Hi Michael > On May 15, 2026, at 06:09, RKOB via groups.io <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I think it is absolutely wrong to defend the Stalinist system of one-party > dictatorship. Why do you think that all Cubans who oppose imperialist > subjugation must necessarily support the PCC? > Why do you suppose I was talking about Cubans? I live in the USA, which is the ultimate source of their subjugation. I was speaking as part of a chorus of US Americans who want US hands off Cuba. To be effective, we must not confuse our demands and slogans with calls for regime change from the imperialist press. Our demands and slogans in the metropolis are directed at the US government, not Cubans. That's how it should be.
... > But I am in favour of legal freedom for all forces who oppose U.S. > imperialism but don't necessarily support the regime. Unfortunately, > Castroism suppressed all other left-wing forces from the very beginning > (including the Cuban Trotskyists). > The USA Trotskyists in WW II felt much the same way towards the Soviet Union. Trotsky's favorite party in the USA was able to both critique the Soviet Union while defending it against imperialist attack: The Socialist Workers Party press both called for defending the USSR against the Nazi invasion and gave detailed Trotskyist critiques of the Stalin regime and the Soviet government. And it wasn't just talk: So many Socialist Workers Party merchant sailors died on Murmansk Runs and arctic convoys during WW II that the small party voted to forbid its members from going for fear of losing its entire merchant marine fraction. Similarly, 18 leaders of the SWP were imprisoned for agitating against US entry into World War II. And at the same time, many SWP members practiced its Proletarian Military Policy, which the SWP jointly developed with Leon Trotsky; these members entered the military to push demands for democratic rights for citizen-soldiers, popular control of military training, and popular control of the conduct of the war. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of defending the democratic rights of US soldiers, which is something that I learned in the US Army during the Vietnam War when I was drafted and served in accordance with the PMP. The PMP was meant to be a transitional position that avoided both capitulation to patriotism and sectarian isolation from the working class. The same is true of balancing the critique of a victimized nation with its defense from an imperialist power. Mark -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41745): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41745 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119270444/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
