Dave B writes in reply to John W in Manchester:
>In response to John;
>1. Dual defensism? Defense against imperialism takes priority. But
>Kosovars should defend themselves also against any Serb oppression.
Right. Note that the Serb regime represents on the one hand an oppressed
nation being attacked by imperialism (like Iraq) and on the other an
oppressor nation with a clear record of fascist Master Race (in this case
Greater Serb) claims over and against other nations. The one doesn't cancel
out the other.
(Compare under 2, where we can understand what's happening better if we
remember the Chinese experience of resisting Japanese imperialism in a
united front with the fascist butcher Chiang Kai-Shek -- not a popular
front and not a situation where defence against imperialism required
ignoring Chiang's butchery within the borders of his nation. It's not too
great a strain to realize that the class independence required in China is
a clear analogy to the national independence required in regard to Kosova
and its need for self-determination. If Chiang (in the present case
Milosevic) fails to make the struggle against imperialism his highest
priority, the mobilized people should be able to dump him for treason.)
>We hope that multiethnic militias can stop Serb oppression and unite
>workers against imperialism. Is this consistent with reality? Well,
>what else is? The 'reality' of today has been imperialism's revival
>of old ethnic differences. Only the united working class can overcome
>these differences in a new 'reality' of socialist federations.
This is the weak, because relatively abstract, bit of Dave's argument. He
abstracts from the reality of a growing popular mobilization on the part of
the Kosovars that is led by a concrete organization, the KLA. He ignores
the dynamic development of this group -- forgetting the ubiquity of arms in
Albania after the uprising last year, and the pressures on a weak minority
leadership of a great influx of young and oppressed men. Maybe the
imperialist ties will win out in the absence of an explicit Trotskyist
leadership so far, but the sitting KLA leadership fucked up by signing the
Rambouillet cop-out which denied self-determination to Kosova and
practically ordered the KLA to disarm. This treacherous accord has now been
disowned by whoever's leading the KLA now, for the obvious reason that
things are developing by the logic of social forces in historical movement,
not just the plans laid out in the chancelleries of the imperialist powers.
And the social forces in movement in Kosova (and stirring a little in
Serbia) are those of first national liberation and second social justice
(in terms of consciousness that is, in terms of historical clout the
opposite holds -- no national justice without social justice ie workers'
democracy to guarantee it).
>2. Communist 'rhetoric'. John should know that communists must
>have a programme for all situations. In this situation it is the
>anti-imperialist united front. I might be located in NZ but the
>international tendency I belong to is spread over a number of
>countries. I agree that communists in oppressor countries have a
>first duty to mobilise their working class against NATO. But we also
>have to spell out the ABC's of communist leadership in oppressed
>countries as well. Otherwise workers will fall into the trap of
>popular fronts with their bourgeoisies.
Exactly. And underlying this is the theory of the Permanent Revolution, in
which the working class must realize what social power is latent in
democratic demands such as national liberation and make sure they support
these demands to the hilt while maintaining class independence and a
capacity to construct workers' solutions to the deeper social problems
caused by capitalist oppression so that the democratic problems not only
get addressed and vindicated, but also find a lasting because non-bourgeois
solution.
>3. Most of the left is correct in giving unconditional support to
>Yugoslavia. Those who put conditions on this either by opposing
>Milosovic or supporting the KLA are offering a helping hand to NATO.
The KLA is no limiting factor on the ability of Serbia to defend itself
from NATO's aggression. The Serbian forces in Kosova are not defending
Kosova or the Kosovars against anything, they're occupying it, violating it
and slaughtering the people. If the Milosevic regime was in the least
interested in focusing on the battle against NATO imperialism, it would
immediately change its policy in Kosova, tell both the Serbs and the
Kosovars what all this is really about, arm the Kosovars and offer its help
to keep the imperialists out of Kosova. It would also arm the Serbian
people and help them democratize the defensive battle against NATO. They
would be able to immediately repel a dozen times more effectively any
attacks against their factories, bridges, water supplies etc. NATO is
already making a shocking balls-up of the propoganda battle as it is. Just
imagine how it would crumble if the Serbian working people took over the
fight and started telling European and American workers the truth.
All this discussion slamming the Kosovars and their armed struggle for
self-determination is a bit sick. If the Yugoslavs had listened to it
during WW2 they would have cuddled up to Stalin because this kind of
one-dimensional either/or crap is his hallmark. They would have been
butchered and the Yugoslav revolution would never have succeeded. Neither,
along similar lines, would the Chinese revolution. They would have gone the
same way as the Spanish, Greek and (the less well-developed but nonetheless
similar) Italian revolutions.
Our war is on two fronts and always has been. On the one hand against the
imperialist bourgeoisie and its direct representatives, and on the other
against all kinds of treacherous non-revolutionary leaderships within the
democratic and workers' movements. The war is simultaneous. Bob must be
schizophrenic, cos he fulminates more than anyone against the risks of
popular fronts, but forgets it all and goes to pieces when the double
aggression we are facing becomes manifest.
But there's hope, of course. Most people can chew gum and walk at the same
time, even those who have unlearned it most diligently.
STOP THE BOMBING!
NATO OUT OF SERBIA!
NO IMPERIALIST PROTECTORATE!
NATO OUT OF THE BALKANS!
STOP THE GENOCIDE!
SERBIA OUT OF KOSOVA!
SELF-DETERMINATION FOR KOSOVA!
SUPPORT THE ARMED STRUGGLE OF THE KOSOVARS AGAINST SERBIAN OPPRESSION!
ARM THE WORKING PEOPLE OF SERBIA AND KOSOVA!
FOR A FEDERATION OF FREE, SOCIALIST STATES IN THE BALKANS!
(And turn Cook, Robertson, Jamie-boy and that petrified NATO general wotsit
into a cluster bomb and drop them on to Clinton from a great height! Blair
and Schroeder can be tied to a cruise missile and programmed to ram home
right up Milosevic's arse. Now that would be a *smart* bomb.)
Z'ivjeli, jebi ga!
Hugh
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