>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >distributed on the Iskra-list, 9 Feb 00. > >Iskra Comrades, > The ’Äòdeclaration’Äô below is from the International >Workers’Äô >Party, one of the 31 organisations that founded the revolutionary Movement >for a Workers Party (MWP) in Moscow last August. They are also supporting the >anti-war demo in Moscow later this month, initiated by the Moscow MWP. > >Despite the style of the declaration, in my opinion, it represents a set of >politics and arguments amongst the best coming out of Russian Marxism today. >It needs to be considered seriously, and studied carefully, by all those who >are serious about supporting and preparing for a new October in Russia - and >spreading it. > >In solidarity - Steve Myers > >************************************** > >Declaration of the International Workers' Party (Russia) - 7 November 1999 > >STOP THE AGRESSION OF RUSSIA IN CAUCUS > >* 1. The bloody "antiterrorist operation" in the Caucasus represents an act >of aggression against the sovereign (by fact and by right) state of >Ichkeria (1) [Chechnya] on the part of the government led by the Yeltsin's >"heir" Putin >and the so-called "family" around Yeltsin. This war is related, above all, >to the oil interests in the Caspian basin and is aimed at preserving the >power of one of the capitalist clans and the bureaucracy with the support of >the arms dealers, the bureaucrats of the industrial-military complex and the >generals who are seeking to justify the growing power of the military caste. > >This war serves the interests of the oil capitalists of Turkey and the US, >who are demonstrating in this way the greater security of the Baku-Zheyjan >pipeline, and also the interests of the oil oligarchs (including some >Russians) who are interested in raising the price of oil in the world >market. The aggression of the Russian government used as its pretext the >provocative invasion by the armed units of Basaev and Al Attab in Dagestan, >as well as the explosions, occurring in suspicious and unclear >circumstances (2), in ordinary housing estates on Russian territory. > >* 2. The working class has no need of this war, and its youth above all has >no need of being sent into military service. By carrying out these imperial >and colonial policies, the ruling classes of Russia are beyond a doubt >weakening the physical potential of the Russian working class, wearing down >in the war not just the active and physically healthiest part of the >industrial workers and other ordinary workers, but also other older >generations of reservists, especially those who have already understood that >without the self-arming of the workers, their struggle against the >exploiters will demand greater sacrifices and more victims. And in the >meantime, the exploiting "gentlemen" send their own sons to study abroad and >not into this meat grinder. > >* 3. The events in the paper and cellulose factory in Vyborg (CBK) show >where the "bandits" are and who the "terrorists" are and who the powers that >be in Russia are fighting their war against. The workers of CBK showed all >the workers of Russia, not only how to fight against the terror unleashed by >those in power, but how to defend their factories against the bandits of the >state and the multi-nationals. Today, to impose "constitutional order" in an >isolated village, Sovietsky, in the Vyborg region in the province of >Leningrad, special "Tayfun" detachments of the Ministry of Justice are being >deployed, which were set up to put down mutinies in prisons. State power is >using all the information media as a megaphone to label the fighters taking >on Russian federal forces in Chechnya as terrorists because the lock people >up and take hostages. What words should we use in that case to describe the >"Tayfun" squads, the law officials leading them and the private custody >that, acting together held seven factory workers, including two women, as >hostages for twelve hours?! ’Ķ No kind of legal or political hairsplitting >can remove the responsibility for this. The brutal fact of beatings and >shootings (3) done to the workers at CBK can no longer be concealed! >This is not the first time that the CBK workers, led by their strike >committee, have put up a heroic resistance and expelled armed occupiers from >the factory. They are defending the factory against privatization and >plunder and intend to organize production at the company with their own >resources. > >*4. This demonstrates yet again that the genocide being perpetrated against >the peasants of Dagestan and the population of Chechnya is a dress rehearsal >for massive repression aimed at the workers throughout the whole of Russia. >The ruling bourgeoisie and bureaucracy throughout Russia are using their >aggression in the Caucasus to reinforce and brutalize their repressive state >apparatus, and to close their own ranks with the goal of crushing the >working class, which during the "war of the rails" terrified the national >and foreign exploiters by demonstrating that their potential for struggle >was by no means exhausted. > >* 5. For this reason the defence of the interests of the working class of >Russia - and of the whole world-demands that we should not let ourselves be > >sucked along by the sabre-rattling chauvinist hysteria, but instead demand >an end to the imperial aggression of the Russian government in the Caucasus, >denounce the discrimination of "people of Caucasian nationality" and take a >defeatist stand with respect to the war being conducted by the "federal" >repressive forces against Chechnya. > >* 6. The independence of Ichkeria will be the work of workers in the towns >and country themselves, freeing themselves from the dictates of their >bourgeois "comandantes", who conceal their class aims beneath radical >Islamic slogans. > >* 7. Workers of Russia! Only when we are UNITED with our class brothers in >Chechnya and the other republics, whatever their nationality or religion, >will we be able to settle accounts with our exploiters. A real solution will >only be found in the voluntary Union of our peoples and with the setting up >of the State Power of the armed workers. > >With this as its aim, the Executive Committee of the International Workers >Party has decided to adopt the following programme of action: > >¬… We repudiate the massacre carried out by the repressive "federal" forces >against thousands of rural families in Dagestan in villages that revolted >against the power of the bourgeoisie and bureaucracy of the republic of >Dagestan. We repudiate the ban on the Wahab religion in this territory. The >"federal" forces are not needed here! The Dagestan militias demand arms and >have the right to defend themselves against any invasion from whichever >quarter. Arms for the Dagestan volunteers! > >¬… We repudiate this new punitive expedition against Chechnya! The massive >bombings by the federal air force and the unceasing artillery barrage on >Chechen villages and cities on the pretext of "liquidating bandits" or >"defending the territorial integrity of Russia" represent a savage massacre >of the Chechen people in a copy of the repugnant model provided by NATO. > >¬… We denounce the complicity of the USA and the other G7 powers in the >aggression being carried out by the Russian government. Despite the >hypocritical declarations on their "concern for humanitarian issues", it is >evident that what is taking place is the partition of the Caucasus on the >basis of imperialist interests: that Russia will "re-establish >constitutional order" in Chechnya and NATO will take the rest under its >control, starting with Georgia and Azerbaijan (4). If the power of Russia is >unable to do the job, then NATO will send its "peace-keeping troops" to >Chechnya, too. > >¬… We demand the recognition of the independence of Ichkeria! No to the >transformation of Chechnya into the ghetto of the Caucasus condemned to a >new holocaust! > >¬… We condemn the sabre-rattling chauvinist hysteria and the anti-Caucasian >racism being encouraged by the Putin-Yeltsin government and the mass media >they control. This hysteria is being swallowed by the majority of the >parliamentary factions in the Duma led by the CPRF with the objective of >justifying the invasion of Chechnya and the continuation of a large-scale war. > >¬… We demand the withdrawal of federal troops from Chechnya! We demand an >immediate halt to the sending of young workers to the front as cannon fodder >in the service of the business interests of the oil capitalists, the >transnational corporations and the arms-makers! All our support to the >committees of mothers who are trying to save their sons being sent as >soldiers to a new massacre. > >¬… We demand that money from the budget be used to pay the wages and pensions >now owed, and to reconstruct public health and education and science, and >not for the enormous expense of the military caste and the >military-industrial >complex. > >¬… We repudiate the abuse of workers and "individuals of Caucasian >nationality" on the part of the forces of "order" in Moscow and other big >cities in Russia during searches for documents and the ransacking of homes. >The perpetrators, instigators and accomplices of the terrorist attacks will >more probably be found among the oligarchs associated with the Yeltsin >"family" than in the railway stations, the collective housing or the >barracks of immigrant workers. No to the anti-democratic "registry" (5) of >travellers which abolishes the constitutional right of free movement! > >¬… The security of the working people can only be guaranteed by the workers >themselves! We actively support the formation of committees of self-defence >and popular militias in apartment blocks and housing districts. > >¬… On the other hand we repudiate the objectively provocative actions of >"commandants" Basaev and Al Jattab. Their armed invasion of Dagestan against >the express wishes of the vast majority of Dagestani workers and their >association with many acts of kidnapping and other acts against the Russian >masses distances them from the international working class. What is more, by >doing this, they betray the struggle of the Chechen people themselves for >their independence, also isolating their Caucasian brothers and sisters and >giving the Putin government a facile excuse for proclaiming to the whole >world that "Russia is under attack by international terrorism". > >Moscow - November 7th 1999 > >**************************** >Notes: > 1 Ichkeria is the name of the state (known in the west as Chechnya) which >the Chechens themselves gave their republic after the victory of 1995. > 2 The bomb attacks in Moscow and other cities, which left more than 300 >people dead and hundreds wounded, were blamed on the Chechens. But they were >soon followed by a number of scandalous mutual accusations between different >power groups in Moscow and the Federation which incriminated the Russian >secret services. The commission of investigation has still not produced any >convincing results which would permit the conclusion that the attacks were >organized by the Chechen guerrillas. This version, however, is still >engraved in the minds of part of public opinion. > > 3 At the CBK factory, 18 workers were wounded by bullets and dozens of >others suffered bruising and wounds from clubbings and stun gases. The >workers dislodged the anti-mutineers, and have kept the factory under their >own control for two years now. They are fighting for the annulment of the >fraudulent privatization of the company to an "English" firm, registered in >Cyprus, and are demanding its renationalization. > > 4 NATO presented Georgia with a dozen Apache helicopters, sent instructors >and are including Georgia in joint military exercises. The recent visit by >Pope John Paul II to Tbilisi (the capital) shows that the political-military >plans for the zone are accelerating. > > 5 The "registry" is a measure originating in the "prapiska" (internal >passport in which changes of residence or lengthy trips had to be recorded) >of the Soviet period. Now on arrival in Moscow the traveller living in >another city must register with the authorities in less than 72 hours. If >papers are demanded in the street and there is no record of the change >within the interval mentioned, the traveller is put on the next train or >plane from the city (at his or her own expense) or detained. > > > --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
