Marxists differentiate. In a war situation, where a semi-colonial or
deformed workers state is under attack by imperialist enemies, we
subordinate the slogan for overthrow of the government to that of the
defence of the country. This is currently the case in Iran and would be
the case in Cuba if the U.S. attacks it.
Outside of a war situation, we do not subordinate the slogan to replace
the government. Of course, we oppose sanctions - against Cuba as well as
against Iran. But we do not subordinate the the struggle against the regime.
Otherwise, Marxists could never have called for the overthrow of the
Stalinist regimes in all the decades of the Cold War between Western
imperialism and the Stalinist states! That would have been the policy of
mega-Pabloism!
Am 18.05.2026 um 15:42 schrieb Mark Baugher:
On May 18, 2026, at 04:58, RKOB via groups.io
<[email protected]> wrote:
As an internationalist, I have an internationalist position. Such a
position is right or wrong irrespective of in which country one
lives. Of course, depending on which country one lives, one can put
more emphasis on this or that aspect of the internationalist position.
"Down with Castro-Chavista regimes" is a demand, Michael. Who is the
target of that demand? "Down with the Castro regime" is very different
when raised in the US or W Europe than among Cuban working people. The
US government is demanding the same thing at this moment. Cuba is
acquiring drones and preparing to resist another US invasion. This is
not the time to re-purpose Trump's demand to overthrow the regime.
This is what appears in your agitprop. And you want to replace the
regime with what? Do you want to replace the regime with something
that exists today or something you imagine should exist?
I also thought that the Marxmail list is an international one and not
an American list. The RCIT statement for the Paris Conference - which
was the starting point of the whole debate - was an international
statement for an international conference which took place last
weekend in Paris. So it was not specifically related to the U.S.
In my previous post, I gave an example of how a healthy
revolutionary-political organization balances critique of a regime
with its defense against imperialism.
In short, please do not view this or that position from an American
but from an internationalist point of view.
The fact is, Michael, we can only effectively make political demands
from our own ruling classes. But if you admire Trotsky, take a look at
The Militant archive from the years when Trotsky's influence was the
most direct and immediate,
https://themilitant.com/Militant_Back_Issues/1940_1949/1940_1949.html.
At the start of WW II, when the USSR was under attack from Nazi
Germany, the focus was not overthrowing Stalin; the focus was on
defending the gains of the revolution:
"The Finnish events prove again that Stalin is incapable of defending
the Soviet Union. If Stal-in is not overthrown by the Russian workers,
aided by the workers of the entire world, he will drag down with him
into oblivion what remains of the conquests of the October Revolution"
(https://themilitant.com/1940/0401/SA0401.pdf).
Mark
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