
socialism with the stagnant official discourse. Young people contrast the
triumphalism of the Communist Party with an increasingly critical daily
reality, marked by a deep shortage, long lines to buy basic foodstuffs and an
important concentration of basic necessities offered in stores where one can
only pay with cards backed by foreign currency. In this way, an important
sector of the Cuban youth ends up repelling Marxist ideas, falling into
political apathy, and in the worst cases, turning to the right.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">At the same time, this deep economic and political crisis has produced
the emergence of new and young figures in the Cuban critical left. Most of them
share a common denominator: they find Trotsky's book, <b><i>The Revolution
Betrayed</i></b>, a useful analysis to understand the Cuban crisis. Except for
the Stalinist purges, the complexities involved in a multi-ethnic state, and
the distance in time, those young people who publicly position themselves to
the left of the Communist Party, discover how in the Cuban bureaucracy
dangerous features of the Soviet bureaucracy are reproduced.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">That young socialist left sees that Cuba is increasingly marked by the
separation of the Cuban bureaucracy from the reality of the majorities, the
stagnant and empty ideological discourse, the rise of young opportunists to
public office, the unequal standards of living between the bourgeois leaders
and the working majorities, as well as the political double standards, among
other factors typical of a socialist project that has degenerated politically.
The new Cuban Marxist left finds, therefore, a scenario very similar to the one
described by Trotsky in <b><i>The Revolution Betrayed</i></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This November 9 marks another anniversary of the fall of the Berlin
Wall, an event that preluded the disappearance of the so-called Eastern
European Socialist Camp and the final disintegration of the Soviet Union on
December 25, 1991. Thirty years ago the Soviet working class did not know how
to defend its rights, to lead the fall of the bureaucracy towards a new
revolutionary process and to carry forward the construction of a truly
socialist system. The hundreds of young people who crossed the Berlin Wall that
November 9, 1989 did not do so to carry the red flag of revolution and
overthrow capitalism to their fellow Germans in the West. They did so in
pursuit of a bourgeois society where they were promised high levels of
consumption. At the cost of predatory financial policies -where Greece appears
as the most critical case-, Germany is one of the main economic powers of the
world; but if the Cuban government falls, Cuba will fall towards an
underdeveloped capitalist system corresponding to the most serious economies of
the third world. The supposed fall of the Cuban government will only produce
the enthronement of an anti-communist regime, with neo-liberal economic
policies and bent to the political interests of the United States. The
neoliberal economic project of the Council for Democratic Transition presented
for a future socialist Cuba, only shows what would be the fate of the Caribbean
nation under a capitalist regime.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In the midst of an ever worsening political crisis, it is an urgent duty
of the Cuban critical left to act, or at least to raise awareness. Every young
socialist must expand their ideas in their range of action. To demonstrate to
their fellow students and workmates that the errors committed by the Cuban
government are not intrinsic to the socialist project, that another socialism
is possible, thus stopping the expansion of political apathy, which is
functional to the counterrevolution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Trotsky is not Marx's prophet. To see him as such is to destroy him.
Trotsky is a defining Marxist tool to understand and apply to the current Cuban
political crisis. The difference in lucidity between the young Cubans who have
incorporated him and those who either represent the bureaucracy or proclaim a
class conciliatory socialism is quite perceptible. The political lucidity of
the new Cuban Marxist left is expressed in that they assume socialism as an
emancipatory project only viable if it is built in freedom; but freedom and
democracy built and led by the working class. The naivety that economic and
political power can be shared equally between the bourgeoisie and the working
class is something that, by the fact of being Marxist, the young Cuban
socialist left has rejected.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This explains the position of the new Cuban Marxist left regarding the
November 15 demonstration: it defends the right to demonstrate for those who
decide to march on that day, but at the same time refuses to march on November
15, since it understands that it is a serious political error to share space
with representatives of neo-liberal organizations such as the Council for
Democratic Transition. This is the great difference between Trotsky's united
front and Stalin's popular fronts. The former grouped the revolutionary forces,
while in the latter the communists could even ally themselves with characters
such as General Fulgencio Batista. <a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Cuban government has declared the November 15 demonstration illegal.
It warned from official media that those who participate in the demonstration
will be punished by law, however sometimes some legal decisions do not bring
with them the necessary political legitimacy. Although the November 15
demonstrations have almost no popular support, they do have an important
political weight. To repress them would therefore be a serious political
mistake and a violation of the right to peaceful protest. It is true that the
Marxist critical left should not participate in the November 15 demonstration,
but if it positions itself in favor of repression it will be making the same
mistake of marching with the Council for Democratic Transition. This is another
of the great differences between Stalin's project and Trotsky's political
proposal. The former has repression as the central axis of his political
program. Trotsky's socialism is grounded in freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In this hour of definitions that Cuba is living, let us have the
political lucidity and militancy to be and do two, three, many Trotsky. </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> See
the previous statement on the events of July 11 from the <i>Communistas</i> blog:
<a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/08/concerning-july-11-protests-in-cuba.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/08/concerning-july-11-protests-in-cuba.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The reference, well-known to students of Cuban history, is to the support
offered to the dictator Fulgencio Batista by the Cuban Communist Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Support for Batista was sanctioned by the
Stalinist controlled Communist International in 1934 basing itself on the new
policy of a “Popular Front” between the “progressive” elements of the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bourgeoisie – represented in this case by
Batista - and the working class. The Cuban Communist Party’s support for
Batista continued, more or less uninterrupted, for over 20 years.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-53990937092694856692021-08-08T22:19:00.002-04:002021-08-08T22:39:34.863-04:00Concerning the July 11 protests in Cuba<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-URR0jytxlzY/YRCPZz88xaI/AAAAAAAADOM/fjzH9jjwM8IOBvxc47sQe7GTtaLNXAWGgCNcBGAsYHQ/s878/Cuba_Protest_17995.jpg-0cd3f_s878x585.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="878" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-URR0jytxlzY/YRCPZz88xaI/AAAAAAAADOM/fjzH9jjwM8IOBvxc47sQe7GTtaLNXAWGgCNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Cuba_Protest_17995.jpg-0cd3f_s878x585.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Protestors at Maximo Gomez monument in Havana, Cuba.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 12.75pt;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Note:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 12.75pt;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 12.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 12.75pt;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: times;">We are reprinting a statement from the Cuban blog, <i>Comunistas</i>, that
provides an extended account of the anti-government demonstrations of July
11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The original post is here: <a href="https://www.comunistascuba.org/2021/07/acerca-de-las-protestas-en-cuba-del-11.html">https://www.Comunistascuba.org/2021/07/acerca-de-las-protestas-en-cuba-del-11.html</a>.
Frank García Hernández<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is a member of
the editorial board of <i>Comunistas</i>. We wish to thank Robert Montgomery
for providing the English translation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Part 1<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Six days after the events
and after a profound analysis, Comunistas makes known its official position on
the protests that took place in Cuba last Sunday, July 11. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Almost simultaneously and
with greater or lesser intensity, on Sunday, July 11, Cuba experienced a series
of social outbursts that covered at least 6 of the 14 provinces that make up
the country. In the 62 years since the triumph of the Revolution led by
Comandante Fidel Castro, Cuba had never faced a situation like this one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Although initially, the
first protests began peacefully, almost all of the demonstrations ended up
marked by violence, which was exercised by both sides. This series of
simultaneous anti-government demonstrations is an event never seen before in
socialist Cuba. This is a necessary factor to take into account in order to
understand the facts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It is worth remembering
that in Cuba, the last mass protests date back to August 5, 1994, later known
as Maleconazo, which was contained in a few hours with the presence of Fidel
Castro at the scene of the events. A demonstration of 200 people chanting
slogans against the government in a central location is almost inconceivable in
Cuban society. However, at least in Havana there was a spontaneous march of at
least 3,000 people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The events in Havana<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The protests - the trigger
for which was the demonstration in the city of San Antonio de los Baños,
located no more than 100 kilometers from the capital - quickly spread to
Havana. Shortly after 3:00 p.m. local time, around 200 people took over the
central Fraternity Park, later moving in front of the Capitol (official seat of
Parliament). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">During the first hour of
the protest, police arrests were isolated, allowing, at least tacitly, the
march of the demonstrators, who moved towards the central Máximo Gómez Park,
located between the Spanish Embassy and the headquarters of the National Bureau
of the Union of Young Communists. At that time, more than 500 people were
peacefully gathered on the esplanade of the park, while arrests continued to be
made on a case-by-case basis. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Later, a group of
approximately 100 people, waving Cuban and 26th of July Movement flags, with
socialist and pro-government slogans, peacefully took over the Máximo Gómez
Park. At the same time, other groups linked to the Communist Party and the
Union of Young Communists, together with cadets of the Ministry of the
Interior, ended up occupying the area. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The demonstrators
voluntarily demobilized and it seemed that in Havana, at least where they
originated, the protests had ended, almost peacefully. However, it later became
known that the march had turned into a long demonstration which was traveling
through important streets of Havana. As the protest march progressed, people
joined it, and according to unofficial sources, between 2,000 and 3,000
demonstrators chanted slogans against the government. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">At a certain point, the
demonstrators decided to go to the emblematic Plaza de la Revolución, where the
headquarters of the Presidency, the Central Committee of the Communist Party,
the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of the Armed Forces, as well as the
main national newspapers are located. In the vicinity of the Plaza de la
Revolución, the demonstration was repelled by forces of public order and
pro-government civilian groups, generating violent clashes between both sides,
which resulted in an undetermined number of arrests and injuries. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">At the same time, in the
10 de Octubre Causeway, Havana, seriously violent events took place, where two
police cars were overturned. Subsequently, videos of serious acts of vandalism
were released, such as the stoning of a children's hospital. The death of
civilian Diubis Laurencio Tejeda has been confirmed during the protests. No
other deaths have been reported so far as a result of the demonstrations.
Violence was exercised both by the demonstrators and by the civilians who came
out to confront them, mainly with stones and sticks. The number of people
injured on both sides is unknown. The number of people arrested at the scene is
also unknown, as well as any subsequent arrests linked to the protests. We
still do not know the number of citizens who six days later are still being
held in irregular detention. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">While the protests were
taking place in Havana, similar events took place in the cities of Bayamo,
Manzanillo, Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, among others of lesser
intensity, which also ended, or even began, in a violent manner. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Part 2<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Origin and essence of the protests<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The protests that took place in Cuba last July 11
cannot be understood as a confrontation between counterrevolutionaries and
communists, as the government has tried to make it appear; nor of oppressed
people versus dictatorship, as bourgeois propaganda has insisted; nor of
revolutionary working class versus politically degenerated bureaucracy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The July 11 protests brought together at the same
time the three previous perspectives: the counterrevolutionary organizations
-paid by the United States- violently attacking the Communist Party; groups of
intellectuals who feel their civil liberties severely curtailed confronting
censorship and the working class demanding from the Government improvements in
their living conditions. However, although this last variant was the
overwhelming majority, it cannot be understood as a politically conscious
socialist mass, demanding more socialism from the stagnant bureaucracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The July 11 protests could be characterized in nine
essential points:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The great majority of the demonstrators were not
linked to counterrevolutionary organizations, nor were the protests led by counterrevolutionary
organizations. The main cause of the demonstrations was the discontent
generated by the terrible shortages caused by the economic crisis, the economic
sanctions imposed by the U.S. government and the questionable and inefficient
management of the state bureaucracy. It was the shortage of food and cleaning
products, the existence of stores in freely convertible currency which can only
be accessed through foreign currency and which accumulate an important part of
the supply of basic products; the long lines for the purchase of basic foods
such as bread; the shortage of medicines; the restriction on the deposit of
dollars in cash in banks; the price hikes in public services (transportation in
Havana increased the fare by 500%); the cutback of gratuities; the drastic
increase in inflation; the increase in the price of basic products; and the
long power cuts, the objective factors that caused a scenario conducive to a
social outburst. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Part 3<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">At the same time, let's
not forget that Cuba is going through its biggest economic crisis in 30 years.
Cuba needed the visit of 4 million 500 thousand tourists and stable prices in
the international market for its Gross Domestic Product to grow at least 1% in
2020. In 2020 Cuba only received 23% of the tourists needed, or 1.5 million
tourists, and the world economy went into crisis. The decrease in foreign
visitors caused the loss of about 3 billion dollars in 2020. Cuba imports about
80% of its food and the government spends about 2 billion dollars on this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Except for a discreet
recovery in China, the rest of all Cuba's trading partners fell into economic
recession. As of June 2021, Cuba had only received a little more than 130,000
tourists. Most of the country's reserves had been consumed by 2020. The costs
of public attention in confronting the coronavirus have caused serious damage
to the Cuban economy. To this must be added the serious sanctions imposed by
Donald Trump, which have not been lifted by President Joe Biden, intensifying
the already accumulated impact of the blockade. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">However, the reasons why
the Cuban economy is in crisis do not matter to the working family at the time
of serving the table, even more so when the political legitimacy of the
government is progressively deteriorating.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">2. The political
legitimacy of the Government is considerably diminished. The official political
discourse is far from being effective; it does not reach the youth. The
political propaganda of official youth organizations is alien to the youth. As
an example of this, among the participants in the protests there was a large
number of young people (at the moment it is impossible to give an exact
figure). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">At the same time, the
political wear and tear of several years of crisis and the accumulated errors
of the state administration in general. In addition, the current government
does not have the political legitimacy of the historical leadership of the
Revolution. The separation between the country's leadership and the working
class is increasingly visible, and a gap in living conditions is being
questioned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Part 4</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">3. The protests originated
in working class neighborhoods and those with the greatest social problems.
Social inequality is a growing problem in Cuban society. Poverty. Social
neglect, the precariousness of public and social policies, the scarce supply of
food and basic products from the State, as well as impoverished cultural
policies, are predominant characteristics in the peripheral or lower-income
neighborhoods. In these areas, political awareness tends to diminish, imposing
the rigor of precariousness and survival over ideology. In addition, political
discourse often runs parallel to the daily needs of working people. In contrast
to this socioeconomic situation, in the imaginary of these economically
vulnerable neighborhoods, the country's leadership is associated with high
standards of living.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">4. The protests did not
have a majority character. The majority of the Cuban population continues to
support the government. Although it is true that the demonstrators had support
among part of the neighbors of the areas where the events took place, an
important sector of the population also rejected and has rejected the protests.
Although the protests in Havana gathered in general around 5000 people, it
would be a complete lack of objectivity if we were to say that the
demonstrations had a majority support. In spite of the political deterioration
suffered by the Cuban government, the latter is gathering the political capital
of the Revolution, capitalizes on the image of Fidel Castro and maintains a
hegemony over the socialist imaginary. It is largely due to these factors that
it achieves considerable political legitimacy among the majorities. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">5. There were no socialist
slogans in the protests. The slogans launched in the demonstrations were
centered on "Homeland and Life", "Freedom", "Down with
the dictatorship" and offenses against President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
"Patria y Vida" is a slogan born from an openly right-wing song,
propagandized from Miami and by the right-wing opposition. The other slogans
mentioned have the character of demands for citizens' freedoms, which does not
imply socialist demands. Beyond the claims against censorship and the demand
for greater civil liberties, the slogan "Down with the dictatorship"
is a slogan used and capitalized by the Cuban right wing and the
counterrevolution. Members of the Editorial Committee of Comunistas spoke with
several demonstrators who were not against Fidel Castro or Socialism, but were
demanding better living conditions. However, this differentiation was not made
explicit in the protests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 196.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Part 5</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">6. A minority sector of intellectuals
was linked to the protests. A minority group of intellectuals, mainly grouped
in the 27N movement, demanded civil liberties, centered on the right to free
creation and expression. However, this was not the central character of the
protests. To a large extent, this was due to the fact that the demands of
dissident intellectuals did not respond to the needs of the majorities, who
were demanding basic demands for a better life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">7. The lumpenproletariat
played a significant role. In the protests the lumpenproletariat played an
important role. These groups engaged in looting and aggressive actions of
vandalism, which distorted the peaceful beginning of the demonstrations in
Havana.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">8. It is becoming more and
more obvious that the propaganda of the counterrevolution had an organizing
character in the protests. Although this was not the main factor that triggered
the protests, it is undoubtedly undeniable that the United States orchestrated
a strong right-wing campaign in the social networks, openly focused on the
overthrow of the Cuban government. This campaign had a strong impact on an
important sector of the population. It is necessary to take into account that
4.4 million Cubans have access to social networks from their cell phones. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">9. The demonstrations
ended up being marked by violence. In Havana, initially, except for isolated
events, the demonstrations in the center of the capital took place peacefully.
However, in the capital, the demonstration degenerated into a serious
confrontation with police forces and pro-government citizens when the
demonstrators tried to gain access to the Plaza de la Revolución where the
Central Committee of the Communist Party, the seat of the Government, the
Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and
the headquarters of most of the national newspapers are located. At that time,
violent events took place on both sides, causing serious injuries among
civilians. At the same time, violent groups carried out acts of vandalism and
attacked communist militants and government sympathizers with sticks and
stones.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 196.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2><span lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Conclusion</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Why was comrade Frank
García Hernández, founder of our Editorial Committee, arrested?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Comrade Frank García
Hernández, who was on his way to a friend's house, with whom he had been with
since the beginning of the demonstration, accidentally ended up at the scene of
the violent confrontations that took place near the Plaza de la Revolución, but
just as they were coming to an end. Comrade Frank had been present at the
protest from the beginning, but as a Communist Party militant. When the
demonstrators left the Máximo Gómez Park (around 6:00 p.m.), Frank and the
comrade assumed that the protest was over, which is why they both went to the
girl's house. She lives less than 200 meters from where the violent clashes
took place between the demonstrators and the police forces, who were trying to
prevent the protest from entering the Plaza de la Revolución. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">According to Comrade
Frank, when they arrived at the corner of Ayestarán and Aranguren streets,
shots were fired into the air. They both ended up inside a pro-government group
which was marching accompanied by police officers. At that moment, Comrade
Frank accidentally meets Maykel Gonzalez, director of the pro-LGBTIQ rights
magazine Tremenda Nota, a publication that has reproduced the texts of Comunistas.
Maykel Gonzalez had participated in the course of events, from the birth of the
march to the violent events between the two groups, taking part of the
demonstrators, although without carrying out any violent acts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When the protests were
coming to an end in the presence of Comrade Frank Garcia, a police officer
arrested Maykel Gonzalez, falsely accusing him of having thrown stones at the
forces of public order. In view of this, Comrade Frank Garcia, as a Communist
Party militant, tried to intercede calmly between the officer and Maykel
Gonzalez. While trying to convince the policeman, asking him not to arrest
Maykel Gonzalez, Frank Garcia was also arrested by the officer. The police
officer accused Frank of violent acts and of being on the side of the
demonstrators. This accusation was later proven false by the authorities. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The arrest took place at
around 7:00 pm. Both were taken to the nearest police station. Subsequently,
around 1:30 a.m., Frank was taken to another detention center, where the facts
were immediately clarified, proving that he had not participated in violent
acts, nor in the group against the demonstrations. Together with the director
of Tremenda Nota, Maykel González Vivero, comrade Frank García Hernández was
released on Monday, July 12 at around 8:00 pm. During his detention of just
over 24 hours, Frank affirms that he was NOT physically abused or tortured in
any way. Frank Garcia is not currently being held in house arrest, but is under
a precautionary measure that regulates his ability to move, limiting his access
to his workplace and medical care. However, Frank is not required to make any
statements to the authorities regarding his daily movements. The legal measure
is part of the procedure to be followed until his non-participation in violent
acts or in the demonstration is officially demonstrated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The Editorial Committee of
Comunistas is grateful for the impressive wave of international solidarity that
arose to demand the release of Frank García Hernández. Soon, Comunistas will
publish a detailed report of the internationalist campaign, through which a
just recognition will be made to the people and organizations that fought for
the freedom of our comrade. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It is worth noting that
during the protests no other member of the Editorial Committee, collaborator or
comrade close to our publication was arrested. Based on our elementary sense of
revolutionary justice, this does not prevent us from demanding the immediate
release of the rest of those arrested during the July 11 demonstrations, as
long as they have not committed actions that have attempted against the lives
of other people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Somewhere in Cuba, July
17, 2021, Comunistas Editorial Board<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 196.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="background: white; color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Note and comments</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">NOTE: At the time this
statement was published, Comunistas was aware of the call made by the
government and the opposition to demonstrate in the streets. Apparently, both
sides have called for a rally at the same point in Havana, known as La Piragua.
Comunistas rejects both calls as irresponsible, taking into account the
seriousness of the health situation of the coronavirus, with more than 6,000 cases
per day. But with greater force we condemn any possible act of violence that
may occur in the clash between the two groups. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #262a33; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 196.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 196.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 196.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /></div></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-78143160424717756692021-07-12T13:36:00.011-04:002021-08-08T22:43:00.374-04:00Freedom for Frank García Hernández and other detainees!<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="color: red;">Update: </span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;">It has been confirmed that </span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Frank García Hernández</span></span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"> and Maikel Gonzalez Vivero have been released. However they remain under a form of house arrest, restricted in their movements and still face charges. The other two comrades who were arrested have not been released. Here is a statement of solidarity from a supporter of the detained comrades:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;">***********************************************************************************</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Greetings
to all, friends of the IV International and also persons that signed in support
of the liberation of Mikael González Vivero, Frank García Hernández, Leonardo
Romero Negrín y Marco Antonio Pérez. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I
want to thank you personally for having responded to the call for solidarity
that I made in moments in which they were arrested. I never expected so much support. I never expected so much love from so many
different places. It really moved me to
see people from all over the world concerned by the situation of this young
socialists that have been arrested in these demonstrations. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">For
now, we are still giving the fight though some of them were released: Frank,
our comrade Frank, and Mikael González Vivero.
However, Marco Antonio Pérez, a minor, and Leonardo Romero Negrín, 21
years-old, are still detained. They are
very close to me, personally, and they are also young socialists that should
not be there (detained). They were not
violent during the demonstrations and they did not commit any crime yet they
were detained in an arbitrary and violent manner by the repressive arm of the
State. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;">I greatly appreciate the support and I tell </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;">you that</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"> in Cuba my battle for them to be freed will not cease.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">Nor will my battle</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"><b> to</b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"> defend freedom and socialism, true socialism, in my country, cease.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Cuba without annexation!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Cuba without embargo!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But Cuba, free, democratic and of the workers!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Socialism, yes! Repression, no!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A fraternal embrace.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">***********************************************************************************</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;">There has been a groundswell of support for the release of the comrades that were arrested. A petition on change.org has gathered the signature of many prominent activists and public intellectuals including Noam Chomsky. You can go to this link to sign the petition.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><a href="https://www.change.org/p/cuban-government-release-frank-garc%C3%ADa-hern%C3%A1ndez-and-his-comrades">https://www.change.org/p/cuban-government-release-frank-garc%C3%ADa-hern%C3%A1ndez-and-his-comrades</a></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Note: We just learned that Frank Garcia
Hernandez, the courageous Cuban scholar and activist who organized the first
International Conference on Trotsky in Havana in 2019, has been detained by the
Cuban authorities. We have no details as
to the circumstances of Frank’s detention except that it is connected to a
government crackdown on dissidents in Cuba spurred on by massive protests
throughout the island that broke out yesterday.
The demonstrations, spread through social media, were protesting the
shortages of food and electricity, the mishandling of the pandemic and in
general the repressive actions of the Cuban bureaucracy. The economic crisis in
Cuba has been greatly aggravated by the cruel blockade imposed on Cuba by U.S.
imperialism. The economic sanctions against Cuba were amped up significantly by
the Trump Administration and has been continued under the Biden
Administration. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Beyond this context we do not have any
information about the specific details of the crackdown on dissidents. What we do know is that among the detainees
are left wing dissidents, committed
socialists who have defended the Cuban revolution against imperialism such as
Frank Garcia Hernandez.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Since the news broke messages of solidarity
have poured in from international comrades. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Workers Revolutionary Party of Greece (EEK)
have called for the freedom of Frank Garcia Hernandez and the other detainees.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Also joining the call for the liberation of
Frank and the other detainees was the Workers Revolutionary Party of Turkey
(DIP).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Other calls for solidarity have come from
Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, Finland, and Belgium. Many more messages of solidarity are expected
as news of this repressive action by the Cuban government spreads.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We are asking all supporters of socialism and
internationalism to join us in demanding the release of Frank Garcia Hernandez
and the other detainees!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Below we are reprinting two articles – in
English translation – that provide a few more details about the detention of
Frank Garcia Hernandez and others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">From <i>La Izquierda Diario México</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.laizquierdadiario.com.mx/Cuba-Libertad-a-Frank-Garcia-Hernandez-y-los-demas-detenidos" target="_blank"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">http://www.laizquierdadiario.com.mx/Cuba-Libertad-a-Frank-Garcia-Hernandez-y-los-demas-detenidos</span></a><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This Sunday, July 11, mobilizations were held
in Havana and different towns in Cuba, in protest against the health crisis,
the shortage and against different government measures, aggravated by the
tightening of the criminal imperialist blockade of the United States. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Within the framework of the protests and the
repression exercised by the police forces against those who mobilized, Frank
García Hernandez was arrested, among other protesters. His friends and
colleagues denounce this arbitrary detention and violent measures taken by the
Cuban forces of repression, who used pepper spray against those who were involved
in the actions. Frank is a Cuban Marxist, sociologist and historian, and a
member of the Communists Blog collective. He was arrested along with Marco
Antonio Perez Fernandez (a high school student, who had been arrested on April
30 for carrying a sign "Socialism yes, repression no"). Also arrested
were Maikel Gonzalez Vivero (director of the LGTBQ community magazine Tremenda
nota), as well as Mel Herrera, a trans activist for LGTBQ rights. All the
detainees claim to be socialists, and in the case of Marco Antonio Perez and
Mel Herrera, their whereabouts are unknown. The blog Comunistas, from Cuba,
published a call for the freedom of detainees in Cuba. We join the voices that
demand, in Cuba and other countries, the immediate release of Frank Garcia and
his companions. We also say enough of repression and arbitrary arrests by the
Cuban government, for the democratic right to protest and free union, social
and political organization.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">From <i>Communistas Cuba</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
</span><u><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://www.comunistascuba.org/2021/07/reclamo-por-la-libertad-de-los.html">https://www.comunistascuba.org/2021/07/reclamo-por-la-libertad-de-los.html</a></span></u><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
the demonstrations this afternoon in Havana, Frank García Hernández, among other
members of the Cuban left, was arrested.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Note:
not all members of the editorial collective of Comunistas Blog subscribe to
this communication.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
afternoon the Cuban people took to the streets. A people that was not summoned
by any organization other than the acute economic crisis facing Cuba and the
government's inability to handle the situation. Cuba took to the streets with
the “wrong” slogan "<b><i>Homeland and life</i></b>" <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> ,
but it took to the streets beyond a slogan, it came out to demand true
socialism from the government. Those who were in the streets were not only
artists and intellectuals, this time it was the town in its broadest
heterogeneity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
note from the Comunistas blog does not seek to analyze the situation in Cuba.
It seeks to denounce the violent detention of the protesters, to denounce that
this time the repressive forces of the State put themselves in the opposite
place, that they repressed Cubans, that they used pepper spray and all
available resources. This note is a claim for the freedom of all those detained
and especially for the arbitrary detention of Frank García Hernández, a Cuban
historian and Marxist. For the arrest of Leonardo Romero Negrín, a young
socialist Physics student at the University of Havana. For the arrest of Maykel
González Vivero, director of Tremenda Nota, a marginal magazine. For the arrest
of Marcos Antonio Pérez Fernández, a minor, a high school student. For all
those violently detained on this black afternoon that Cuba will not forget.
Comunistas appeals to the solidarity of the international Marxist community and
also to the conscience of the Cuban government. This time it is about a town
that needs answers and dialogue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
is about a civil society that does not want annexation, but rather to
participate and decide the fate of its nation. Communist blog condemns the
repression and says enough to the bureaucracy.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
The slogan is “wrong” because the traditional slogan of the Cuban Revolution is
“<b><i>Homeland or Death</i></b>”. (A.S.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-18023671699427429472021-04-26T18:08:00.000-04:002021-04-26T18:08:54.571-04:00Comments on David North and Joseph Kishore’s Letter<img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Dhw74eQ2FI/YIcxkl18VhI/AAAAAAAADLM/2gB_MW07kLsO0BYip79Kcu6tfTZkk-LnACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Amazon-banner.jpg" style="display: none;" />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Dhw74eQ2FI/YIcxkl18VhI/AAAAAAAADLM/2gB_MW07kLsO0BYip79Kcu6tfTZkk-LnACNcBGAsYHQ/s550/Amazon-banner.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="550" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Dhw74eQ2FI/YIcxkl18VhI/AAAAAAAADLM/2gB_MW07kLsO0BYip79Kcu6tfTZkk-LnACNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Amazon-banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" height="24" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" width="170" /></a><div><br /></div><div>[Note: This is part two of a response to recent actions by the leadership of the Socialist Equality Party. For the first part see, <i><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/04/socialist-equality-party-national.html">Socialist Equality Party National Secretary Joseph Kishore lies about an Amazon worker and former party member: the worker responds</a></i>.]</div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/north-and-kishore-letter-to-peter-ross.html">In an 11-page letter</a> written jointly by the
National Chairperson and National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party and
distributed to the entire membership, one would expect at least an attempt at a
political analysis, but instead we get a long series of misrepresentations that
answer none of the political points that had been raised. Much of the letter
consists of quote mining my party application and personal correspondences to
prove that I praised the party in the past and have now turned 180 degrees in a
brief period, into some form of subjectivist, anarchist, pragmatist petty
bourgeois, who if he continues on his current path, will become no better than
those “political wretches” Steiner and Brenner. What the quotes from my text
messages and emails really reflect is my own militancy and a regrettable
willingness to psych myself into enthusiasm for the SEP because I identified it
with revolutionary socialism.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">That I changed my mind over the course of
several months hardly discredits my positions. Thankfully, a few months was
enough time to see through years of miseducation. The SEP has set up a
self-fulfilling prophecy here, because they kick out anyone as soon as they
have a disagreement. In fact, I had been uneasy about some of the party’s
politics for some time, especially after my experiences with the so-called
rank-and-file committees, but it was only after seeing the witch hunt against
Shuvu and then reading the critique by C and revisiting Trotsky’s writings that
everything clicked. Now, I can call the SEP’s politics by their proper name – sectarianism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North and Kishore’s letter opens by declaring
that my provisional membership has been ended (by unanimous votes all the way
around), because the party is not open to anyone “who decides they are in
fundamental disagreement with the party’s program and perspective.” The main
“fundamental disagreement” in question was over the party’s abstentionist line
on the trade unions. If this constitutes grounds for expulsion/removal it
follows that if the party’s view on this issue (or any other) is wrong, it will
be incapable of correcting it, since it expels anyone who disagrees.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I want to emphasize that what triggered my
removal from the party was my statement in defense of Shuvu at a national
meeting. This was followed by a critical comment, directly addressing points
that had been raised during a discussion of trade unionism at a meeting of the
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) National
Committee, of which I was a member. I was able to make most of this statement
but was cut off halfway through the last sentence, on the grounds that “this
wasn’t the place to express my disagreements.” When I protested this action in
the IYSSE Signal chat, I was removed from the committee without a vote, within
minutes of my first message in the chat. My silent excommunication from all
other party group chats happened about five minutes later. Genevieve, the
National Secretary of the IYSSE, displayed a remarkable lack of self-awareness
when she wrote “Your attempts to persuade comrades that you have been censored
have no validity” and then two sentences later said that she was “proposing” to
remove me from the chat. By “proposing,” she really meant that she was about to
do it unilaterally. If this isn’t censorship, then the word has no meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The party leadership stooped even lower the
following week, in their slanderous letter of April 2, accusing Shuvu, among
other things, of being an agent of the RWDSU bureaucracy. I stand in complete solidarity
with Shuvu Batta against these vile attacks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Shuvu and I have been denounced incessantly
for acting in a “totally unprincipled manner:” him for passing around documents
and me for expressing a disagreement during a national meeting. Yet the response
of the SEP has been to resort to personal attacks, slanders, and conspiracy
theories: are these principled politics?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Since North and Kishore have devoted so much
of their letter to my political history, I will try to briefly set the record
straight. I discovered the WSWS during the 2016 election, during a time when I
was putting my hopes for change in the Sanders campaign, even volunteering to
make phone calls and go door to door. After Sanders capitulated to the
Democratic Party, it became clear to me that this was not just the result of
political pragmatism, but rather of a conscious effort to uphold the prevailing
political system. The Marxist explanation of opportunism and class society
presented by the WSWS aligned with this experience. I saw an alternative in the
SEP, which presented itself as a world party and introduced me to the rich
history of the socialist movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I came into contact with the party in the fall
of 2018. Shuvu had contacted them a few weeks before, and together we launched
into an abortive effort to build a youth and student section at our college
campus. I was unsure of the party’s stance on the trade unions from the very
beginning, which is one of the reasons I waited a year and a half before
applying for membership, but I told myself that even if the SEP were wrong, it
was doing an important service by exposing the union bureaucracies. I held the
party in high regard, because I had come to see it as a lone voice speaking out
against imperialism and opportunism. During this period, I read</span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/special/library/globalization-international-working-class/00.html"><span color="windowtext" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/special/library/globalization-international-working-class/00.html"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="color: #dca10d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Globalization and the International
Working Class</span></a></span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">
and</span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/28/matu-s28.html"><span color="windowtext" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/28/matu-s28.html"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="color: #dca10d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Why are Trade Unions Hostile to
Socialism</span></a><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/28/matu-s28.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="color: #dca10d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">?</span></i></a></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">,</span></i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> the two primary SEP essays justifying trade union abstentionism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North writes, “In the space of little more
than 12 weeks, your appraisal of the SEP’s policies has undergone a complete
transformation,” but it would be more accurate to say that what underwent a
transformation was my appraisal of these two documents, which form the backbone
of the SEP’s whole perspective on the trade unions. However, I did not
“dismiss” either of them “with contempt,” as North says. In fact, I wrote that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Globalization and the International Working
Class</i> “made an important contribution, in that it outlined how
globalization has brought about a degeneration of the unions,” but I went on to
object that what had started as a correct opposition to union corporatism had
evolved into an unmitigated hostility toward carrying out any struggle in any
union. (I refer the reader to</span><span lang="EN"><a href="http://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch05.pdf"><span color="windowtext" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="http://permanent-revolution.org/polemics/mwhh_ch05.pdf"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="color: #dca10d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Chapter 5 of Marxism Without its
Head or its Heart</span></a></span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">
for a thorough discussion.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North does not answer my point that in the 23
years since these two documents were published (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">two</i> decades ago), the SEP has not produced a comparable theoretical
investigation of globalization, trade unionism, or any other feature of world
capitalism in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Any healthy party would contain
multiple currents constantly striving to question and update old analyses,
which may after all be wrong. It is better to change your mind in 12 weeks than
to march in the wrong direction for a quarter century!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">What accounts for my change in position is not
that I have abandoned my principles, but that as an inexperienced Marxist I
lacked the theoretical tools to see through the one-sided arguments made in
these texts. My real error is not that I changed my mind, but that, when I was
wrestling with these questions over a year ago, I did not more carefully study</span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/"><span color="windowtext" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="color: #dca10d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The Transitional Program</span></a></span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> and</span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1940/xx/tu.htm"><span color="windowtext" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1940/xx/tu.htm"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="color: #dca10d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Trade Unions in the Epoch of
Imperialist Decay</span></a></span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">,
which demolish the position of the SEP. After reviewing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Transitional Program, </i>it is hard to understand how I could have
ever believed that the SEP’s politics were consistent with those of Trotsky.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North writes, “When it comes to the unions,
the instruments of working-class suppression, you uphold their bureaucratically
imposed organizational discipline against the efforts of the party to develop
democratically organized rank-and-file committees.” I don’t know whether this
is a willful misrepresentation, or simply another example of mechanical
thinking, but I never suggested that anyone accept the authority of the
AFL-CIO. I’m well aware of the duplicity of the bureaucracies and how deeply
undemocratic these organizations are. But the reality is that tens of millions
of workers remain in unions and the only way to break the hold of the
bureaucracies over their lives is to fight them on the ground! This does not
for an instant entail subordinating the revolutionary party to the
bureaucracies. Let me quote Trotsky once more: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“</i>Only on the basis of such work within the trade unions is
successful struggle possible against the reformists, including those of the
Stalinist bureaucracy. Sectarian attempts to build or preserve small
‘revolutionary’ unions, as a second edition of the party, signify in actuality
the renouncing of the struggle for leadership of the working class.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The SEP’s substitution of “rank-and-file
committees” for trade union work amounts to abandoning the workers in the
unions to struggle against the bureaucracies on their own. This is exactly why
Trotsky said that this sort of politics amounted to “renouncing of the struggle
for leadership” and a “betrayal of the revolution.” North claims that the party
has organized “democratically organized rank-and-file committees,” but
everything I know about these committees demonstrates that they are not
democratic. When’s the last time any of the committees had an election? (Of
course, you’d need members to have an election.) The reality is that party members
dictate absolutely every aspect of their work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The party’s declaration a few days ago, on
April 23, that it will lead the construction of an “International Workers
Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees,” marks a “new stage” in nothing but the
SEP’s own illusions. I have no doubt that within a year, the WSWS will declare
that this international alliance has been successfully built, regardless of the
actual results. The International Amazon Workers Voice was declared into
existence not long ago in a similar manner. That project seems to have largely
been dropped. Perhaps if it had truly given voice to anything other than the
WSWS editorial board, it would have fared better. We did, in fact, get to hear
from an Amazon worker recently, but the SEP has done everything it could to
silence him, and now resorts to character assassination.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The source of my change in position, according
to North, is a swell of “disorientation among broad sections of the petty
bourgeoisie.” This is exactly the kind of empty name-calling I objected to in
my letter to Marc. For evidence of the petty-bourgeois roots of my “political
implosion,” North relies completely on a misrepresentation of my criticisms of
the party’s handling of Jimmy Dore: “Your call for the ‘probing of the
political issues’ means nothing other than adapting the party to Dore’s
reactionary political arena, in which his program provides a forum where
socialists and neo-Nazis can mutually explore, in search of points of
agreement, their approaches to the fight against bourgeois liberalism.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I did not suggest that Jerry White engage in a
discussion with the boogaloo boy, nor did I indicate, as North claims I did,
that “the issue of discussing with fascists was a minor point, barely deserving
more than a passing comment.” My argument was that Jerry should have explained
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">reasons </i>that socialists can’t
ally with fascists—that it’s not just a question of individuals but of
delineating a program of political independence for the working class, etc. The
SEP, committed to its sectarianism, thinks the only two options are
capitulation or denunciation. Over the following days and weeks, rather than
recognizing and patiently explaining the source of Dore’s confusion, the WSWS
doubled down, falsely labeling Dore as a fascist sympathizer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North claims that, in defending Shuvu during
the national aggregate, it was my “intention to ambush the party leadership and
dishonestly present Batta as a victim of undemocratic methods.” Does North
honestly maintain that, had I made my intention to address Shuvu’s case known
in advance, I would have been allowed to speak? As for whether these were
undemocratic methods, by North’s own admission, the reason for Shuvu’s
expulsion was that he “chose to ignore the decisions of the New York branch on
how to conduct an organized discussion on the political differences that he had
announced only a week before.” In other words, Shuvu attempted to have
one-on-one discussions with other members. Democratic centralism does not imply
that the branch has the power to impose any demand whatsoever on its members.
The branch’s declaration, after the fact, that Shuvu was prohibited from
internally distributing or discussing a document, was never legitimate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North goes on: “Your intervention on his
behalf was of an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ex parte </i>unprincipled
character. Acting as Batta’s attorney, you substituted your personal
relationship for the established constitutional mechanisms relating to party
discipline.” What this legal jargon has to do with revolutionary socialism I
don’t know. I did not act as Shuvu’s attorney or make my intervention on the
basis of a personal relationship. I did my duty as a revolutionary in defending
the political rights of my comrade. My statement was not of an “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ex parte </i>unprincipled character,” since
the opposing side – the entire SEP leadership – was present and had a full two
hours to rebut my two 5-minute statements. As I mentioned in my remarks, the
disciplinary actions in the New York Branch were carried out without Shuvu’s
presence. Shuvu was given no opportunity to personally defend himself to the
entire branch. If North wants to discuss a proceeding carried out in an “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ex parte </i>unprincipled character,” we
should start there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North accuses me, in Trotsky’s words, of
“clique ties” but does my previous acquaintance with Shuvu rule out any
political intervention in his defense? No. I do not take the tie of comradeship
so lightly as North and Kishore. In any case, the accusation of “clique ties”
applies above all to the SEP leadership, which has concentrated all political
power in the hands of the clique located in Detroit. And what of the questions
I raised on elections and party democracy? In his 11-page letter, North has
failed to answer a single one of them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North’s citation of the Comintern to counter
my points on party democracy proves nothing. What I objected to was not the
organization of the party into local branches, but the claim that all
communication and debate had to be channeled through them. North writes that I
“oppose disciplined organization in the revolutionary party” in favor of an “an
organization of free-floating atoms,” but I respected all forms of legitimate
party discipline. What has North so worried? That I defended the right of the
membership to distribute and discuss documents? That I expressed a disagreement
during a national meeting?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">In a</span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/10thcong/ch04.htm"><span color="windowtext" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/10thcong/ch04.htm"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="color: #dca10d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">draft resolution</span></a></span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> of the Tenth Party Congress of the RCP,
during which factions were banned, Lenin wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 106%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt; margin: 10pt 0in 8pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 106%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Analyses of the Party’s general line,
estimates of its practical experience, check-ups of the fulfilment of its
decisions, studies of methods of rectifying errors, etc., must under no
circumstances be submitted for preliminary discussion to groups formed on the
basis of ‘platforms,’ etc., but must in all cases be submitted for discussion
directly to all the members of the Party.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">In other words, even under those conditions,
when the Bolsheviks were trying to prevent political differences from taking on
an organizational form which could be taken advantage of by hostile forces,
they still recognized the need for debate and allowed (in fact, required)
criticisms to be submitted to ALL of the members of the party. It is worth
noting that the whole history of Bolshevism before the rise of Stalinism is
marked by rich political debate and polemics, and the banning of factions (but not
debate or discussion) was widely regarded as a temporary measure, taken under
very difficult conditions. The attempts to defend the SEP’s practice by
invoking the Bolsheviks clearly do not hold water.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">After falsely claiming for a third time that I
have mounted a “defense of the chauvinist AFL-CIO,” North and Kishore once
again wave away my political intervention as the result of my “subjective
impulses” and my “chumminess” with Shuvu. I am told to “‘Repress’ the
individualistic and anarchistic tendencies that are incompatible with disciplined
revolutionary activity within the working class.” It should be obvious that if
what I wanted was personal freedom, it would have been far easier for me to
leave the SEP without a word. All of my efforts have been aimed at raising
critical questions among the SEP’s cadre.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The task for a revolutionary is not to
“repress” one’s individualism, but to overcome the false individualism fostered
under capitalism, and direct oneself toward the cause of human liberation.
Without a degree of independence of thought that is impossible in the SEP,
there is no way a revolutionary can engage in the critical thinking necessary
to make even the smallest step toward socialism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 106%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt; margin: 10pt 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 106%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">North and Kishore end their letter with this
note of reconciliation:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 106%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt; margin: 10pt 0in 8pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 106%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">If and when, on the basis of your own actions
from this date forward, the SEP is confident that you can abide by the party
constitution and fight loyally for the policies of the party in accordance with
the decisions of its National Congress, you will be allowed to reapply for
provisional membership in the Socialist Equality Party.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">This is obviously an insincere statement, made
only for the benefit of the party membership. After my first comment at the
national meeting, there was absolutely no chance that I would be allowed to
stay in the party. Even if it were true that North and Co. would ever permit me
to rejoin, it would be on the condition that I admit the error of my ways and
submit myself to silence and acquiescence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">For North and Kishore, “subjective impulses”
apply to everyone but themselves, who sit above the class struggle, issuing
their statements and programs from their armchairs. They are right about one
thing: at this point, we agree on nothing. When I said that there was much on
which we still agree, I wasn’t directing myself to them, but to any genuine
revolutionaries in the party.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">To any such people in or around the SEP, I
urge you to consider the demands Shuvu and I put forward in his April 23 letter
– which are aimed at opening the party to free discussion and debate and establishing
democratic oversight by its membership – and to take up the fight to build a
genuinely revolutionary party. In closing, I will quote a slogan from the
Statement of Principles of the IYSSE, which has always stuck with me, and which
sums up my perspective now: “For the Rebirth of the Socialist Movement!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">-- Peter Ross<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Links to Related Documents:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-073fZWEC2GI/YIX9GTgdg9I/AAAAAAAADLE/xvqZD3KqcPEhMMG6j2Ze8yKNV5XYsHDpACNcBGAsYHQ/s430/scrolls.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="430" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-073fZWEC2GI/YIX9GTgdg9I/AAAAAAAADLE/xvqZD3KqcPEhMMG6j2Ze8yKNV5XYsHDpACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/scrolls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></b></div><div><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/04/socialist-equality-party-national.html">SEP National Secretary Joseph Kishore lies about an Amazon worker</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/initial-letter-from-shuvu-to-new-york.html">Initial letter to leadership of New York branch</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/response-from-new-york-branch.html">Response from New York branch leadership</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/defense-and-critique-of-icfis-practice.html">Reply to New York branch leadership: critique of the ICFI's practice</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/letter-from-joseph-kishore.html">Letter from Joseph Kishore to Shuvu Batta</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/north-and-kishore-letter-to-peter-ross.html">Letter from North and Kishore to Peter Ross</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/once-again-on-question-of-trade-unions.html">Comrade C's critique of the ICFI's position on the unions </a> </div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-65117206712906271182021-04-23T13:08:00.021-04:002021-04-26T21:26:38.718-04:00Socialist Equality Party National Secretary Joseph Kishore spreads lies about an Amazon worker and former party member: The worker responds<img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zjHn6k0P6q4/YIR2BHt1ZiI/AAAAAAAADKE/DrLwouqVv4I9U7fNghFVLMyGfI76tKyqACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/amazon_bessemer.jpg" style="display: none;" />
<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/04/socialist-equality-party-national.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rQ-zcC8eGBo/YIOG9TcASCI/AAAAAAAADJc/wSlVTck-lM4_LsuV-MeB_DvAN6UMYFuOgCNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/amazon_bessemer.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/04/socialist-equality-party-national.html">Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />[Note: This is part one of a response to recent actions of the leadership of the Socialist Equality Party. For part two see <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2021/04/comments-on-david-north-and-joseph.html" style="font-style: italic;">Comments on David North and Joseph Kishore's letter.</a>]<br /><div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">This
open letter is a reply to the slanderous attacks leveled at Shuvu Batta by the
Socialist Equality Party (SEP) after he was expelled from that organization in
February 2021. The SEP is the US section of the International Committee of the
Fourth International (ICFI), which is most well known for producing the World
Socialist Web Site (<a href="https://www.wsws.org/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">wsws.org</span></a>).
Shuvu had been a member of the SEP and its youth section, the IYSSE, for two
and a half years at the time of his expulsion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">In
January 2021, Shuvu learned of a critique of the SEP’s sectarian approach to
the trade unions, written by a provisional member, C, who had recently
resigned. Shuvu reached out to C directly for a copy of the critique and,
agreeing with its main political points, began distributing it to other party
members. Within a week, Shuvu was charged with breaching party discipline and
removed from all meetings and group chats. He was expelled several weeks later,
on February 27. The documents pertaining to the expulsion can be found<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> <b><u><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/documents-on-socialist-equality-party.html">here</a></u>.</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">On March 19, during a national
meeting, Peter Ross, a provisional member, made a statement defending Shuvu’s
right to criticize the party line and raising concerns about the party’s
internal regime and its anti-union positions. On March 22, during a meeting of
the IYSSE, Peter again spoke out against how other members had characterized trade
unionism, and was cut off mid-sentence on the grounds that “this wasn’t the
place” to express his disagreements. When Peter objected to this, he was
promptly removed from all party group chats. His provisional membership was
revoked two days later in a letter written by the two top leaders of the SEP,
David North and Joseph Kishore, and distributed to the entire membership. These
documents can be found </span><u style="color: #6fa8dc;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/north-and-kishore-letter-to-peter-ross.html"><b>here</b></a></u><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">.
</span>According to sympathetic SEP members, the next national meeting was devoted to
hysterical denunciations of both former members, personal slanders aimed at
proving their petty bourgeois backgrounds, and craven praise for David North’s
letter.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">On April 1, because Shuvu is currently
employed as an Amazon Fresh worker, he had the rare opportunity to appear on an<a href="https://the1a.org/segments/our-relationship-with-amazon/"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://the1a.org/segments/our-relationship-with-amazon/"><span style="color: #0563c1;">NPR podcast</span></a> to voice his support for the
Amazon BHM1 workers in Alabama fighting to unionize. This prompted Joseph
Kishore, the National Secretary of the SEP (US), to issue another letter to the
entire membership, tearing Shuvu’s comments out of context and peddling a
conspiracy theory accusing him of being an agent of the RWDSU bureaucracy. The
letter, shared with us by a supporter in the SEP, can be viewed <b><u><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/letter-from-joseph-kishore.html">here</a></u>.</b> To
protect Shuvu from potential company retaliation, we have removed his
facility’s location from the document.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Kishore’s letter, an
attempt to fend off any discussion of the SEP’s sectarian politics and
undemocratic internal regime by slandering Shuvu, reveals the utter bankruptcy
of the SEP leadership. These are not the methods of revolutionaries, but of
tinpot dictators and cult leaders. We urge those workers and youth attracted to
the WSWS by its anti-imperialist and socialist posturing to read through the
linked documents—which provide a clear picture of the internal life of the SEP
and the kind of response members can expect should they develop political
differences with the party—and to take up the fight to build a real socialist
movement in the working class.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">--
Shuvu Batta and Peter Ross<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">April
23, 2021<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="break-after: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;"><a name="_165jz9pz042"></a><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 13pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Response to
Joseph Kishore<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">First of all, I would like to
sincerely thank Kishore for his letter, as it exposes the real nature of the SEP
leadership. At the same time, it’s sad to see an individual that I once
respected and who presents himself as a man of principle peddling conspiracy
theories to the rank and file of his party, many of whom are young people just
dipping their toes into the world of politics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Let us first cut through Kishore’s
lies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Kishore writes: “Of the 800,000 Amazon
workers in the United States, one cannot help but wonder how Shuvu Batta
emerged triumphant from NPR’s search and vetting process. He has been an Amazon
employee for only a few months; and he is not even working at the Bessemer
plant. He works at an Amazon “Fresh” facility in XXX and has been trying to
land a job in the company’s human resources department, i.e., in management.
Moreover, given the fact that the predominantly African American composition of
the targeted facility has been central to the RWDSU’s strategy and the focus of
media reporting, NPR’s selection of Batta appears even more peculiar.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Kishore knows very well how I got onto
the<a href="https://the1a.org/segments/our-relationship-with-amazon/"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://the1a.org/segments/our-relationship-with-amazon/"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">NPR program</span></a>—it
was through a post on Reddit in an Amazon workers group. The majority of the 63
comments on the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AmazonFC/comments/mggnav/go_bhm1_workers_lets_unionize_in_every_facility/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">post</span></a> voiced support for the central message,
expressed in its title: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Go BHM1 workers, let’s unionize in every
facility and every workplace!</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Kishore also attempts to slander me
for trying to better my economic situation by applying for an HR position. By
his logic, the hundreds of thousands of HR workers around the country are all
aligned with the capitalists and are actively working against the interests of
the working class. In reality, they are a part of the working class who utilize
their labor-time ensuring that workplaces are productive and that morale is
high. As Amazon warehouse workers fight to unionize, they must and will rally
the support of “skilled” workers like HR and tech workers, who also need to
collectively organize and unite against their common exploiters: the owners of
Amazon, and the rest of the capitalist class.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">After sowing doubt about the
legitimacy of a worker voicing his opinion on a public podcast, Kishore takes
his next leap into the realm of tin-foil conspiracy theories: “The most likely
explanation for Batta’s appearance on the program is that he was recommended to
NPR by the leadership of the RWDSU bureaucracy. The union, which lacks any
significant base among rank-and-file workers, is immensely sensitive to
left-wing criticism—above all, that of the SEP and the World Socialist Web
Site. In one way or another, Batta’s activities came to the attention of the
bureaucracy, which has decided to make use of his services.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Is this really the most likely
explanation, or could it be that the unionization drive by BHM1 workers has had
mass support among the broader US public? A recent national<a href="https://www.al.com/business/2021/04/most-americans-support-alabama-amazon-union-drive-poll-finds.html?utm_source=reddit.com"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.al.com/business/2021/04/most-americans-support-alabama-amazon-union-drive-poll-finds.html?utm_source=reddit.com"><span style="color: #0563c1;">poll</span></a> showed the majority of Democrats,
Independents, and even Republicans supporting the BHM1 workers fighting to
unionize. My post, which received popular support from Amazon workers on
Reddit, was viewed by an NPR journalist sympathetic to unionization, who then
gave me the opportunity to come on the podcast and make my points. The RWDSU
bureaucracy was not involved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Kishore then cites my failure to say
the word “socialism” or attack Jeff Bezos on the podcast as proof of my
political degeneracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Despite the fact that my opportunities
to make broader political points on the broadcast were quite limited, I think
my responses could absolutely have been sharper. I will take my experience on
this podcast as a lesson, but I am grateful for the opportunity given to me by
the NPR journalist, and I am grateful for the opportunity to voice my support
for any worker who is risking their job to unionize. To suggest that this
appearance was masterminded by the RWDSU bureaucracy is a slander not just
against me but also the journalist who reached out to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 103%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">The World Socialist Web Site Slanders Amazon’s BHM1 Workers<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Now that we have cleared the lies, let
us get to the heart of the matter: the anti-worker politics of the Socialist
Equality Party. In his letter, Kishore cites a comment I made on NPR as proof
of my abandonment of socialism:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Asked what he thought was “the most
important thing for senior Amazon leadership to know,” Batta replied: “Just as
you have a right under the capitalist system to make profits, we have the right
to unionize, and we have the right to actually have a say in the workplace, to
make sure that our conditions are a little more livable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">My comment was such an unpardonable
sin to Kishore that he felt the need to hurl a series of slurs at me, calling
me a “petit-bourgeois opponent of Marxism,” “a craven apologist for the RWDSU
bureaucracy,” and “a pathetic political fraudster.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">While it is astonishing to witness the
National Secretary of the SEP reduce himself to a schoolyard bully, there is
also a sinister aspect to his slander. Part of its purpose, by spreading a
conspiracy theory and personal information about my job application throughout
the party, is to send a message to all of the members of the Socialist Equality
Party: “If you dare to speak out against our politics, if you dare to voice
support for workers unionizing, we will isolate you, spread lies about you, and
label you a class enemy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The fact is that my call for Amazon
workers to unionize was in line with Marx’s words in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Communist Manifesto</i> that communists “fight for the attainment of
the immediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the
working class, but in the movement of the present they also represent and take
care of the future of that movement.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The crux of the matter is that the SEP
does not believe that unionizing constitutes an “immediate aim” for the mass of
unorganized workers. The developing movement of the working class is going
directly against a fundamental principle of their politics: rejection of trade
union work. Thus, they have been forced to slander Amazon BHM1 workers as the
puppets of a<a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/03/16/amaz-m16.html"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/03/16/amaz-m16.html"><span style="color: #0563c1;">“top-down”</span></a> unionization drive despite the fact
that it has inspired thousands of unorganized workers in Amazon and elsewhere
to start unionization campaigns in their workplaces.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The reality is that the BHM1
unionization campaign was started after former union workers at the fulfillment
center, such as Darryl Richardson, went to their local Retail Wholesale and
Department Store Union office to figure out how they could unionize their
facility. With the help of rank-and-file union activists, the BHM1 workers
initiated a disciplined campaign starting in March 2020, rallying their
co-workers within the facility and gathering hundreds of names in support, day
in and day out for months, until more than three thousand workers signed up in
support of the National Labor Relations Board to approve a unionization vote in
January 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Thus, the first vote for unionizing
U.S Amazon warehouse workers was started, a historic achievement spearheaded by
the militant Amazon workers of BHM1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">For years, I had followed the
anti-union line of the World Socialist Web Site and even authored the first<a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/16/amaz-j16.html"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/16/amaz-j16.html"><span style="color: #0563c1;">anti-union Amazon article</span></a> on the BHM1
campaign. The article was initially titled<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> “Vote ‘No’ to the UFCW-backed union at
Alabama Amazon facility!”</i></b> but after viral negative reactions on Twitter
the title was changed to the much tamer <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The unionization vote at Alabama Amazon
facility.”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7QzkvdkxGYo/YIMvzhzKgvI/AAAAAAAADJE/0MiTBYG8RiYDYHudF8YXHt_2-zBJQC1xwCNcBGAsYHQ/s536/Vote%2BNo.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="536" height="248" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7QzkvdkxGYo/YIMvzhzKgvI/AAAAAAAADJE/0MiTBYG8RiYDYHudF8YXHt_2-zBJQC1xwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h248/Vote%2BNo.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The WSWS article as it appeared before the headline was changed</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;">During the writing of this article, I
had started working at an Amazon warehouse. I had mixed feelings about sending
the article for publication because its message of telling workers to vote “No”
did not at all correspond to my lived experience as an Amazon employee.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Working at an Amazon warehouse is an
incredibly isolating experience. Despite working alongside hundreds of other
workers, it is difficult to make contact with them, let alone engage them in
conversation. We are constantly on the move due to strict rate quotas and
time-off-task penalties. Due to COVID-19, our break rooms have physical
barriers to prevent contact with other workers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The greatest benefit of an Amazon
union is that it would organize the hundreds of isolated workers in a facility
under a common platform. A “No” vote on unionizing is counterproductive if for
no other reason than this. In union meetings, the once isolated workers would
gain the ability to not only connect with one another but also to advance their
own demands through the formation of worker committees within the union. The
existence of a union provides the Amazon worker a basis on which to wage a
struggle for workplace democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Furthermore, it cannot be denied that
unionized workers make, on average, a much higher wage and gain better benefits
than non-unionized workers. This is because a union provides workers with the
means to organize mass strikes and thus provides them with a weapon against
capital. To call on Amazon workers to vote “No” is to imply that Amazon workers
will not gain any sort of concessions from management through unionizing. The
very fact that Amazon has run a relentless anti-union campaign—holding captive
audience meetings, creating fake social media accounts, violating the election
rules (including through placement of an illegal ballot box), and retaliating
against workers who threaten to unionize—indicates that this is not at all
true. It should be added that the World Socialist Web Site has not produced a
single article that seriously takes up Amazon’s anti-union tactics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">While the WSWS categorizes unions as
irredeemable organizations which socialists must avoid, the reality is that the
working class is well into a period of renewed labor militancy, which is
primarily taking place within the form of the trade-union struggle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Public sentiment is decisively for
unionization in the US, and increasingly so since the Great Recession of
2007-08, with a Gallup poll released this January estimating that 65 percent of
all Americans approve of labor unions. Unionization rates have also started to<a href="https://www.seafarers.org/unionization-rates-increase/"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.seafarers.org/unionization-rates-increase/"><span style="color: #0563c1;">increase</span></a>, partly because union workers faced
fewer job losses during the pandemic and also because more and more sections of
the working class are starting drives to unionize their workplaces.
Furthermore, virtually all of the major strike actions that have taken place in
2020 were among unionized workers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Yet the most central aim of the SEP’s
political work is to attack “the unions,” which are labeled, across the board,
as “anti-worker” organizations that have become totally integrated into the
state. The implication is undeniably that the destruction of the unions would
be a good thing, since it would free the workers from this instrument of
bourgeois control (and also make them more desperate to form some new kind of
organization).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">After the defeat of the BHM1
unionization drive, the WSWS published an <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/04/10/pers-a10.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">article</span></a> citing the defeat as evidence that
Amazon workers had seen through the RWDSU. While no confidence should be placed
in the RWDSU bureaucracy, which deserves much of the blame for this defeat, the
rank-and-file workers cannot be equated with the bureaucracy by denouncing the
whole of the union. In their efforts to pin the blame for the defeat entirely
on the RWDSU, the WSWS actively downplayed the voter intimidation tactics
employed by Amazon. By taking this stance, and by unequivocally opposing
unionization, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the SEP has crossed a class
line</i>, siding with Amazon against the workers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">In stark contrast to the anti-worker
position of the WSWS, militant Amazon workers have learned from the union
defeat in order to strengthen their own unionization campaigns. News has come
out that the Amazon facility at JFK-8 in Staten Island is undergoing a
unionization drive, with the organizers including Chris Smalls of The Congress
of Essential Workers, fighting to build a new union called the <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/staten-island-amazon-workers-begin-union-drive-drawing-lessons-from-bessemer/"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Amazon Labor
Union (ALU)</span></a>. The organizers were supportive of the BHM1 pro-union
workers and have explicitly said that they have taken lessons from the
successes and failures of the Bessemer unionization drive so that their effort
succeeds.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dv4e4VT9Wac/YIL9t3t6ZiI/AAAAAAAADI8/MCcsIsNSJ7sIEZTn6xas5Llr0NgTFb7mgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3161.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dv4e4VT9Wac/YIL9t3t6ZiI/AAAAAAAADI8/MCcsIsNSJ7sIEZTn6xas5Llr0NgTFb7mgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/IMG_3161.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>Demonstration in solidarity with Amazon workers, Union Square, New York</div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 103%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">The WSWS’s fantasy rank-and-file committees vs the Marxist path
to workers’ independence<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The World Socialist Web Site is an impressive
feat of organization. With only a few hundred members around the world, the
ICFI has managed since 1998 to produce a 6 day-per-week publication, with a
total of more than 60,000 articles. The dedication and self-sacrifice of the
rank-and-file members, who truly believe they are fighting for socialism, is
commendable. The tragedy is that the political line advanced by the WSWS in the
most significant of its articles has for decades gone against the most basic
interests of the working class.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The clearest recent example of this is
the fact that the website, in calling for a “No” vote on the unionization of
Amazon workers, has crudely counter-posed to the unions the fiction of
“independent rank-and-file committees.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The WSWS claims it has already built a
“<a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/more-rank-and-file.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">network</span></a>” of these committees, but any critical
reader will note that it has never indicated how many workers are in the
committees. As a former party member, I can testify that the rank-and-file
committees do not have any elected representatives and instead function more as
lecturing groups. The meetings are organized and overseen in every detail by
party representatives, and the few workers in the “committees” play no role other
than tuning in to online calls for reports presented by Socialist Equality
Party members.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Rank-and-file committee meetings
always go about the same way: Comrade D introduces Comrade B, who gives a
report on the pandemic; then comrades H, I, J, and K give more reports.
Finally, often after an hour or more has passed, we get a comment from a
non-party member. He or she says a few brief words, and then comrades H-K rush
to make insightful points about the comment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">No concrete plan of action ever
results from these meetings, partly because the “committees” do not represent
any significant section of the working class. Their real purpose, whether SEP
members realize it or not, is not to provide workers with their own forum or
assist them in building their own democratic organizations, but to produce a
kind of show aimed at recruiting attendees into the party and beginning the
process of indoctrinating them with the “correct” program.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The publication by the WSWS of public
statements by the committees, supposedly written by the rank-and-file workers
themselves, has reached a fever-pitch during the pandemic. To a new member,
these statements, declaring the formation of committees in the <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/06/27/auto-j27.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">auto industry</span></a> and <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/educators-rank-and-file-committee.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">public education</span></a>, give the impression of a
real step forward in the construction of new, democratically-controlled
organizations of workers. It quickly becomes clear, however, that this
“network” of committees is all smoke and mirrors.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">For example, at its founding in Sept.
2020, the Los Angeles Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee officially had
two non-party members, neither of whom participated in drafting the <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/21/laus-s21.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">founding statement</span></a>, yet it purported to speak
in the name of an entire committee of Los Angeles teachers! In the six months
after its “founding,” the committee had not grown by a single member.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The SEP has pursued this line for
decades, yet these small lecture groups fraudulently labeled as “democratic
organizations of workers” have been its greatest result. Rather than doing the
hard work of organizing, the SEP builds shells of committees, and hopes that by
publicizing them, it can fill them up with actual workers. In practice, the
committees function as front groups, which allow the WSWS to posture as having
influence in the working class. Countless statements (see, for instance, <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/25/glad-j25.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">here</span></a>) use the fictional committees to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ventriloquize workers</i> rather than
allowing them to speak for themselves. (This is in line with the fact that WSWS
articles include only those quotes from workers which can be interpreted as
bolstering the political positions that the SEP has already worked out (see,
for instance, “<a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/04/12/amaz-a12.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Amazon workers react to the defeat of the RWDSU at
Alabama warehouse</span></a>”).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The class instinct of workers who join
the “independent rank-and-file committee” meetings is to bring back the
information provided by the SEP to their fellow workers in the unions. While
rank-and-file workers are up against the treacherous labor bureaucracies within
their unions, the SEP provides them no support because<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the party leadership
actively prevents its cadre from participating in trade union work.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">While militant workers struggle alone
to win basic concessions from their employer through their union, the SEP tells
them: “break from your unions and form independent rank-and-file committees!”
Most workers in turn respond: <i>Who are you to tell me what to do? I benefit
by being in my union. I have connections to my fellow co-workers because of the
union. I see how terrible the conditions that non-union workers are going
through are and you—a pamphleteer, who has nothing to do with my workplace, who
has never helped me form strike committees or collected strike funds, who has
never created any sort of defense against the corrupt bureaucrats within my
union—who are you to tell me what to do? Who are you to tell me to throw away
my weapon, the union, for this fantasy rank-and-file committee which has
accomplished nothing concrete whatsoever?</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The practical result of the SEP’s
rejection of trade unions is that in moments of strikes or other actions by
union workers, the SEP is unable to influence the workers’ struggle in any
tangible way. This is due to the fact that SEP members have no participation in
union meetings, in organizing strike actions, or in leading left factions
within the union, and are completely isolated from the day-to-day work within
the unions necessary to gain influence among the workers there. The SEP, in
practice, reduces itself to a mere spectator which is only able to report on
the struggles that workers, as a mass, initiate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Socialists must work within the unions
not because we fetishize the union-form, but because that is where workers,
particularly in the most strategic industries (dock workers, transit workers,
etc.), are concentrated as a mass. If workers come up with new forms of
organization, socialists must also be active within them, but the guiding
principle must be this: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we must go where the
workers are</i>!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 103%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Trotskyism vs Sectarianism<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The SEP dishonestly states that it
carries forward the heritage of Trotskyism. This is a complete fabrication.
Marxists have always understood the need to participate in the day-to-day
struggles of workers. There is a long tradition, starting with Marx and Engels,
of opposition to the positions of anarchists and ultra-left sectarians who
rejected working inside unions, and all attempts to counterpose pure “red trade
unions” to the existing mass organizations. As Trotsky wrote in<a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><b><i><span style="color: black;">The Transitional Program</span></i></b>, the founding
document of the Fourth International:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The Bolshevik-Leninist stands in the
front-line trenches of all kinds of struggles, even when they involve only the
most modest material interests or democratic rights of the working class. He
takes active part in mass trade unions for the purpose of strengthening them
and raising their spirit of militancy… Only on the basis of such work within the
trade unions is successful struggle possible against the reformists, including
those of the Stalinist bureaucracy. Sectarian attempts to build or preserve
small “revolutionary” unions, as a second edition of the party, signify in
actuality the renouncing of the struggle for leadership of the working class.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Trotsky stressed the importance of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">transitional demands</i> to help workers
progress from trade union consciousness to socialist consciousness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">It is necessary to help the masses in
the process of the daily struggle to find the bridge between present demand and
the socialist program of the revolution. This bridge should include a system of
transitional demands, stemming from today’s conditions and from today’s
consciousness of wide layers of the working class and unalterably leading to
one final conclusion: the conquest of power by the proletariat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">In the case of the BHM1 unionization
attempt, the victory of the “Yes” vote would have led to a qualitative
transformation of the class struggle for Amazon workers, with a formerly
unorganized section of the working class, struggling through isolated walkouts
and protests, finally gaining access to a higher form of struggle in the form
of an organized mass strike. The task of Marxists, armed with the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">transitional method</i>, is to push this
struggle to its limit and thus build a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bridge</i>
between the emerging trade union consciousness of militant Amazon workers and
the socialist consciousness necessary for revolution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">This would mean advocating not just
for a “Yes” vote but calling on the workers everywhere, organized and
unorganized, to stage demonstrations across the country and the world in
support of BHM1 workers. It would mean rallying the pro-union workers to form a
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i> rank-and-file committee and
draft demands on what they would fight for after the union was approved. It
would mean calling out the blunders of the union bureaucracy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">during the struggle</i>, pushing for
door-to-door canvassing for “Yes” votes, holding Q&A sessions with workers,
etc, to make sure that unionization succeeds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The union drive ultimately failed at
BHM1 not because the union form as a whole was irredeemable but because it
lacked <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">socialist elements actively
fighting for the development of workers’ democracy</i>. The WSWS, by contrast,
sees the defeat of the unionization drive at Bessemer as an expression of the
advanced class consciousness of the workers, who have figured out how rotten
unions are and have come over to the WSWS position. This piece of delusional
thinking avoids the obvious—that the failure of a large percentage of workers
to understand the importance of organizing collectively into a union is a
measure of their lack of class consciousness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">By calling for workers to immediately
break from the union and form “independent rank-and-file committees,” the ICFI
is engaging in a practice that Trotsky called “bureaucratic ultimatism,” which
the Stalinist Communist Party practiced in Germany, effectively splitting the
socialist and the reformist workers, and creating the conditions for the
victory of Nazism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The Stalinists’ mechanical policy of
equating Social Democracy with Fascism, building only communist-led unions, and
precluding any sort of temporary alliance with reformists is paralleled today
by the SEP’s attempt to equate the whole of the trade unions with the
capitalist state and lump together all left-wing movements outside of their own
sect as the “pseudo-left.” Just as the Stalinist Communist Party isolated its
cadre from the broader worker class with their bureaucratic call for revolutionary
unions and abstention from the struggle for reforms, so too the SEP abstains
from the actual struggles of the working class.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Trotsky long ago pointed the way<a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/01/whatnext5.htm"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/01/whatnext5.htm"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">forward</span></a>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">But the revolutionary dialectic has
long since pointed the way out and has demonstrated it by countless examples in
the most diverse spheres; by correlating the struggle for power with the
struggle for reforms; by maintaining complete independence of the party while
preserving the unity of the trade unions; by fighting against the bourgeois
regime and at the same time utilizing its institutions; by criticizing
relentlessly parliamentarism – from the parliamentary tribunal; by waging war
mercilessly against reformism, and at the same time making practical agreements
with the reformists in partial struggles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 103%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Without internal democracy and debate there is no revolutionary
party<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Kishore is completely unable to answer
the criticisms I have raised above and in previous letter exchanges with the
party leadership. Thus, he has been forced to resort to character
assassination. However, no amount of lies and conspiracies will erase the fact
that the reason for my expulsion was that<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
I shared a critique of the Socialist Equality Party to other members</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and refused to stay quiet</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The party leadership actively attempts
to suppress all political differences and maintain a cultish homogeneity of
thought. The “center” (the party leadership based in Detroit) keeps close tabs
on the branches through weekly minutes and swiftly intervenes as soon as any
significant disagreement arises. Members who express disagreement are subjected
to interrogations by branch leaders, aimed not at fostering a true discussion
but at “correcting” the faulty opinion of the dissenting member.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Members are told that a “principled”
political intervention means patiently waiting for any disagreement to pass
through the local branch, until gradually and through some unspecified
procedure, it works its way up to a higher body. Any attempt to raise a
disagreement during a meeting outside of the branch or engage other members
one-on-one is regarded as “disruptive” and even “sabotage.” The SEP claims that
it allows factions, but how can anyone possibly build a faction if they have to
take their marching orders from the branch, which in turn reports directly to
the “center?” Is the “principled” approach for a member with a disagreement to
convince their entire branch of their position and form a dissenting branch?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Any organization that engages in
suppression of internal debate and expels members who dare to question the
party leadership has no right to call itself a revolutionary party. To justify
the SEP’s anti-democratic procedures, Kishore cites a quote from Lenin’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What
is to be done?</i></b> taken completely out of its historical context. He
writes, quoting Lenin:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>‘freedom of criticism’ means
freedom for an opportunist trend in Social-Democracy…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The conclusion the reader is meant to
draw is that any attempt to open a discussion in the party questioning a
position is really an attempt to smuggle into the party a reconciliation with
opportunism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But is this what Lenin was
getting at? Not at all!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Lenin was writing about a specific
situation in which a reformist group of Russian Social Democrats abroad
insisted that the party accommodate the view of the open opportunists such as
Bernstein and work with them under the same umbrella. They supported this
position by adopting the slogan “freedom of criticism.” Does this mean that
Lenin opposed internal debate among those within the party committed to a
revolutionary position? That is not what the historical record shows. The
Bolshevik Party before its degeneration under Stalinism was marked by lively
debates, sometimes even bitter ones, on many fundamental questions. Read
Trotsky’s characterization, from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The History of the Russian Revolution:</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-left: 29pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">How could a genuinely
revolutionary organization, setting itself the task of overthrowing the world
and uniting under its banner the most audacious iconoclasts, fighters and
insurgents, live and develop without intellectual conflicts, without groups and
temporary faction formations?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">There is also the conclusion of the
preeminent historian of the Russian Revolution, Alexander Rabinowich, who wrote
in his book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Bolsheviks Come to Power:</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-left: 29pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">… within the Bolshevik
Petrograd organization at all levels in 1917, there was continuing free and
lively discussion and debate over the most basic theoretical and tactical
issues,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">and that the party had shifting left,
center, and moderate tendencies within it, right through the revolutionary
period.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-left: 29pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Leaders who differed with
the majority were at liberty to fight for their views, and not infrequently,
Lenin was the loser in those struggles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">What a stark difference this paints
between the Bolsheviks and North and Kishore’s dismal regime, which forbids
internal debate and expels members who dare demand it!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The Socialist Equality Party is able
to maintain such a dictatorial inner-party regime because the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">power within the party is centralized in a
tiny clique</i>. During the 2020 National Congress of the US Socialist Equality
Party, the rank and file had virtually no power to elect their leaders. Members
submitted a slate of nominees for the National Committee to a three-man
election committee. Using COVID-19 as an excuse, the SEP leadership stacked the
election committee with its “outgoing” leadership: David North (the National
Chairperson), Joseph Kishore (the National Secretary), and Jerry White (the
Labor Secretary). Per the SEP constitution, the election committee collates the
nominees and produces their own slate, which the membership then votes up or
down all at once. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In preparing its slate,
the election committee is not bound, even on paper, by the nominations of the
membership, and no vote tally is ever released.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The undemocratic regime in the SEP is
sustained, above all, by a culture of groupthink in which members are
encouraged to make “contributions” to discussions which consist of endless
recapitulations of party doctrine. Any attempt to insert a critical thought is
met with widespread derision. Members are made to feel that any disagreement
with the party line reflects a serious shortcoming on their own part, which
will cause them to lose the respect of their comrades.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Members are thus gradually taught to
build up an atmosphere in which any serious disagreement is viewed with
suspicion and hostility. An example from the youth group will serve to
illustrate this point. In February, Peter was slated to give a report to the
IYSSE, and was instructed to focus on a recent article, but chose to devote the
bulk of his report to a discussion of a teachers’ struggle taking place in
Chicago. This unleashed an outright firestorm.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The national secretary of the IYSSE
worked behind the scenes to ensure full attendance at the next meeting</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #494949; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">—</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">a surprise public takedown launched by
Eric London and Lawrence Porter, two leading members. London began the meeting
with a half-hour-long speech misrepresenting and denouncing Peter’s statements
and making incessant references to his “attitude.” Over the next two hours,
almost every member of the committee saw fit to parade themselves out to
declare that they “agreed with all of the points” and thought the meeting to be
“very significant,” and the meeting concluded with London stating that it was a
“turning point!” This truly bizarre spectacle, amounting to a kind of
watered-down show trial, can only be interpreted as an attempt to ostracize and
intimidate anyone with an oppositional view.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The party’s autocratic inner party
regime raises serious questions about financial parasitism within the SEP.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">A deeper search into the WSWS reveals
that it is classified as a<a href="https://cofs.lara.state.mi.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?ID=800602727&SEARCH_TYPE=3&CanReturn=True"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://cofs.lara.state.mi.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?ID=800602727&SEARCH_TYPE=3&CanReturn=True"><span style="color: #0563c1;">domestic profit corporation</span></a>, with unknown
primary shareholders, despite the fact that the WSWS is itself a collective
product built by the labor of the entire party. The ICFI also directs its
readers and party members to purchase from Mehring Books Inc., a corporation
which according to<a href="https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.mehring_books_inc.517262be2c7b2b14b6395727d51a8078.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;"> D&B business directory</span></a> has generated over
$490K so far in 2021. Each branch in the party is also compelled to extract a
minimum amount of money from supporters and members each month alongside a
yearly fund drive which must easily generate over $100,000. The fact is that
the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> rank and file have no idea how the
finances of the party, collected through the participation of all members, are
being used</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nor do they have any say
in the utilization of funds.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Yes, the union bureaucracy is
degenerate, but at the very least they let the public know how much they are
getting paid by the union membership. For an organization that consistently
rails against the union bureaucracy, a question must be asked: David North,
Joseph Kishore, and other leading members of the SEP, why do you not have the
integrity to reveal the same?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #2f5496; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 103%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Questions that the SEP leadership must answer to its members if
it retains any shred of revolutionary integrity<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Any information about the SEP’s
composition and finances is tightly guarded by the leadership, on the grounds
that releasing any such information to the cadre would jeopardize security.
When Peter raised the demand for the party to reveal its total membership to
the rank and file, a leading member responded indignantly that this would be
almost tantamount to releasing personal addresses. This is a truly ludicrous rationalization
for keeping the membership in the dark. Yes, the party needs to take measures
to protect its members as best as it can from victimization by the state or
right-wing forces, but what does that have to do with revealing the membership
figures or having some level of accountability regarding finances?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Like the trade unions, we understand
that the SEP is itself a contradictory organization. Despite the sectarian,
even cultish, atmosphere cultivated by the leadership, its ranks contain many
genuine revolutionaries who have been drawn to the party because it presents
itself as an organization that is leading the fight for a socialist future.
These are professionals, teachers, low-wage workers, and students who have
devoted themselves heroically to the development of the party, sacrificing
countless hours for the cause. We do not want to see these genuine
revolutionaries waste their lives following a political line that actively goes
against the interests of the working class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">With this in mind, we propose that the
rank and file within the SEP raise the following demands:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The
release of basic information on the party to all members, including the total
number of members and the growth of the party over time.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">A
full financial audit, to include answers to the following questions:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 1in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.a<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">How are the party finances controlled?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 1in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.b<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">What is the yearly revenue of the
party and where is this <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>money coming
from?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 1in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.c<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">How much are the party staff and
leadership paid?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 1in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.d<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Who are the shareholders of the WSWS?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The
development of a party-wide forum in which ALL members can raise their ideas
and engage in debate.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">That
the methods of slander and victimization of dissident members be repudiated.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">That
new elections for the leadership of the SEP be arranged forthwith allowing for
a direct vote by the membership in selecting all levels of party leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">That the party reconsider its position
on the unions and on the heritage of Trotskyism and The Transitional Program.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Finally, I would like to thank the
leadership of the SEP for showing me exactly what a revolutionary party is not!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">A revolutionary party is not an
organization that actively avoids practical work in the working class. A
revolutionary party is not an organization that rejects the use of reforms for
building the path to revolution. A revolutionary party is not an organization
that responds to criticisms of its political line with personal slander. A
revolutionary party is not an organization that fears internal debate and
democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The SEP slanders many of its political
enemies on the left with the meaningless term “pseudo-left.” If we take this
term to mean an anti-worker group that cloaks itself in left-wing rhetoric,
then there are few more worthy of the title than the SEP itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">-- Shuvu Batta<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">See also:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The critique which solidified my
differences with the party and led to my expulsion:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/once-again-on-question-of-trade-unions.html">“Once
again on the Question of the Trade Unions and the Tasks of the Party”</a> by C:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">For a deeper insight into the history
and nature of the Socialist Equality Party, read:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/marxism-without-its-head-or-its-heart.html">Marxism
without its Head or i<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlt70020721;">t</span>s Heart</a><!--[if !supportNestedAnchors]--><a name="_Hlt70020721"></a><!--[endif]--></span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">
by Alex Steiner and Frank Brenner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">For a thorough critique of David
North’s<i> <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/28/matu-s28.html">“Why
are Trade Unions Hostile to Socialism?”</a> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">Read:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2019/10/the-trade-union-form-and-butchery-of.html">The
trade union form and the butchery of dialectics</a></span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"> by Alex Steiner and Frank Brenner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif">The founding document of the Fourth
International, which the SEP has abandoned in practice:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%; text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/">The Transitional
Program</a></span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif"> by Leon
Trotsky<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 103%;"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Links to Related Documents:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-073fZWEC2GI/YIX9GTgdg9I/AAAAAAAADLE/xvqZD3KqcPEhMMG6j2Ze8yKNV5XYsHDpACNcBGAsYHQ/s430/scrolls.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="430" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-073fZWEC2GI/YIX9GTgdg9I/AAAAAAAADLE/xvqZD3KqcPEhMMG6j2Ze8yKNV5XYsHDpACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/scrolls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/initial-letter-from-shuvu-to-new-york.html">Initial letter to leadership of New York branch</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/response-from-new-york-branch.html">Response from New York branch leadership</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/defense-and-critique-of-icfis-practice.html">Reply to New York branch leadership: critique of the ICFI's practice</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/letter-from-joseph-kishore.html">Letter from Joseph Kishore to Shuvu Batta</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/north-and-kishore-letter-to-peter-ross.html">Letter from North and Kishore to Peter Ross</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/p/once-again-on-question-of-trade-unions.html">Comrade C's critique of the ICFI's position on the unions </a> </div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-72052112565733921052021-03-05T10:04:00.001-05:002021-03-05T14:35:04.563-05:0001/06/21: The Insurrection that Wasn't<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We are reposting Bryan D. Palmer’s essay “01/06/21: The
Insurrection that Wasn’t” on the riots at the Capitol building in Washington on
Jan. 6. Palmer is a retired Canadian history prof who has had a special focus
on the history of the American Trotskyist movement, including a two-part
biography of James Cannon (the second part of which is coming out this year). A
much abridged version of this essay was originally published on <i>Jacobin</i> under
the title “The Meaning of January 6, 2021”: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: #954f72;"><a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/trumpism-capitol-riot-protest-police-state">https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/trumpism-capitol-riot-protest-police-state</a></span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
text we are reposting here is the full essay from <i>Jacobin’s</i> Canadian
counterpart, <i>The Bullet</i>, that ran it on Feb. 5:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://socialistproject.ca/2021/02/01-06-21-the-insurrection-that-wasnt/">https://socialistproject.ca/2021/02/01-06-21-the-insurrection-that-wasnt/</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Palmer’s essay is very helpful because the events of Jan. 6 have
produced an enormous amount of confusion on the left, and Palmer draws on a
deep knowledge of American political history and on Marx’s writings
(notably <i>The 18<sup>th</sup> Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte</i>) to
clear away much of that confusion. In one section titled “Insurrection as
Hyperbole” he debunks the overheated rhetoric of the liberal mainstream,
rhetoric that many self-described Marxists have fallen prey to. Palmer is
particularly good at cutting through all the liberal blather about “the
People’s House” and all the adoring worship of bourgeois democracy. In later
sections he underscores the dangers of the insurrection narrative by
referencing historical precedents to demonstrate how this kind of narrative
always ends up being used to persecute the left. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Palmer also takes issues with the identity politics take on Jan. 6
as being just about “white privilege”. This take, he states, is “now so
self-righteously commonplace that it veers toward the myopic” and he goes on to
argue that “a lot more was swirling in the witches’ brew” of the Capitol Hill
mob than just “singular hatred of peoples of colour.” Class issues are what he
has in mind, though of course these were greatly distorted by the lens of
right-wing populism. I might add here that in the time since Jan. 6, evidence
has come out that many of the arrested rioters were people who had gone
bankrupt, lost their jobs or suffered other financial hardships in the recent
past. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">While discounting the hyperbole about an insurrection, Palmer is
not at all discounting the threat posed by the far right groups that were
involved in the riot who “will live on to fight another day, a dangerous
soldiery poisoned by the politics of toxic reaction.” And he draws attention to
the broader dangers in the current political situation, coming as much from
Biden and the Democrats as from Trumpism. He calls on the left “to commence
building an organized resistance that will genuinely strip the ‘halo from the
entire state machine’”, (the internal quote is from Marx), but then Palmer adds
ruefully: “In this project, so necessary to any fundamental change, Trump’s
right-wing defenders have lapped the left in a race to transform and transcend
the politics of our time.” This is exactly right and is what is really
problematic about the events of Jan. 6.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Frank Brenner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><o:p style="background-color: white; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-size: 60px;"> </o:p><span face="alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #3a3232;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">01/06/21: The Insurrection that Wasn't</span></span></div><div><p class="metadata" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #9c9898; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="metadata-category" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://socialistproject.ca/category/usa/" rel="category tag" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">USA</a></span> • February 5, 2021 • <a class="author url fn" href="https://socialistproject.ca/author/bryan-palmer/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Posts by Bryan Palmer">Bryan Palmer</a></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 2em 3em; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Only the chief … can still save bourgeois society.<br />Only theft can still save property;<br />only perjury, religion; bastardy, the family; disorder, order!”</p><p style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;">Karl Marx, <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/ch07.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte</cite></a></p></blockquote><p class="intro-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trump is now gone. But his leaving was not without a certain drama. His legacy is about as tarnished as it is possible to imagine, but a part of Trumpism’s message remains relevant. The swamp really does need draining. The bog that is Washington overflowed with crocodile tears on 6 January 2021.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Music from Big Orange</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trump’s troops, summoned by the <em>Líder Máximo</em>, assembled in Washington, D.C., their minds mangled by an ideological fusillade of conspiratorial tripe about frauds, stolen elections, and political betrayal. For all that this deluge of delusion contravened reality, it nonetheless often resonates with an understandable sense of grievance and anger, stoking a not entirely off-base intuition that a much-vaunted democracy has proven little more than sham.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-18216" height="583" loading="lazy" src="https://socialistproject.ca/content/uploads/2021/02/trump-jan-6.png" style="border: 0px; float: right; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 30px 29.9844px; max-width: 48.0519%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="522" /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Commander-in-Chief appeared with others at the Washington rally. He and his entourage did not disappoint the crowd, pillorying the “radical socialist” Democrats and Republican renegades, excoriating those who would grant Joe Biden the Presidency on the basis of a truly trumped-up electoral travesty. Don Jr. went his father one better, taking aim at the two “commie bastards” recently elected to the Senate from Georgia. There was talk of “patriots kicking ass,” and exhortations to “Fight, fight, fight!”</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trump wept tears of rage, tears of grief, reminiscent of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iciW7YZjgg" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bob Dylan’s lyrics</a> and “The Band’s” <i>Music from Big Pink</i> (1967-1968): “We carried you in our arms on Independence Day/And now you’d throw us all aside and put us all away/Oh, what dear daughter ‘neath the sun could treat a father so?/To wait upon him hand and foot and always tell him, ‘No’.”</p><h3 id="more" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Motley Crew</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The election, Trump claimed, was stolen from him and, by extension, from them, his loyal subjects. They were a motley crew: overwhelmingly white, the old and not-quite-so-old, if not too many who were young. Donning the colours of the Proud Boys and biker gangs and white supremacists, many were the kinds of human material it is easy to loathe, including neo-fascistic combatants trained in the paramilitary wing of the far right and unashamed advocates of the Holocaust.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But there were undoubtedly marginalized and poor people among the Trumpers as well. Unemployed or reduced to the most precarious of livelihoods, these men and women are guilty of much, including stupidity, but given their lack of political representation, and the absence of a genuine voice addressing their needs, the illusions Trump promotes nurture a false consciousness that is truly tragic. For all the prattle about the lumpen-proletarian armies of the Appalachian hills, decimated textile towns, Pennsylvanian trailer parks, and hollowed-out rust-belt manufacturing cities in Ohio, however, the most visible of Trump’s riotous supporters seemed to come from other socio-economic backgrounds.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Among the “Fight for Trump” crowd, buying into the “Wild Time” promised by Presidential twitter feed, were independent contractors, self-employed professionals, the classic petty bourgeoisie. Many of these were of the $75,000+ annual income cohort attracted to the rugged market individualism and tax cuts of a hyped-up Make America Great Again. Among those now identified as involved in the Trump rally and riot were a well-to-do graduate of the Air Force Academy, a criminal defense lawyer, the stay-at-home husband of a physician, and even state legislators. This was no Coxey’s Army, as evidenced by the Dallas real-estate magnate and right-wing talk-radio host, Jenna Ryan, who flew to Washington in a private jet.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To be sure the pettiest of the petty bourgeois were also present, epitomized by the coddled failed actor, Jacob Chansley/Jake Angeli, whose sensitive stomach demands an organic diet. With his mother as spokesperson for his digestive needs, Chansley/Angeli is now forever etched in the collective mind of a television-watching world as the face-painted, horn sporting, “U.S.A!” yelling, raccoon-draped QAnon “shaman.” Where is the critique of cultural appropriation, however bizarrely staged, when you need it?</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-18213" src="https://socialistproject.ca/content/uploads/2021/02/stop-treason.png" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; font: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There were also fundamentalist Christians rubbing shoulders with nihilistic grifters. One of the self-proclaimed organizers of the “Stop the Steal” rally, Ali Alexander/Ali Akbar, identifies as Christian, Black, and Arab. A former Tea Party activist, confrère of far right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and a felon convicted of theft and credit card abuse in 2007-2008, Alexander/Akbar was front and center at the Trump rally, occupying a preferred seat courtesy of the President. Alexander then marched with the crowd, but drew back when the rally turned riotous, appealing to the increasingly agitated throng not to storm the Capitol. Many among the shock troops he had goaded to action, however, were not to be deterred. They were ready to rock.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some notables, like Rudy Giuliani, shared the outdoor stage with Trump, speaking from behind the plexiglass-protected dais, calling for “Trial by Combat.” Brave talk that would not, of course, be followed by the walk. Like Giuliani, the speculative and parasitic elements of capital that sustain Trumpism materially were not likely to take their politics to the streets. They, watched the proceedings from afar. One of these benefactors, Julia Jenkins Fancelli, Publix Super Market chain heiress, funded the Trump rally to the tune of $300,000. Such billionaires are decisive in sustaining the Trump coalition, as the likes of Ted Cruz and his co-objectors appreciate so well.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Diabolical Dance of Dissent</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Calling on his followers to be strong, to never concede defeat, and to take their message to the Biden confirmation proceedings, Trump said he would join the procession down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, only to disappear into the White House, partake of a nice lunch, and watch the televised spectacle of insurrection unfold. As Marx wrote in <cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte</cite>: “When you play the fiddle at the top of the state, what else is to be expected but that those down below dance.”</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Forty thousand in number, the Trump throng marched under the flags of the United States, the Klan’s conception of the Confederacy, and the Tea Party’s favoured Colonel Christopher Gadsden standard (designed during the American Revolution, a coiled rattlesnake poised on a yellow background over the words ‘Don’t Tread on Me’). But the day’s banner of choice was simply emblazoned ‘TRUMP’.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The angry crowd soon surrounded and then overwhelmed the Capitol, seat of the deliberative branch of the American government. Members of the Senate and their counterparts in the House of Representatives, going through the ritual of formally constituting the composition of the Electoral College that would establish Biden as the President Elect, were blithely unaware of what was happening outside of their sanctuary. The most bellicose of Trump’s rag-tag brigade no doubt wanted to confront Mike Pence, their contempt for what they regarded as his Judas-like act of betrayal in overseeing Biden’s coronation ramped up by Trump’s escalating petulance. Some among them constructed a mock gallows, from which was suspended a menacing noose. A chant of choice was, “Hang Mike Pence!”</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Skirmishes ensued and soon a significant number of the Never Bideners entered the Capitol Building, backing police into corridors, and taking over hallways, offices, and eventually forcing the Presidential confirmation proceedings into retreat. The good men and women of the Congress took to the aisle floors, donning gas masks, or were evacuated to shelter and safety. As the Trump supporters broke windows and battered doors, they gained entry to a number of chambers, including the Senate. One protesting wag, sporting his COVID-19 mask and clowning for the cameras, took a seat usually warmed by the butt of Vice-President Pence, his fist raised in defiant salute.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Capitol Punishment</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Law enforcement personnel seemed not quite able to get themselves on the same page. At times battalions of police battled the determined demonstrators. Contingents of cops in full riot regalia were crushed by at least one advancing wall of Trump’s supporters, who were clearly in no mood to be stopped. There were, however, other scenes, less confrontational, more chummy. Some officers gave up the apparent ghost of guardianship rather quickly and easily, shunting metal fencing aside to let the crowd flow through or stepping away from a barricaded door and, essentially, abandoning their posts. At times, security personnel simply pleaded with protesters to leave specific chambers or at least treat them with appropriate decorum, a polite entreaty that was, equally courteously, ignored.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Not all of the secret service agents and Capitol police got the message to handle Trump’s riotous retinue with kid gloves. Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year old woman, Air Force veteran, QAnon ideologue (she referred to a coronavirus curfew as “commie bullshit”), and financially-troubled small business owner was shot and killed as she attempted to crash through a window leading to an area that the protesters had not breached. A fellow Wilder declared in shocked awe: “They are supposed to shoot BLM [Black Lives Matter], but now they are shooting patriots.”</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Three others died of “medical emergencies” such as heart attacks. Memo to old, overweight white guys, like myself: don’t put yourself in the position of being a battering ram for reaction. A Georgia woman taken in by QAnon conspiracy claptrap, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgNp5lKwKCs" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Rosanne Boyland</a>, carried a ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ banner, only to find herself trampled on as the surging Trump crowd crashed the Capitol. Her subsequent death, either a cause of being crushed as she collapsed to the ground, or a result of some medical distress that resulted in her faltering and being stomped and fallen on by others, remains difficult to ascertain. The old adage of being careful of what you wish for was, in Boyland’s case, reversed in deadly irony: what she refused defiantly, soon contributed to her end.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dozens of cops sustained wounds and physical trauma. One US Capitol officer, Brian Sicknick, succumbed to injuries said to have been caused when he was struck on the head with either a fire extinguisher or a baseball bat. Alabama GOP Congressman Mo Brooks, whose ultra-inflammatory speech to the Trump rally egged the crowd on to assail the Capitol, now hails the fallen policeman as a hero, calling for death penalty retribution. As with everything Trumpite, hypocrisy overwhelms reason.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eventually, after a few hours that saw the declaration of a 6 PM curfew and the arrival of massive police/National Guard reserves, the Capitol was cleared, the Electoral College hearings reconvened, and Biden confirmed. Democracy prevailed; the insurrection was over.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Surge of Sanctimony</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">All of this was broadcast in real time on all major television networks. This was when the flow of crocodile tears turned into a tsunami. They flooded the Capitol and gathered force in an unrelenting tide of sanctimonious, postured rage. Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate waxed eloquent about the cherished history of this citadel on a hill, an edifice that enshrines the dream that is American Democracy. A sacred place had been desecrated. It had not faced such an invasion of the barbarians since the War of 1812. Thugs and rioters overran the hallowed halls of the world’s “perfect union,” where Congress conducts “the People’s Business.” Media commentators vied with politicos in speeches of disbelief and indignant condemnation, a saccharine rhetoric of American self-satisfaction uniting liberals and conservatives alike.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The complacent assumption that the ideal of American democracy is not only real, but the beacon to which all progressive and advanced nations aspire, dripped from the mouths of those shocked and stunned by the threatening protest. That this “anarchy,” as it was called by television pundits of the right and the liberal mainstream, was unleashed by the transparent barrage of disinformation emanating from the White House Administration, rather than from the scapegoated, vilified forces of Antifa, only added to the incredulity. It was not long before the more deranged voices of Trumpism, like Congressmen Brooks, Paul Gosar, and Matt Gaetz, intimated that left-wing, Black Bloc provocateurs were indeed involved in the violence, claims supported by no evidence whatsoever, but ones that got a hearing inside the Administration.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">No one dared speak truth to an ideologically unassailable Democracy, whose history is hardly one of unblemished good. Questioning the revered record of what has happened within the blessed walls of the Capitol was most decidedly not done in the face of the bad manners, audacious raucousness, intimidating violence, and brazen display of far right ugliness evident among Trump’s insurrectionists. Claims now abound that among some in the crowd the intent was to kidnap, put on trial, and physically harm office-holding traitors to Trump, like Pence, or hated Democrats, such as Nancy Pelosi. Whether such fears of what the rampaging elements of Trump’s rally turned riotous intended to do would have been borne out had the crowd not been contained will never be known. What is certain is that the frightening situation on 01/06/21 suffocated acknowledgement that the American state and its seemingly democratic institutions cry out to be interrogated and scrutinized critically.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-18214" height="303" loading="lazy" src="https://socialistproject.ca/content/uploads/2021/02/proud-boys.png" style="border: 0px; float: right; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 30px 29.9844px; max-width: 48.0519%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="309" /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Capitol is where the nation state has sanctified slavery and segregation, justified “Indian removal,” privatized the commons, and constituted a settler society beneficial to largely white property holders, a colonial, capitalist order premised on expropriation. In Marx’s words this is not a history of a republic of egalitarian promise but, rather, one “written in the annals of mankind in letters of blood and fire.” If theft and violent subordination and calamitous depressions have driven this history forward, the mark of the beast whose appetite for accumulation is voracious scars the modern landscape. Floods and flaming forests, droughts and melting icecaps, pestilence and pollution are evidence of the grim reaper that stalks profit and takes no prisoners in an endless, crisis-ridden war of attrition.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Within the Capitol’s walls the pockets of the rich have historically been lined with all kinds of “honest graft,” of which the modern tax cut is only the tip of an iceberg of largesse. Legislation drafted there has criminalized the poor and forced austerity measures down their constricted throats, established pernicious racist immigration exclusions, proclaimed and bankrolled wars, kept women in their subordinate domestic place, thwarted workers’ struggles, and restricted the rights of the people to health and welfare.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Democracy, American-style, has long backed dictators around the world and engineered coups in the name of “regime change.” The threat of Communism tops all other rationales for invading, bombing, and destabilizing foreign governments, adding ideological weight to the ever-present need to wage domestic war against subversives on the left, which Trump and his followers conceive of rather elastically. The list of countries that have been on the receiving end of such aggression is truly staggering, extending well beyond the better known cases, between 1950 and 2020, of Iran, Cuba, Guatemala, Vietnam, Chile, Panama, Libya, and Venezuela. One study concludes that the United States has launched military aggressions against 84 of the 193 countries of the world recognized by the United Nations, and has been militarily involved with 191.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This gives new meaning to Mike Pompeo’s bragging about his time as the Director of the CIA: “We lied, we cheated, we stole. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” Or, in the arrogant words of entitlement of one Trump advisor, responding to a query about whether or not the United States should be wielding such brazen military might: “We’re America, bitch.”</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sacrilege & The Modern State</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Anti-communism is thus the spiritual stuff of the modern American state. Traditional religious belief may well remain an opiate of the people. It certainly found a particular niche in the Trump crowd’s politics of grievance. One prominent modern-day Know-Nothing placard proclaimed, “Pelosi is the Devil,” while a religious-like demonization of communism could be read on other signboards. Interspersed between “Trump Is President” banners were simple declarations that “Jesus Saves.” Exactly what was not clear.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trump? Truth? The electoral process? Or America’s privileged place in the world economy? Not people dying by the hundreds of thousands of COVID-19. Not the homeless in New York, Calcutta, or Sao Paulo. Not refugees and jailed dissidents and those whose jobs and lives have been declared redundant in the proliferating crises that tear up the terrain of modern capitalism.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet in the outpouring of resentment and shocked indignation at the temerity and travesty of trashing the Capitol, another opiate surfaced as the drug of choice in an obvious legitimation crisis. A religiously-constructed veneration of the ceremonial trappings and ideological obfuscations of American democracy belied the critical truth that after two-and-a-half centuries United States experience still manages to confirm, on an almost daily basis, that <em>some</em> black lives do <em>not</em> matter, that the rich benefit from everything, including pandemic crisis, and the poor take it in the neck. Sacrilege in the modern state is not so much a heretical pronouncement that God has fallen or is fallible. Rather, the mere suggestion that bourgeois democratic governance, and its material structures, are not to be worshipped adoringly – this is the blasphemy of America’s national chauvinism.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Insurrection as Hyperbole</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sedition! Insurrection! Domestic Terrorism! were the thus the words of the hour. 01/06/21 was a day that would live in the history of the United States as one of infamy, likened in its ignominy and dishonour to Pearl Harbour. Hyperbole flowed as the trail of tears grew to a tidal wave.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">George W. Bush and almost all other mainstream commentators likened the events of 6 January to a banana republic insurrection. This gives banana republics and the politics of insurrection within them a bad name. No self-respecting attempted coup d’etat against a dictatorial regime in the developing world (or among the fractured states of once-Soviet Europe) would have been willing to settle, as did the so-called insurgents of the Siege of the Capitol, 01/06/21, for a flurry of mayhem, a walk back to the four-star hotel, and a comradely drink and sociable cigarette.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet Trump’s patriot phalanx, some of whom urinated and tossed bagged feces on the floor and against walls, was satisfied with this as its particular day’s work. The denouement of a few hours of domestic terror, seditious conspiracy, and violent insurrection was perhaps an indication less of what happened than of what did not.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Capitol riot that has sparked such vehement condemnation among liberal commentators and sitting members of the United States Congress was certainly troubling, given the prominent place of white nationalist, fascistic elements within it. But it was no insurrection. Most of the crowd was not armed, there was no public display of long guns, and bear spray and flag poles were the weapons of choice in battles with the police, hardly the kind of firepower needed to bring the state down. No concerted effort had been made to coordinate a riotous demonstration against a symbol of state power with actual insurrectionary intent among the military, sections of the media, or many other spheres where power is concentrated and perpetuated.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-18217" height="562" loading="lazy" src="https://socialistproject.ca/content/uploads/2021/02/q-sent-me.png" style="border: 0px; float: right; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 30px 29.9844px; max-width: 48.0519%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="500" /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The riot was orchestrated chaos, to be sure, and it was certainly characterized by violence and determination, as well as a bizarre performative theatre, costumed in QAnon ridiculousness, but it lacked anything approximating leadership, let alone a coherent governing alternative – prerequisites of any insurrection worthy of the name. Those invading the Capitol justified their presence there by insisting that they were listening to Trump and that they had been summoned to Washington by him. This was their first of many mistakes.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trump to the Barricades?</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An insurrection with Trump at its head is surely destined to derail before a booked tee-time or a sumptuous dinner. And it largely did. Trump, who at first reveled in the riot, pushed his sycophants in Congress to use the chaos to derail Biden’s confirmation. He stalled when pressed to mobilize the National Guard to clear the Capitol of rioters, instead praising them as patriots whose deeds would not be forgotten, declaring his love for them. Princess Ivanka was, at first, of a like mind.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A day later, Trump’s tune changed. He was now singing for his future suppers. Allegations of treason and anguished announcements of former supporters that Trump had finally gone too far, prompted lawyers, aides, and advisors (and almost certainly the inner circle of nepotism so influential in the Oval Office) to insist that the President look after his own interests, protect himself from allegations that he had incited people to violence and was responsible for it, and backtrack. Conceding an orderly transition to power, and throwing his supporters under the proverbial bus (a place many ex-Trumpites have learned to call home), a seemingly chastened Trump woodenly called for those guilty of illegal acts to feel the full prosecutorial brunt of the law.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Right-wing social media like Parler and 4chan blew up in contradictory messaging: while some railed against Trump’s perfidy, anguishing that they had been sold out, others kept the faith. QAnon nodded knowingly that Trump would never desert the cause, and his public repudiation of the assault on the Capitol was another bit of deep state fakery, or perhaps a hacked hoax perpetrated by Chinese Communists.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many Trump supporters entwined in the loose knot of a socially-constructed seditious conspiracy saw what a non-insurrection they had been whipped up to stage. They departed Washington, less with a bang, than with an audible whimper. Some of them, foolish enough to have videotaped their actions, providing the state with mounds of evidence, are now being tracked down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Marshals, and the Department of Justice. They will face a slew of charges – criminal trespass, assaulting police, disorderly conduct, theft of government property, and many other transgressions, including possibly sedition, conspiracy, and murder. Those charged well deserve whatever fate awaits them at the hands of the criminal justice system, responsible as they are for their actions and the repugnant dog’s breakfast of motivations that animated them.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Certainly there were some among the crowd’s most prepared and well-trained combatants who are committed cadre of the extreme politics of reaction and willing participants in a raging war of hate and retribution. This dangerous militia-like presence in the Trump crowd no doubt provided a good part of its discipline and preparedness. Unlike their cell-phone touting ballast, some of these types might well avoid being collateral damage in Trump’s insatiable appetite for adoration, refusing to be casualties in a sociopath’s sense of entitlement. They will live to fight another day, a dangerous soldiery poisoned by the politics of toxic reaction.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Uses of Seditious Insurrection</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If the riot at the Capitol was sedition, it was truly a bizarre variant of this high crime against the state. No plan animated Trump’s supporters other than to slap down, momentarily, his successor and nemesis. Sedition surely demands something more than a frenzied crowd and some capable militia-like figures willing to scale walls. To actually crown the actions of 01/06/21 a seditious insurrection is, of course, to structure them in ways that further deepens faith in the staying power of a socio-economic order fraying at its capitalist seams. The defenders of this crisis-ridden system of exploitation and oppression, having seen an ostensible armed assault on its political caretakers handily put down, can proclaim themselves resilient and redoubtable, as did so many puffed up members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. They now have a platform from which to endlessly proclaim the Republic a bastion of righteousness encompassing liberty and espousing just values, able to vanquish an insurgent challenge with alacrity.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Policing Protest/Licencing the Right</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A different assessment is possible. Indeed, the story of this insurrection that wasn’t is how the vanguard of Trump’s marauders were able to walk up steps of the Capitol Building largely unimpeded, ascend its walls with impunity, fly their flags from scaffolding, breach police barricades, and take over a seat of US government for a time, however brief. Their insurrectionary lark, in the end, was a pastiche of cheeky photographs of beaming, bellicose forces lounging in Nancy Pelosi’s office chair, hauling away an ornate Speaker’s podium, or snapping selfies inside the halls of the Capitol, some of them with police officers charged with keeping unauthorized personnel from violating the inner sanctum of stable governance. The insurrection that wasn’t registered on the political Richter scale largely because those forces tasked with keeping the seismogram on an even keel managed to amplify the boom of Trump’s always mercurial political earthquake.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The indignant invasion of the Capitol would never have gotten within a Molotov cocktail’s throw of the building’s stately stairways had it been a left-wing protest. Those of us who have seen a few marches on Washington, or Queen’s Park or Parliament Hill in Canada, for that matter, know full well that the armed might of the state seldom goes to sleep the way it did on 01/06/21. This insurgency would have been stopped in its tracks before it ever got near the Biden confirmation hearings, if it was mobilized by those actually challenging power rather than hoping to sustain one particularly nefarious variant of it. That unique expression of politics – Trumpism – is an ideological edifice which sections of the “law and order” industry gravitate to instinctually.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Left-Wing Protest: Overpolicing and the Cops Riot Back</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As the Andrew Sorkin-directed 2020 film, <cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Trial of the Chicago 7</cite>, makes abundantly clear, left-wing protest, if it threatens constituted authority in any way, has historically been met with unambiguous police force and often brutal repression. Generally, it is the cops that lose their cool in such situations, not the protesters.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is what happened at the August 1968 anti-war demonstrations in Chicago during the Democratic Party’s National Convention. The entire 12,000-member Chicago police force was placed on rotating 12-hour shifts; the US Army mobilized 6,000 troops to “protect” the city, taking their place alongside 6,000 National Guards (with an additional 5,000 on standby alert), and 2,000 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Secret Service agents. As the respective forces of peaceniks and state troopers clashed, protesters were pushed through hotel plate-glass windows by police, who beat the young demonstrators as they lay sprawled on broken glass. Six hundred arrests ensued; hundreds of injuries were sustained, not only by the dissidents but also by the gendarmes. In the end, the consensus of inquiries into what happened in this 1968 protest is that the police, not the demonstrators, rioted. But you could never say that the cops were not prepared, or that they assembled in insufficient numbers to protect property and the business of politics as usual.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1968’s repression was matched by a similar ruthless resolve in 1971. An attempt to shut down the District of Columbia on May Day, 1971, when tens of thousands of anti-war leftists massed at a number of sites to engage in civil disobedience aimed at calling attention to the imperialist carnage in Vietnam, was met with a decisive show of force. Richard M. Nixon’s not-yet-disgraced Attorney-General, John Mitchell, unleashed thousands of Army troops, Marines, and National Guards to supplement the Capitol police, the Washington police, and reserves drawn from near and far. With <cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Washington Post</cite> reporter Nicholas von Hoffman describing the nation’s capital as a “simulated Saigon,” the city’s traffic circles were designated battle zones, pitting combative protesters against the cops; teargas hung thickly in the air like a rainforest fog; and many a “Mayday Tribe” demonstrator had their shins and backs slapped with truncheons, and worse. Ridden down by police horses, tossed into paddy waggons with abandon, 12,000 were arrested, hauled off without due process, and incarcerated twenty to a two-person cell. Washington’s jails soon overflowed, necessitating transporting those in police custody to makeshift detention camps.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At the “Battle of the Bicentennial” in Philadelphia in the summer of 1976, protesters gathered to declare an end to colonialism, and a “Rich Off Our Backs – July 4th Coalition” mobilized thousands to demand Puerto Rico’s independence and defend the dispossessed of all colours from attack, marching through the streets of the City of Brotherly Love. We did not get much love from Philly’s police: I recall filing past a park, and seeing hundreds of police lining a hilltop, batons menacingly thudding on their riot shields. One of these civic-minded officers turned his back on us, dropped his pants – all of them – and offered us a very unappealing full moon. I suppose this was a gesture preferable to a crack upside the head, but it did not express a lot of regard.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">More recently many have witnessed rampaging police violence at anti-World Trade Organization Summit protests in Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto and Quebec City, or Ontario Coalition of Poverty marches on provincial and federal legislatures in Toronto and Ottawa. The armed might of the state has not been shy in establishing fenced perimeters, pepper-spraying demonstrators, kettling protesters, riding down marchers with horses or corralling them with bicycles, and beating mercilessly on anyone who stepped out of what the police consider a proper line. Many have felt the sting of tear gas in their eyes or on their skin, or recoiled as rubber bullets bounce off their bodies. Police and “intelligence agencies” often infiltrate left-wing groups organizing protests, sometimes arresting “ringleaders” before the actual demonstrations occur. Those who ostensibly incite riot with their words are seldom given a pass, and many have been arrested and put through the wringer of costly and time-consuming trials.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A database established by the US Crisis Monitor at Princeton suggests that left-wing protests are three times more likely to be subjected to violence by police and other law enforcement agencies than are demonstrations organized by the right. Over the course of the last ten months, 511 left-led actions (or just under five percent of all such protests) found themselves on the wrong end of tear gas, rubber bullets, beatings with batons and other force, compared to 33 mobilizations of the right (about one-and-a-half percent of the total of these conservative protest gatherings).</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trump’s Blue Wall of Shame</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Capitol Police treated the Trump rally as a legitimate expression of right-thinking dissent. They were clearly reluctant to prepare for the “Stop the Steal” rally as they would have if it had been organized to protest the confirmation of a right-wing Supreme Court Justice like Brett Kavanaugh or mobilize against imperialism and war-mongering hawks. Offers of police reinforcements from the Mayor of Washington and other governing authorities in the region apparently fell on deaf ears. In spite of more than ample evidence that Trump’s supporters were coming to Washington to raise wild hell and possibly worse, there were few special provisions made, no attempt to put in place the kind of police/military/security personnel and protocols that are standard operating procedure in the playbook of state responses to left-wing protests.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-18215" height="406" loading="lazy" src="https://socialistproject.ca/content/uploads/2021/02/oath-keepers.png" style="border: 0px; float: right; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 30px 29.9844px; max-width: 48.0519%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="278" /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That the American security state somehow missed the signs on extremist, right-wing social media sites of what was coming down on 01/06/21 is, simply, incomprehensible. <cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mother Jones</cite> has <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/2020-elections/2021/01/the-phrase-storm-the-capitol-was-used-100000-times-online-in-the-month-leading-up-to-the-mob/" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">reported</a> that in the month leading up to the Trump rally, the phrase, “Storm the Capitol,” was used 100,000 times on websites and platforms frequented by the far right. Quite a few people in a lot of particular places inside the state apparatus and the agencies of policing let Trump’s bidding be done by an archetypal “Church and King” mob.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The result was that when the Trump crowd proceeded to the Capitol, specific sections of it had something of a cakewalk. A few metal barricades were in place, and a modest contingent of police “guarded” the Capitol building’s entrances. When the crowd proved unruly and determined to break its way into the legislative chambers, there was simply no stopping it. Indeed, cops moved fencing aside so protesters could enter the Capitol. Even after Ms. Babbitt was shot, an accommodating police escort, intimidatingly decked out in black from his helmeted head to his booted feet, outfitted in riot gear and wielding a baton and large protective shield, gallantly held the hand of an elderly female Trumper as she sidestepped her way down the Capitol stairs. The tough love the left has come to expect from police at demonstrations was, in the Washington invaded by Trumpists, long on the love and rather short on the tough.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is not surprising. Officials at the Capitol and the higher ups responsible for policing and calling out the National Guard, not to mention many, many cops and ex-military personnel are themselves part of Trump’s base of support. A 2019 poll reported on by <cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Military Times</cite> surveyed 1630 active-service soldiers, finding that 36 percent had seen evidence of white supremacist/racist ideologies in the military. This constituted a dramatic rise from the 22 percent detailed a year earlier, in 2018, an increase undoubtedly related to Trump’s legitimizing the right and its white nationalist component.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Among the most ardent and seriously trained of the militias championing the President and supporting his views – on Obama, Clinton, and voter fraud – are the Oath Keepers. Formed in 2009 by Elmer Stewart Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate, former Army paratrooper, and one-time Ron Paul staffer disbarred by the Montana Supreme Court, the Oath Keepers claim a membership of thousands. Rhodes and his considerable gaggle of gendarmes regard BLM protests as “open Communist insurrection,” support Trump unequivocally, and likely played a role in the most coordinated corps of Trump supporters laying siege to the Capitol Building. Charges have been filed against at least one Oath Keeper leader, 65-year-old Thomas Caldwell from Virginia. Evidence for his alleged conspiracy cites interactions and communications with at least two others, former Army veteran Jessica Watkins and ex-Marine, Donovan Crowl, both members of a sub-group of the Oath Keepers, the so-called Ohio State Regular Militia.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police associations, all the moreso in a climate of antagonism to the brutality and killing that has made Black Lives Matter into a public watchword, are often committed to Trump’s agenda. The cops eat up Trump’s ratcheted-up rhetoric of coming down hard on urban violence, always coded in racialized terms, and clearly enjoy the President’s mockery of a liberal establishment regarded as far too soft on crime and cosmopolitan decay. Police forces in Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, and smaller cities and towns are now acting on tips identifying off-duty cops from their ranks involved in the riotous activities inside the Capitol Building. It is not surprising, then, that the messaging among the protesters and within broad swaths of the police was that this demonstration was to be given a certain licence, of a kind that a left-led initiative would never have been granted. Both sides – cops and those storming the Capitol – were perhaps captive of Trump’s capacity to foster illusion. People died as a consequence.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trump’s Troops Get a Pass: White Privilege and the Cops Curtsy to the Right</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The failures of the police are now subject to denunciation from politicians and pundits. Heads have already rolled; resignations of people in positions of responsibility are trotted out daily. Mainstream liberal commentary rightly points out that if the protesters had been associated with Black Lives Matter they would have been handled far more roughly. Largely peaceful BLM protesters were arrested and manhandled, tear-gassed, fired on with rubber bullets, and bounced off sidewalks for simply looking askance at the police. Trump’s rampaging crowd, in contrast, was at times given a wink and a nod. If some cops were forced to fight, and even appeared to have gotten the worst of it, there were police inside the Capitol and on its steps who clearly had little appetite for battling back the protest.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It is not wrong to make this comparison between the unequal treatment of blacks and whites. But it is now so self-righteously commonplace that it veers toward the myopic. Nancy Pelosi has declared that the insurrectionists chose “their whiteness over democracy.” Joy Reid, an MSNBC newscaster, insisted that the Trump throng enjoyed and indeed consciously exploited their white privilege.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The danger with this kind of interpretation, as the black scholar and left-wing activist Adolph Reed would point out, is that it obscures as much as it illuminates. That white supremacy was at work among those rallying to Trump and assailing those who would deny his false claims on the Presidency is undeniable. That this was the entirety of what happened on 01/06/21 is, however, unconvincing. It misses important dimensions of what was going on.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What privileged the Trump crowd in the eyes of the cops was something more than the colour of the protesters’ skins, as white as they undoubtedly were. A politics of right-wing indignation and demand for redress of a plethora of grievances sits far more comfortably with many cops than simply telescoping resentment into white supremacy, as racist as such police may be. In short, a lot more was swirling in the witches’ brew on which the Trump crowd was drunk and disorderly and from which many rank-and-file officers have imbibed, than singular hatred of peoples of colour. Those who now suggest that the entire explanation of the curtsy the cops gave to Trump’s army of redressers was a consequence of the protest’s whiteness and its long history of privilege and entitlement see something that was at work on 01/06/21, but simultaneously close their eyes to too much.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many whites have found themselves on the wrong, and occasionally lethal, side of law’s vengeance. From the time of the expulsion of a revolutionary abolitionist, Benjamin Lay, from Philadelphia Quaker congregations in the 1730s to the hanging of John Brown for treason and incitement of a slave insurrection in 1859 or the execution of the class struggle Haymarket martyrs in 1887 for conspiracy culminating in murder, whiteness has not bought militants of the left a pass. Challenging the power of church, capital and the state has always been dangerous.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Militant working-class revolutionaries, such as members of the Industrial Workers of the World – white, black, immigrant, Mexican-American, and of mixed ancestry such as Frank Little – were tarred and feathered, castrated, hung from bridge trestles, and run out of town. Not all whites enjoy the privilege of their skin colour when confronting police or the retribution of extra-legal posses and menacing night riders. Striking men and women aspiring to establish and sustain trade unions have been shot down by cops, punctuating the struggle for collective bargaining rights with blood. Left demonstrations, their ranks composed of a multi-ethnic, multi-racial coalition of dissenters, have routinely been brutalized by police, as many veterans of the 1930s, the 1960s, and activists of more recent years well know.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The point is not to understate the particularly acute threat African Americans have faced from an armed state apparatus and a historical culture of racist lynch law, but rather not to forget others who confronted violence, be it vigilante or validated by the justice system. Ignoring this formidable and ongoing history is something more than merely a reflection of the short and limiting memory of television newscasters and mainstream politicians, who generally have the historical attention span of a two-year old. What it signifies is the capacity of a liberal mainstream to soapbox on the political terrain that it sees as respectable and justified, defending a politics of racial inclusion (which no leftist would oppose) that is nonetheless presented in ways that relegates to the shadows both the history of a left-wing politics of challenge <em>and</em> the state’s universally heavy-handed response to this.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The state and its considerable apparatus of repression responded to Trump’s supporters with an incoherence bred of ambivalence. Trump’s legions seemed to some in positions of power and to many rank-and-file Capitol police and others as sympatico with their generalized belief system, which of course contains unhealthy doses of racism as well as a melange of other reactionary ideological vices. The result was that a riot that could easily have been contained was not. This, too, serves specific interests.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: alternate-gothic-no-3-d, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Concocting an Insurrection</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It now suits a ruling order confronting a Trump who has clearly gone too far to designate 01/06/21 an insurrection. It wasn’t. Labelling the Capitol riot in this way makes it almost impossible for Trump to retain his hold on the entirety of the Republican Party, insures that there are amped up justifications for his displacement, and reinforces the likelihood that, his utility now exhausted, he can be marginalized, relegated to the chat rooms of the conspiracy-driven fringe right.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trump, of course, may well rise again, Phoenix-like, from the detritus of conflagrations of his own making. He has done this before. And clearly Trump retains the allegiance of a significant component of the Republican base. He managed to raise over $30-million in the weeks leading up to the Capitol riot, greasing the wheels of donations to his cause with reckless rhetoric of election fraud, stuffed ballot boxes, and rampant corruption. Nonetheless, it is entirely possible that Trump’s finest hour, if it can be described as such, has long passed. That said, we shouldn’t be spreading his ashes just yet.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The sad and tragic reality is that it is our ashes that are being scattered. Caught in the vise-grip of a pandemic and a ravaged economy, impaled on racial divides that seem too enduring, too wide, and too fraught to breach, the political tea leaves can only be read with difficulty, lost as they are in the dark swirl of events. The future, to the extent that it can be glimpsed at all, looks barren and bleak. For whatever Trump’s fate, Trumpism and worse is not going away. The rise of the organized extreme right, from groups like Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys to the Traditionalist Worker Party and the Three Percenters, shows no sign of abating. Trump has legitimized such ugliness, and the Capitol riot will only further embolden militarized expressions of American fascism, racism, anti-semitism, and the most extreme right-wing embrace of capital’s ideology of acquisitive individualism.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To rely on the Democratic Party of Joe Biden to move us out of the current crisis is no less illusory than the irrational faith Trump’s legions of combatants place in their chief. It is likely to end in the same disappointment, disillusionment, and despair. Trump’s folly has given Pelosi and Company an infusion of self-righteousness. This led to a series of maneuvers that were little more than ritualistic postures.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The initial call for Trump to resign of course came to naught. An expectation that Trump would step down was never anything more than a forlorn hope. Begging Pence and those of his Cabinet cronies still standing to invoke the 25th Amendment, removing Trump from office, was as likely to result in anything as appeals to this same group to set up an abortion clinic in the bowels of the Capitol Building.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Impeachment has proceeded, but its <em>finale</em> in a Senate trial has been delibertely delayed by Republicans, who are happy enough, under the circumstances, to have the Democrats carry the impeachment can. Biden is anything but enthralled with the prospect of an impeachment trial, and would much prefer that Trump simply fade away into the Mar-a-Logo night. If enough GOP Senators get on board with the ultimate Congressional sanction of convicting Trump in the forthcoming impeachment trial, it will be because there are those among the Republican elected elite who want to cut the Party loose from Trump. This will unleash an unseemly raft of repugnant pretenders to the throne and allow vindictive venalities like Mitch McConnell a chance to settle a score with an ex-President who did them dirt. If, however, impeachment fails to get the two-thirds Senate majority vote required to convict – which appears likely – it will allow Trump to yet again claim, however tortuously, victory.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And the left should ponder the obvious. While no tears can be shed for anything that befalls Trump, a successful mobilization of the centre and the right to bury his deteriorating place in history with allegations that he incited insurrection will, in the future, invariably rebound against left-led protests. If Trump can be tarred with this brush, imagine what will be done to those who do actually believe in the capacity of the dispossessed to rise up and defeat their genuine exploiters and oppressors, calling on them to fight back. We <i>know</i> that such leaders of our ranks will be pilloried by the state, subject to relentless legal hounding, jailed for their ideas, if not executed, as have been so many, from Albert Parsons to ‘Big Bill’ Haywood to Fred Hampton.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Let us not forget that the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), established in 1938 on the eve of World War II to investigate disloyalty, subversive activities, and organizations with fascist or communist ties, spent an obligatory, metaphorical few hours addressing the far right, and then trained its sights, for decades, on the left. Communist Party members who shamefully applauded the victimization of Trotskyists under the infamous Smith Act in the early 1940s, reaped what they had sown. The Smith Act set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the US government, and Communist leader Earl Browder provided the prosecution of the Minneapolis Teamsters’ leaders and their Socialist Workers Party comrades with affidavits calling for the jailing of “a Trotskyite Fifth Column.” Less than a decade later, the Smith Act would be used to repeatedly bring to trial and sentence to jail over 130 communists, including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Eugene Dennis, and Claudia Jones. Prosecuting and jailing speech is something all progressive-minded people should have learned, by now, establishes dangerous precedents more likely to be used to stifle and silence the left than rebuke the right. In the aftermath of 01/06/21, Florida, Mississippi, and Indiana have already taken steps to rebrand and extend the reach of laws targeting BLM protests as illegal, further criminalizing dissent.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The FBI now tracking down as many of the Capitol rioters as it can identify has a long history of carrying a big and threatening stick in its dealings with the left and talking rather softly to the right. The Bureau had a less than exemplary record of taking on the White Citizens’ Council and Klan members, some of whom were cops, who terrorized and killed civil rights campaigners and Congress of Racial Equality Freedom Riders like Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi in 1963-1964. J. Edgar Hoover was always more interested in Martin Luther King’s and Bayard Rustin’s sex lives, or Abbie Hoffman’s and David Dellinger’s apparent conspiracies, all of these professed crimes and misdemeanors linked to the ubiquitous threat of communism. Keeping tabs on enemies like these was far more of a priority than putting Byron De La Beckwith, well know to have murdered Evers, in jail.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If the situation is now different, in 2021, Trump has so hollowed out the “security and intelligence” apparatus of the state, which has been directed to concentrate its energies on foreign terrorists, that it remains to be seen just what will be done about right wing extremists. A long history suggests that while the crisis of the moment dictates directing the state’s security resources and personnel toward the right, this focus will, inevitably, shift back to the left.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Proud Boy proclamations to take to the streets in armed protests on January 17, 2021 largely petered out. Insurrection II, Inauguration Day, came and went with little fanfare. The protests and disruptions promised, for both Washington and all 50 state capitols, failed to materialize. Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., was duly sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. Much of the ceremonial hoopla of the event was constrained by COVID-19 restrictions, but what was lost in hype was more than made up for in a display of armed power. The District of Columbia was quickly converted to a fortress, with 25,000 National Guards patrolling streets and the Capitol Building in military lock-down. Had a fraction of this martial preparedness been evident weeks earlier the insurrection that wasn’t would not have provided the ideological brace Biden and Company now enjoy.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As Boogaloo Bois wept in their beer and Oath Keepers swore under their stale breath, Joe Biden no doubt went to his White House bed with remembrances of his version of Martin Luther King, Jr dancing in his head: “Here at last. Here at last. Thank God, Almighty, I’m here at last.” Trump’s storm troopers slept less easily, vowing to “Live and Learn” and “Fight Again, Another Day.” Yet for many among them the revelry had gone out of their revolt. They complained that the heralded “Storm” had come to naught, that Trump had “sucker punched” them, that their seemingly fearless leader, fixated on his last flight on Air Force One and a proper state send-off, had proven to be weak, a coward in retreat who was little more than the liar excoriated by the effete liberal elite.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For the millions of poor and dispossessed, Biden’s claims that relief is on the way also probably ring rather hollow, reminiscent of the old Wobbly standbye, “The Preacher and the Slave,” with its refrain that, “You’ll get pie in the sky, when you die.” Promises to get cheques of $2000 in the mail are falling short of realization, wallowing in the mire of commitments to working with Republicans to achieve the chimera of bipartisan comity. If Biden is championed in the mainstream media, whose broadcast journalists spare few superlatives in gushing over the new dawn breaking over Washington’s now seemingly fair-weather politics, the likelihood of the 46th President’s promises of unity and resolution of the current crises coming to fruition are slim. To be sure, “plans” exist, packaged between official covers and held up to the cameras. But Trump and his non-Administration have left such a mess, McConnell is already using his Senate minority pedestal to attack a few tepid executive orders as a “far left” agenda, and the usual Democratic Party phobia of appearing “socialistic” is going to limit what is done to some much needed handouts and a modicum of coordination between levels of the state on the COVID-19 front. This may be sufficient to please some of the already <i>parti pris</i> people, but it is not going to be nearly enough for everyone in need. Biden confronts a capitalist crisis, even if capitalism itself is not in crisis.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-17745" height="440" loading="lazy" src="https://socialistproject.ca/content/uploads/2020/08/18th-brumaire.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: right; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 30px 29.9844px; max-width: 48.0519%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When all is said and done the main beneficiaries of the insurrection that wasn’t were probably the police state in general and FBI agents in particular: logging overtime hours galore will buttress their bank accounts. The building products outlets retailing plywood for Washington window coverings and the rental agencies letting out makeshift fencing for legislative buildings from Albany to Sacramento, have certainly made out like bandits in the preparations for Biden’s swearing in on January 20, 2021. And, of course, the bloated ideological arsenal of American Democracy has a new armory of weaponry.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One thing only is certain. Unless there is a substantive organized left response to the contemporary impasse in bourgeois politics – decidedly lacking in our present conjuncture – nothing good can come of where we are now. Generations have associated specific decades of discord, like the 1930s and the 1960s, with radicalization, many of us seeing our development as Marxists, militants, and mobilizers as part of this historic process of the formation of dissidents and oppositionists on the left. Yet radicalization is now a term applied to the right. 01/06/21 has made this clear, at the same time as it has given liberal emissaries privileged ground on which to make their stand in defence of capitalism and its ostensibly democratic order.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trump at least managed, in spite of himself, to expose different possibilities, highlighting vulnerabilities. Like the Bonaparte Marx wrote about in <cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Eighteenth Brumaire</cite>, Trump,</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 2em 3em; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“[d]riven by the contradictory demands of his situation, and being at the same time, like a conjurer, under the necessity of keeping the public gaze fixed upon himself … by springing constant surprises … throws the entire bourgeois economy into confusion, violates everything that seems inviolable …, makes some tolerant of revolution, and others desirous of revolution, and produces actual anarchy in the name of order, while at the same time stripping its halo from the entire state machine, profanes it and makes it at once loathsome and ridiculous.”</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If it is possible to see through the veil of sanctimonious tears shed over the insurrection that wasn’t and get past outrage over the despoliation of deified institutions, Trump’s sordid legacy might well be turned to good purpose by the left. A small beginning would be to commence building an organized resistance that will genuinely strip the “halo from the entire state machine.” In this project, so necessary to any fundamental change, Trump’s right-wing defenders have lapped the left in a race to transform and transcend the politics of our time. •</p><p class="auth" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3a3232; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An early draft of this essay, much abridged, appeared under the title, “<a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/trumpism-capitol-riot-protest-police-state" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">The Meaning of January 6, 2021</a>,” <cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jacobin</cite> 26 January 2021.</p><div class="author-bio" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #9c9898; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bryan D. Palmer is the author of <cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">James P. Cannon and the Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States, 1928-1938</cite> (forthcoming Brill, 2021), <a href="http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Revolutionary-Teamsters" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Revolutionary Teamsters: The Minneapolis Truckers’ Strikes of 1934</cite></a> (Chicago: Haymarket, 2014), co-author of <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/torontos-poor" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Toronto’s Poor: A Rebellious History</cite></a> (Between The Lines, 2016), and a past editor of the journal, <a href="http://www.lltjournal.ca/" style="border: 0px; color: #7095a4; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><cite style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Labour/Le Travail</cite></a>. He is Professor Emeritus, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontari</p></div></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-62570638487630462402020-12-27T23:54:00.000-05:002020-12-27T23:54:03.435-05:00Breaking bad: AOC and #forcethevote<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HnPXhuZAMZU/X-lj6OXoFEI/AAAAAAAADEk/DYQVSYME-TQqkQ5uM4Ac0_uLQM-6CEd2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s620/Ocasio-Cortez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="620" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HnPXhuZAMZU/X-lj6OXoFEI/AAAAAAAADEk/DYQVSYME-TQqkQ5uM4Ac0_uLQM-6CEd2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Ocasio-Cortez.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iLuMUmAuxcc/X-lkVN7TfPI/AAAAAAAADEw/MKr93UjdYoYM4D54MiQGQ9bEOebhPAv-QCNcBGAsYHQ/s500/Jimmy_Dore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iLuMUmAuxcc/X-lkVN7TfPI/AAAAAAAADEw/MKr93UjdYoYM4D54MiQGQ9bEOebhPAv-QCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Jimmy_Dore.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jimmy Dore</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">by Frank
Brenner</span></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">History can
be remorseless. That’s particularly true in a crisis, which eats away like acid
at hypocrisy, lies, cowardice and zombie ideology. Would that such exposures
were enough to rid the body politic of its accumulated bullshit. They often
aren’t, but still, they’re not nothing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">One such
exposure is going on right now. It concerns Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the
progressives in the Democratic Congressional caucus. The exposure is being
carried out by Jimmy Dore, a popular YouTube comedian turned political pundit
and his campaign is called #forcethevote, as in getting a floor vote on the
House of Representatives on the demand for Medicare for All (Med4All).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This demand
is hugely popular: some 90 percent of Democrats support it and even a majority
of Republicans! And never has the demand been more pressing. Because most
Americans get health insurance through their employers and because the pandemic
has cratered the economy, 14 million people have lost their coverage because
they’ve lost their jobs. So the public health nightmare is compounded by a
health insurance nightmare (which in turn worsens public health since people
without insurance will go much longer and get much sicker before they seek
medical care). For sheer callous indifference by the powers-that-be to human
misery, this is hard to beat: we are in ‘let them eat cake’ territory. (Or
maybe we should make that ‘let them eat ice cream’, given the food
predilections of Nancy Pelosi.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The support
for Med4All is huge – but not among the Democratic politicians and their donor
class. Joe Biden campaigned against it, Kamala Harris was a Senate sponsor of a
Med4All bill but dropped her endorsement to suck up to Biden for the VP slot,
and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, embodiment of America’s ancien regime and
mouthpiece for Silicon Valley zillionaires, has never allowed a vote on Med4All
in the House. But therein lies a tiny but potentially highly embarrassing chink
in the armor of ruling-class politics. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Every
election cycle there’s a new vote for Speaker by all the members of the House.
Pelosi is running for the position again, but because she did such a bang-up
job the past two years, the Democrats lost ten seats – even though they were
running against a sitting president presiding over a health and economic
disaster. This means that the Democratic caucus has only about a ten-seat
margin over the Republicans, and so if a small number of Democratic House
members decide to withhold their votes from Pelosi, she could lose the
speakership. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Which
brings us to AOC, her fellow Squad members and other progressives among House
Democrats. Together they have more than enough votes to block Pelosi’s
election. Jimmy Dore has been banging the drum on this since November: the
progressives now have leverage over Pelosi and they can use that to extract
concessions from her – specifically to allow a floor vote on Med4All. It’s not
like this is an abuse of power; as Dore says, this is exactly the way
mainstream politics operates. Right-wing factions in the House (the laughably
named ‘Freedom Caucus’ among the Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats) have
often done this sort of thing in to get concessions from their party bigwigs
and score points with their political base. The progressives now have some
leverage and there has never been a better time to rescue this issue from the
political oblivion that the Nancy Antoinettes have consigned it to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And yet AOC
and the other progressives will not do this. Most of them are trying to shut
Dore down by ignoring him, but this hasn’t worked out well since the campaign
has caught fire on twitter and other social media. AOC has responded (not to
Dore directly but to Justin Jackson, an NFL player passionate about Med4All)
but her arguments are bogus, and Dore has been scathing in taking them apart on
his show and on twitter. (One example of bogus: if we withhold our votes from
Pelosi then the Republican House leader, Kevin McCarthy, will become Speaker.
First of all, as Dore nicely put it, so what? This would be a choice between
one shit sandwich and another. But it isn’t even true: if Pelosi loses,
McCarthy doesn’t automatically become Speaker, there’s another vote and anybody
else, including another Democrat, can run for the job.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Dore
explains AOC’s position as being due to her putting her career ahead of her
principles. There may be a good deal of truth to this, especially if (as Dore
claims) she is now charging $75,000 to $100,000 for speaking engagements. But
my guess is that the underlying cause is more political than personal: the
all-too-common story of someone who starts out as an idealist but who gets
co-opted by the pragmatic imperatives of working within the system. In
political jargon there’s a revealing phrase for this – ‘institutional capture’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Pelosi
doesn’t want a floor vote on Med4All not only because she’s against it but also
because it would force everybody in her caucus to show their hand politically.
Like Kamala Harris, many of these politicians haven’t backed Med4All out of
commitment so much as out of convenience, i.e., it’s good for getting out votes
and raking in donations. But if it came to a floor vote in the House they’d
have to stand up and be counted, and even for a craven careerist, it wouldn’t
look good voting against medical coverage as hundreds of thousands of people
are dropping dead in a pandemic. That means that Med4All would stand a good
chance of passing in the House – and that would be a signal humiliation not
only for Pelosi but also, especially, for Biden. Behind AOC’s flimsy
rationalizations, the real story seems to be that she and her allies are leery
of making the Democratic establishment uncomfortable.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">(To spell
out what should be obvious to any politically literate person: even a floor
vote that goes down to defeat could have a tremendous impact, above all in the
context of the ongoing pandemic massacre. As the podcaster Briahna Joy Gray,
who was press secretary on the Sanders campaign, points out, forcing the vote
would probably get a huge amount of media attention, especially given the story
line of progressives holding Pelosi hostage, as it were, on this issue. And
Gray makes another key point: Biden and the corporate Democrats have already
come out for free medical treatment for Covid, but that in itself becomes a
compelling argument for Med4All since there’s no good reason why treatment for
cancer or heart disease, which kill even more people, should continue to cost
money. A floor vote would help bring these glaring inconsistencies to the
attention of millions and galvanize collective outrage against a political
class whose only real reason for opposing the measure is because they are
bought and paid for by private insurers, hospital corporations and big pharma.
As I said, this should be obvious to any politically literate person but it’s being
vehemently denied by AOC and her various apologists.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Among the
most effective things Dore does when he’s roasting AOC on his show is to play
clips of interviews and campaigns vids of AOC herself. In one, from her first
congressional campaign in 2018, she says: “What the Bronx needs is Medicare for
All, tuition-free college, a federal jobs guarantee and criminal justice
reform. We can do it now. It doesn’t take a hundred years to do this. It takes
political courage.” In another clip, she is at pains to say that the Democratic
party isn’t truly on the left, and to prove her point she says: “We can’t even
get a floor vote on Medicare for All, not even a floor vote that gets voted
down, we can’t even get a vote on it.” As Dore says, these clips amount to AOC
“outing herself.” In another clip she declares that her job is to make life
uncomfortable for those in power – and yet this is just what she and the other
progressives are now refusing to do. Dore calls her out as being little more
than “a twitter warrior” and in light of this episode it’s hard to argue with
that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There are
broader implications here than just exposing the cowardice of progressives like
AOC. To get at those implications it bears thinking a bit more about cowardice.
What we usually mean by that is fear of doing the right thing – fear because of
weakness and/or fear of failure. But what’s notable in this case isn’t the
weakness of the progressives but rather their strength. They have the leverage
to force an opponent to do something they believe in, something crucial to
their political base – and yet they won’t use that strength. You could make a
similar point about Bernie Sanders. In the campaigns he ran for president, he
was able to garner tens of millions of votes – but both times when it came to
the crunch he caved to the corporate Democrats. And for doing so he extracted
nothing from the party establishment, not even so much as an appointment or two
of progressives to Biden’s cabinet. Again, what’s going on here is surrender
not out of weakness but out of strength. Dore has a good line about this: he
says that the greatest abuse of power is not to use the power you have. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We tend to
think of the American left as perpetually in crisis, marginalized and
ineffectual, shouting into a howling wind. But that isn’t entirely accurate any
more. To be sure, there are still huge problems faced by the left, notably the
ball and chain of the Democratic party and the disintegration of the trade
unions. But since the financial crisis of 2008 the political landscape has
shifted as a new generation has emerged for whom capitalism is a dirty word.
There is no Horatio Alger mystique to figures like Jeff Bezos. The comparison
that he most often brings to mind is to the Robber Barons, and frankly even
that doesn’t do justice to the grotesque economic inequities that Bezos
personifies; he is more literally a Robber <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baron</i>
than J. P. Morgan or John D. Rockefeller in that his accumulation of wealth has
reached neo-feudal extremes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">All of
which is to say that history has conspired to provide progressive politicians
with an opportunity to escape their marginalized predicament, if only on this
one occasion. Suddenly they’re in a position to make a difference – and yet it
turns out that they don’t really want to, which is what Dore has exposed. It’s
a bit like a scene out of Kafka: you wait and wait for a chance to change
things, and then when that chance finally comes along, you’ve become so
‘institutionally captured’ that you deny the chance exists. In effect you’ve
become a political zombie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
#forcethevote campaign has been trending for weeks on twitter and now is even
getting some attention – predictably negative – in mainstream media (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Washington Post</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York</i> magazine). The campaign has gotten endorsements from a few
prominent people such as actor Susan Sarandon, and Cornel West came on Dore’s
show to do a supportive interview. Most left public intellectuals, though,
aren’t saying anything, at least that I can see; here I’m thinking of people
like Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky. Still the campaign has provoked
an interesting debate on the left. The social democratic website <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jacobin</i> has weighed in to defend AOC,
and their arguments are revealing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I should
specify that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jacobin</i> is a hybrid of
social democratic politics with academic Marxism. It’s the unofficial think
tank of the Democratic Socialists (DSA), whose membership has grown
exponentially in the Trump era. AOC and a couple of her fellow House
progressives are DSA members, though this affiliation is little more than a
label (which says as much about the DSA as it does about AOC). In the
#forcethevote controversy, David Sirota, former speechwriter for Sanders, is
the voice of ‘practical politics’ while Ben Burgis provides the ‘Marxist’
arguments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sirota’s
position is that #forcethevote “isn’t a bad idea” but that it shouldn’t be the
main focus of the fight for Med4All. Instead, he proposes 5 practical steps,
including removing the chairman of the House and Ways Means committee and
allowing states to create their own single-payer systems. Sirota makes no
mention of Dore in the article but Dore nonetheless invited him on his show
where they ended up in a screaming match. Dore’s comeback was that Sirota’s
proposals were all fine but they didn’t replace the need to pressure Pelosi for
a floor vote. As Dore said, Sirota’s position amounted to “throwing shade” on
the #forcethevote campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sirota
exemplifies a ‘nuts and bolts’ approach to left politics, and the most
revealing thing he has to say is a defense of that approach against what he
calls the “performative” approach of a campaign like #forcethevote. “Only
asking for that performative vote – rather than also asking for things that
might change the structural power dynamic – would be a waste, and yet another
instance of progressives reverting to a feckless tradition of prioritizing
spectacles rather than the wielding of actual power.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Of course,
no one supporting the campaign, including Dore, is “only asking” for that –
this is a straw man. But this deprecating of “performative” politics is worth
reflecting on. It’s certainly true that “prioritizing spectacles” has been a
problem for the left – one thinks of Occupy, Antifa, identity politics. But
there is performance and there is performance. The famous civil rights March on
Washington and MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech was also performance, as Dore
pointed out, and so was the raid on Harper’s Ferry and Rosa Parks sitting on a
bus – all ‘spectacles’ that transformed political consciousness. As for “the
wielding of actual power”, which Sirota valorizes, that can easily morph into
opportunism and careerism: you get lost in the weeds of getting on this
committee or passing that amendment and soon enough you lose sight of any
bigger picture or the crying needs of the people who voted you in. That
tradition of ‘institutional capture’ has been, if anything, even more
debilitating to the left than the “feckless” tradition of performative
politics. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York</i> magazine article on
#forcethevote, Eric Levitz encapsulates the ‘anti-performative’ stance thus: “A
political tactic is only as moral as it is effective” – and by that light he
argues that #forcethevote is immoral! This is to conceive of politics in purely
pragmatic terms, which always touts itself as the only practical approach. But
there is sleight-of-hand going on here: “effective” for what? If this means
effective within the current structures of political power, then this is a
‘morality’ that amounts to subordinating oneself to those power structures. Or
to put this more bluntly, it amounts to subservience to the powers-that-be. Any
fundamental social change only happens through defying such subservience: it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">re-defines what is effective </i>in terms of
a higher moral imperative. (One might add that there is a long tradition of
Marxists opposing pragmatism on these grounds, notably Trotsky’s scathing
critique of what he called “bowing before the accomplished fact.”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Ben Burgis
has a similar take to Sirota, though if anything he is even more negative about
#forcethevote as a tactic and doesn’t think it will have much impact as a
symbolic gesture. The only wrinkle he adds to the argument is to condemn Dore
and his supporters for holding a “voluntarist worldview” by which he means a
belief that “anything is possible regardless of the objective political
terrain”. This is a rather transparent case of loading the dice. For Burgis the
“objective political terrain” is defined by Big Money’s domination of the
levers of power, the lack of support for Med4All in Congress and the
insufficiency of the grassroots movement backing Med4All. But Dore could well
counter that the “objective political terrain” also includes a raging pandemic
as well as the leverage House progressives have for now over Pelosi’s re-election
as Speaker, and potentially also the impact that a floor vote under these
conditions could have in inspiring a grassroots movement. The real issue isn’t
voluntarism but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">agency</i>: are
progressives like AOC going to use the power they have in the current “objective
political terrain” to raise mass political consciousness <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and thereby change that terrain</i> or are they going to “bow before
the accomplished fact” and stick to being “twitter warriors”?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Burgis is one of those ideologists
who badmouth agency as voluntarism because he himself is no revolutionary but
rather a gradualist. This is apparent from how he thinks Med4All will come
about. It will be a long fight to build a mass workers' party in America,
preferably also rebuilding the trade unions, and eventually such a party will
have enough seats in Congress to make Med4All happen. Burgis says that no such
thing is going to happen in this election cycle or the next, but it’s plain to
see that realistically this is all going to take even longer, as much as a
generation or more. Or to put it another way, you might as well put any hopes
for Med4All on hold for the foreseeable future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The problem with gradualism is that
it's a bit like Zeno's paradox: to get from A to B we need first to get halfway
to B and then halfway of that and then halfway of the halfway of the halfway ad
infinitum. In the end we actually can never get - or rather can never conceive
how we get - from A to B. Burgis believes we first need a mass workers' party -
but how do we get that? Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that such a
formation could come out of mass campaigns around issues like Med4All? And
couldn't a floor vote on the House help galvanize such a campaign? Certainly,
Dore understands this straightforward truth, as do a lot of workers and
youthful socialists, which is why Dore is getting such traction on this issue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is also something dishonest
about Burgis’s argument. If it is true that Med4All isn't possible until we
have a mass workers' party and that this isn't going to happen in this election
cycle or the next – so at least for 4 more years and probably longer than that
– then isn't it the obligation of a socialist politician like AOC to be
up-front about that with her supporters? But that isn't the messaging coming
from her. As noted earlier, in the clips Dore keeps playing from AOC’s first
campaign, she attacks the position that we have to “wait forever” for Med4All,
insisting instead that we can do this now and that what it takes is “political
courage”. She’s never retracted that, she's never put out a clip saying that
'You all have to stop being voluntarist and be patient until I get a committee
assignment in 2 or 3 or 4 election cycles and maybe then I can nudge this thing
along.' I have a feeling that wouldn't go over too well in her Bronx
congressional district, which has one of the highest Covid mortality rates in
the country. Nor would it go over well with her millions of young twitter
followers who were inspired by her because they finally felt that they had
someone in Congress who was going to make life seriously unpleasant for Pelosi,
Biden and the establishment. This means that AOC is deluding her supporters:
she wants cred for having “political courage” but not the pain of acting
courageously. Burgis’s arguments are really intended to make that embarrassing
contradiction disappear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A final point: an article revisiting
this issue appeared on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jacobin</i> a few
days ago. This one, by Corey Brooks, a history prof, suggests that there is
ongoing unease in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jacobin</i> milieu
about AOC’s position on #forcethevote. Brooks goes back to the abolitionists of
the 1830s and 1840s who, like today’s progressives, only had a small contingent
of supporters in the House but tried to leverage that to stop any slaveholder from
being elected House speaker. They had no qualms about using whatever leverage
they had against the dominant parties of their day (Democrats and Whigs) so as
to gain attention for their cause, and their efforts had a significant impact
on Northern public opinion in fostering opposition to slavery. A noteworthy
episode was the House Speakership election of 1849 that became a marathon of 63
ballots because of abolitionist tactics. In the end a Georgia slaveholder won
the position but in a larger sense it was the abolitionists who gained the
most. They “didn’t necessarily gain tangible policy outputs from this gambit.
But they did create a spectacle that put [their cause] at the center of
national political debate, along with [their] criticisms aimed at both parties
for their temporizing on the slavery issue.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This has obvious relevance for the
current #forcethevote controversy and Brooks makes that connection explicit:
“Left commentators are correct when they argue that speakership elections
constitute a rare opportunity for balance of power politics in a closely
divided House. However doomed to fail in the short term, the spectacle such
events create can have real consequences for long-term political and policy
discourse.” So AOC and her apologists like Sirota and Burgis are exactly wrong:
the “spectacle” of putting Pelosi’s feet to the fire to force a vote on Med4All
is indeed “a rare opportunity” to shift public opinion, as the 1849 “spectacle”
had done on slavery. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brooks writes with an academic’s
caution. He wonders “how to balance the very real value of spectacle for the
cause of radical change” especially “in the midst of a pandemic” “against
whatever potential seat at the table might be sacrificed by being obtrusive.”
Maybe, as AOC has implied, she’s getting some concessions “behind closed doors”
or maybe “she and her allies have become too sensitive to pressure from party
institutions,” (a delicate way of saying they’ve been co-opted, a point Jimmy
Dore also makes, though far more caustically). Maybe they think “this is not
the moment to play hardball for the sake of spectacle,” but then Brooks asks a
pointed question: “If that is in fact the case, it does raise the question of
when and where they could find a better opportunity than a majority-rule speaker
election in a closely divided congress.” The answer to this question is
painfully obvious. The upshot of Brooks’s article is clear: the abolitionists
of the antebellum era put today’s so-called ‘democratic socialists’ like AOC to
shame.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-60409135381123194032020-11-02T20:18:00.000-05:002020-11-02T20:18:31.541-05:00Behind the politics of lesser evilism: continuation<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3lTUqnUUbtQ/X6CvpRsGLnI/AAAAAAAADCs/YThDO-o0pKY1MBSlprB6WeYLQX3_MsYxwCNcBGAsYHQ/s275/fascism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3lTUqnUUbtQ/X6CvpRsGLnI/AAAAAAAADCs/YThDO-o0pKY1MBSlprB6WeYLQX3_MsYxwCNcBGAsYHQ/w426-h640/fascism.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; margin-left: -1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-insideh: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-border-insidev: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 638px;">
<tbody><tr style="height: 61.5pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 61.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 478.5pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Note:
This is a continuation of the essay ‘<a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2020/10/behind-politics-of-lesser-evilism.html">Behind
the politics of lesser evilism’</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That essay elicited a response from Walter Daum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am reprinting Daum’s comments here
followed by my response to those comments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">Comment by Walter Daum<o:p></o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">WD, October 31, 2020<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Reply to Alex Steiner on
Voting <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In notifying me of his post
“Behind the politics of lesser evilism,” Alex Steiner commented, “I think this
is an important discussion that should be taking place within the revolutionary
left as a whole. It goes beyond the positions taken by various people and
groups.” I agree and would add that the debate should continue beyond the 2020
election, since it is as much methodological as practical.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To summarize my position,
there are basically two questions at issue. 1) Is there a Marxist or socialist
principle that rejects voting for bourgeois parties or candidates under all
circumstances? 2) Since I think there is no such absolute principle, is it
tactically correct to vote for Biden in this election in order to defeat Trump?
I and my comrades in the LRP say yes; we recently issued a statement explaining
our reasons at http://lrp-cofi.org/statements/election2020.html.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On the first of these
questions, Alex re-states the principle: “that it is not possible within the
Marxist tradition to ever under any circumstances, support a vote for a
bourgeois party.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the post that began
this debate, Frank Brenner invoked ths Marxist tradition, and in my reply I
claimed that there was no such principle; I challenged anyone who thinks there
is “to find any statement by our Marxist teachers that it is unprincipled to
vote for bourgeois candidates under any circumstance.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As it happens, I and others
in the LRP have made such a challenge in other venues during this election
season, and we have received no response with actual evidence. We have,
however, been told more than once that there is a Marxist principle that the
working class should organize independently of all representatives of the
ruling class for political action – and we agree. But <i>that</i> principle,
regularly invoked by our Marxist teachers, did not prevent them from advocating
tactical voting for specific bourgeois parties on specific occasions, namely
when the working class had no viable candidate of its own and when the democratic
rights that enable our class to organize and struggle were at stake.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Alex dismisses the challenge
as “delv(ing) into ... hypotheticals,” but adds that “this is a general
principle that is more relevant than ever in the period of the decline of capitalism
on the world stage, not an abstract moral imperative.” This is explained by his
claim that the occasions when Marx, Engels and Lenin called for voting for
liberal bourgeois parties have no parallel today: “The corporate Democrats
represented by Biden in no way constitute a wing of the liberal bourgeoisie
opposed to authoritarianism.” Of course the Democrats are not congenitally
opposed to authoritarianism; they, like the Republicans, support all kinds of
authoritarian regimes around the world when doing so fits U.S. imperial
interests; and they have often enough acted in authoritarian fashion at home.
(That was also true of the liberal bourgeois parties who our predecessors had
backed.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But that is not the point. I
and my comrades are calling for voting for Biden not because he is more liberal
in general but because he is less dangerous than Trump on a specific matter,
the Republicans’ drive to entrench their minority-party rule by destroying
democratic rights – the right of Black people to vote and be counted, and the
right of workers to organize trade unions and their struggles. This drive
precedes Trump, and he is serving as its useful tool. Indeed, his campaign
itself rests on denying voting rights, since he is constantly threatening not
to accept the result if he loses the vote and to invoke the powers of his
presidency and his Supreme Court appointees to overturn it. In this concrete
situation the Democrats are opposed to Trump’s authoritarianism for their own
reasons; they want to get elected. So this is just the sort of situation when
there is no viable working-class candidate and when the rights that enable our
class to organize and struggle are at stake.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Returning for a moment to
Brenner’s original post, he says that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>calling for a vote for Biden “would promote the dangerous illusion that
the only credible resistance to Trump is from the Democratic Party.” That is a
real concern, and more generally there is the danger that any kind of bloc with
bourgeois forces helps strengthen illusions that they can be relied on to be on
the side of the working class. That danger has to be weighed and countered,
which means that socialists who electorally support Biden must forthrightly
illuminate rather than obscure the true history and role of the Democratic
Party.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It would certainly create
illusions if all we said is that Trump is terrible and Biden is not so bad
although not ideal. Many Biden supporters rely on such arguments. Revolutionary
socialists, on the contrary, should make every effort to explain, even as we
argue for voting for Democrats, that they are a party that promotes capitalism
and imperialism, opposes working-class struggles and accommodates to racism (as
various Democratic governors and mayors did in calling out their cops against
the recent Black Lives Matter protests).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is noteworthy that in the
early voting period of recent days, millions of people have flocked to the
polls, waiting patiently for hours to cast their votes, confounding the efforts
in many states to make it as difficult as possible for people to vote,
especially in minority communities. Surely the main reason for this amazing
phenomenon is that people are so fed up with Trump that they are willing to
take extraordinary steps to get rid of him. And, yes, many of them have
illusions that Biden and the Democrats are dedicated not just to reversing
Trump’s most sociopathic policies but also to carrying out the reforms that
working-class people need. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How should we as
revolutionary socialists counter such illusions? By telling people not to vote
for Biden & Co. because of their rotten record and hostile class character?
If we do that we will not get much of an audience. But if we say, yes, vote for
Biden to oust Trump, we can then also help people understand that Biden too is
an enemy of the working class and the oppressed, and that only mass action can
wring vital reforms out of a Democratic Party government. We can also explain
that the working class needs its own party, independent of the capitalist
parties and dedicated to the overthrow of capitalist rule.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Alex claims that once you
advocate for voting for a Democrat in this election you are on a slippery slope
that means never building an independent socialist party. Even a tactical
“lesser evil” vote, he says, leads to lesser evil-<i>ism</i>, the strategy of
always voting for a lesser bourgeois evil: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“... once one acknowledges a
different outcome between a Trump or a Biden Administration, that there are no
grounds for opposing a vote for a ‘lesser evil’ candidate. But one cay say that
in every single election since the American Republic was founded there is
always the possibility of a different outcome. It has never been the case and
never will be the case that the outcome of an election ‘makes no difference’.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This assumes that rejecting
the mythical “socialist principle” of <i>never</i> voting for a bourgeois party
necessarily means <i>always</i> doing so. That is false both in history and in
logic. Our Marxist predecessors who advocated choosing certain bourgeois
parties when there was no alternative never stopped working for socialist
working-class parties. Moreover, there is a lot of room between never and
always, and that’s where this year’s election fits. According to polls, among
the millions of early voters are many who chose not to vote in 2016. They are
not lesser-evilists; they are coming out in droves because they see that in
2020, perhaps for the first time in their adult lives, the greater evil is a
qualitative threat that he must be defeated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Finally, I’ll note that
Brenner and Steiner are both aware of the danger of Trumpism:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Brenner: If Trump wins,
“Polarization will spike, Bill Barr will have a green light for ever more
police state measures, the fascist gangs will feel emboldened. Voter
suppression, scapegoating of immigrants, lethal police violence, dismantling of
Obamacare and probably Medicare too, maybe a Covid death toll of a million.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Steiner: “One can expect a
very sharp turn to authoritarian forms of rule in a second Trump Administration
... Trump’s open encouragement of fascist plots to assassinate the governors of
Michigan and Virginia and the state murder of an anti-fascist activist in
Oregon indicate a qualitative transformation of class relations away from even
the vestiges of bourgeois democracy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Those are strong and
accurate forewarnings. The working class, the oppressed, and all those who
defend democratic rights have to act. Mass mobilizations have to be prepared. A
few trade union officials are even talking of a general strike if Trump tries
to steal the election. Brenner agrees that “socialists would try to promote
mass political resistance within the working class” – but he asks, “How would
that goal be served by having called for a vote for Biden?” The answer is that
no matter who wins, mass action by the working class and oppressed people will
be necessary to defend their rights and promote their interests. And such
action would take place under far more favorable conditions if Trump and the
fascistic gangs he encourages were to suffer a massive rejection at the polls.
Only voting for Biden, class enemy though he is, can accomplish that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Why not do all we can to
prevent Trump from wielding the authority that could be used to justify a coup?
As Marx and Lenin pointed out, every few years the working class and the
oppressed are asked to choose which leaders of the oppressing class will lead
the repression against them. That is bourgeois democracy. When that choice is
significant, when it indeed means “a qualitative transformation of class relations
away from even the vestiges of bourgeois democracy,” why not take it? A
Democratic Party government will be no loyal friend of the working class, but
against it we will be in a better position to wage the class struggle, fight
for democratic rights and organize for the socialist and revolutionary party
our class needs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">Steiner responds to Walter Daum<o:p></o:p></h1>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Before addressing what Daum
wrote I want to say a few things about what he did not write. Specifically
there is no mention at all of something that was a key element of my critique,
namely the philosophical examination of the type of cost-benefit arguments that
are characteristic of the politics of lesser evilism. I placed that analysis at
the core of my argument because I think it exposes the fundamental incoherence
of lesser evil politics. To reiterate what I wrote, the problem with
cost-benefit type analysis when applied to human affairs is that it reduces
living human activity to a thing that can be weighed and measured. In the arena
of economics such methodology has been championed by the school of “rational
choice” theorists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no doubt Daum,
who has written extensively on economics from a Marxist perspective, would
recognize the fallacies of rational choice theory. Why does he not recognize
the fallacies of this exact same methodology when applied to the political
arena?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In his opening remarks, Daum
correctly says that <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…”the
debate should continue beyond the 2020 election, since it is as much
methodological as practical.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But Daum never gets beyond
the “practical” to the methodological questions in his reply. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As to the “practical”
considerations, Daum’s case against me appears to be based on a misreading of
what I said. He presents a straw-man argument based on this misreading.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Daum says that I ,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“…re-state[s]
the principle: ‘that it is not possible within the Marxist tradition to ever
under any circumstances, support a vote for a bourgeois party.’ “<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But that is not what I
wrote. I did not “restate” any such “absolute” principle as Daum also writes.
Rather I posed this as a question,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“<span style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Does this mean that it is not possible within
the Marxist tradition, to ever under any circumstances, support a vote for a
bourgeois party?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">The reason I posed this as a question was
precisely to highlight the difference between a mythological “absolute”
principle allowing of no exceptions, something which has never existed except
as a thought experiment, and a general principle that has guided Marxists for
generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daum and the LRP rely for much of their
argument on conflating this idealized “absolute” principle with the very real
practical principle that Marxists should not be calling for a vote for a
bourgeois candidate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think it is
very difficult to demonstrate that Marxists have traditionally opposed voting
for a bourgeois candidate,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>certainly not
in an advanced industrial country where the question of national independence is
not relevant and where the right to vote for a socialist candidate still
exists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To cite just one example, take a
look at Trotsky’s writings on Germany in the period leading up to the victory
of fascism. Did Trotsky advise his followers to support the “lesser evil”
bourgeois politician in the hope that this would buy time to defeat the Nazis?
Not at all. Here is what he wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The social democracy supports Bruening, votes
for him, assumes the responsibility for him before the masses – on the basis
that the Bruening Government is the “lesser evil… But have the German Left
Opposition and myself in particular demanded that the Communists vote for and
support Bruening? We Marxists regard Bruening and Hitler, together with Braun,
as component parts of one and the same system. The question, which one of them
is the “lesser evil”, has no sense, for the system against which we are
fighting needs all these elements.” <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And Trotsky’s was not alone
within the Marxist tradition in opposing the politics of lesser evilism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daum relies on another straw-man argument in
order to blur over this general (not ‘Absolute’) principle. He sees a huge
difference between supporting a “lesser evil” and “lesser evilism”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He writes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Alex
claims that once you advocate for voting for a Democrat in this election you
are on a slippery slope that means never building an independent socialist
party. Even a tactical “lesser evil” vote, he says, leads to lesser evil-<i>ism</i>,
the strategy of always voting for a lesser bourgeois evil”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Of course I never equated
the politics of “lesser evilism” with the requirement that one has to <b>always</b>
vote for a lesser evil candidate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But by
“lesser evilism” I am referring to a method of approaching political questions
that is fundamentally at odds with Marxism. It may or may not always lead one
to supporting a bourgeois candidate in a specific election but what it does is
replace a strategic orientation toward the independent political activity of
the working class for their emancipation with the small change of opportunist
tactical considerations characteristic of bourgeois politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is precisely this methodological approach
that Trotsky criticized in the support the Social Democrats in Germany gave to
Chancellor Bruening. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Does the rejection of a vote
for the “lesser evil” in the 2020 election mean that we are blind and
contemptuous of those workers and youth who think that voting for Biden is the
best way to defeat Trump? Not at all! Revolutionary socialists should be
engaging in a dialogue with those workers and youth, especially those who were
ardent Bernie Sanders supporters and now feel that they have been
disenfranchised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what should we say
to them? Shouldn’t we encourage in every possible way a break of the
left-leaning forces that were active in the Sanders movement from the
Democratic Party? How is that accomplished if we tell them, no matter how many
caveats one adds, that they should vote for Biden? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Finally Daum claims that I
am presenting a “slippery slope” type argument and he goes on to deny the
existence of a slippery slope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
call for a vote for Biden in the 2020 election he says, and it has no relation
to anything else in your political trajectory and is of no significance for
anything you may do in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
raised the question of how the about-face of Daum’s group, the LRP, on this
question, is part of a wider phenomenon that has seen many long-time radicals
who have previously resisted the siren song of support for the Democrats suddenly
give way to a broad-based collapse of opposition to the American duopoly. I
mentioned the sudden dissolution of the International Socialist Organization
last year. One can add the pathetic turn of the Maoist Revolutionary Communist
Party - who were well known for their fiery rhetoric about the need for a
“communist revolution” - to support for Biden. Daum has nothing to say about
these developments, apparently believing that the turn of the LRP has no
relationship to them. I think the fact they are unaware of the broader social
and class forces driving them is good evidence that Daum and the LRP are indeed
embarked on a slippery slope.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b>The
Impending Danger of Fascism in Germany: A Letter to a German Communist Worker on
the United Front Against Hitler<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/12/danger.htm">https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/12/danger.htm</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-15925325677523482552020-11-02T02:05:00.001-05:002020-11-02T02:05:29.320-05:00Some thoughts on the state of American ‘democracy’<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xQLCXJAAb1U/X5-u2gktNPI/AAAAAAAADCA/Wk3TPqKLGNkrliq5R-5tfoqj_UI-P4Z4gCNcBGAsYHQ/s1024/justice%2Bbarret%2Bswearing%2Bin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xQLCXJAAb1U/X5-u2gktNPI/AAAAAAAADCA/Wk3TPqKLGNkrliq5R-5tfoqj_UI-P4Z4gCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/justice%2Bbarret%2Bswearing%2Bin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Swearing in of Justice Barrett. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">by Frank Brenner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">The prime motivation of the ‘vote
Biden’ radical leftists is to ‘save’ democracy, or at least its rudiments, from
Trumpist authoritarianism, so I think it’s worth considering the state of
American democracy, especially as the day I started writing this was also when
Amy Coney Barrett was being elevated to the Supreme Court.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">i.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">We now have a justice with a mindset
more from the Middle Ages than the 21<sup>st</sup> century consolidating a
right-wing super majority on SCOTUS. Abortion rights are going to be overturned
or at the very least reduced to an empty shell, same for Obamacare, voting
rights, separation of church and state, government action on climate change, the
rights of unions, of gays and lesbians, to say nothing of backstopping a
possible Trump coup to defy the election results. I think it’s safe to assume that
this is the most reactionary Supreme Court since Chief Justice Roger Taney
handed down the Dred Scott decision in 1857, although ‘most reactionary’ is a
hard sell when it comes to an institution that gutted Reconstruction, gave us
Plessy v. Ferguson and sanctioned the legal murder of Sacco and Vanzetti and
the Rosenbergs, to say nothing of more recent outrages like Citizens United. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">It’s not just Barrett though but the
whole spectacle of her appointment that is notable. First there is the flagrant
hypocrisy of the Republicans in ramming through this nomination 8 days before
the election, after having refused to approve an Obama appointment to the court
8 months before the previous election. This is about as blatant a ‘fuck you’ to
any semblance of democracy as is possible in mainstream politics. But that
hypocrisy is only matched by the Democrats who pretend to be outraged, especially
as such outrage has been very lucrative in raking in millions in campaign
contributions. Yet they have managed to do absolutely zip to hold up the approval
process in the Senate, even though, had they used procedural motions to slow it
down by even a week, they could have potentially scuttled the nomination in the
event of a Biden landslide. The only reasonable conclusion is that the
corporate Democrats are not really that upset by Barrett’s appointment – and
that’s because a ‘Dred Scott’ Supreme Court will be useful for them in
stymieing the demands of their party’s progressive wing. Hey, they will say to
the progressives, we want to do the right thing but our hands are tied. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Still I have to say that if there is
any silver lining here, it is the delicious irony to be had from eventually
watching the pious Barrett, who seems nothing so much as an emanation from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Handmaid’s Tale</i>, joining Clarence
Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, two men with a proclivity for hitting on defenseless
women, in striking down Roe v. Wade. And of course, we shouldn’t forget that Barrett
and Kavanaugh, judicial zealots for that foul abuse of language, the so-called ‘right
to life’, owe their positions to a man widely accused of being a rapist. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">ii.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">American democracy is composed of two
parties that are fundamentally opposed to democracy. The Republicans engage in
voter suppression (through means legal and illegal) while the Democrats engage
in voter shaming. If you dare to oppose the Democrats from the left, you are an
outcast because you are ‘splitting’ the vote and thereby helping the
reactionaries. The liberal media still can’t forgive Jill Stein for running
against Hillary Clinton in 2016 or even for that matter Ralph Nader for running
against Al Gore in 2000. And this year’s Green party candidate, Howie Hawkins,
is facing a similar torrent of reproach and abuse, including from members of
his own party and even his old high school teacher! Every election it’s the same
story: a heavy-handed campaign of political guilt-tripping, a drumbeat amplified
by mainstream media, overbearing pundits and academics and Hollywood
celebrities (and now, sadly, a goodly number of radical leftists). You cannot
stray a step beyond the Democratic Party fold, otherwise you are anathema and
your voice has to be silenced. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">The two presidential campaigns of
Bernie Sanders are an object lesson in how the Democrats suppress democracy. Twice
he was denied the nomination, in 2016 by illegal DNC machinations and this year
by a gang-up of so-called ‘centrist’ candidates lining up behind Biden. There
has never been any question that his signature policies - Medicare for all,
free college tuition, tax the billionaire class – are hugely popular. And yet
both times Sanders has submitted to the fiat of the corporate Democrats and
chosen not to run an independent campaign, giving as his reason (according to
Chris Hedges) that he didn’t want to be a Ralph Nader. Sanders personally has a
lot to answer for in this regard but this isn’t just a story of a politician’s
shortcomings. It’s also a story of how the Democrats suppress democracy, how
their ‘soft suppression’ can be just as effective, sometimes more so, than the
gangsterism of the Republicans. If running a presidential campaign on issues
that tens of millions of Americans support is beyond the pale of American democracy
– where the political and media establishment will do everything possible to
denigrate, marginalize and ultimately squash such a campaign – then what sort
of democracy is that? It means that almost nothing is now left of Lincoln’s “of
the people, by the people, for the people” except the words themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">3. Whites No College: WNC. This is a
relatively new sociological label imported from the polling industry and it now
appears routinely in election coverage. What it means is blue collar white
workers, but since mainstream American culture has always been phobic about any
open acknowledgement of class, especially the working class, we now have this
new rhetorical subterfuge – WNC. It’s also typical of that political culture to
define everything in terms of race, and yet one never sees stats citing BNC or LNC
(Blacks No College, Latinx No College). The presumption must be that the
African-American and Latin communities are somehow homogeneous so that the NC
suffix would have little bearing, but of course this is utter nonsense. What it
does do is help normalize racial divisions in the working class by making them
appear as a self-evident artifact of demography rather than a deliberately
chosen political distinction. Or to put this another way, its political spin
passed off as pseudo social science – and the upshot is to turn blue collar
white workers into a political ‘other’, a bogeyman of everything backward or,
as Hillary Clinton famously put it, “a basket of deplorables”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Two factors are at work here. The
Democratic Party has long since abandoned the base it had in the working class
from the New Deal to the Great Society. Having bought into neo-liberalism
through the Carter, Clinton and Obama administrations, it has become a party
which caters primarily to the upper middle classes as well as some of the Big
Money in Silicon Valley, Hollywood and on Wall Street. It is a party of the
rich. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By contrast, the Republicans are a
party of the super-rich, but one which has embraced right-wing populism to
exploit the working-class base cut loose by the Democrats. This Republican coalition
of cold hard cash and emotional frenzy over guns, racist dog-whistles,
abortions and born-again religion can seem head-spinning but has precedents in
American politics, notably Huey Long and George Wallace. But crucial to the
Republicans being able to pivot in this way has been the decline of labor
unions to the point of near total social irrelevance. So, the American
two-party system is a choice between a party of the rich and a party of the
super-rich. The party of the rich is heavily invested in identity politics
(which I’m about to get to) while the party of the super-rich is heavily
invested in right-wing populism. They operate as a division of labor for the
purpose of disenfranchising the overwhelming majority of the people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">The second factor is the dominant role
that identity politics has come to play among liberals and radicals, especially
anyone connected to academia. From the point of view of identity politics, blue
collar white workers are indeed a mass of “deplorables”, a cesspool of racism, sexism,
homophobia etc. Hence the ‘whitelash’ explanation for why Trump won in 2016,
though advocates for this theory downplay or deny outright the inconvenient
truth that there were millions of so-called Obama-Trump voters in places like
Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – white workers whose supposed racism
hadn’t prevented them from voting for Obama, not just once but twice. So far as
identity politics is concerned, the only remedy for dealing with WNC is
demography: the more they shrink as a percentage of the population, the less
important they’ll become politically. In the meantime, everything possible
should be done to contain them, like some rabid horde, by minimizing their
political influence and keeping them as far removed as possible from civilized
folks with college degrees and the deserving poor among minorities. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Identity politics is a disaster for
the left, and for that reason also a disaster for American democracy. It not
only accepts but positively embraces the splitting of the American working
class along racial lines – and down that road lies a dark future of reaction. The
only way to save political democracy is to expand it into social and economic
democracy, but that will never happen without the working class, including blue
collar white workers. So long as the left remains shackled to the Democratic
party, it will never be able to win these workers away from right-wing populism,
and so long as it remains under the sway of identity politics, it will never
even want to try. And one sees that in the attitudes of many on the radical
left for whom the very notion that one should try to appeal to the millions of
workers in Trump’s base is unthinkable.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">iii.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">As I was writing this post, I came
across a column by Robert Reich in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Guardian</i> titled “Trump assaulted American democracy – here’s how Democrats
can save it”. Reich is a prominent liberal public intellectual and was
Secretary of Labor in the first Clinton administration. He is very much in the
mould of figures like Maynard Keynes – liberals who want to save capitalism
from itself. (In fact, one of his books is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saving Capitalism</i>.) This column is in a similar vein, though its
focus is on politics rather than economics. As someone with a long career as a
public official in several US administrations, Reich’s approach is very
practical: he lays out a series of steps that Biden and the Democrats should
take (assuming of course that they win and are allowed to take office) to
reverse the damage Trump has done. Reich adds that this “may be the last chance
– both for the Democrats and, more importantly, for American democracy.” It’s
an ominous warning from someone who isn’t usually given to hyperbole. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Here are the 3 steps Reich is
proposing:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">1. Increase the size of the Supreme Court
to reduce the conservative super-majority to a minority.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">2. Abolish the Senate filibuster so
that a simple majority is enough to pass legislation, not the 60 votes
presently needed. (Reich is assuming that the Democrats will have a majority in
the Senate after the election.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">3. Rebalance the Senate so that small
rural states like Wyoming don’t have outsized power compared to populous states
like California. To effect this change, Reich proposes to create new states:
Washington DC, which has long wanted statehood, and California, which has grown
so large that Reich says it should be split into two states, North and South
California.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">The first thing that strikes me about
this is the imbalance between the gravity of the problem and the trifling
nature of the proposed solutions. Reich is tinkering with minor adjustments
even as he recognizes that the fate of American democracy is at stake. And even
for a liberal this is timid stuff: one glaring omission is any mention of the
electoral college, an arcane leftover from the pre-Civil War era that was put
in the Constitution at the behest of slaveholders and has been responsible for
two of the last five elections where the ‘winning’ candidate actually lost the
popular vote. Indeed, it’s electoral college calculations that determine the
insanely lop-sided nature of presidential campaigns, where the focus is
entirely on a half-dozen battleground states, and where the rest of the country
is all but completely ignored by the candidates. Reich would probably say that
his third proposal addresses this but there’s a much simpler solution:
eliminate the electoral college. If this seems impractical to a good pragmatist
like Reich, his own proposal is actually much more far-fetched. There is no way
three quarters of the states, to say nothing of two-thirds of Congress, are
going to approve splitting up California, let alone granting DC statehood. And
even if this miracle were to transpire, it would only be a start: you’d have to
turn NYC into a state, maybe Chicago, Miami, Houston, LA etc. etc. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">As for the first proposal, Biden has
already stated that he doesn’t want to stack the Court. This is after all a man
who pledged that if he comes to power nothing fundamental will change. Visions
of Biden as FDR redux are wishful thinking on steroids. He’s announced that
he’ll set up a commission to study SCOTUS proposals, which is standard
procedure for an old political hack to make difficult problems go away. As for
the Senate filibuster, even if this happens, it will do nothing to change the
reality that Democratic senators are as beholden to their donor class as
Republican senators are to theirs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Reich is no fool. He understands
perfectly well that what is really undermining American democracy is social
inequality. But he can’t see beyond the limits of ‘saving capitalism’. Back in
the Thirties someone like Reich would have been part of the ‘brain trust’ FDR
assembled to make the New Deal happen, but after four decades of supporting
and/or accommodating themselves to neo-liberalism, there is little boldness
left among liberal intellectuals for that kind of ground-breaking overhaul.
Reich wants to patch up constitutional arrangements that are centuries old and
decrepit, so decrepit in some cases (the Second Amendment for example) that
they have morphed into monstrosities that promote and legitimize untold
carnage. In the 19<sup>th</sup> century it took a revolutionary civil war to
save democracy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">from</i> the constitution.
Patchwork solutions aren’t going to be any more successful in the 21<sup>st</sup>
century.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Reich’s quandary is the quandary of
anyone who believes in incremental change. You invariably end up with wholesale
wishful thinking (what I would call a bad kind of utopianism) which amounts
(whether one admits it or not) to hoping for the ruling elites to ‘come to
their senses’, the sort of thinking that goes, ‘if only Jeff Bezos would settle
for having $100 billion instead of $200 billion.’ But that’s not how the system
works and elites never give up their power and privilege willingly. I think the
‘vote Biden’ radicals are engaging in a similar kind of wishful thinking.
Though they may still adhere to the rhetoric of revolutionary politics, their
succumbing to ‘lesser evil’ blackmail attests to a lingering hope for
incremental change probably along with a deep despair about the possibilities
for revolution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-23825639952909458342020-10-25T21:23:00.003-04:002020-10-26T00:27:54.957-04:00Behind the politics of lesser evilism<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="2000" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JClCh1LVrOY/X5YkJh3OAoI/AAAAAAAADBs/9ilRCJ-56zwaKzlwe9Qc3GiEUBKOE_5MwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h200/swing-state-guide-index-1583189515.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Swing states in the 2020 election</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">By Alex Steiner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; margin-left: -10.55pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-insideh: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-border-insidev: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;">
<tbody><tr style="height: 79.25pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 79.25pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 474.35pt;" valign="top" width="632">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 10.3pt;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Note: This is a
continuation of the discussion that began in the previous essay by Frank
Brenner, <i>Backing Biden betrays socialist policies</i>, <a href="http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2020/10/backing-biden-betrays-socialist-politics.html">http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2020/10/backing-biden-betrays-socialist-politics.html</a>.
See the comments in that essay for the context of this discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="text-align: justify;">I think Frank Brenner and Jim Creegan have
provided an excellent response to Mitchel Cohen’s and Walter Daum’s support for
a vote for the “lesser evil” candidate in the 2020 Presidential election, namely
Joe Biden. I don’t think I can add too much to what they have already
written.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="text-align: justify;">What I would like to do is
explore the general form of the “lesser evil” argument and expose its inner
fallacies.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Those arguments change every four years in
their outward expression, but their inner structure always remains the same. When
you boil them down to their essence they go something like this: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">“I would love to support a genuine alternative
to the two-party duopoly that dominates politics in the United States. If this
were an ordinary election, I would happily cast my vote for a third party
socialist candidate running independent of the Democrats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this election is different. We are living
in a special moment that requires that we vote for a Democrat while holding our
nose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The holding our nose metaphor seems
to be required in all these explanations.) We will go about doing our
organizational work despite voting for a Democrat whom we loathe, knowing that
this organizational work is what is really important.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">This is the basic template of the argument.
Before getting to the details, I would like to put it into its philosophical
and historical context.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">The force of the argument is based on the
premises of a utilitarian world outlook. What characterizes all utilitarian arguments
is the engagement of a cold calculus of benefits versus risks. Moral and
political imperatives beyond the immediate considerations of what action
maximizes ones odds for survival in a Hobbesian world are considered
irrelevant. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the face of it, such
arguments are quite compelling. It seems that the only way to challenge them is
to dispute whether in fact a particular course of action does result in a
greater benefit, or if not a benefit then at least a lesser evil, than another
course of action. Those kind of details can be legitimately debated it seems,
but there is no challenge to the basic premises of the debate, that one must
always chose that course of action which results in the most benefit – or least
evil – given the circumstances. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">What the cold calculus of a risk vs benefit
assessment characteristic of utilitarianism misses is that human beings and
human values are not quantifiable. It is not like projecting the value of an
investment. A notorious example of what can go wrong when decisions are made
purely on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis is the case of the Ford Pinto.
Ford’s engineers discovered a design flaw in the Pinto of potentially lethal
consequences. A cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ford concluded that it was
not cost-efficient to add an $11 per car cost in order to correct the
flaws. The upshot was that approximately 500 people died as a result of
Ford’s failure to ameliorate the problem. While the consequences of the cost- benefit
analysis were particularly horrendous in this case, cost-benefit type planning
is not the exception but the norm in the business world. It’s “what comes
naturally” in capitalist society where all considerations for how we should
live are subordinated to the need for profit. And its applies to all manner of
human behavior beyond the strictly economic. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n8M7RVtTPm0/X5Yi1n0H15I/AAAAAAAADBY/Rr3Q3aKJeNECAvWBg78Jsv_2AQcdLrDxACNcBGAsYHQ/s800/ford-pinto-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="800" height="462" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n8M7RVtTPm0/X5Yi1n0H15I/AAAAAAAADBY/Rr3Q3aKJeNECAvWBg78Jsv_2AQcdLrDxACNcBGAsYHQ/w640-h462/ford-pinto-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The “lesser evil” argument in politics is not
so different than any other kind of a cost-benefit analysis. One justifies a
course of action that is undesirable because the alternatives are considered
worse. When we trace this argument back to its philosophical and historical context,
we are in a better position to understand the hidden premises that lay beneath the surface. When we do that the argument is no longer as compelling as
it initially appeared to be.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">In the present instance, we can see that in
addition to challenging the validity of the judgment itself, that in fact a
vote for Biden really is a “lesser evil”, as if that is obvious, it is also
possible to challenge the basic premises of the risks vs. benefits logic of the
argument. In the case of the 2020 elections, we are not dealing with ethical
considerations that try to quantify the value of a human life, but with social
and political considerations that hold vast implications for those on the left
wishing to see a fundamental transformation of society. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you quantify class consciousness? And
what price is paid in the coin of your political credibility when you advocate
a vote for a candidate you admit is terrible?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">In the argument justifying a vote for the
“lesser evil” candidate, what changes every four years is the identification of
what is “special” or “exceptional” in the current election that requires that
the left “hold their noses” and get behind the current anti-socialist
Democratic candidate. Often one finds references to Hitler or Nazism thrown
into the discussion as a way to stop any further consideration of the issues
and drum up a panic reaction. That is certainly the case in Mitchel Cohen’s
argument. Daum on the other hand provides a somewhat more nuanced take and
admits that a Trump victory would not be “game over”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then he goes on to say, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">“…</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">it would be a huge setback and, yes, it would embolden
the fascists. So why not do everything we can to prevent that, including
holding our noses and voting for the rotten Biden?”</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Daum’s criteria then for caving into the
pressure to vote for a Democrat is not quite the absolute evil of Cohen’s
vision of a fascist America the day after the election, but a regime that would
be a “huge setback”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Cohen seeks to discredit Brenner’s argument by
claiming, falsely, that Brenner sees no difference between a Trump regime and a
Biden regime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is in fact a common
accusation of those defending “lesser evilism”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daum on the other hand agrees that Brenner
sees a difference but claims therefore that Brenner contradicts himself by
opposing a vote for Biden while acknowledging that a Trump Administration poses
a huge danger of increasing authoritarianism. </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">The mistake both Cohen and Daum make is to think
that once one acknowledges a different outcome between a Trump or a Biden
Administration, that there are no grounds for opposing a vote for a “lesser
evil” candidate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But one cay say that in
every single election since the American Republic was founded there is always
the possibility of a different outcome. It has never been the case and never
will be the case that the outcome of an election “makes no difference”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one follows this logic then one has to
conclude that in past elections, when Daum and his organization, the League for
a Revolutionary Party, (LRP) opposed voting for a Democrat, that they must have
been working under the illusion that whoever won the election “made no
difference.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no doubt that some
of the LRP’s political opponents who favored a vote for Al Gore, or John Kerry,
or Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton in past elections must have levelled the accusation
against the LRP that they were “blind to the differences” between a right wing
Republican Administration and a centrist Democratic one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why is the LRP now supporting a vote for
Biden in 2020 when they opposed a vote for Kerry in 2004? Was not the election
of George Bush in 2004 a “setback” when compared to the possibility of a Kerry
victory? One can anticipate the answer: A second Trump election victory in 2020
would be “a lot more” of a setback than the Bush victory in 2004.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no doubt that is true. One can expect
a very sharp turn to authoritarian forms of rule in a second Trump
Administration, as a recent article in Jacobin makes clear. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump’s open encouragement of fascist plots
to assassinate the governors of Michigan and Virginia and the state murder of
an anti-fascist activist in Oregon indicate a qualitative transformation of class
relations away from even the vestiges of bourgeois democracy. But does that
fact automatically lead to the conclusion that we must – for the 2020 election
– abandon our socialist principles and vote for Biden? </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">There are higher political principles involved
in the 2020 election just as there were higher ethical principles involved in the
Ford Pinto case.</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of
those higher political principles were spelled out in Brenner’s article:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.4in; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">“The position of revolutionary socialists
should be that the Democrats are not the saviours of democracy but the enablers
of the would-be dictator. A call to vote for Biden would obscure this critical
point. In the fight to save democracy, we need to insist that only mass working
class action can make this happen. That fight doesn't stop on Nov. 3, it only
enters a new phase. But if socialists have already come out for a vote for
Biden, then we bear responsibility for having promoted illusions we would now
be trying to resist.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">The struggle over those principles does not mean
that we are oblivious to the consequences of our actions and are instead
captives of some Platonic ideal that has no relation to the class struggle in
the real world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, it simply signifies
that we are thinking of consequences in the long term as well as the immediate
situation. And the long term political consequences of socialists calling for a
vote for Biden would be disastrous. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Finally, even if one restricts judgment to just
the immediate situation , it is not at all clear who is the lesser evil in the
2020 election. Chris Hedges has convincingly argued that if the measure of who
is worse were the number of bodies buried by the state, Biden has a lot to
answer for. He was largely responsible for the 1994 crime bill which resulted
in the mass incarceration of millions, largely people of color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He voted in favor of the Iraq War. And when
he was Vice-President during the Obama Administration, he supported the use of
drone strikes to assassinate American citizens. It is true that a second Trump Administration
would give more power to extra-judicial forces spreading terror against
American citizens, but a Biden Administration would strengthen the national
security state who would unleash its own forms of terror against perceived
enemies both at home and abroad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Supporting either camp, no matter the caveats, should be considered
beyond the pale if one takes ones socialist principles seriously. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Daum tries to justify his position by citing
precedents in the Marxist tradition for supporting bourgeois parties under
certain conditions. His argument here is not very convincing. Let’s just say
that the examples Daum cites, supporting the liberal bourgeoisie in Germany against
Bismarck’s anti-socialist laws or supporting the liberal bourgeoisie in Russia against
the Tsarist Black Hundreds have little<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>relevance today. The corporate Democrats represented by Biden in no way
constitute a wing of the liberal bourgeoisie opposed to authoritarianism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are simply a wing of the bourgeoisie, in
fact the predominant section of the bourgeoisie, who have tactical differences
with Trump and the Republicans. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
stand for a more aggressive military policy against Russia while Trump is on a
trajectory for a confrontation with Iran and China. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">There have been in recent years attempts to build
a progressive faction in the Democratic Party, most notably the movement
inspired by Bernie Sanders candidacy. Now that those progressive, left-leaning forces
have been abandoned by Sanders, doesn’t it make sense for revolutionary
socialists to encourage a break from the Democratic Party and begin the process
of building a socialist party independent of and opposed to the duopoly of
Republicans and Democrats? That cannot be done if one supports a vote for
Biden. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Does this mean that it is not possible within
the Marxist tradition, to ever under any circumstances, support a vote for a
bourgeois party?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not necessary to
delve into such hypotheticals. Suffice it to say that this is a general
principle that is more relevant than ever in the period of the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>decline of capitalism on the world stage, not
an abstract moral imperative. Nor is a discussion of this general principle a justification
for supporting <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">this</span> bourgeois
candidate in <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">this</span> election. All
the attempts to do that claim that we are in an exceptional situation that impel
us to set aside this principle. But why is this “exceptional situation” so much
more “exceptional” than other “exceptional” situations? If we extend that
argument to its logical conclusion, we can say that every election of the past
few decades presented an “exceptional” situation. It seems that the time is
never right to openly campaign for a socialist candidate against the
Republicans and the Democrats.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Perhaps we need to examine the dynamics of mass
psychology behind the rationalizations of a vote for Biden. Unquestionably
there is an element of fear of the consequences of a second Trump <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Administration. I don’t discount the material
basis of that fear, but fear is hardly a sufficient basis for making political
decisions. There is also the pressure felt by many rank and file activists to
participate in the Sanders movement despite Sanders’ personal betrayal of this
movement. Paying attention to these currents in mass psychology help us make
sense of the sudden political turn we see among diverse groups of radicals and
Marxists who had previously held out against the pressure to accommodate to the
Democrats. The about-face of long time radicals is not unrelated to the 180
degree turn of the LRP, which in 2016 denounced a vote for Clinton while in
2020 calls for a vote for Biden. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
about-face on the part of long-standing opponents of the status quo was
anticipated in the most dramatic fashion by the sudden dissolution of the International
Socialist Organization last year. These are all related symptoms of the same phenomenon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;">Finally I want to comment on one aspect of this
election that I find particularly troubling. There has been a public campaign
orchestrated by some of the advocates of “lesser evil” politics in the 2020
election to pressure the Green Party candidate for President, Howie Hawkins, to
stand down lest he damage Biden’s chances of winning in the swing states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This campaign has gone so far as to bombard
Mr. Hawkins with letters from his former teachers asking him to reconsider his candidacy
for President. I find this campaign thoroughly reprehensible. While I have
political differences with Mr. Hawkins and the Green Party, I would have
thought his teachers would be proud of him for taking such a courageous stand
in the face of near universal condemnation from others on the left, even if
they disagree with it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead they
berate him and urge him to stand down. They should be ashamed of themselves! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253); mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 1.5pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-themecolor: dark1; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: 0pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: flat; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-type: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The prototype of this argument is the tale of the survivors in a lifeboat
facing death by starvation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They debate
what must be done in order to survive and come to the realization the only
possibility of survival is to murder the weakest member of the crew and eat his
remains. In jurisprudence the this is called the argument of necessity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This tale is often discussed in the abstract
in a class on Ethics, but in fact it is based on a real event that was tried in
the British courts in 1884, <b>The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens. </b>(<a href="http://www.duhaime.org/LawMag/LawArticle-1320/Cannibalism-on-the-High-Seas-the-Common-Laws-Perfect-Storm.aspx">http://www.duhaime.org/LawMag/LawArticle-1320/Cannibalism-on-the-High-Seas-the-Common-Laws-Perfect-Storm.aspx</a>
). In that case the judges ruled that necessity did not justify murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/donald-trump-authoritarian-portland-antifa-military"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(246, 252, 253);">https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/donald-trump-authoritarian-portland-antifa-military</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-55534795041186408372020-10-06T22:16:00.005-04:002020-10-07T16:59:51.090-04:00Backing Biden betrays socialist politics<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><div><br /></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-53ml8cdZm4M/X30g1QZcSXI/AAAAAAAAC_A/dbrIyuSTAK8yAOY4_Uj85ssD4g3XSWXqwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2000/biden-trump-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-53ml8cdZm4M/X30g1QZcSXI/AAAAAAAAC_A/dbrIyuSTAK8yAOY4_Uj85ssD4g3XSWXqwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/biden-trump-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Frank Brenner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recently on twitter I came across an anguished
plea: “I thought I would cut my arm off before ever writing this, but please
folks we have to vote for Biden.” This guy considers himself a radical, hence his
anguish. And he’s far from being alone. In this election year where the whole
world seems to be spinning out of control, one small but notable feature is radicals
who are, politically speaking, willing to cut their arm off. This includes some
alumni of Sixties radicalism, people who have held on to an allegiance to
revolutionary ideals through the long political twilight of neoliberalism,
often at significant cost to themselves. They refused to follow the examples of
many in the Sixties generation who renounced their youthful radicalism for
lucrative careers in academia, media and the professions. But all those decades
of not caving in to the pressures of the political mainstream no longer apply
because this election is different. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; font-size: 18pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m not going to single anyone out here for
criticism but I do think it’s worth responding in a general sense to the
‘amputee’ arguments. And then I’ll add a comment or two about what I think this
development means. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The basic argument is that the immediate
consequences of a second Trump term would be so devastating that there isn't
any other choice open to socialists except lining up behind Biden. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My objections:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1. Those who are committed to a fundamental change
in society, Marxists, above all, have never based our politics on immediate
consequences. We base them on the objective interests of the working class.
This doesn't mean that we don't engage with immediate consequences, but we
always do so from the standpoint of whether such an engagement advances or
holds back those objective interests. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2. If immediate consequences determine politics,
then there is no escaping the trap of lesser evil-ism, that perennial curse of
leftist politics in America. The argument that the 2020 election is an
exception is a dodge. The same argument was made in 2016 and it will be made in
2024, 2028 ad infinitum. Every election from now on will be 'exceptional': all
the arguments that apply now – above all, the threat to democracy posed by
Trump and the Republicans - will continue to apply indefinitely. If we support
Biden this time, the logic of that choice means abandoning any hope for an
independent socialist politics of the working class for the foreseeable
future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(This kind of logic brings to mind a remark by Ed
Broadbent, who decades ago was a leader of the NDP, Canada’s social democratic
party. He was once asked during an election campaign why it was that his party
was losing votes, including from working class voters, even though there was a
recession going on, and he replied, "Recessions are bad times for
socialists." In the 2020 election it would seem that
political crises are also "bad times for socialists." By this
logic the only good time to be a socialist would be when capitalism is
prospering and its politics are stable ... but then you might as well junk
socialism entirely!)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. Further to the argument that this year's
election is exceptional: what if it is so because a Trump coup would mean no
more elections or blatantly rigged ones? In which case socialists would try to
promote mass political resistance within the working class. How would that goal
be served by having called for a vote for Biden? On the contrary, it would
promote the dangerous illusion that the only credible resistance to Trump is
from the Democratic Party. Eugene Debs’s old line has never been more apt: if
you choose the lesser evil, what you end up with is evil.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4. The position of revolutionary socialists should
be that the Democrats are not the saviours of democracy but the enablers of the
would-be dictator. A call to vote for Biden would obscure this critical point.
In the fight to save democracy, we need to insist that only mass working class
action can make this happen. That fight doesn't stop on Nov. 3, it only enters
a new phase. But if socialists have already come out for a vote for Biden,
then we bear responsibility for having promoted illusions we would now be
trying to resist.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5. The same point applies if Biden wins, which is
still the most likely outcome. A call to vote for Biden would undercut the
credibility of socialists in resisting his administration’s policies, including
the many ways it will endanger democracy, whether by sins of omission or
commission. Having capitulated once to lesser evil-ism, socialists would indeed
be ‘missing an arm’ when it comes to countering conventional political ‘wisdom’
(embraced now by many ex-radicals) that we have to stop dreaming of
pie-in-the-sky revolutions and 'get real' by backing Democrats to keep the
Republican fascists out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6. My view is that Trump is not a fascist – yet –
but a right-wing authoritarian. He is less in the mould of Hitler or Mussolini,
and far more akin to figures like Viktor Orban of Hungary, Jaroslaw Kaczynski
of Poland or Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. This isn’t to downplay the dangers
that Trump poses, which are very real, but in a political struggle you need to
have a realistic assessment of the enemy you’re facing. It can be just as fatal
to overestimate an enemy as to underestimate them. I think labelling Trump a
fascist adds nothing to our understanding of Trump but it greatly ratchets up
the panic level. There will not be concentration camps on Nov. 4 if Trump wins.
Polarization will spike, Bill Barr will have a green light for ever more
police state measures, the fascist gangs will feel emboldened. Voter
suppression, scapegoating of immigrants, lethal police violence, dismantling of
Obamacare and probably Medicare too, maybe a Covid death toll of a
million - all this is predictable and would be terrible but it is still
not Nazi Germany. And most important of all: it is not the end of the
struggle, it's not game over if Trump wins. At best he will win with a minority
vote for the second time and if the election gets tossed to the Supreme Court,
which Trump has packed with his nominees, his legitimacy as the nation's leader
among the 65-75 million people who will have voted against him will be nil. The
fight for democracy would spill out of the voting booths and on to the streets.
It's precisely because it isn't game over on Nov. 3 that calling for a vote for
Biden is so wrong and so damaging to whatever hopes revolutionary socialists have
for engaging with such a mass movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">7. But let's entertain the possibility that it is
game over on Nov. 3. Let's say Trump really is a Hitler. Again, how would it
help the cause of revolutionary class consciousness to call for a vote for
Biden? In this case we can look back to the precedents of the 1930s. In the
1932 presidential election the Social Democrats supported Paul von Hindenburg,
the conservative who was running for re-election, in order to 'stop Hitler'. Which
sounds similar to the ‘stop Trump’ line of the radicals who are now lining up
behind Biden. But this was not Trotsky’s position, he excoriated the Social
Democrats for their policy, and I think it’s a fair assumption that he wouldn’t
be among the ‘amputees’ if he were alive today.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">
</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">As I said at the start, Marxists have never based our politics on
immediate consequences. That's the way Bolshevism operated, and the
Transitional Program is essentially a master class on that kind of
engagement. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">We also
know how this chapter of European history ended: having provided
Hindenburg with millions of their workers' votes, the Social Democrats were
repaid for their efforts to ‘save democracy’ by having Hindenburg appoint
Hitler as chancellor in January of the following year. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nothing that I’ve said here should be news to any of
the long-time radicals now lining up behind Biden. They know the pitfalls of
lesser evil politics as well as anyone, and yet this isn’t stopping them from
capitulating this time around. Why?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m speaking here in broad strokes, again without
any particular individual in mind, but I think the simple answer to the
question is – fear. By this I mean fear of a major disruption in their lives
should Trump win re-election. It is of course completely legitimate to fear political
repression given police violence in response to the George Floyd protests, but
I think the kind of fear I’m talking about goes beyond that. As marginalized as
radicals have been for a generation and more, they have still managed to
sustain a life on those margins, including a more or less active political
engagement. The little one has, the more attached to it one becomes. I’m not
thinking here of possessions but rather of expectations. If you’ve grown used
to a certain stability in your life, even as narrowly defined as that may be,
the prospect of losing it can be terrifying. And a second Trump term very much
entails such a prospect. In this sense, the move by radicals to back Biden partakes
of a much broader social tendency – all those in the middle classes, and many
in the working class too, who are increasingly desperate to ‘get back to
normal’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The desire to ‘get back to normal’ is
understandable, but it is also an illusion to think that anything approaching
‘normal’ awaits us after the election regardless of who wins. Those of us who
are fighting for a fundamental change in society should steel ourselves against
the seductive call of a return to normality. The coming period will present great
opportunities for building a mass socialist movement as well as harsh
challenges. One thing it will not be is a return to ‘normal’. We must be
prepared. <o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></div>Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-57408670645847486912020-09-08T22:06:00.000-04:002020-09-09T21:51:03.136-04:00Assessing Adolph Reed<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com/" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><br />
<br />
<b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Assessing Adolph Reed: A
Look at the Thinking of the American Left’s Foremost Anti-Identitarian</span></b><br />
<b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">by Jim Creegan</span></b><br />
<b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AZ6oDBXhDKQ/X1gtqaIMCyI/AAAAAAAAC8o/v_HMy-JAhQYPjg8YU2JbbbBtn2TYrbbXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/adolph_reed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AZ6oDBXhDKQ/X1gtqaIMCyI/AAAAAAAAC8o/v_HMy-JAhQYPjg8YU2JbbbBtn2TYrbbXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/adolph_reed.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Adolph Reed Jr.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Ground-breaking”,
and “momentous” were adjectives gushing forth from the liberal media to
describe Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running
mate. But neither Harris’s record as a tough law-and-order district attorney in
California, where parents<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in poor black neighborhoods
were prosecuted for their children’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>truancy from school, nor her determined resistance
to the reversal of wrongful convictions, broke any new ground; neither her
failure to investigate questionable police shootings, nor her refusal to
prosecute the shady estate speculator, Trump’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>treasury secretary to be Steve Mnuchin, for
fraudulent foreclosures, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were of any
great moment. In these respects, Harris is cut from the same cloth as Biden
himself, who as a Senator pioneered the present carceral state by promoting draconian
criminal penalties, and did the bidding of the credit-card industry that
dominates his home state of Delaware. The momentousness of Harris’s nomination
in the eyes of her liberal boosters rather consists in the fact that—as the daughter
of a Jamaican father and Indian mother-- she is the first woman of color to
occupy second place on a major presidential ticket. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This appraisal of
Harris’s significance exemplifies much of what is wrong with identity politics
in the eyes of the man who has emerged in recent decades as its <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leading left-wing critic, Adolph Reed Jr., a
black professor emeritus of political science at the University of
Pennsylvania. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He argues that emphasis on
‘diversity’ in the upper reaches of power conceals an acceptance of prevailing
class hierarchies. To speak as liberals often do of racial and gender
disparities alone, he argues, implies that their goals would be achieved if the
composition of all hierarchical strata—from the prison to the boardroom—contained
the same racial, gender and sexual-orientation ratios as those of society at large.
Thus characterized, identitarian discourse, by occluding capitalist society’s
most fundamental cleavage of class, itself contains an implicit class politics:
those of self-appointed minority-group influence brokers who accept the class
order, either because they occupy a comfortable place within it, or aspire to
do so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It is arguments like
these that have earned Reed—along with academic co-thinkers Touré Reed (his
son), Robert Ben Michaels and Cedric Johnson—the epithet of “class reductionist”
in some left-wing quarters. His opposition to reparations to black people for
the crimes of slavery and Jim Crow reinforces the accusation in his detractors’
eyes. His politics have become so controversial that a scheduled talk to a New
York chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) on the inadequacy of racial
disparity measures regarding Covid-19 was called off in May because Reed refused
to share a virtual platform with his ‘intersectionalist’ critics. This writer thinks
their strictures are unwarranted. But Reed’s thinking can perhaps be better
understood by examining its origins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: large;">Against the Drift</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reed’s two most
prominent books—<i>Stirrings in the Jug</i> and <i>Class Notes</i>—are
compilations of essays and articles written mainly in the late 80s and 90s—the most
dismal period for radical politics in recent memory. Under the Reagan-Thatcher
onslaught, and the discrediting of Marxism with the collapse of the Soviet
bloc, there occurred a wholesale falling away from the revolutionary and even
liberal reformist politics of the previous decades, and from politics in
general. At the same time, many rebels of the 60s were scrambling to make the accommodations—practical
and intellectual-- necessary to the respectable careers they were carving out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As a young man, Reed
entered politics through the black liberation movement, and went on to become
an organizer in the Socialist Workers Party (US) and the anti-war movement of
American troops. Although personally successful as a professor at three<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prestigious universities since entering academia
in 1972, Reed has remained politically active, and is among the minority that did
not join the rightward drift. His two volumes are essentially a series of
polemics against the retreats and conceits of the long night of neoliberalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reed concentrates his
criticisms on the political regressions of the black struggle. Much of what he aims
at, however, are the reflections in black attitudes of larger trends. One
example is the substitution of cultural poses for political action:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">The thrust <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of much of… “cultural politics”… is to [redefine]
people’s routine compensatory existential practices—the everyday undertakings that
enact versions of autonomy and dignity <i>within </i>the context of oppression—as
politically meaningful “resistance,” thus obliterating all distinction between
active, public opposition and the sighs accompanying acquiescence. The effect
is to avoid grappling with the troubling reality of demobilization by simply
christening it, Humpty Dumpty-like, as mobilization.<a href="file:///C:/Users/philo/Documents/reedcrit%20for%20permanent.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This ‘cultural turn’ amongst
leftwing academics and others had many specifically black variants: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Participating in
youth fads<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from zoot suits in the 1940s
to hip-hop today), maintaining fraternal organizations, vesting hope in prayer
or root doctors, and even quilt making thus become indistinguishable from slave
revolts, activism in Reconstruction governments, the Montgomery bus boycott,
grassroots campaigns for voter registration, and welfare rights agitation as
politically meaningful forms of resistance.<a href="file:///C:/Users/philo/Documents/reedcrit%20for%20permanent.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reed considers the
more recent black cultural turn to be one symptom of the decoupling of the
cause of black emancipation from the working class. To examine how this came to
pass is one major purpose of his writings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: large;">Careerism and Resignation</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The aim of civil
rights movement of the 50s and early 60s was full equality under the law; black
people of all classes, being equally deprived of democratic rights, were more
or less united in the struggle. With the victories of the movement marked by
the passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act ( 1965),
however, the movement faced a choice of two possible paths. The first was marked
out by the Washington March for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Best remembered for
Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, the march was mainly organized by
black social democrats A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin; it was a racially
integrated event, which, as its title indicates, linked the cause of civil
rights to that of economic equality. The second path—the one that more militant
elements of the black struggle ultimately chose for reasons examined below—was
that of separation from the ‘white movement’ and adopting a nationalist
perspective. This is the turn that Reed and his co-thinkers lament.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1xoHW6PV3hs/X1gzlBkJ92I/AAAAAAAAC9A/EorZkAG98F8FTcLV6InDIk9TucbjbDNNgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Civil%2Brights%2Bleaders%2Bwith%2BPresident%2BKennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="425" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1xoHW6PV3hs/X1gzlBkJ92I/AAAAAAAAC9A/EorZkAG98F8FTcLV6InDIk9TucbjbDNNgCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/Civil%2Brights%2Bleaders%2Bwith%2BPresident%2BKennedy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 12px;">Civil rights leaders meet with President John F. Kennedy in the oval office of the White House after the March on Washington in 1963. Photograph shows (left to right): Willard Wirtz (Secretary of Labor); Floyd McKissick (CORE); Mathew Ahmann (National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice); Whitney Young (National Urban Leage); Martin Luther King Jr.(SCLC); John Lewis (SNCC); Rabbi Joachim Prinz (American Jewish Congress); A. Philip Randolph, with Reverend Eugene Carson Blake partially visible behind him; President John F. Kennedy; Walter Reuther (labor leader), with Vice President Lyndon Johnson partially visible behind him; and Roy Wilkins (NAACP).</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">The ‘black power’
slogan under which leaders like Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown assumed
leadership of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was amorphous.
In the hyper-charged atmosphere of the 60s, it was widely assumed to indicate a
revolutionary content of some kind.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">But,
as that decade morphed into the somnolent 70s, the militant’s pose became more
and more a camouflage for the social climber’s appetite. Appointing themselves
spokespersons for an internally undifferentiated entity called the ‘black
community’, newly arisen layers of professionals, elected officials and civil
servants were inclined to measure the progress of their people by their own
career success, and that of strivers like themselves. They, in turn, could only
advance by making their agendas broadly compatible with ruling-class interests.
In the meantime the large segments of the black population still mired in a
ghetto existence—now expected to participate through a kind of vicarious racial
pride in the good fortunes of those who had escaped-- were otherwise left to
their own devices.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qx4Fk2WOhaw/X1g0xsBDEJI/AAAAAAAAC9M/hPk24rzUDhsGiVR7PPJYlTqZRsxVK6OyACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/stokely%2Bcarmichael.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="700" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qx4Fk2WOhaw/X1g0xsBDEJI/AAAAAAAAC9M/hPk24rzUDhsGiVR7PPJYlTqZRsxVK6OyACNcBGAsYHQ/s400/stokely%2Bcarmichael.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Stokely Carmichael</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">Accompanying this turn</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">was the rise of a school of thought that
attributed the plight of the ghetto to something called the ‘culture of
poverty’: the absence of black fathers, families headed by single mothers with too
many children, street crime, drug addiction and dependency on government
welfare. These phenomena were viewed not mainly as responses to economic
deprivation, but as ingrained habits that prevented poor blacks from making the
efforts needed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and which resisted
amelioration </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0in;">through redistributive government
programs or job creation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">These notions
originated in a 1965 report, <i>The Negro family: a call for action</i> by
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the future New York senator who was then assistant
secretary of labor in the administration of Lyndon Johnson. It was actually a
call for inaction: Moynihan famously advocated a policy of “benign neglect” in
relation to black poverty. But elements of the ‘underclass pathology’ trope
were, according to Reed, echoed in the writings of the prominent black sociologist
William Julius Wilson, and often found a
friendly reception among black influence brokers. Although the proponents of
this ideology did not harbor notions of black racial inferiority, Reed argues that
their thinking often produced the same end result: the idea of static patterns
of behavior, impervious to political or social action. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reed also claims that
the few remaining currents of black radicalism—Afro-centrism and self-styled
Marxism-Leninism—responded to the decline of 60s-type militancy by retreating into
an ideological purism that serves more as a refuge from the problems of daily
black existence than an action program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: large;">Demonology vs Political Economy </span><o:p></o:p></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It is hardly
astonishing that those who speak of unchanging black behaviors should ascribe a
similar stasis to whites. The Reeds—Adolph and Touré (who, with his father, has
now become a leading proponent of their jointly held views) —do not deny that
centuries of racial oppression have had lasting effects, or that parts of the European-descended
population remain committed to white supremacy in varying degrees. Adolph Reed
grew up in New Orleans when segregation was in force. The Reeds are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unfairly accused of class reductionism. What
they emphatically reject is the assumptions of many black intellectuals—Ta-Nehisi
Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Michelle Alexander come to mind—that white
racism is a supra-historical phenomenon. These thinkers argue that slavery, Jim
Crow segregation, mass black incarceration and police brutality are all
different instantiations of a single essence called white racism—the innate
hatred of whites toward blacks--that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>remains constant throughout American history
despite its many guises. The Reeds insist that the black question cannot be
understood apart from history and political economy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FgJFSkNlwsQ/X1g2ZzEKdxI/AAAAAAAAC9Y/ktLd-LxSurIEK7pBv8BVu6MeK8y1HcjaACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/coates-and-west.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FgJFSkNlwsQ/X1g2ZzEKdxI/AAAAAAAAC9Y/ktLd-LxSurIEK7pBv8BVu6MeK8y1HcjaACNcBGAsYHQ/s400/coates-and-west.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Ta-Nehisi Coates and Cornel West. West called Coates "...</span>the neoliberal face of the black freedom struggle".</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Take, for instance,
the present concentration of approximately one fifth of the black population in
deprived urban areas. In his “Case for reparations”, Ta-Nehisi Coates tends to
explain ghettoization by the refusal of the government and banks to extend
housing loans to black families, and the existence of restrictive covenants,
forbidding the sale of suburban homes to blacks. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The Reeds would probably counter that, harmful though these things were, black
residential patterns cannot be explained by racial animus and deliberate
discrimination alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">One factor in
ghettoization was the mass emigration of blacks from the South. In the late 19th
and early 20<sup>th</sup> centuries, European immigrants filled American
industry’s growing need for workers. Yet as that need diminished in the 1920s, concerns
for maintaining the ‘ethnic integrity’ of the US began to take priority, and a
strict quota system was enacted into law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yet there was one
immigration stream that legislation could not shut off: that of Southern blacks
who acted against poverty and lynch law in the only way left open to them—by
moving to Northern and Midwestern cities. Between 1916 and 1970, nearly 7 million
relocated, in the biggest migration in the country’s history, larger than the influx
from any European country. Many hoped to—and did—fill the industrial jobs
vacated by white workers during the two World Wars. But, having been deprived
in the South of education and opportunities to acquire skills, black workers
could only fill the lowest-paid, least skilled jobs, and there were many more migrants
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>than openings at the factory bench. There
thus came into existence a permanent black underclass, rendered even more
precarious by automation and outsourcing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hence the US found
itself with a population that the 20<sup>th</sup> century capitalist economy
could not fully absorb. And it is by no means mysterious that the poverty of
this population leads to street crime, substance abuse, family instability and
a number of other symptoms inimical to middle-class notions of respectability
and striving—all of which tend to reinforce existing racial prejudice. Racialized
poverty, moreover, presents endless opportunities for right-wing demagogues—one
of whom now occupies the White House—to portray this marginalized demographic
as composed of shiftless parasites, eating up the hard-earned tax dollars of solid
citizens in the form of social-welfare subventions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">With the progressive abandonment of 1960s government
anti-poverty programs, culminating in a full- fledged neoliberal attack on an
already inadequate welfare state, harsher police tactics and mass imprisonment were
expanded to keep this ‘surplus population’ in line. Neoliberal capitalism, not
eternal racial animus in contemporary form—not the “new Jim Crow” of Michelle
Alexander—is responsible for increased reliance on repressive methods. It is
these methods that inflame relations between the police and communities of color,
and make police forces attractive to many whites predisposed to racism in the
first place. One result are the episodes of police brutality—now electronically
recorded and disseminated-- that have given rise to the biggest wave of
demonstrations in American history. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">[4]</span></span><a href="file:///C:/Users/philo/Documents/reedcrit%20for%20permanent.docx#_edn4" title=""><!--[endif]--></a></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Reeds help us
understand the fruitlessness of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any
counterposition of the abstract and vacuous categories of ‘race’ and ‘class’; that
contemporary racial politics are the result of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>complex interactions between economic forces and a history of black
oppression, itself rooted in economic exploitation. And just as they refuse to
see this history and politics as a morality play in which the only actors are white
racists and black victims, they also <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reject
the moralistic demand for reparations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This writer has no
doubt that, under a regime of socialist planning, a major effort will be
required to redress the historic deficit in income and opportunities that the
African American population has incurred over the centuries. At the current
moment, however, the reparations demand is being presented as the payment of a moral—and
financial-- debt owed by the white population as a whole to the descendants of
slaves. It is of a piece with attempts to point an accusing finger at ordinary Caucasians
for enjoying ‘white skin privilege’ because they do not share the adversities
of the most oppressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">White shaming may
tweak the guilt feelings of liberals (for whom it is largely intended), but
will fall on deaf ears among white workers, who consider their existence to be
far from one of privilege. Many will answer—not without some justification—that
they have never done anything to harm blacks, and are not collectively
responsible for the sins of their forbears, who, in many cases, took no part in
the oppression of black people either. Put in terms of practical politics, any
project aimed levelling down—the idea that one section of the population must
give up part of what they have to put themselves on a more equal footing with
those who have less—is a politics with no future, especially at a time when the
entire working class is facing hardships on a scale unknown in since the great
depression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What the Reeds
propose as an alternative is a politics of levelling up, consisting of demands
for the improvement of the entire working class, such as those advanced by
Bernie Sanders in his two presidential campaigns: Medicare for all; a hike in
the minimum wage; free public university tuition. As Touré Reed writes in his book,
<i>Toward freedom:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">The bottom line is
that is that because blacks have borne a disproportionate share of the damage
inflicted on working people by deindustrialization and the subsequent
neoliberal economic consensus, African Americans would benefit
disproportionately from Sanders’s 2016 and 2020 platforms despite the absence
of the reparations “brand”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">[5]</span></span><a href="file:///C:/Users/philo/Documents/reedcrit%20for%20permanent.docx#_edn5" title=""><!--[endif]--></a></span></span>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Most capitalist
countries contain a lumpenised underclass. That the bottom social rungs of
American society are disproportionately black is a result of the country’s
sordid racial history. To deny that black people of all classes face
special<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>impediments by virtue of simply
being black would indeed be color blind. Democratic demands, including those
for affirmative action—special efforts to promote people of color to higher
education and better jobs—are intended to overcome specifically racial
barriers, and are not opposed by Adolph or Touré Reed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arguably, Adolph Reed bends the stick too far
in his recent disparaging of attempts to measure racial disparities in the
effects of Covid-19 and other blights; it is undeniable that blacks and
minorities always get the worst of the sufferings of the working class. But greater
black distress does not automatically point to the necessity of black-specific
remedies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The principal injustices
now commonly treated under the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>head of
racism—police brutality and mass incarceration—are not afflictions of the black
middle class, but of the black poor, both working and chronically unemployed. That
their condition can best be addressed by demands aimed at lifting the working poor
and unemployed as a whole, without putting the accent on race, with all its divisive
pitfalls, is not color blindness, but a corollary to the Marxist aim of uniting
the working class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: large;">Caveats</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In addition to
evaluating the kinds of demands the Reeds argue for, one may enquire as to the
process by which they envisage the demands as unfolding. The question posed
over a century ago by Rosa Luxemburg, reform or revolution, is considered
largely irrelevant in a contemporary American left dominated by a militant
social-democratic reformism. For <i>Jacobin </i>and most of DSA, the
possibility of revolution is seen as either non-existent, or a distant bridge,
to be crossed (or not) when the working class comes to it. This was not the political
sensibility that held sway in the long-lost 1960s, when to avow being a
reformist was to place oneself on the rightward side of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the left political spectrum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">One decidedly
reformist figure that the Reeds, father and son, refer to approvingly is the
civil rights leader Bayard Rustin. They commend him for perceiving the
necessary linkages between black emancipation and economic equality. Rustin emphasized
the need for expansive federal efforts to overcome black poverty. In conjunction
with the trade unionist and civil-rights leader A. Philip Randolph, Rustin
promulgated the 1965 Freedom Budget, a series of proposals for legislative
action, including a big federal wage hike and job and income guarantees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5MEqtKer7Z8/X1gxaAVvQYI/AAAAAAAAC80/2obWuiRN_S0ibXqBE8ooaC0IDjahJNB3QCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/rustinmalcolmx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="400" height="315" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5MEqtKer7Z8/X1gxaAVvQYI/AAAAAAAAC80/2obWuiRN_S0ibXqBE8ooaC0IDjahJNB3QCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/rustinmalcolmx.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Bayard Rustin (left) in debate with Malcolm X (center)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What the Reeds
neglect to mention is the political allies Rustin looked to for the budget’s
passage. He viewed the Democratic Party of Lyndon Johnson and the AFL-CIO trade
union federation, headed by the notoriously anti-Communist George Meany, as his
principal change agents. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making sure not
to offend these perceived allies, Rustin not only refused to join King in
denouncing the Vietnam War—which Johnson waged with Meany’s support--but
actively red-baited anti-war protestors, and ultimately refused to participate
in the Poor People’s March, led by King’s lieutenants after his assassination,
whose demands <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were adopted from the
Freedom Budget. Rustin was afraid of alienating the Democrats. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Rustin had earlier
fallen in with Max Shachtman, the former disciple of Trotsky who was then in swift
rightward motion. By the 60s, Shachtman fully supported US imperialism in its
global struggle with what he saw as the Soviet totalitarian menace. The
alliance with Shachtman launched Rustin on a political trajectory from which he
emerged a neoconservative. By the end of his career, he had become a fervent
supporter of Israel, an advocate of American aid to South African forces battling
anti-Portuguese guerillas in Angola and Mozambique, and a proponent of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>escalation of the nuclear arms race. More was
involved than an evolution of Rustin’s views. He headed the A. Philip Randolph
Institute, the civil-rights arm of the AFL-CIO. Rustin was only too aware that taking
any political position offensive to George Meany would result in the
discontinuance of his pay cheques. It is understandable that the Reeds find the
Freedom Budget commendable in and of itself. But it was half of a social democratic
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>devil’s bargain: support by certain
bourgeois parties for reform at home (which the Democrats eventually abandoned)
in exchange for complicity in the global defense of private property <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that was the Cold War. The <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reeds’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>favorable
mentions of Rustin would be less irksome if they would include some
acknowledgement of his larger reactionary arc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In opposition to Rustin’s
brand of reformism stood sections of the black movement that considered
themselves in some sense revolutionary—the black nationalists the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reeds decry. A revolutionary working class
politics is what Marxists strive for, then and now. But history does not always
serve up <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>political elements packaged
together in an ideal way. During those years, key unionized segments of the US
working class—still overwhelmingly white—were enjoying the unequalled prosperity
of the post-war boom, and were indifferent or hostile to radical politics. The
locus of revolutionary/emancipatory energy largely shifted to the anti-imperialist
revolts then convulsing what was called the third world. More than domestic labor
struggles, the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chinese, Cuban and
Vietnamese revolutions were the stuff of far-left consciousness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the context of the
time, it is understandable why the more militant elements of the black struggle—Malcolm
X, SNCC and, later, the Black Panthers-- were inclined to take as their model
third-world liberation movements and regimes, which at best professed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>nationalist-tinged versions of Marxism, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as opposed to what was seen as a sclerotic labor
movement. Most nationalist groups also rejected the liberal-pacifist commitment
to non-violence under all circumstances, and asserted the right to black self-defense,
placing themselves further beyond the pale of mainstream respectability than
King. And, most importantly, they denounced the Vietnam War, in marked contrast
to the right wing of the union bureaucracy to which Rustin was captive. If the
alternative to black nationalism was the kind of labor-oriented strategy Rustin
represented, one could be forgiven for looking elsewhere for inspiration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">An activist during the
60s, Adolph Reed is no doubt aware of this history. But one wonders if his
sneaking admiration for Rustin is not unrelated to a subsequent political involvement.
In the 1990s, Reed was an important player in the attempt to found a
union-based US labor party. The project represented the collaboration of union
officials disgruntled that the neoliberal administration of Bill Clinton no
longer offered them a ‘seat at the table’, and left-wing activists inside and
outside the unions who hoped to nudge these officials into breaking with the
Democrats. The Labor Party was stillborn at its <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>founding in 1996 because union leaders, in the
face of deindustrialization and shrinking union density, lost any taste they
may have had for political independence. The efforts of left-wingers involved
in this project were completely honorable. One wonders, however, if they did
not overestimate the potential of even the most left-inclined of labor
bureaucrats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: large;">Identity Politics as Diversion</span><o:p></o:p></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reed, however, is not
being opposed by identitarians because of any soft spots for bureaucrats or
right-wing social democrats, but for his insistence on a class-centered
politics. Here it is important to appreciate the ruling-class ideological
disarray accompanying the economic and social crisis triggered by the pandemic.
One bourgeois aim on the ideological front is to preclude the development of a class
politics by means of mass diversion. Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign
represented the last gasp of neoliberal attempts to sell the masses on the
‘magic of the market’, now an impossible feat in the midst of a collapsing economy.
The Republicans have thus resorted to the only strategy left to them—the mobilization
of white resentment against immigrants and blacks. They will continue along
this course for the foreseeable future, with or without a less erratic and more
capable leader than Donald Trump. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">On the other hand,
the Democratic Party, which counts among its voters more of the masses in need
of diversion, has recently been haunted by the spectre of a class-based
movement in the form of Bernie Sanders and successful insurgent campaigns for lesser
offices. The party leadership, along with more astute corporate representatives,
have latched onto identity politics as one response to this challenge. We
have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>been treated in recent months from everything
to the spectacle of the Democratic Congressional leadership taking a knee clad
in Kente cloth, to Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of the leading investment
house of Goldman Sachs, talking about the need to combat “structural racism.” Relegating
the party’s left to a couple brief token appearances at the Democratic National
Convention, and saying next to nothing about measures needed to combat the economic
devastation caused by Covid-19, the party went out of its way to foreground
women and minority politicians willing to toe the centrist line. In this
climate, the need is greater than ever for a class politics like that promoted
by Adolph Reed and his co-thinkers, this time free—it is to be hoped—from the
fatal compromises of social democracy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Stirrings in the jug, </i>Minneapolis
London 1999, p. 118, emphasis in original. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>Ibid.
</i>p. 151<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631">http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> M
Alexander, The new Jim Crow, New York 2010.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>Toward
freedom</i>, London, 2020, p. 120 <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jim Creegan can be
reached at </span><a href="mailto:egyptianarch@gmail.com"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">egyptianarch@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p>This article was originally published in the UK periodical, <i>Weekly Worker.</i> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1313/assessing-adolph-reed/&source=gmail&ust=1599703498308000&usg=AFQjCNGIZOkP5Y68fNL2vVlAz7O-C8wiig" href="https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1313/assessing-adolph-reed/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">https://weeklyworker.co.uk/<wbr></wbr>worker/1313/assessing-adolph-<wbr></wbr>reed/</a></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">by Jim Creegan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">New York,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">26 August, 2020<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<br /></div>
Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2062509833711600070.post-24973674201157244942020-06-28T00:54:00.003-04:002020-06-28T15:10:06.675-04:00Defunding the police as a stepping stone to getting rid of capitalism<script>var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})();</script><a class="printfriendly" href="https://www.printfriendly.com/" onclick="window.print();return false;" style="color: #6d9f00; text-decoration: none;" title="Send to Printer, PDF or Email"><img alt="Send to Printer, PDF or Email" src="//cdn.printfriendly.com/buttons/printfriendly-pdf-email-button.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; border: none; box-shadow: none;" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g41y23lobqs/Xvjq50bXkBI/AAAAAAAAC58/VQ-nAGaMBMsG1m_DHoi_g-G6rKY89tR5wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/defund-the-police-sign-in-NYC-678x339.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="678" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g41y23lobqs/Xvjq50bXkBI/AAAAAAAAC58/VQ-nAGaMBMsG1m_DHoi_g-G6rKY89tR5wCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/defund-the-police-sign-in-NYC-678x339.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">by Frank Brenner</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Defunding the police has
become the marquee demand that’s emerged from the George Floyd protests. It’s
understandable given the history of racist police violence in America, but more
than that, it indicates that for masses of people – in the black and brown
communities and among progressives of all races – the lynching of George Floyd
has crossed a line. The cell phone video of a cop’s knee on Floyd’s neck, choking
the life out of him, is now seared into our collective consciousness. In just
shy of 9 minutes that video has undone nearly a century of cop hero-worship
from Hollywood and broadcast tv. Which is in itself remarkable, attesting to
two things: first, that social media, seemingly almost suffocated to the death
by surveillance capitalism and the social pathologies of trolling, still has
enough residual power to break through all the bullshit with moments of searing
reality; and second, that the masses respond to those moments with outrage, as
if all the decades of pop culture programming are just so much loose dirt
easily brushed away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The demand to defund (or
abolish) the police is not just a slogan that protestors have latched on to as
a way of venting their outrage over Floyd’s murder. There is good research by
activists and academics underpinning this demand. Notable in this regard is the
book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The End of Policing</i> by Alex
Vitale, a criminologist from Brooklyn College. (The e-book version is available
for free from the publisher, Verso Books.) The book is a thorough
deconstruction of mainstream cultural myths about how the ‘thin blue line’ is
here to serve and protect us all. In a chapter on the history of policing,
Vitale writes: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .4in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“The
reality is that the police exist primarily as a system for managing and even
producing inequality by suppressing social movements and tightly managing the
behaviors of poor and non-white people: those on the losing end of economic and
political arrangements … [P]olicing emerged as new political and economic
formations developed, producing social upheavals that could no longer be
managed by existing private, communal, and informal processes. This can be seen
in the earliest origins of policing, which were tied to three basic social
arrangements of inequality in the eighteenth century: slavery, colonialism, and
the control of a new industrial working class.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Predictably the origins of the
police in England go back to the suppression of the Irish; in America, again
predictably, policing goes back to patrols for capturing runaway slaves in the
antebellum South. The suppression of labor unrest became a paramount concern for
the powers-that-be with the ramping up of the industrial revolution in the
later decades of the 19<sup>th</sup> century. America’s imperialist expansion starting
at the end of that century, particularly its military takeover of the
Philippines, provided important models for how to run domestic police
operations. (In this respect, the much-discussed militarization of the police
in recent decades is more an intensification of past practices rather than a
departure from them.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In a recent interview with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jacobin</i>, Vitale explained how this history bears on the current
crisis with policing: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“<span style="color: #191919;">Today, we’re not dealing with slavery and colonialism in
the same way. Instead, we have neoliberal capitalism and austerity. That system
is producing massive wealth inequalities and the hollowing-out of the welfare
state, which is in turn producing mass homelessness, mass untreated mental
illness, mass problematic relationships with drugs, black markets for drugs and
sex work and stolen goods, that people have turned to survive in this
precarious economy. Policing has come in to manage those suspect populations —
really, in their mind, surplus populations. They’re not trying to form them
into a working class, they’re warehousing them in our prisons and jails.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>We have to understand policing as
fundamentally a tool of social control to facilitate our exploitation. So the
idea that we’re going to make them nicer and friendlier while they do that
task, and that’s gonna make everything okay, is laughable.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #191919; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These truths are evident to many protestors
on the streets and to activists who have long been fighting against police
brutality and mass incarceration. A recent op-ed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times</i> by one such activist, Mariame Kaba, got a lot of
attention. The piece was titled: “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police”,
with a subhead: “Because reform won’t happen”. In support of the latter claim,
Kaba walks us through over a century of public commissions and inquiries which
again and again laid out the facts about police brutality and called for
reforms, only for nothing to change beyond some window-dressing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #191919; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kaba zeroes
in on the fundamental weakness of all these reform proposals: “</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The philosophy undergirding these reforms is that more rules
will mean less violence. But police officers break rules all the time.” And
then she lists some widely-reported examples of such rule-breaking during the recent
protests: “police officers slashing tires, shoving old men on camera, and
arresting and injuring journalists and protesters.” She also notes how Daniel
Pantaleo, the cop who choked Eric Garner to death in 2014, wasn’t worried about
being filmed; in fact he waved to the camera. “He knew,” writes Kaba, “that the
police union would back him up and he was right. He stayed on the job for five
more years.” Most telling of all in clinching the argument against police
reform is that no city was more committed to such an agenda than Minneapolis –
and yet it made no difference in terms of getting George Floyd’s killer, Derek
Chauvin, off the force despite a record of 17 misconduct complaints over two
decades. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All too often, impassioned arguments against injustice get
murky when it comes to spelling out alternatives, but that isn’t true in this
case. The protestors do have a clear objective, which is to make the police
“obsolete”, as Kaba states, and in order to make that happen what they want is
massive cuts to police budgets and to the number of cops, and redirecting those
billions in savings “</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">toward providing health care, housing, education and good jobs.
If we did this, there would be less need for the police in the first place.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Mental health
problems, which cops all too often make much worse with shocking and at times
lethal brutality, would instead be dealt with by community care workers with
special training. Restorative justice models could be used as an alternative to
the plague of mass incarceration. Vitale spells out a number of measures that
could be taken immediately, including eliminating COPS – the Orwellian named
Community Oriented Police Services – which has been the federal government’s main
conduit for militarizing and expanding city police forces. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The police
would no longer be able to function as an army of occupation in minority
communities, a brute force for keeping a knee on the collective necks of
“surplus populations”, as Vitale puts it. Kaba sums up her vision as being that
“</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">of a different society, built on cooperation instead of
individualism, on mutual aid instead of self-preservation … This change in
society wouldn’t happen immediately, but the protests show that many people are
ready to embrace a different vision of safety and justice.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It isn’t hard to see that Kaba’s vision of “a different
society” is really a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">socialist</i>
society: there simply isn’t any other kind that’s based on cooperation and
mutual aid. Maybe Kaba was leery of using the s-word in the e-pages of the
authoritative newspaper of the American establishment or maybe she hasn’t
thought this vision through beyond a rejection of society as it exists now,
which I imagine is true for many protestors. There is a glaring gap between the
radicalism of what protestors want and the absence of a vocabulary to
articulate it. That’s because the sort of vision Kaba is talking about is
traditionally associated not with any particular race but with the working
class – and yet that class has largely lost its voice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Trade unions have been marginalized for generations (apart
from police unions, that is!) and no mass socialist party exists. The Bernie
Sanders campaign could have provided the impetus for such a party, but Sanders
turned out be more radical in his rhetoric than his politics. At the very
moment when reality itself (the pandemic, mass unemployment, the George Floyd
protests) seemed to be crying out for the sweeping social reforms that Sanders
had been campaigning for – at that very moment Sanders bowed out and threw his
support to Joe Biden, a candidate who, in combining reactionary politics with
doddering mental faculties, vies with Trump for exemplifying how rotted-out
mainstream politics has become. In this way Sanders consigned himself to the
same historical junkyard where many other progressives in America have ended up
– the one with the words ‘Lesser Evil’ over the entrance.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-frN6fKEAHg8/Xvgia1563vI/AAAAAAAAC5o/XQFnX-zmoMg9P_mY4kL1rA-Aarsup9MLwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/7C82450D-5647-457E-8359-3E7AC1E9F239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-frN6fKEAHg8/Xvgia1563vI/AAAAAAAAC5o/XQFnX-zmoMg9P_mY4kL1rA-Aarsup9MLwCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/7C82450D-5647-457E-8359-3E7AC1E9F239.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Bernie Sanders-brand popcorn</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This leaves the current political situation in a dangerous
place. On the one hand, mass protests against police brutality; on the other
hand, the contagion of Trump’s populism that still largely fills the political
vacuum left by the corporate Democrats (and by Sanders now as well) in the
white working class. If we are ever going to have a chance of getting to a
society based on cooperation and mutual aid, that fissure has to be overcome. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One big obstacle to doing that is the prevailing mindset of
identity politics. A term like ‘white privilege’ – without any qualifiers – is egregiously
counter-productive. Racism is deeply entrenched in American history but
painting all whites with a racist brush does nothing to overcome it. White
workers are as much wage slaves as black or brown workers, assuming that they
can get a job at all. To the extent that all workers remain demobilized as a
class, to that extent many of them are also vulnerable to the scapegoating of
minorities and immigrants that capitalist ideology constantly resorts to in
order to keep its wage slaves divided and obscure the systemic nature of its economic
oppression. But the first step in mobilizing such workers is to recognize them
as potential allies rather than enemies. Terms like ‘white privilege’ only
perpetuate those divisions, and in that sense undercut the struggle for
structural change that will really make it possible for black lives to matter.
Like all identity-based politics, ‘white privilege’ isn’t a cry for liberty but
a bill of complaint, one whose ultimate purpose isn’t to change the system but
to ‘diversify’ it, as in having a black president in the White House.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">‘Defund the police’ is potentially a breakthrough to
structural change because it is a direct challenge to the legal monopoly of
violence exercised by the government machinery of corporate capitalism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “surplus populations” are saying they’ve
had enough with being warehoused by the system and constantly terrorized by its
armed thugs. The argument is beginning to shift from vague rhetoric about
structural racism to concrete manifestations – but the remarkable thing about
that shift is that it ceases to be just about race. If it were just that, then
the problem would have been solved decades ago, with more black and brown cops
and even (by now) more black and brown mayors and chiefs of police. But this is
the police reform agenda that has completely failed, as Vitale and Kaba make perfectly
clear. So the consciousness of the masses has begun to move on. The police are
un-reformable, so we have to get rid of them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What would it take to abolish the police? Kaba tells us: the
billions from police budgets should be redirected “</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">toward providing health
care, housing, education and good jobs.” Big investments should be made in
mental health and treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, which account for an
appallingly large percentage of the victims of police brutality and mass
incarceration. Even bigger investments would be needed to improve education, provide
free college tuition and create millions of decent-paying jobs. The redirecting
of police-budget money would be a start – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">but
only that</i>. What this would really take is a massive re-distribution of
wealth from the rich and super-rich to the increasingly impoverished great
majority. Or to the put this another way, defunding the police can only work if
it’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a down payment on getting rid of social
inequality</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Housing is
instructive in this regard. There is no more blatant manifestation of
structural racism than the big city ghettos where black and brown families seem
condemned to live eternally. And nothing has perpetuated this de-facto segregation
more that the redlining of minority neighborhoods by banks in their
mortgage-lending practices. According to recent reporting by NPR, in Chicago 68
percent of all the housing loans made by banks went to majority-white
neighborhoods compared to 8 percent for majority-black neighborhoods. JP Morgan
Chase, the biggest bank in the country, was also the worst in this regard,
lending out 41 times more in white than black neighborhoods. It’s a similar
story in other metropolitan centers like DC, New York, Los Angeles and the eye
of the current political crisis, Minneapolis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It could be
the banks are all full of racist loan officers, but this would miss the point.
This isn’t about the prejudices of individual bank officials (many of whom
happen to be minorities themselves) but about the way banks operate. Their
guiding principle isn’t race but the bottom line. Historically ghettos were
indeed the product of racist policies, especially by federal government housing
authorities, but banks don’t operate to right historic wrongs. They go where
the money is – where they can make the most profit at the least risk. In
minority communities the reverse is most often true: low profits, high risks. So
the only way to end the blight of urban ghettos would be a massive overhaul of
the banking system so that the need for decent and affordable housing takes
precedence over the bottom line. You can’t get rid of the structures that
perpetuate racism without getting rid of the structures of capitalism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But no matter
how true an argument is, it needs to find a point of connection with mass
consciousness to have a political impact. For many protestors who’ve just begun
to be politically engaged, ‘defund the police’ sounds like something do-able whereas
overthrowing capitalism sounds like a far more distant (and hazy) prospect. But
in a period of crisis like the one we’re living through mass political
consciousness doesn’t tend to develop incrementally but can suddenly leap
forward to positions hardly anyone would have expected. A mere month ago
‘defund the police’ would have seemed pie-in-the-sky, but seemingly overnight
it’s become a demand that millions are backing. What’s crucial now is to make
sure such demands don’t get gutted of their radical potential through the usual
co-opting by the political mainstream. You can already see this happening with
Black Lives Matter, as it gets suffocated to death by the embrace of corporate
and political elites. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We should do
everything possible to push ‘defund the police’ as far as it can go – and if
that pushes the limits of what the mainstream considers acceptable, then so
much the worse for the mainstream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Alex Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09128453587484101609noreply@blogger.com0