Class War Vol.1 No.2

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CLASS WAR   Internationalist News and Analysis V olume 1 Number 2 Octobe r/November 2012 $1.00 Solidar ity $3.00 Hands off the Roma and all immigrants! No deportations! Newly elected “Socialist” Party President Hollande is continuing Sarkozy’s racist pol- icy o police raids and deportations o the Roma. Wasting no ti me in expressin g his social chauvinism, he was inaugurated in May and the raids commenced in August. Socialist Party Interior Minister Manuel V alls had stated that court orders to remove illegal camps would be executed "with rm- ness." Earth-movers were used to level the camps and hundreds have been deport- ed to Eastern Eur ope. In late August, the French cops evicted some 600 Roma rom two cam ps near Paris. Tat same week they evicted a Roma camp at Saint Priest, near Lyon, and the Roma were evacuat- ed rom a camp at Evry, also near Paris,. Te mystique o French egalitarianism is revealed as mer e phan tasm. Te pet- ty bourgeoisie and labor aristocracy all  victim to the reactionary ear-based con- sciousness o social chauvinism leaning on racism and leading to scapegoating. Tis backward consciousness is utilized oppor- tunistically by the capitalists’ politicians while the ascists gain adhe rents among the rustrated petty bourgeois middle classes and lumpen layers o the dispossessed. Te Stalinist PCF , the French Communist Party is responding to Hollande’s outrages against (cont. pg 7) VICTORY TO THE W AL- MART ORGANIZING DRIVE! From extraction to production, to distri- bution and retail: organize every worker who touches, moves or sells the prod- ucts-every step o the supply chain! Te American Wal-Mart workers hit the bricks in late September and early October . Te series o worker led actions commenced with a 50 mile trek rom Wal-Mart’s ware- house distribution hub in Ontario, CA, to LA protesting abusive working condi- tions. Within a week W al-Mar t work- ers across the country put both Capital and Labor on notice by striking without a recognized union. From the Marika- na miners in South Arica to the Foxconn manuacturing workers in China to Wal- Mart workers we are done lying down and accepting the super exploitation o the im- perialist multinationals without a ght! Wal-Mart, a mega imperialist corpora- tion and largest private employer in the United States has long sought to drive down American workers conditions to that o their co-workers in the semi-colo- nial world. Te message today in semi-col- onies and in the imperialist center is the worker’s can’t take it any more; they can not wait or the ocial union movement so they are creating new organizations (cont. pg 3) (1) Lessons of the Chicago T eachers Strike  Despite the resolve of the working class displayed, massive demonstrations, strong  picket lines and unwavering paren t/student support, the reformers (CORE) in the lead- ership of the CTU showed its true colors Friday, 9/14, announcing that settlement had been reached and that after a vote of the teachers’ House of Delegates planned for Sunday, the teachers would have gone to the class room Monday the 17th without ever seeing or voting on the contract. Under  pressure from th e rank and l e in the Hous e of Delegates the planned capitulation was  postponed over the ob jection of fake s ocial- ist Jesse Starkey, who has acted to keep the membership in the dark. The reformists ar e maintaining the fantasy that you can win a major strike by keeping the membership and their mass of working class supporters out of the discussion on the proposed con- tract provisio ns. This strike was as muc h the parents and students strike as it was the teachers . To win, the leadership of the strike needed to include the great mass of the Chi- cago working class. The rst requirement for this mobilization is full disclosure. How else would the workers expect to de- feat Emanuel’s injunction tactic except by mass working class independent political action? This is something CORE and the ISO dread and worked overtime to prevent in a bourgeois presidential election year. The entire nation had their eyes on Chi- cago as the ght for education is and has  been in the forefront of the ght against the capital ist rulers imposition of austeri- ty. Unlike the populist Occupy movement which found its base in the youth, the pre- cariously employed, students and activists, while receiving only minimal, half-hearted and transitory support from the unions, the ght parents and teachers across the country (cont.pg.3) Contents  Lessons of Chicago T eachers Strike p 1  Defend the Roma! Defe nd Immigrants! p 1 Wal-Mart Organizin g Drive p 1  Editorial p 2  Beware f alling BRICS: China & SA p 2 Social Democracy/Fascism/W ar p 13 Shout out from Oakland p 13 Correspondence p 18  Reply to the R CIL from the LCC p 16 Open letter to the FSP Campaign p 14  Election Boycott and Ultra Leftism p 15  RWG No to i mperialist Constitut ion p 20 What we Fight For p 20

Transcript of Class War Vol.1 No.2

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CLASS WAR   Internationalist News and Analysis

Volume 1 Number 2 October/November 2012 $1.00 Solidarity $3.00

Hands off the Roma and all

immigrants! No deportations!

Newly elected “Socialist” Party PresidentHollande is continuing Sarkozy’s racist pol-icy o police raids and deportations o theRoma. Wasting no time in expressing hissocial chauvinism, he was inaugurated inMay and the raids commenced in August.

Socialist Party Interior Minister ManuelValls had stated that court orders to removeillegal camps would be executed "with rm-ness." Earth-movers were used to level thecamps and hundreds have been deport-ed to Eastern Europe. In late August, theFrench cops evicted some 600 Roma romtwo camps near Paris. Tat same week they evicted a Roma camp at Saint Priest,near Lyon, and the Roma were evacuat-ed rom a camp at Evry, also near Paris,.

Te mystique o French egalitarianismis revealed as mere phantasm. Te pet-

ty bourgeoisie and labor aristocracy all victim to the reactionary ear-based con-sciousness o social chauvinism leaning onracism and leading to scapegoating. Tisbackward consciousness is utilized oppor-tunistically by the capitalists’ politicianswhile the ascists gain adherents among therustrated petty bourgeois middle classesand lumpen layers o the dispossessed. TeStalinist PCF, the French Communist Party is responding to Hollande’s outrages against

(cont. pg 7)

VICTORY TO THE WAL-

MART ORGANIZING DRIVE!

From extraction to production, to distri-bution and retail: organize every workerwho touches, moves or sells the prod-ucts-every step o the supply chain! TeAmerican Wal-Mart workers hit the bricksin late September and early October. Te

series o worker led actions commencedwith a 50 mile trek rom Wal-Mart’s ware-house distribution hub in Ontario, CA,

to LA protesting abusive working condi-tions. Within a week Wal-Mart work-ers across the country put both Capitaland Labor on notice by striking withouta recognized union. From the Marika-na miners in South Arica to the Foxconnmanuacturing workers in China to Wal-Mart workers we are done lying down andaccepting the super exploitation o the im-perialist multinationals without a ght!

Wal-Mart, a mega imperialist corpora-

tion and largest private employer in theUnited States has long sought to drivedown American workers conditions tothat o their co-workers in the semi-colo-nial world. Te message today in semi-col-onies and in the imperialist center is theworker’s can’t take it any more; they cannot wait or the ocial union movementso they are creating new organizations

(cont. pg 3)

(1)

Lessons of the Chicago Teachers

Strike Despite the resolve of the working class

displayed, massive demonstrations, strong

 picket lines and unwavering parent/studen

support, the reformers (CORE) in the lead-

ership of the CTU showed its true colors

Friday, 9/14, announcing that settlemen

had been reached and that after a vote ofthe teachers’ House of Delegates planned

for Sunday, the teachers would have gone

to the class room Monday the 17th withou

ever seeing or voting on the contract. Under

 pressure from the rank and le in the House

of Delegates the planned capitulation was

 postponed over the objection of fake social

ist Jesse Starkey, who has acted to keep the

membership in the dark. The reformists are

maintaining the fantasy that you can win a

major strike by keeping the membership

and their mass of working class supporter

out of the discussion on the proposed con-

tract provisions. This strike was as much

the parents and students strike as it was the

teachers. To win, the leadership of the strike

needed to include the great mass of the Chi

cago working class. The rst requiremen

for this mobilization is full disclosure

How else would the workers expect to de-

feat Emanuel’s injunction tactic except by

mass working class independent politica

action? This is something CORE and the

ISO dread and worked overtime to preven

in a bourgeois presidential election yearThe entire nation had their eyes on Chi

cago as the ght for education is and has

 been in the forefront of the ght agains

the capitalist rulers imposition of austeri

ty. Unlike the populist Occupy movemen

which found its base in the youth, the pre-

cariously employed, students and activists

while receiving only minimal, half-hearted

and transitory support from the unions, the

ght parents and teachers across the country

(cont.pg.3

Contents

 Lessons of Chicago Teachers Strike p 1 Defend the Roma! Defend Immigrants! p 1

Wal-Mart Organizing Drive p 1

 Editorial p 2

 Beware falling BRICS: China & SA p 2

Social Democracy/Fascism/War p 13

Shout out from Oakland p 13

Correspondence p 18

 Reply to the RCIL from the LCC p 16 

Open letter to the FSP Campaign p 14

 Election Boycott and Ultra Leftism p 15

 RWG No to imperialist Constitution p 20

What we Fight For p 20

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 EDITORIALBelatedly, but like the tortoise that wins the race, the rise o theclass struggle against the austerity “solution” to the systemic crisiso the capitalist system has spread to every continent. As we writewe hear the report o the meeting o the International Monetary Fund that says despite many stimulus and banking reorm mea-sures the world nancial system has become more dangerously ragile in the last six months. Ominously, China is boycotting thismeeting because it is being held in okyo. But even without theirparticipation it is becoming plain to every worker, organized ornot, working or unemployed, that the bankers expect to take thecost o their crisis out o us, out o our lives and the lives o thosewe love. At last, ve years into a crisis that now sees business con-tracting everywhere, sometimes relatively but also contracting ab-solutely so that we say the world economy is shrinking--- at lastwe see workers reusing to take what “austerity” means anymore.

No ailure to increase productivity can possibly be blamed or thesmashup o the Capital circulatory system. Capitalism itsel wasthe cause o a natural periodic crisis o overproduction o Capi-tal in a world market saturated with paper values aer ailing ora decade to nd sucient protable investment in tangible, use-

ul production. Neither can the Low-Doc and No-Doc loans thatwent bad in the U.S., which only came to $2.3 trillion(!) be blamedor a world crisis originating in part in alsications o entire na-tional debts, as Goldman-Sachs did or the Greek government.Te ‘welare state’ costs o subsistence support to the unemployed,so out o ashion now among those ed by servants, actually playsan important part in the consumer side o the circulation o com-modities, particularly ood and use-values. False ideas about thishang on, but repeating them gets personal ast as almost every amily has an unemployed member now.

Increasingly, the bourgeoisie looks longingly at war as their way out. o prepare or this they ramp up national chauvinism andeven ascism, so that you will be tricked into eeding your kids intothe war meat grinder. In this issue we expose the sudden rise instate anti-Roma attacks in France and relate it to the role o immi-grant-bashing in war preparation and continuing bourgeois rule.

In some places the rise o class struggle means an “Arab Spring,”a resumption o the Arab national revolution, something thatthreatens every autocrat everywhere (even Putin!), although quitea number o sectarians worldwide deny its very existence. Wewould stand alone i necessary in solidarity with the revolutionary le o Syria, not least o all because the singular problem o our ep-och, the crisis o proletarian leadership, is theirs to solve right now.

Te whole alse content o bourgeois class consciousness, o ideaso the social role o Capital are being exposed or their barbari-ty, causing a crisis o government in every direction you’d care tolook. And right now the “labor lieutenants o capital,” the recog-nized, ocial misleaders o the labor movement on every conti-nent, are scrambling to nd ways to maintain the legitimacy o class rule in the minds o memberships that just at this momentstill support them, but already less and less. COSAU leaders areimplicated in the police murders o the Marikana miners. Tis re-markable development was brought to the workers o the world by 

(cont. pg. 6) (2)

Beware Falling BRICS: South Africa and ChinaStatement of the LCC

The Marikana Massacre has exposed the reactionary African

 National Congress (ANC) regime as a client state of imperial-

ism. The ANC is attempting to head off a growing mass uprising

of workers by building a new ‘strategic partnership’ with China

in the hope that this will produce ‘win-win’ deals to allow the

country to develop its economy and reap the wealth produced.

China, however, is no savior as it is no different than the former 

colonial exploiters. As an emerging imperialist per its interest is

in the super-exploitation of South African workers. The glob-

al crisis is creating a militant opposition to the rule of capital-

ist imperialism everywhere. In South Africa, as elsewhere, for 

workers to live they will have to unite to overthrow capitalism.

Forward to the South African Revolution!

Marikana – A South African Spring?

What is behind the Marikana Massacre? Is it a re-opening of the

democratic revolution that has the potential for permanent revo-

lution similar to that of the Arab Spring? Why does the nation-

al democratic revolution need re-opening? In 1952 the ANC and

South African Communist Party (SACP) joined forces to lead thenational democratic revolution to power. The ANC adopted its

 program on national development, the Freedom Charter, from the

Stalinist SACP which held that SA must go through a bourgeois

stage of capitalist development to create the pre-conditions for 

socialism.

We trace this Stalinist theory of stages to the Menshevik position

in Russia, which Stalin reverted to in 1923. The democratic revo-

lution would empower the working class to nationalize the means

of production to speed up the transition to socialism. This would

 be possible if the bourgeois state was under the control of the

ANC, representing the Black majority working class. The Free-

dom Charter written in 1955 made ‘nationalization’ of the minescentral to its program of national development. Thus ‘nationaliza-

tion’ meant ownership by the bourgeois state ‘governed’ by the

ANC, not the social ownership of the working class in a socialist

workers’ state. The working people would delegate this task to the

ANC and not have direct control over its implementation.

When the ANC came to power in 1994 the SACP program of 

‘nationalization’ was already realized in the Soviet Union by its

return to state capitalism. The Stalinist policy of Perestroika and

Glasnost had opened the road to the restoration of the capitalist

market. Yeltsin in 1992 defeated any resistance to capitalist res-

toration, forcing state property to be privatized or the remaining

State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to be subject to the law of value

in the global capitalist market. This translated globally as a retreat

from not only workers property, but from bourgeois ‘nationaliza-

tion’, to the ‘mixed economy’ dressed up sometimes as ‘market

socialism’. So by 1994 the Stalinist world was already rejecting

‘nationalization’ as the preferred road to socialism. Thus the

 bourgeois national revolution in SA was deformed at birth as part

of a historic defeat of the world working class that brought the

downfall of the degenerate workers states including the Soviet

Union, destroying workers property, the main gain of the October

1917 Revolution.(cont. pg. 10)

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(cont . from pg 1 column 1)

WAL-MART WORKERS ORGANIZE

willing to ght back against the austerity!Already Korean and American workers

 jointly exploited by Wal-Mart have pledgedto join orces in an important application o the principle “Workers o the World Unite!”

Tis organizing drive, coming in the wakeo the Chicago teachers strike, signals theopening o a counter oensive by the work-ing class against the bosses’ union-bustingand austerity. Te bosses’ cronies, the Dem-ocrats, Republicans, Social Democrats/La-bor Party’s and the ories alike, work over-time to destroy workers organizations andimpose austerity, but they did not count onthe Wal-Mart workers ghting back! Wal-Mart abuses its workorce enorcing shorthours to avoid insurance requirements,driving many into poverty and onto pub-

lic assistance, despite "providing a job." TeWarehouseman were protesting against ex-cessive heat, lack o water, and basic work-er saety we should all take or granted.

Long overdue is a drive to organize the un-organized. Te entrenched union ocialso the AFL-CIO and SEIU have traded theirresponsibility to organize the working classor a seat under the table o the CapitalistDemocratic Party banquet. Tey have theresources to make this organizing drive agreat victory or labor but today they put all

their eorts to licking the boots that kick us.

Tis organizing drive can be turned into anoensive by the entire working class to de-eat the bosses and their austerity i we useit to Agitate, Educate and Organize to break rom the labor leaders who tie our organi-zations to the capitalist Democratic Party and to build our own ghting labor/work-ers party to ght or a workers government.

(cont. from pg 1 column 3)

CHICAGO TEACHERSSTRIKE

are waging r eceives only local media cov-

erage. Tens of thousands of angry parents,

teachers and students have been attending

thousands of school board meetings held

in districts across the country to confront

the school boards and the overpaid admin-

istrative lackeys of the ruling class. Their 

 job has been to impose standardized test-

ing as the teaching model, eliminating

critical thinking (Bush’s “No child’s brain

left alive,”) standardize testing as quality

control of teachers (Obama’s “Race for 

the slop,”) increased class sizes, closing of 

“under-performing” schools, privatization

in the form of for-prot charters, the re-

 placement of the professional credentialed

and unionized teachers with scab “Teach

for America” workers whose youthful ex-

uberance and excitement at getting a job

quickly fades as the false promise that theycould make a difference is exposed by the

reality they face in the under-funded and

failing school systems across the nation.

But the nation’s parents, separated by ten

thousand

districts and

hundreds of 

thousands of 

schools, are

n o t a n

organized force

with social

weight that can be easi ly

mobilized for 

impact. The

minimal options

al lot ted to

 parents: pass a

school bond

or not, raise

money for the

PTA classroom

enhancement

drives, donate

time to the youth program of your choice,abandon public schools for the charter 

schools,--none of these cut to the root of 

the problem. Indeed, atomized as they are,

the parents’ social weight and viewpoint is

often misrepresented by the media pundits

who pit the parents/students against the

“greedy teachers.”

But this time in Chicago the parents were

not buying it! Despite the hardship, tens of 

thousands of working class parents support-

ed the strike with great hope that the orga-

nized strength of the teachers union would

give their concerns for their children’s ed-

ucation a voice. The parents know well

that the school board and administrators

are overpaid lackeys (earning six gures)

doing the bidding of the ruling class whose

stated intention is to destroy public educa-

tion and turn our children and their schools

into commodities and prot centers for in-

vestors in the Bill Gates/Arne Duncan vi-

sion of schools without unionized teachers.

(3)

The capitalists, while ignorant, elitist and

as condescending as Romney’s 47% blun

der indicates, are driven to impose austeri-

ties and privatize education by the decay of

capitalism and slow demise of the Ameri

can Empire. To offset the declining rate o

 prot they must undercut the social wage

through the destruction of social programs

which do not directly prot the capitalists

Public education, dened pensions, publichealth, worker safety and environmenta

standards are in the cross-hairs and any

unions or organizations which stand in the

way of their “rationalization” of the econ-

(Mass Rally of Teachers and supporters)

omy will nd themselves attacked by the

media, harassed by the State and the politi-

cal and economic power of the billionaires

In the epoch of the decay of capitalism, the

over-production of ctitious capital com

 peting for ever-diminishing returns pro

vides no incentive to employ the growing

“surplus population.” American worker

are coming to understand that the same

“free market” pressure that drives Lonmin

Debeers and Anglo-American to super-ex ploit and murder the miners in South Af

rica are the same concrete material forces

which drive Apple and Dell to super-ex

 ploit young workers living in slave-like

conditions at the Foxconn factory in Chi

na, and that the crisis of capital has created

the necessity for the ruling class to impose

austerity and commodify everything--al

in order to offset the declining rate of

 prot. Under these conditions, where the

(cont.pg.4

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(Chicago Teachers Strike cont. from pg.3)

the social relations o the mode o pro-duction act to limit the productive capacity o the working class, those social relationsare no longer sustainable except by meanso repression, hence the “education re-orm” and the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

The strength of the CTU strike was that

the ght was not for wages alone but

aimed its re at the ongoing privatiza-

tion process. Fighting school closures,

inadequate class room temperature con-

trols, increased class sizes, lengthened

school days, test-based “quality con-

trol,” the encroachment of charters, and

the continued denial and de-funding of 

arts, music, physical education etc., this

ght is exactly what the working class

parents were happy to support. Parentsneeded the teachers union to step orwardin deense o our children and when they 

did the parents responded in solidarity, joining the picket lines, bringing lunchesto the picketers, organizing youth supportand putting enormous pressure on the rul-ing class, whose intention it was to drive awedge between the teachers and the parents.

CTU Leadership Snatches Defeat From

the Jaws of Victory

What the broader American working classsupport base or the Chicago teachersdoes not know is the lengths the reorm-ist Caucus o Rank and File Educators

(CORE) leadership went to try to rustratethe CU membership’s desire to ght thecapitalists’ “reorm plans.” Te CORE wasa union reorm caucus organized againstthe sellout and corrupt regime o UnitedProgressive Caucus (UPC) led by MarilynStewart. CORE won the 2010 CU elec-tions based on a vague program o taking amore militant and grassroots stance againstthe attacks on education. Te membershipo CORE includes sympathizers o the re-ormist International Socialist Organiza-tion (ISO) and the ostensible revolutionary 

socialist Solidarity group. Right aer theCU 2010 election, Chicago Public Schools(CPS) laid o 2000 teachers based on prin-cipal perormance evaluations and not se-niority. Instead o trying to mobilize theranks at that time or a real ght, the COREleadership under Karen Lewis led an in-

 junction in Federal court on proceduralgrounds, not even opposing layos on prin-ciple. A judge ruled in avor o the injunc-tion and imposed recall in hiring, but over1300 teachers were still le without work.

Ten in April 2011 we saw Karen Lewischampioning SB 7. Tis law unduly nar-rowed the legal basis o labor action andrequired a 75% yes vote or any strike au-thorization by civil servants. SB 7 trasheda number o teachers seniority rights andotherwise attacked their long understoodand legal collective bargaining provisos.

In this dirty business Lewis had a num-ber o accomplices on the so-called le.

Lewis’ right hand, her vice president JesseSharkey o the International Socialist Or-ganization (ISO), which traces its politi-cal linage through ony Cli back to MaxSchachtman. In the weeks aer the passageo SB 7 when its contents and consequenc-es were understood and when a Wisconsinstyle mobilization could have repudiatedthe law, Sharkey did and said nothing. TeISO with hundreds o members in Chicago

did nothing and urther covered up Lewis’support or the anti labor measure. KarenLewis, you understand, is a Democrat, acard carrying member o the bosses’ party.As we have seen the ISO do previously inthe San Francisco Labor Council and theCaliornia AFL-CIO State Federation theISO supports the anti-labor tactics o theDemocratic Party and makes them possi-ble. Te ISO believes the CU has legisla-tor allies who must be supported and mustnot be le high and dry by any reversal o the CU leaderships support or SB 7. Sub-

sequently the rank and le had other plansand 95% voted or the strike authorizationand the Obama/Emanuel ploy ell on itsace in ront o massive union solidarity.

Aer ten months o negotiations the mem-bership was not worn down and still reject-ed the capitalist education plan. In this re-spect this is a political strike and Emanuel’sinjunction plot was always possible evenwithout the special provisions o SB 7 un-der a Hartley .

Our class enemies are not geniuses. Tey picked the wrong city and the wrong timeand the wrong workers to start this ghtwith. As the strike progressed the rulingclass desperation was exposed. GeorgeSchmidt o the Chicago Substance Newsputs it this way, “Whether the unraveledis Vitale on camera, Emanuel ulminatingbehind the scenes…or Brizard quietly col-lecting his enormous pay while being told

(4)

to sit down and shut up o stage the sight isnot pretty.” (David Vitale, president of Chica-

 go board of education, Rham Emanuel is may-

or of Chicago and Jean-Claude Brizard the re-

cently red CEO of the Chicago Public School 

 system.) Te ate o the phony education“reorm” drive ushered in by Bush/Obama/Gates/Buet and their hit man Duncan,with all the potential prot or inves-

tors in privatization, hung in the balance.

Beneath the din o the punditries and pol-iticians’ empty platitudes evoking sympa-thy or the struggling parent and studentseected by the strike is their terror thatthe ruling class plan is being exposed andrejected by the teachers, the working classand the oppressed minorities! In Chi-

cago, where 86% of the students are

“minorities,” the working class parents

know damn well that closing schools,

overcrowding classrooms, driving outqualied teachers, and “teaching to

the test” is part of the school-to-pris-

on pipeline intended for the millions

of youth that capitalism neither needs

to educate nor intends to employ. Teteachers have won the battle or supporto working class parents and o Occupy Chicago. What they have not overcome isthe reormist leadership o the CU andthe labor movement, which is entrenchedin the bosses’ Democratic Party, which de-mands they demobilize the teachers and

prevent this movement rom spreading.

Way forward

As Leon rotsky stated in his work radeUnions in the Epoch o Imperialist Decay (1940):“In other words, the trade unions in the

 present epoch cannot simply be the organs

of democracy as they were in the epoch of 

 free capitalism and they cannot any longer 

remain politically neutral, that is, limit 

themselves to serving the daily needs of the

working class. They cannot any longer be

anarchistic, i.e. ignore the decisive inu-ence of the state on the life of peoples and 

classes. They can no longer be reformist,

because the objective conditions leave no

room for any serious and lasting reforms.

The trade unions of our time can either 

 serve as secondary instruments of imperi-

alist capitalism for the subordination and 

disciplining of workers and for obstructing 

the revolution, or, on the contrary, the trade

unions can become the instruments of the

(cont.pg .5)

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t he revolutionary movement of the prole-

tariat.”

Te labor movement in the United Stateshas a whole history o reorm unionmovements based on vague programs or“union democracy,” against sellouts, ght-ing a corrupt leadership and/or based onsimple trade union militancy. Tey haveall ailed the test o leadership and have

become the class-collaborationist unionbureaucrats they were ghting against. Teworking class will continue to ace deeatunder the union bureaucracy. In order towin victories we need to throw up a new generation o worker militants that under-stand that there is absolutely no reconcili-ation between Labor and Capital. Rank-and-le union caucuses need to be ormedon the basis o a class struggle programo transitional demands so as to create aghting union leadership that would drivethe bureaucrats rom union oce. Suchcaucuses would seek to educate, unite, or-ganize and mobilize the workers againstausterity and all attacks on workers andthe broader society. Tese caucuses wouldstand or the absolute independence o thelabor movement rom all capitalist parties,be they Democrat, Republican, or Green,Conservative, Liberal or Independent.Such caucuses could be a springboardor building a ghting workers’ laborparty to ght or a workers’ government.

 

DEFEND THE TEACHERS UNION

DEFY ALL INJUCTIONS!

DEFEAT SB 7!

SMASH TAFT HARTLEY!

MOBILIZE A WORKING CLASS OFFEN-

SIVE TO DEFEND CHICAGO’S STU-

DENTS,PARENTS,TEACHERS, SCHOOLS

AND NEIGHBORHOODS

AGAINST THE CAPITALIST WAR ON THE

WORKING CLASS!

STOP SCHOOL CLOSURES AND PRIVAT-

IZATION!

FOR WORKING CLASS EDUCATION!

DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION!

FOR FREE QUALITY EDUCATION FOR 

ALL FROM PRE-SCHOOL THROUGH

GRADUATE SCHOOL. ESTABLISH STU-

DENT STIPENDS, FOOD AND HOUSING

AS A SOCIAL GUARENTEE.

FOR TEACHER/STUDENT/WORKER/PAR-

ENT CONTROL OF SCHOOLS AND UNI-

VERSITIES! OCCUPY THE SCHOOLS!

 NATIONALIZE ALL PRIVATE SCHOOLS

AND CHARTERS! SOCIALIZE THE BIG

EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP FOUN-

DATIONS AND ENDOWMENTS!

LIMIT CLASS SIZES! FOR A MASSIVE

PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAM TO BUILD

SAFE HEALTHY FACILITIES.

FREE THE STUDENTS FROM THE

REGENCY OF CLASS MISEDUCATION,

CURRICULUM OF MYSTIFICATION AND

OPPRESSION!

FOR LIBERAL ARTS AND ATHLETIC ED-

UCATION WITH ADEQUATE TEACHING

MATERIALS AND FACILITIES! TEACH

WORKING CLASS HISTORY! TEACH

THE HISTORY OF THE OPPRESSED!

DRIVE OUT THE LABOR FAKERS!

BUILD CLASS-STRUGGLE CAUCUSES IN

THE UNIONS AND FORGE A FIGHTINGUNION LEADERSHIP!

(Statement distributed during the nal days o thestrike by the CWG)

POLITICAL STRIKE A

TURNING POINT FOR 

WORKING CLASS

Te heroic Chicago eachers Union (CU)strike was one o the more dynamic laborstruggles in years. It was well understood

by the working class and the oppressedmasses as a struggle against attacks on pub-lic education. Tis strike was more than

 just about simple union contract demands,but was a political strike against Demo-cratic Party mayor Rahm Emanuel and thebipartisan capitalist assault on public edu-cation and public sector unions. It says alot that the CU voted overwhelmingly tostrike in the rst place given the anti-unionSB 7 bill (supported by CORE member andCU President Karen Lewis) signed intolaw in June 2011 which requires a 75% ma-

 jority to authorize a strike. Unortunately the power o the working class was throt-tled by the craven sellout CU leadership,grouped around the CORE reorm unioncaucus, who successully pushed througha vote to end the strike and accept a con-cessionary contract. Te strike was endedon September 18th, one day beore a judgewould rule on a court injunction soughtby Democratic Mayor Emanuel. Te act

(5)

o this political strike was a victory againstPresident o the UF/AF Randi Weing-arten’s supine contract settlement with theWashington D.C. school system. But thispremature work resumption was a deeatin that it was a sellout to the template o the class-collaborators par excellence o the World Social Forum, who everywherechampion economism in place o politicalretaliation against capital and its austerity program. In the U.S. it is the Internation-al Socialist Organization (ISO) who arethe standard bearers o the WSF. All nar-row trade-unionist victories in this con-tract will mean nothing i your school isclosed. Te ISO argued that school clos-ings could be discussed later---aer theoutstanding public support and the each-ers militant picket lines were history!!

Te dynamic strike was solid and was at thepoint where it should have been intensied

and extended as a nation-wide ght orree, quality education and a ght againstall o the attacks on the working class andthe oppressed. Instead the CU leadershipdemobilized working class power and solda lousy bill o goods to the membership.Tis strike, had it been pushed to its limit,ould have galvanized the working class,much like the 1934 Minneapolis eam-sters strike, the San Francisco Generalstrike and the oldeo Auto-Lite strikedid in giving birth to the great CIO in-dustrial organizing drives. Ironically the

ISO who has supporters among the CU/CORE leadership had the gall to state be-ore the vote to end the strike that “notthe media, not a judge, and certainly notRahm Emanuel--will decide i their walk-out will end” (Socialist Worker, September18). Certainly a true statement, becauseit was the treacherous CU bureaucrats,among them ISO and Solidarity support-ers, who worked overtime to make surethe strike was going to come to an end.

Rather than a victory or quality educa-tion, the settlement does little to roll back the Democratic and Republican parties at-tacks on public education. Tat is not to say that nothing was won. Tere was contractlanguage against bullying, or textbookson the rst day o school, against meritpay and they did preserve salary steps andlanes. But there were major concessionson layos and recall which is hardly insig-nicant in the ace o threats by Emanuel

(cont . pg.6)

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(Political Strikes cont. from pg 5)

and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS)to close the rest o the 100 plus schools.Te layo language has changed romthe previous contract by seniority, to onebased on ratings, probationary status andtenure. Conceding long held seniority rights that are at the heart o union pro-tection in education employment. Tirty percent o the teacher evaluations will bebased on student test scores. Pay raiseswere won, but will not even meet the in-ation rate. Te actual raises, 3%,2%,3%(+4% i CU extends a ourth year,) givethe lie to the ction o the 17% pay in-crease. Class sizes were also not reducedand there is no eective mechanism orthe union to enorce the limits currently in place, which are continuously violated.

Now mayor Emanuel is appearing in a Vad created by Education Reorm Now Ad-

 vocacy playing up the contract. Tis groupis an anti-union aliate o Democrats orEducation Reorm, a political action com-mittee seeded with New York hedge-undmoney. It certainly was very convenientor both Emanuel and Obama or the striketo have ended seven weeks beore the elec-tion. Te Democratic Party pro-capitalistlabor bureaucrats sell the workers downthe river in order to preserve their priv-ledges that derive rom their relationshipwith their Democratic allies rom Sorosto Buet, Gates and Rockeeller. And the

WSF inspired ake-socialists enable them.

Te ISO stated that the “next phase o thestruggle will revolve around the loomingthreat o the school closures” (SocialistWorker, September 18). Tis is ludicrous.I the CORE leadership was not willingto ght school closings and privatizationswhen they had a solid, legal mass strikeand mass support, then they sure as hellare not going to do it in the “next phase.”Te time to ght was when the strike wasstrong and the workers were mobilized.

Unortunately in the hands o pro-capital-ist or reormist leadership, most o theselabor struggles will either be deeatedor barely-won. We need to build a new class struggle leadership in the unions toreplace these “labor lieutenants o capi-tal.” Te labor movement needs a leader-ship that stands or the absolute politicalindependence o the workers rom allcapitalist parties, that will dey court in-

 junctions and that recognizes that what is

needed is to organize the workers or anirreconcilable struggle against capitalism.

(Editorial cont. from pg 2)

the popular ront government, that be-loved o Stalinism everywhere. Tis pop-ular ront idea is taking a beating too.

So the leadership o the UFCW has come

running this week to catch up with thestrike movement closing in on the cut-throat Wal-Mart chain, purportedly thelargest employer in the U.S. (we thoughtthe government was, but in 1980 Jimmy Carter said the troops are not employed!)Previously the position o the AFL-CIOwas to try to keep Wal-Mart out o select-ed cities, like N.Y. Tis was eective but ri-diculous. Te one way to win an EmployeeFree Choice Act that is not another shack-le is by winning mass organizing drives!

No one learned how to win one o thesein any labor college anointed by the bour-geoisie! On to “Black Friday!” Buy noth-ing, bring your neighbors and walk onyour WAL-MAR picket line! Tis willbe an insucient start, but a start. Goto your Local Union meeting and de-mand that your Union support the WAL-MAR strikers. Begin to sort out the‘leaders’ who don’t want to by ormingclass struggle caucuses to “catch them inthe crossre” between what we need andthe bosses’ avors, bribes and lawmakers.

 A nationwide strike to organize WAL-MAR could provide the path to a genu-ine general strike against austerity, againstthe rise o racist police and vigilante mur-ders and against the drive to inter-impe-rialist war. On our ront page we look atthe Chicago eachers strike and contem-plate what could have been. Tis was anactual political strike, arguably the rstsince the a-Hartley Act (1948,) but itwas diverted into a purely “economist”deal by reorm-only model ake social-ists in league with Democrats and otherregime shills. Historically, these are orc-es who do nothing to prevent and arehelpless acing the prospect o world war.

We need a general strike movement, hereand internationally. Among other reasons,such a movement can be understood as apathway to bringing down and nishingo the wages system, a path to the Social

(6)

ist revolution and the exclusive politicalpower o the workers and their oppressedallies. Part o the role o the “dictatorshipo the proletariat” we champion is explod-ing the mysteries o the commodity andthe robberies o the worker they conceal.Te elimination o the monopolist-im-perialist private prots and super-protssystem will mean that an increasing num-

ber o the necessities o lie will becomeree, and it will be the early job o theworkers’ state to see that you have themas a matter o right (or you’ll immedi-ately elect new delegates who’ll see to it!)

But right now in some countries thegeneral strike will immediately changethe relationship o orces in the masses’avor, particularly i successul organi-zation o the rank-and-le armed orcesinto workers councils can be achieved.Right away the question which class will

rule will be posed. I the masses have attheir head the most concentrated expres-sion o their revolutionary class politicalconsciousness, an international work-ers party on the Bolshevik model, all thebarbarities Capital threatens us with--ascism, war, environmental and speciesholocausts and suppressions o every right-- can at last be swept away or good.

Forward to the World Party of Socialist

Revolution!

Victory to the Syrian revolution! Solidarity

with the Syrian revolutionary left!

For the Permanent Revolution!

Victory to the Greek Revolution!

Smash fascism in the egg!

For workers councils and their own

workers self-defense militias!

General Strike until austerity is defeated!

For a Workers Government of Workers

Councils!

Victory to the Southern African Workers’

revolution! For a Socialist Federation of 

Southern Africa! Down with the ANC and

the entire Stalinist popular front project,

the gendarme of imperialism!

We wish to thank the Groupe Bolchevique (France)

and the editors of their magazine “Revolution So-

cialiste.” With their permission we reached freely

into RS #33, fall 2010, and we would urge readers

of French to see the upcoming issue for more on

the state’s attacks on the Roma. We look forward 

to fruitful exchanges with “Revolution Socialiste.”

We’ll also extend especial thanks here to our Liaison

Committee comrades at “Redrave” (Aotearoa/New

 Zealand) and “Revolutionary Worker” (Zimbabwe)

 for their contributions of material, time and thinking 

to the publication of this “Class War” number. We

are gratied at how they illuminate our world view!

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(cont. from pg.1 column 1)

the Roma by calling or “a national dialogue”about what to do about the Roma(!) O course there is already a national dialogueand the ascists are driving it—driving itand driving the rightened bogus le to theright! Tey turn their backs on the Romatoday and will turn their backs on the Mus-lim populations tomorrow. Tis collapsein ront o bourgeois spin and hysteriaserves to undermine proletarian-workingclass-solidarity consciousness, dividing theworkers, allowing the bosses to drive downwages, by pitting one group o workersagainst another, thereby increasing the rateo exploitation and rolling back social gains.We say the workers have no fatherland!

Te social democrats and Hollande hiredon knowingly to do the dirty work o thebourgeoisie, attacking the working class athome and abroad while deending French

Imperialism and the NAO alliance. In aSeptember 9th prime-time interview ontelevision, Hollande deended the raids andevictions o the Roma. He also committedto deepening austerity measures and attackson the working class such as decit cuts andshort-time work legislation which wouldallow businesses to arbitrarily choose how many hours to employ their workers. WhileHollande wages war on the French workingclass and the Roma, he has also taken upthe role o point man or Western imperi-alism as it toys with the idea o conduct-

ing a military intervention in Syria to limitthe outcome o the revolutionary upheavalto a shufe o reliable servants at the top.

Hollande badly needs issues to distractthe electorate rom the rising unemploy-ment and increasing pace o contractiono the French and all European economies.Tis is not a uniquely European problem.

When ewer Europeans work and spend,China’s exports suer, as do Japan’s, am-pliying eects o the world capitalist cri-

sis, which has not gone away. Already thebill or the touted x o the summer, in-

 volving a bailout-by-any-other-name orSpain and the oating o Eurobonds tokeep the borrowing costs o the bourgeoisstates rom oating up into outer space,has been presented to the masses. Tey are outraged and right back on the streetsin great numbers, but are missing a pro-letarian revolutionary leadership, the greatlack o our epoch. By the time you read

this, Hollande will have unveiled his aus-terity plans in detail. We think the laborlieutenants o capital will have their handsull keeping the masses under control.

In China and Japan, a dispute over some in-signicant islets—really about the local seaoor and the possible wealth underneath—serves to bualo the masses o these na-

tions at a time when any blundering mili-tary incident could erupt into war. Just atthe momentin lateSeptember, itappears thatthe Chineseleadershiphas “blinked,”i.e.,recalculatedand decidedor at least a

temporary retreat. Butwar, with itsdestructiono capitalsand enormous expenditures o treasury,already looks attractive to sections o theU.S. and Chinese capitalist classes, andwe now think to members o the Japanesebourgeoisie as well. War danger mean-while is a time-tested pretext or enorc-ing sacrices upon the workers. Rejectthe war poison and the leaders and the

class who promote it! Work now to takeALL power rom them, once and or all!Learn to pick out –and KICK OU—“la-bor leaders” whose career is all aboutkeeping you down! When you do this inyour union you help all o us everywhere.

Lenin in Imperialism: Te Highest Stageo Capitalism (1916) analyzed the materialbases rooted in imperialism or the class-col-laboration, racism, nationalism and chau-

 vinism o the social democratic reormists:

Obviously, out of such enormous super- prots (since they are obtained over and 

above the prots which capitalists squeeze

out of the workers of their "own" country)

it is possible to bribe the labour leaders

and the upper stratum of the labour aris-

tocracy. And that is just what the capitalists

of the "advanced" countries are doing: they

are bribing them in a thousand different 

ways, direct and indirect, overt and covert.

This stratum of workers-turned-bourgeois,

(7)

or the labour aristocracy, who are quite

 philistine in their mode of life, in the size of

their earnings and in their entire outlook

is the principal prop of the Second Interna-

tional, and in our days, the principal socia

(not military) prop of the bourgeoisie. For

they are the real agents of the bourgeoisie

in the working-class movement, the labour

lieutenants of the capitalist class, real veh

cles of reformism and chauvinism. In thecivil war between the proletariat and the

 Roma evicted f romVilleneuve d’Ascq in early August,

2012 - Reuters

bourgeoisie they inevitably, and in no smal

numbers. take the side of the bourgeoisie, the

"Versaillese" against the "Communards"

Te New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) and

the Le Front (Stalinists and the Le Party(PG)) uncritically supported Hollande inthe second round o the French ElectionsDuring the raids on the Roma this past August, the Stalinist French Communist Party(PCF) mayor o Stains in the Seine-SaintDenis department said: ‘It raises problemso hygiene, law-and-order, etc,’. He wroteto François Hollande “to inorm him o theproblem.”. Spoken like a municipal social-ist o the Jean Jaurès tradition, this is howdeeply the Stalinists and the social layerthey represent have imbibed racism and

abandoned internationalism. Tis explainsthe hal-hearted deense o the Roma by thePCF ocialdom. Rather than using the organized weight o the CG and the tradeunion movement to organize labor sel de-ense o the Roma people rom attack theymake abstract calls or increased publichousing which will be orgotten beore thelatest issue o l’Humanite is used or liningbird cages. Communist mayors think rso the law and order solutions instead o the

(cont.pg.8

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economic and social solution. Tis is thereactionary, traitorous nature o the leader-ship o the French working class.

History of Romani

Te Roma were a nomadic people who arethought to have migrated rom North-WestIndia at the beginning o the 11th Century.Tey then spread across Europe. Te larg-

est community is in Romania with perhapstwo million. In Hungary they are estimatedto be 5-10% o the population. Historically they have aced persecution and discrimi-nation. oday they lack access to govern-ment services and health care, good-quality housing and schools, and suer rom highrates o unemployment and discriminationon the labor market.

Under the EU (European Union) the Romaare considered citizens. French law thoughrequires them to have a work permit andprove they have the means to supportthemselves i they stay or more than threemonths.

Like Jews, Slavs, Poles, Soviet POW’s, com-munists, socialists, labor leaders, homosex-uals, the disabled and religious groups, theRoma were targeted by the Nazis duringWorld War II. Deported to concentrationcamps, subject to horriying medical ex-periments and also sterilized, an estimated250,000 to 500,000 plus Romani were mur-dered by the Nazis. Te ascist CroatianUstaša also carried out genocide against

the Romani during World War II. Te Vi-chy regime was no riend o the Roma. TeGaullist liberators scarcely liked them any better, reinstating 3rd Republic racist lawsand collaborator police, and the 5th Repub-lic has carried on indistinguishably, even asit talks rubbish about “social solidarity.”

 Nazi police round up Romani families from Vienna for 

deportation to Poland. Austria, September-December 

1939.

Capitalism breeds racism, fascism, pov-

erty and war

Te organized attack by the French cap-italist state goes hand-in-hand with theracist attacks on Roma and immigrants.

As capitalism reels rom the current crisis,right-wing and ascist organizations are onthe rise. Te big bourgeoisie looks at socialdemocracy and sees that it is increasingly unable to demobilize and contain or check the rage o the worker masses. So it ndssluices o unds or ascist groups with plansto use them tomorrow to smash labor mil-itancy. Te corporatists o the American

Legislative Exchange Council (A.L.E.C.)correspond socially to the European bigmoney backers o ascism.

Te brazen Golden Dawn misogynist/as-cists in Greece and the anti-Muslim socio-path Breivik in Norway are un-house ore-shadows o what is in store, and not justor those who can be classed as dierent orother. Te ruling coalition and new parlia-ment are barely unctional, the breakdowno civil society that accompanies their at-tempt to impose the “troika’s” austerity is

leading to chaos. Te working class, lack-ing a revolutionary party, has not createdthe structures or workers democracy andworking class control o the society to an-swer the power vacuum.

Te Golden Dawn, which received hal the police votes, is stepping into the vac-uum, providing ood and “protection” tothe population providing they are Greek nationals-not “outsiders”-urks, Romani,Albanian, Bosnian etc. Reports that theseascists scum have beaten student activists

to death are what they have in store as thecrisis drives the polarization and the leis yet to oer the solution o creating theworkers’ state.

In Hungary, the right-wing governmentled by Prime Minister Victor Orban, whichworks closely together with the neo-as-cist Jobbik party, is deliberately provokingsuch attacks in order to divert attentionaway rom the country’s huge economicand social problems. On August 20 mem-bers o the paramilitary Hungarian Guardmarched against Roma amilies in the city o Cegled, southeast o the capital, Buda-pest.

In June in crisis-racked Greece, the copsharassed the Roma neighborhood o AnoLiosia at the same time as the ascist Gold-en Dawn rallied nearby. Te ascist GoldenDawn in turn increased its polling rom 3%to 7% and polled more than hal the vote o the police.

(8)

In Germany the rst week o Septembera urkish association was attacked with aMolotov cocktail and an arson attempt wasmade on Religious Aairs urkish IslamicMosque in Darmstadt.

Ominously, Marine Le Pen (daughter o as-cist Jean-Marie Le Pen,) o the right-wingNational Front (FN) garnered 6.4 million

 votes in the rst round o the recent Frenchelection and came in third. Te racist FNtargets Muslims and immigrants, and haskept up links with violent street ghtinggroups.

At the same time in the declining imperialist center that is the United States, the Democratic Party administration o Obama hascarried out more deportations o immi-grants than the preceding Bush administra-tion, while the racist cops gun down Blackand Brown youth at the rate o one every

32 hours.

Despite the act that many industries depend on low-paid immigrants and busi-nesses like agriculture and meat packingbenet greatly rom immigrant labor, under the Bush regime, in a well-publicizedICE raid on Long Island, traumatized chil-dren watched their parents being man-handled by heavily armed agents and in onecase, a baby was le unattended or morethan an hour aer their parents were arrest-ed. Continuing the Bush tradition, in April

2009 and again last year, Obama’s immigration enorcement deported nearly 400,000undocumented immigrants, the most inthe agency’s history. Raids have resulted inchildren arriving home rom school to ndno parents to take care o them.

And while the Feds wage attacks on im-migrants, several states have enacted ortried to enact anti-immigrant legislationin the wake o the Supreme Court’s upholding o Arizona’s notorious immigra

tion enorcement laws (SB 1070 and HB2162). Alabama outdid Arizona in 201by passing HB56 which is considered thetoughest immigration law in the Unit-ed States. Its provisions deter childrenrom going to school, deny people publicbenets and the ability to rent housing or

earn a living, along with a range o newimmigration-related oenses with draconi-an penalties attached. It also involves raciaproling where state and local police

(cont.pg.9)

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(Falling Brics: China & SA cont. from pg.2)

In coming to power in 1994 the ANC junked the FreedomCharter or a developmental state model o ‘market socialism’where the state regulates the market to meet the goals o ‘socialism’. It wasn’t until 2002 that it succeeded inovercoming resistance to the nationalization o mineralresources in the ground. oday the ANC leadership still rulesout nationalization o the mining companies assets as toocostly and politically destabilizing. It says the nationalization

o the assets o listed mining corporations would cost $1rillion and bankrupt the country leaving it at the mercy o aStructural Adjustment Program. It thereore continues toopt or a range o taxes, royalties and other ‘value-sharing’measures to implement its particular brand o ‘nationaldevelopment’.

Has the national revolution created the pre-conditions

for socialism? Te ANC/SACP policy o the bourgeois national revolution is oneo using the state to redistribute surplus value towards the grad-ual social ownership o the means o production. Imperialism is

understood as based on unequal exchange where normal prots(surplus-value) are inated into super prots by extracting ‘su-per-value’. Te two main mechanisms are using a reserve army toorce de-value wages below the level o reproduction, and under-

 valuing the price o the commodities produced and exported viatranser pricing. Tis means that on top o normal capitalist prots(surplus value), imperialist corporations ‘steal’ super-prots (su-per-value). Te ANC/SACP policy is that the national revolution‘empowers’ workers governments to tax or regulate imperialism toreduce or eliminate unequal exchange as the basis o super-prots.Tere have been ongoing attempts to achieve this using a numbero rules including the latest attempts to stop transer pricing. Butthere is now a growing consensus that this has ailed and that SA isone o the most super-exploited semi-colonies on earth.

Tis means that in practice or 18 years the ANC has proven thatits Stalinist SACP theory o the progressive national revolution is araud. It has presided over the return o EU and US multinationalsinto the mining industry and ailed to put an end to imperialist su-per-exploitation o low wages (reected in the poverty living stan-dards o workers) and transer pricing. Te lion’s share o valuepumped out o mining continued to go into the coers o the miningmultinationals, Anglo-American, Lonmin, Glencore etc. Te rateo super-prot remains massive. Te minority share that came tothe regime via royalties, taxes and minority shareholdings such asthe BEES (Black Business Empowerment) did not benet the masso South Aricans, but went into the pockets o a newly emergingBlack bourgeoisie. Te ANC is now shown up by its ailed nationalrevolution as the party o a new Black national bourgeoisie presid-ing over the super-exploitation o the South Arican working class.

All o this was predicted decades ago by revolutionary Marx-ists who ought the Stalinist degeneration o the Soviet Union.Te Stalinist popular ront empowered a bureaucracy and anew South Arican bourgeoisie by dis-empowering the workingclass. Tese revolutionaries are once again vindicated by events.Te ANC ripartite regime has trapped SA into dependency onWestern imperialist super-exploitation. It has led to the rise o a

Zuma looking or “win-win” deals rom China Reuters photo

Black bourgeoisie and crony capitalism and the rising massdissatisaction with the successive leaderships o the ANC, itsstatied union Congress, COSAU, and with its political lead-ership in the SACP. Te miners o Marikana are but the rstwave o mass insurrection that rejects the ANC regime and

its state orce and is embarking on the road to workers power!

ANC Response

Despite the recent attempts at Polokwane to outline a new planor national development based on a greater share o the resourcerent, these pathetic paper proposals have been overwhelmed bythe global crisis and alling demand or minerals which has putpressure on the regime to contain and discipline mining workers,to screw down labor and production costs to restore levels o su-per-prots. Tis created a wave o dissatisaction with the NUM andthe series o disputes that ultimately led to the Marikana Massacre.

Te ANC response to the Massacre has been to resort to policesuppression o the militants to deeat and contain the miners’strike, and at the same time try to keep control o the moderates byholding a public inquiry and promising major economic reorms.Tese reorms amount to promises to tax the mining super-prots

 via a tougher Resource Rent ax (R) that will create a SovereignWealth Fund (SWF) to invest in national and economic social de-

 velopment. Tis conception o national development is tied to SA’smembership o the BRICS led by China. It is being promoted as anattempt to reduce its dependence on Western imperialism by col-laborating with the ‘market socialist’ giant whose developmentalmodel can be copied. Instead o ‘Western’ imperialist exploitationthe ANC sees China as an alternative economic power with which

it can enter a “win-win” partnership based on “equal exchange”.Tus in the SIMS plans launched in March 2012 the ANC propos-es that on the back o a SWF unded by the 50% RR it can de-

 velop upstream in energy (power and inrastructure) and down-stream, manuacturing, education, housing etc., much as Chinahas. It wants to build Pilot Benecients Hubs based on the Chi-nese Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which allow new investment,technology etc., to drive up the ‘value chain’ to add-value and und

 jobs and rising living standards. Tis, they say will allow SA toollow China’s path to national development, overcoming the

(10) (cont.pg.11)

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barriers o super-exploitation, unemployment and poverty. Forsome in the ANC this is not enough to stop super-exploitation.By its own calculations, SIMS-proposed 50% RR taxes only hal the super-prots o mining companies. Julius Malema, the expelledANC Youth League leader, and his action want to replace the lead-ership o the ANC and its policy o taxing prots. Teir main de-mand is ‘nationalization without compensation’. Here we can seethat Malema is trying to contain the political radicalization o workers to rescue the ANC and the ripartite Alliance by promis-

ing a more radical reorm than the current leadership. Malema ispopular with the striking miners who support more militant movesto share the wealth. Many are now breaking with the NUM andCOSAU and calling or directly negotiated shares o the prots.

Malema’s actional ght inside the ANC does not break with thepopular ront. Nationalization without compensation is still abourgeois nationalization. Tis is not a nationalization rom below based on workers occupation and workers control! ‘Nationaliza-tion’ undertaken by the ANC would be a bourgeois nationalization.Te process will remain one led by the ripartite Alliance o theANC, Cosatu and SACP in which a bourgeois state is the agento national capitalist development continuing to act as a junior

partner o imperialism. Malema is unlikely to win a majority inthe upcoming ANC Congress or ‘nationalization’ as a panacea,because the ANC leadership is condent that its re- orms will bebankrolled by China. “Tis time round” the global crisis which hasburst to the surace at Marikana and is spreading to all the mines,pushing the ANC leadership to ‘reinvent’ it- sel by modeling SAdevelopment on China’s ‘market socialism’.

In other words ANC wants SA to “takeo ” and raise living stan-dards like China and the other BRICS. Not surprisingly then, thenew investments rom China will be centered on “geology andmineral resources” as well as on nancial cooperation between theDevelopment Bank o South Arica and China Development Bank.

But according to Kgalema Motlanthe, South Arica’s deputy pres-ident, things are dierent this time around. Te deals, he said, aremeant to “strike a healthy balance” in trade volume between thetwo countries. “Tis nancial cooperation agreement is betweendevelopment banks and the specic projects in which they are go-ing to invest, they have to identiy these projects,” Motlanthe, whowas on a three-day China trip, was quoted by Reuters as saying. “othat end, the dierence is, in- stead o just exporting these mineralsas raw materials, there will be...value added to create jobs on bothsides,” he added.

In other words a ‘win-win’ deal. China may be investing in the old

‘imperialist’ ventures o energy, minerals and banking, but it won’tbe extracting super-prots! Or at least the super-prots will be di- vided equally – hence ‘win-win’ or both the Chinese and SouthArican bourgeoisie! A recent delegation rom the province o Gauteng visited China to sign up to a deal on inrastructure proj-ects. It was led by Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane who said:"Our people's lives will improve because aer this partner- ship issealed, we will see a massive roll-out o inrastructure projects. Al-ready in shwane, we have a number o agship projects in thepipeline including the construction o the shwane InternationalConerence Center and Rainbow Junction, among others."

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Can South Africa develop like China?

Let’s look at this prospect. Te global crisis and the slump in demand or minerals as well as the hardship acing workers that ledto Marikana, may speed up the China connection. China continues to keep the economies o the BRICS steaming along so long asits own economy is still growing rapidly. Te current slowdown inChina rom 8% to maybe 7% is still a raging boom by comparisonwith Western imperialist states. In this sense China appears to be

dierent rom the established imperialist powers in continuing tokeep the world economy rom slumping into deep depression.

So is Chinese investment an alternative to imperialist super-ex-ploitation? Is China dierent to the Western Powers? Can it sustainthe world economy and in particular the BRICS? Will South Ari-ca be able to attract more trade and investment out o China, andalso increase its share o the rent rom mineral extraction? And wilthe Chinese model o development reproduce in SA an increase inadded value based on transer o technology and knowledge?

Deborah Brautigam o China in Arica: Te Real Story sees Chi-na as dierent rom the European powers, but still expecting a

com- mercial advantage rom its investments in Arica. China isnot copying European colonization which sucks out resources andlabor power without concern or upstream or downstream de-

 velopment, but can see the benets in developing Arica aer theChinese model. Not only is China exporting its model to semi-col-onies like South Arica but since 2000 and the policy to “Go Out”

and membership o WO, it is demonstrating this process o go-ing up the value stream rom cheap labor to high tech in its FDIin SA. Tis shows that China has used FDI in semi-colonies likeSouth Arica to launch its “Go Global”. It does not compete direct-ly against the established brands o EU, US and Japanese corpo-rate, but starts cheap or contracts to established brands to developa competitive product and then develop its own brands globally.

In SA Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) took o aer 2000where it used SA as a ‘learning arena’ or the globalization o itsbanks and industries. So China is not only doing swaps o loansor resources, it is investing in upstream energy and inrastructureand downstream consumer goods such as domestic applianceselectronics and communications. “Adding these estimates suggeststhat Chinese assets in South Arica in mining alone were probablyworth close to US$700 million at end o 2007. Tis suggests thatMOFCOM’s gure o US$702 million was reasonably accurate, incontrast to the SARB gure o US$70 million.” (Te Edge, p8.)“Te period since 2000 has seen a major expansion in the Chinese

presence in South Arican mining with the doubling o Sinosteel’sin- vestment during 2006, and the entry o other mining compa-nies as discussed above. Several major Chinese corporations haveentered the banking and construction sectors.” (Ibid., p. 18.) TuChina’s ‘demonstration eect’ is a major actor in reviving hopesthat ‘win- win’ deals will see South Arica and other Arican statesmake the same leap rom underdevelopment to development madeby China.

China’s 21st century imperialismTis is not the amiliar 19th or 20th century imperialism, butrather a supercession o 19th and 20th century imperialism.

(cont.pg.12)

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(Falling Brics: China & SA cont. from pg.11)

On the surace it is easy to see why semi-colonial governments canhope to do ‘win-win’ deals with China. Moreover, the Chinese de-

 velopmental model which is regarded widely as a orm o ‘marketsocialism’ ts snugly with the central role o the state in owner-ship and control o Arican economies in the ideology o the ANC,ZANU PF and other Arican governments. All o this hinges onthe assumption that China is a new orm o economy – a hybrid o a socialist state and the capitalist market – which is not governed

by the laws governing the economies o the other big powers. Tusit appears that China has escaped the trap o Western imperialismand shows the way or the rest o the BRICS and other ‘developing’countries to ollow the same road.

But on closer analysis, China is not essentially dierent rom West-ern Imperialist economies as its policies are dictated by the laws o motion o monopoly capital and by the growing rivalry with oth-er imperialist states. Standard neo-liberal economic theory arguesthat China’s Overseas FDI is dierent rom established developedeconomies as they are not global leaders in any sector. Tis view isechoed on the le, that China cannot catch up with imperialismbecause it does not have competitive advantage in any global sec-

tor o production. Some argue that this ts with Lenin’s concepto imperialism where imperialist rms must be world leaders tomonopolize a sector o production, e.g. oil, banks, steel, autos etc.

What this theory overlooks is that China with its centralized statecapitalist apparatus is able to leverage its 100s o millions o low paid workers to create huge surpluses to catch up with its stagnat-ing rivals. Tis means that it has massive accumulated super-protsto buy existing assets or resources and orm joint ventures to break into sectors where it seeks to dominate in the uture. In South A-rica as well as FDI in minerals and nancial services, China soughtmarkets or assembled CKD (pre-ab) goods and oer more com-petitive, cheaper, brands and services on the basis o technology 

transer arising rom FDI inside China itsel. Tus, China has been able to ‘capitalize’ on its history as a Degener-ated Workers State (DWS)to accumulate surplus value rapidly and‘go out’ by applying its developmental model in key countries likeSouth Arica. So not only has China demonstrated by its rapid ex-pansion that it is an emerging imperialist power, it is also provingthat it is not immune to the deepening global capitalist crisis and isshowing signs o overproduction o capital. Tis is now becomingevident as China’s economy is slowing down. Perhaps China’s slow-down is only because it is tied to the global market, and not due toany inherent crisis o overproduction? Tis is the most common

 view on the reormist le, a view shared by the ANC and other A-rican regimes. Because the ANC views capitalism as capable o be-ing reormed into ‘socialism’ by equalizing exchange, China is ‘so-cialist’ to the extent that it can use ‘Keynesian’ state decit spendingto compensate or alling trade. But in a capitalist economy stateinvestment in inrastructure will generate stagation unless thatinrastructure contributes to the production o commodities thatChina can sell in the world market.

China’s crisis then, exposes or all to see, the limits o ‘market so-

cialism’ as dependent on the underlying laws o global capital-ism. Te BRICS look to the ‘China model’ o state managed de-

 velopment to strengthen trade and investment relations and movetoward swap deals where China provides long term loans or in-rastructure deals in exchange or resources. Yet the BRICS categorized as ‘emerging markets’, hides essential dierences behindsurace similarities. Te essential dierences are that Russia andChina are imperialist countries and have no interest in ‘develop

ing’ the other BRICS unless they can reap super-prots. Tis meansthat BRICS like South Arica cannot escape the ‘sphere o inuenceo Chinese and Russian imperialism without a socialist revolution

Russia and China are newly emerging imperialist countries havingmade the transition rom DWS back to capitalism. Despite massive problems associated with capitalist restoration, their strongstate and relative independence rom existing imperialist stateshas allowed them to escape the ate o the other BRICS which re-main trapped in their colonial dependence. We can see how Rus-sia and China have ormed a new imperialist bloc competing withthe US-led bloc by creating its own sphere o inuence in AsiaArica and Latin America. Tis sphere o inuence now includes

the other BRICS (Brazil, India and South Arica) as well as othersemi-colonial states such as Iran, Venezuela etc. Yet inevitably thissphere o inuence is one in which Russia and China dominate andsuper-exploit their semi-colonial clients. India, Brazil and SouthArica are all characterized by the continued dominance o imperialist FDI which limits their ability to develop an independent bour

geoisie and accumulate capital on their own account.

Conclusion

Our conclusion is that the ANC cannot lead South Arica out oimperialist super-exploitation by ollowing China’s developmentmodel. It has proven that the bourgeois democratic revolution can-not be completed by means o a popular ront government but in

act holds back its completion by trapping the working class in aclient state o imperialism. Tis will prove to be the case with Chinaalso. China is not a new orm o society that can escape capitaliscrisis. It is an emerging imperialist power that is now the main rivao the US bloc in Arica. Te ANC’s strategic alliance with Chinawill see it staying trapped in semi-colonial super-exploitation andits people trapped in poverty and misery.Te miners o Marikana will not win reedom or economic security without leading a socialist revolution in SA. For that to happenthe workers need their own Revolutionary Party and a programthat opens the road to revolution. It is necessary to build a work-ing class movement based on the mines; workers councils in every

workplace and township; workers deense militias; or the seizureo power and ormation o a Workers and poor armers Govern-ment to expropriate imperialist and capitalist property and plan asocialist economy!

Build a Workers Party that unites the militant vanguard from

Africa, China the Middle East to the USA!

For a new World Party of Socialist Revolution!

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Helpless Social Democrats

facing Fascism and the War Danger

Social Democracy and the "le" bourgeoisparties, such as the Radical parties in Ibe-ria and France and PASOK in Greece arebeing used to divide the working classagain. Ever since August, 1914 they havebeen the willing handmaidens o the bour-

geoisie, counterrevolution and war. Tishas been less apparent orsome years as they peddledcapitalist European unity invarious orms. Now, witha worsening global crisiso capitalism and contrac-

tion o each national econ-omy, selling Europeanunion has been assignedto bankers and economistwonks and the bogus legets the role o selling the

working class on govern-ments o "national salvation."

Tis is how Capital plans to put over thecurrent and next rounds o austerity mea-sures. When these don't work, "nationalsalvation" will involve austerity or warpreparations, i.e., "guns, not butter," ex-actly in the words o atso Goering, whomade ortunes or 'both sides.' Te bour-geoisie is holding the threat o ascismover the heads o the social-democrats andpopular parties, and is even giving some

police powers to the gangs o the GoldenDawn ascists in Greece right now(!) Temessage is the bourgeoisie means busi-ness. Te social-democrats will deliver orthe ascists will.

Even in France where Hollande will notlikely believe 'his' bourgeoisie will optor the biggest state, which is what a as-cist police state is, he resorts to policies o "national salvation," with the pumping upo medieval racist and anti-oreign prej-udices worthy o Bourbon and Orleanist

kings preparing the masses or war. Warsare coming. Proxy wars, where smalleror ex-imperialist powers can make them-selves useul, proting contractors or thebigger powers and thus "save" their econo-mies aer the example o Japan in the Ko-rean War. And World War, which has theattractions o destruction o Capitals andimmense treasury lootings. An inter-im-perialist world war between a U.S. imperi-alist camp o some nal conguration and

the Shanghai Cooperation Organizationis plainly coming. Tat such a war wouldresult in a dark age o barbarism or worsedoes not occur to these reiers o theirown class' propaganda. o short-circuitthe capitalists "salvation" plan we oughtto organize independent working classmilitias to smash fascism in the egg! Tesocial-democrats and ake le will blubber

big crocodile tears over the 'violence' andotherwise disqualiy themselves to lead

Golden Dawn Fascists Tugs Guardian Photo

any workers. Tis will both pose the needor and make political room or the revolu-tionary party o the working class. Te rev-olutionary workers o every 'nationality,'trade, cra and condition o employmentor lack o it need this party like they needair and water and need to know this now!

SHOUT OUT FROM OAKLAND

Blueford Family & Friends demand justice

BayView photo

On May 6th, Alan Blueford was gunneddown by the racist Oakland police two

weeks before his graduation. Then on

June 5th, 15-year old Derrick Gaines was

shot and killed by the San Francisco po-

lice. The police tried to stop him as a he

was walking and he was shot as he ran.

On September 2nd in Vallejo, California,

22-year old Mario Romero was murdered

 by police who red 32 bullets into his car 

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as he was sitting in front of his home. His

 brother-in-law was seriously wounded.

This is the fth Vallejo police killing of a

 black or brown worker this year.

At the Oakland City Council meeting

on September 18th, justiably outraged

family and supporters of Alan Blueford

challenged the lying police version of his

murder, which keeps changing. The CityCouncil listened to a long line of commu-

nity members who told the council in no

uncertain terms that they had to jail the

killer cops. The Council then ironically

moved to their rst agenda item…declar -

ing Oakland an international city of peace

and Sept. 21 as the city’s international day

of peace. The protesters continued and

the city council, cowards that they are,

ran from the public and the meeting was

adjourned. Two weeks later at the next

Council meeting the protesters made a loud

intervention forcing the police to turn over a highly redacted and inadequate police

report foreshadowing the city’s decision

not to prosecute ofcer Masso who actu-

ally shot himself to cover up for his crime.

Concurrent with the September 18th meet-

ing in Oakland, just 15 miles away at the

Vallejo City Council meeting, protesters

including activists from Labor Black and

Brown (LB&B) chanted “No Justice!

 No Peace!” in protest at the city’s new

economic development strategic plan-

ning meeting. Vallejo City Council had

canceled an earlier scheduled city forum

on police brutality and substituted this

 planning meeting, explaining that it was

more important. An LB&B speaker and

union member of SEIU 1021 called for 

tribunals and for labor to shut down the

city in response to these racist murders.

The City Council chambers were lled

 by the Ramero supporters and like in

Oakland, the City Council retreated from

the righteous indignation of the people.

The oppressed communities need but can

not wait for the labor movement to take

the lead in the ght to end racist cop op-

 pression. The families of victims feel

abandoned by civil society and labor 

alike, and in city after city they nd small

groups of activists, occupiers, socialists,

anarchists, guilty liberals and modern

day Father Gapons with interfaith pac-

iers aiming to Ghandi-ize the masses.

(cont.pg.14)

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(Shout Out from Oakland cont from pg. 13)

It is rare when organized labor steps upto the plate the way the ILWU local 10did on October 23rd, 2010 holding a po-litical strike demanding “Jail Killer Cops.”

oday liberals and progressives like DanSiegel (Bay Area labor lawyer, ormer aideto Mayor Jean Quan until her attacks on

Occupy,) is calling or the Oakland PoliceDepartment (OPD) to be put under ederaltrusteeship; something that has long beenin the works due to numerous civil rights

 violations under the reign o DemocraticMayors, such darlings o the reormist leas Ron Dellums, Jerry Brown and ex-Mao-ist and current tool o the capitalist class,Democratic Mayor Jean Quan. Siegel’s il-lusions in the imperialist state guide himto tell the oppressed o Oakland that i theFeds step in we will be able to police thepolice. Tis is a dangerous illusion that

Siegel is pushing. It ignores the class na-ture o the state and presents the Federalgovernment as a supra-class and essentially democratic structure. Being a labor law-yer he should know better. We need only look at Obama’s use o the Coast Guardto back EG against the Longview ILWUlocal 21 in January to be assured the Fedsare no riends o the working class or theoppressed. Siegel and his ilk, based ontheir authority as “progressive lawyers” putthem-selves into the middle o the cases o police brutality not to advance indepen-dent labor/community action, sel-deenseor workers tribunals, but to keep the am-ilies’ hopes or justice up with illusions inthe courts or civil rights commissions or viaFederal intervention. Tis raudulent ad-

 vice disempowers the amilies and lets thelabor leadership o the hook as they runrom labors’ responsibility to protect those

 victimized by capitalist racist oppression.

Open letter to the FSP presidential

campaign from the CWG & LC

We had great hopes or the FSP presiden-tial campaign. When brother Durhamasked our HWRS comrade in NY to en-dorse your campaign we discussed it at ourEC meeting. We tasked a comrade to writeto your NC and ask about your unseriousapproach to the Sean Gillis case in Oak-land. Unortunately a action ght split theHWRS beore the letter could be penned.

We were concerned that despite your hav 

ing delegates on the Alameda Labor Coun-

cil you did not develop resolutions romyour locals and bring them to the coun-cil to support Sean. We were concernedwith your comrade’s apparent apoliticalapproach to developing the case, concen-trating solely on the “merits o the case,” inparticular the legal issues instead o usingyour national press and international a-

liates to draw out the class dynamics o this case. For socialists this case is like abeach-ball oated across the plate. Tiscase ties together the rampant collusionbetween the “ole boys network” at theOakland Fire Department and Emergen-cy Services, the police state, and the tradeunion bureaucracy. It was important thatthe Gillis deense committee allied itsel with ILWU deense committee and wasa visible part o the anti-police brutality movement o Occupy. But you took noleadership tying this case to the program

o the working class as regards sel deense.

And now we see why. Your program ordealing with racist cop terror is not aworking class, revolutionary or dare we say rotsky’s program, rather it is the programo reormism. You call or a kinder gentlerpolice orce guided by a police review board.Even without the recent spate o racist copexecutions o black and brown people (oneevery 32 hours,) the day to day terror o “stop and risk,” the communist movementhas always had a program o sel-deense.

You will nd the call or workers sel-de-ense guards against state and count-er-revolutionary violence going back tothe historic program o our movement.In Te Junius pamphlet Rosa Luxem-burg elaborated our program. Point one:

“Disarmament of the entire police force

and of all ofcers and nonproletarian

 soldiers; disarmament of all members of 

the ruling classes.” followed by point 3:

 Arming of the entire adult male proletar-ian population as a workers’ militia. Cre-

ation of a Red Guard of proletarians as an

active part of the militia for the constant 

 protection of the Revolution against count-

er-revolutionary attacks and subversions.”

And in the 1938 ransitional Pro-gram we nd clear statement o how we deend the working class:

“...This is our point of departure. In

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connection with every strike and street 

demonstration, it is imperative to prop-

agate the necessity of creating workers’ 

 groups for self-defense. It is necessary to

write this slogan into the program of the

revolutionary wing of the trade unions.

 It is imperative wherever possible, be-

 ginning with the youth groups, to or-

 ganize groups for self-defense, to drill 

and acquaint them with the use of arms.

 A new upsurge of the mass movement 

 should serve not only to increase the num-

ber of these units but also to unite them

according to neighborhoods, cities, re-

 gions. It is necessary to give organized ex-

 pression to the valid hatred of the workers

toward scabs and bands of gangsters and 

 fascists. It is necessary to advance the slo-

 gan of a workers’ militia as the one serious

 guarantee for the inviolability of work-

ers’ organizations, meetings and press.”

Richard Fraser was a militant advocate o multi-racial working class sel deense. Telessons o the Deacons or Deense and theentire struggle against racist terror acrossthe whole history o the American experi-ence calls out or armed sel-deense. Youknow our class’ history as well as we do.Nat urner, John Brown, Carlota o Cuba,Malcolm X, Marx, Luxemburg, Lenin, androtsky championed sel deense o the op-pressed. Yet in your revolutionary socialistpresidential campaign, you reuse to raisethe backbone o the revolutionary workersprogram, the arming and sel deense o ourclass and the oppressed. You sound likethe liberal CopWatchers and the Van Jonesollowers, not like revolutionaries. Revo-lutionaries run or president to advancethe program o the proletariat, but you ad-

 vance the program o the petty bourgeoisie.

•DOWN WITH PHONY POLICE

REVIEW COMMISSIONS!•FOR LABOR TO LAUNCH POLITICAL

SRIKES AGAINS RACIS COP AND

VIGILANE MURDER!•FORM UP MULTI RACIAL SELF

DEFENSE GUARDS IN EVERY UNIONHALL O END HE RACIS ERROR !

We urge you to change your campaign pro-gram to reect the act that policing underthe rule o capitalism will always be brutal,even with police review commissions andYouube and streaming video o every bloody murder! Make your participation inthe Sean Gillis case political. Bring his case

(cont.pg.15)

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(Open Letter to FSP Campaign)

to the unions you have inuencein and then to the Labor Council.Bring the program o workingclass sel deense to the oppressedand the working class and we willconsider supporting your camp-aign on that bold step towardrevolutionary Marxism alone!

Te FSP position o "vote your conscience"on Governor Jerry Brown's proposition 30reects an opportunist capitulation to thereormist milieu in the teachers unionswhose pragmatic outlook can not conceiveo a proletarian solution. O course the La-bor Notes olks and Solidarity totally capit-ulate but that, is to be expected. When eventhe petty bourgeois NOW can see Prop 30or the attack on the poor and workingclass that it is, the FSP should draw the line

and aim their proletarian critique at Prop 30.

Prop 30 is the last vestige o the “tax therich” campaigns which the reormistsused to deuse Occupy and direct work-ing class action. Brown out-maneuveredthe reormists aer the "millionaires tax"was edged out o the way. Te remain-ing pole o attraction or the reormistle is this bitter deal putting responsi-bility or education and incarcerationon the working poor via regressive tax-ation, and the FSP tells workers to be

Nebbish-like to ‘be pragmatic-ignore the

 Nebbish

dialectic-vote your conscience.’ Tey do not go to the working class andwarn o the arce o the election and

that Prop 30 will not save your schools.

Te FSP campaign should be explain-ing that to win unding or schools wehave to attack the ruling class prot tak-ers by building a general strike movementto shut them down! Alongside the ghtor labor action we must oppose all taxesthat put the burden o the austerity on theworking class. Giving in, ever so slightly to the illusions in equitable governmentpushed by the backers o Prop 30 is to

Youth in Louisiana ght School to Prison Pipeline

concede that the crisis is the responsibility  o the working class and that we should pay or it. You do not warn the working class o the arce o the election and show that Prop 30 will not save our schools. 

Prop 30 creates a permanent man-date without unding source or$6.2 billion to “Public Saety.”When politicians talk about public sae-ty it is a euphemism or the armed body 

o the state and social control. Work-ing class militants must draw the line.

Deeat the school to prison pipeline!No Regressive axes! Deeat measuresthat support the armed bodies o thestate under the guise o “Public Saety.”

Election Boycott and Ultra-Leftism

 “Criticism -- the most keen, ruthless and 

uncompromising criticism—should be di-

rected, not against parliamentarianism or 

 parliamentary activities, but against thoseleaders who are unable—and still more

against those who are unwilling -- to uti-

lize parliamentary elections and the par-

liamentary rostrum in a revolutionary and 

communist manner.” – Lenin, Left-Wing 

Communism: an Infantile Disorder (1920)

 One o the popular orms o protest againstthe 2012 United States election circus thathas caught on has been the election boycottmovement. Originally started on Facebook as “Boycott the 2012 Presidential Election,”

this movement has spawned voter registra-tion card burnings and calls to boycott allelections, period. Initiated by leist erriLee and driven by the writings o liberal“election integrity activist” Mark E. Smith,this action has been endorsed by many Facebook and online activists including the“Proletarian Center,” and o course by anar-chist-types. Te boycott is certainly tappinginto disillusionment with the system and is

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a breath o resh airwhen compared to the

rabid DemocraticParty politicos. But as

ar as raising class-consciousness orghting against

capitalism, it doesn’t

lead anywhere.Lenin dissected ultra-leism 90 years agoin Le-Wing Communism: an InantileDisorder. Tis boycott movement is notMarxist it is not even Le. It lacks a politi-cal program and is based on populist out-rage. Te politics o the boycott movementrange rom mentioning class struggle tohyper-linking to a Libertarian/Objectivist-website rom the ocial Boycott website.Tis is about as ar rom ghting or a justsociety as one can get, as the Ayn RandObjectivists stand or unettered capitalist

exploitation and gutting even the minimalsocial saety net that exists. For his part,Mark E. Smith distorts both the CubanRevolution and the South Arican struggleagainst Apartheid by trying to argue thatelection boycotts were a driving orce be-hind these. He ignores the act that Castrohad broad support and that the Cuban rev-olutionaries militarily deeated the Batistaorces. South Arica had a very militantand politically conscious Black workingclass that was engaged in class struggleagainst the white Apartheid regime. Ironi-

cally the capitalist ANC that Mark E. Smithcites recently massacred miners at Marika-na. Tere is no real struggle as ar as Mark E. Smith is concerned, though. On theCarson Show radio program he told theboycotters not to protest on Election Day but to stay at home.

Te boycott movement paints the Americanpolitical system as corrupted and the electionsas a arce. So this is new insight? Te Ameri-can political system was created or the risingbourgeoisie (mercantile class) and the planta-

tion Slavocracy. From the earliest beginningsthrough chattel slavery to the robber barons tomurderous 20th century American imperial-ism, it has always represented the class rule o the bourgeoisie. Tere can be no real democrat-ic system until the working class takes powerand abolishes capitalism and institutes workersdemocracy through workers councils. It is thisdictatorship o capital that the boycott move-ment disguises. What is needed is not to reormthe electoral system or pressure the Democrat-ic Party to the le, but to organize the working

class or a struggle against the capitalist system.

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THE STRUGGLE FOR REGROUPMENT 

Letter o Aug 20 2012Dear Comrades o the RCIL,

Tanks or your reply to our latest letter[29 June 2012] on our historic dierenc-es and methods. It is good to nally get aserious response to what has always beena condition o developing our relation-ship – resolving our historic dierences.

You will remember that right rom theoutset we stipulated that hand in handwith practical collaboration on draingdocuments to test out our agreement onimportant current questions, we said weneeded to open a serious discussion o our historic dierences. We made it clearthat we could not proceed towards usiontalks until these dierences had been re-solved. Our insistence on this was toavoid what happened in 1991 when the

R was bureaucratically excluded romthe LRCI or reusing to say that its dier-ences over the ‘united ront’ with Yeltsinwas a ‘tactical’ rather than a principleddierence. It was a principled dierencethen, and remains so today. Te samehappened with the Proletarian Factionand the POP and POB in 1995 when theLRCI regarded the question o NAObombing in Bosnia as a ‘tactical’ dier-ence, while we insisted it was principled.

Tus our most recent letter was the third

since September 2011 that spelled out ourhistoric dierences. Te rst on [Mon-day, September 19, 2011] summarizedthese. Te second [uesday, November22, 2011] repeated this summary with abibliography o key documents. Te mostrecent went urther and acilitated yourresponse by quoting large sections romsome o these documents to make spe-cic our critique o the LRCI/LFI pro-gram between 1989 and 1999. We havecompiled the exchange o letters on thissubject in an Appendix as a separate le.

We also replied twice to your propos-als that we orm a Liaison Committee orBloc (ollowing the Bloc o Four). Te rstletter [Monday September 19, 2011] ex-plained that we rejected a Liaison Com-mittee because both the HWRS and CWGhad our relations bureaucratically brokenby the LRCI and we wanted to revisit thishistory beore agreeing to a LC with you.

Tis history is explained in detail in theR’s document “In Deense o rotsky-ism” (IDO).

Te second letter [October 14, 2011] ex-plained why a Bloc with you modeled onthe Bloc o Four was not possible since wehad principled dierences on the uncondi-tional deense o workers states. We didn’t

reply to your last letter asking us to explainyet again our approach to usion, thoughwe were draing a short letter restating ourobjections and inormed you o this act,but or some reason that letter was not sent.

So you can see comrades that we havebeen upront about our view o our rela-tions rom the start and ullled our sideo this inormal arrangement that resultedin the writing o two documents (on Lib-ya and China) with RCIL collaboration,and amending and endorsing another on

Greece written by the RCI. Furthermore,we have reproduced a number o otherRCIL statements such as that on the UKyouth uprising and the more recent state-ments on the Greek elections. And at thesame time we have tried to or nearly a yearto get you to engage seriously on our histor-ical dierences. So there is no lack o coop-eration and willingness to collaborate withthe RCIL, as the recent letter rom the RWGalso testies (item 11 in the Appendix).

Liaison Committee of Communists

In replying to your letter o July 29 to theCWG we will respond as the Liaison Com-mittee o Communists. Internal problemsin the HWRS, compounded by the geo-graphic isolation o our three groups haveheld back progress in putting our LiaisonCommittee on a stronger ooting. Now that the HRWS has undergone a split, ourthree groups, RWG (ZIM), CWG (USA)and CWG (A/NZ) are committed to over-coming barriers to communication andto work towards more active collabora-tion. We see our common developmenttowards a democratic centralist currentwhich must aim or regroupment to orma new communist international. Tat iswhy we are very serious about continuingto discuss and resolve our dierences withthe RCI, to try to move towards usion.

However, as we will explain, though ourdierences are now being seriously debated

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and possibly narrowed, a big dierenceremains. For rotsky the unconditionaldeense o the workers states became themost important question acing the FourthInternational approaching the Second Im-perialist War. Bourgeois democratic rights,including the right to sel-determinationwere clearly subordinated to deense o workers’ property. We pointed out that

in the second letter on the Bloc o Fourrotsky reused to bloc with those whodid not unconditionally deend the USSR as a Degenerated Workers State. Tatis the substance o the main dierencewe have with you and the subject o ourmost recent letter. For us, resolving thisdierence is a precondition or urthersteps towards usion. Meanwhile, whilethis discussion continues we will or ourpart continue to develop the collaborativerelationship we have had in the last year.

In this letter we will not reply to all thequestions raised in your letter but try toconcentrate the discussion on the key principled dierences. We will also leaveopen the wider questions as to the mate-rial bases o these dierences as they havebeen stated orceully by both sides al-ready. We will avoid large quotations andocus on a ew key documents. Te rst o these is In Deence o rotskyism whichcovers the LCC position on deense o the workers states as well as the way thesewere handled by the LRCI. Te second

is the R Bosnia pamphlet (especial-ly Part 3, p. 55-75) that presents the LCCposition on the Yugoslav war up to 1997.Te third is the CEMICOR document onthe Albanian-Serbian Question whichdeals with the ‘99 NAO/Serbian war overKosovo. We hope that these documentswill clariy any misunderstandings aboutour respective positions, so we can seeprecisely what dierences actually exist.

Unconditional defence of Degenerate

Workers States

When we (R and CLNZ at the time)rst entered into raternal relations withthe LRCI we did so in broad agreementwith its program, specically the docu-ment that signied the MRCI’s adoptingo orthodox rotskyism on the workersstates, “Te Degenerated Revolution,“ andthe subsequent “rotskyist Maniesto.”rotsky would have no problem block-ing with the MRCI/LRCI on the basis

(cont .pg. 17)

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(Regroupment cont from pg. 16)

on the basis o this program sinceit clearly stood or the uncon-ditional deense o the DWSs.“Whenever the bureaucracy is forced to

 ght against the bourgeoisie, genuine

revolutionaries, if they are not able to

immediately overthrow and replace the

Stalinist bureaucrats, must act together 

with them in a united front in order to de-

 fend the interests of the working class. In

 such struggles the Stalinists do not cease

to be a counter-revolutionary force. If 

their leadership is not broken in strug-

 gle then either the workers’ organisation

or state will suffer defeat, or it will be

defended or even extended, in a count-

er-revolutionary fashion.”(TDR, Chapter 8)

However, we think that rotsky wouldnot have agreed to the LRCI leadershipthen abandoning its program as ollows:

[1] In 1990 the LRCI blocked with a re-actionary nationalist restorationist gov-ernment in Lithuania. (See IDOT). WhileLithuania had the right to sel-determi-nation, this was not at the expense o po-litical revolution. o subordinate politicalrevolution to the right to sel-determina-tion is to put a condition on deense o theworkers states. Te LRCI changed its lineto support a restorationist popular rontbetween the Lithuanian national pro-res-torationist bureaucracy which was being

actively supported by imperialism, againstthe Russian occupying troops, thus subor-dinating the deense o workers property.Here the Russian Stalinist regime becamethe main enemy not the restorationist na-tionalists in a popular ront with impe-rialism. Te correct position in DR wasor Russian and Lithuanian workers torebuild revolutionary soviets and militiasand bloc militarily in deense o workersproperty against the national restoration-ists, appealing to the ranks o the Soviettroops to join them and build new sol-

diers soviets. Tis would to prove to Lith-uanian workers that political revolutionand a genuinely socialist USSR, and nota separate capitalist Lithuania aligned toimperialism, was in their class interests.

[2] Te LRCI also changed Te Degener-ated Revolution which called or a ban onall ‘restorationist’ parties, to a ban on only ‘ascist’ parties. Because workers had illu-sions in bourgeois parliament, restoration

and national sel-determination, the LRCIadapted to ‘public opinion’ to allow thebourgeois democratic right to orm politicalparties with open restorationist programs.Tus the LRCI was now calling on work-ers to support bourgeois democracy as theroad to political revolution, when it was ac-tually the road to social counter-revolution.

[3] Tese changes prepared the ground orthe popular ront with Yeltsin in August1991. Yeltsin was an open ‘ast track’ resto-rationist clearly allied to imperialism. Likemost o the E. European Stalinist regimes,he sought to restore capitalism by means o bourgeois parliament. Te LRCI changedDR. Rather than ght the restoration-ists, and bloc with any bureaucratic actiondeending workers property, the LRCI de-ended the open restorationist Yeltsin in apopular ront with imperialism against theStalinist hardliners who wanted to slow 

down the restoration process by suppress-ing bourgeois democracy. Te result wasthat Yeltsin won and immediately set aboutattacking workers rights, banning the CP,dissolving the USSR and eventually usingtanks to shell parliament to impose therapid ‘shock therapy’ International Mone-tary Fund (IMF) plan or restoration. Tisis what we reer to as Yeltsin’s ‘counter coup’.

Te original DR position was correct.No united ront with restorationists (astor slow track) was possible. Workers must

oppose restorationists by rebuilding in-dependent soviets and workers militiasagainst both tanks and parliament. Terewas no essential dierence between Yeltsinand the hardliners. But in terms o work-ers advancing the political revolutionYeltsin was the main enemy. Yeltsin usedthe restorationist parliamentary popularront with the IMF and imperialism toexploit workers illusions in bourgeois de-mocracy and to disarm them in the aceo the destruction o the workers state.

[4] In 1995 in the Bosnian war the LRCIcalled or dual deeatism o NAO andSerbia when it considered that Serbiawas still a ‘moribund workers state’. Notto call or a victory to Serbia is a clearrejection o unconditional deense o aDWS. Even i Serbia was a restored cap-italist semi-colony we would have to callor victory against NAO. Te LRCI jus-tication or this break with uncondition-al deense was that Serbia was engaged

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in ethnic cleansing o Bosnian Muslims.Worse, the LRCI called on imperialism to“send heavy artillery, tanks and planes tothe Bosnian army” and “tanks and heavy artillery, and yes i possible planes andScud missiles” and even “international vol-unteers” to support their Bosnian proxies.

Te LRCI slogan to deeat NAO is there-

ore pure centrist rhetoric while also ailingto stop imperialism’s arming o Bosnianand Croatian proxy regimes in its war withSerbia. Even i Serbia was not a DWS, toput an equal sign on NAO and Serbia is tosuppress the Leninist distinction betweenoppressor and oppressed states. As theR document on Bosnia argues, whileworkers have to deend those being ethni-cally cleansed on all sides, the main char-acter o the war by 1994 was that betweenimperialist NAO and Serbia as a DWSundergoing capitalist restoration. We had

to call unconditionally or the deense o Serbia, while at the same time mobilizingSerbian and other ethnic workers militiasto overthrow their nationalist restoration-ist bourgeoisies in league with imperialism.

[5] In 1999 in the NAO/Serbian war, againthe LRCI had an eective dual deeatismbecause while it argued or the deense o Serbia it didn’t call or armed workers todeend Serbia against NAO bombing. In-stead it said that it would not deend Serbiarom NAO where it was ethnically cleans-

ing Kosovars. Tus the LRCI said: “Never-theless, in the massive bombing by NAOair orces, revolutionaries deended Serbia/Montenegro against imperialist attack. Tisdid not include, however, any concessionto Serbian chauvinism - its oppression o Kosova, or its denial o the Kosovars’ rightto sel-determination.” Tus the deense o Serbia (still as a ‘moribund workers state’or the LRCI) rom NAO was subordinat-ed to the bourgeois democratic rights o anindependent Kosovar ‘Workers’ Republic’.While the Kosovars were nationally op-pressed, support or their right to indepen-dence against Serbia was an obligation tobe taken up by Serbian workers blockingwith Kosovar workers against the Serbiannationalists, against NAO interventionand or the political revolution. Insteado calling or a political revolution by armed workers against the Serbian Stalin-ist regime, in a bloc with Kosova Muslimworkers, to settle the national questionwithin a Socialist Federation, the LRCI

(cont.pg.18)

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subordinated unconditional deense o aworkers state to a popular ront betweenthe restorationist KLA and imperialism.

What does this failure to defend work-

ers property unconditionally have to do

with the LCC/RCIT current political

positions on Libya?

Te RCI claims that the LRCI/LFI meth-

od on restoration in the DWSs is consistentwith its position in Libya today, and it is theLCC position that has changed. But the un-conditional deense o workers states is notpart o the program o the bourgeois dem-ocratic revolution in an oppressed capitaliststate. It is part o the political revolution ina post-capitalist state. Te LRCI called ordual deeatism in wars between imperial-ism and DWSs, subordinating the deenseo a workers state to the bourgeois demo-cratic program o the ‘democratic count-er-revolution’. Dual deeatism between

NAO and Serbia can only mean that theStalinist dictatorship and not imperialismwas the main enemy. Te Marxist pro-gram or national sel-determination in acounterrevolutionary breakup o DWSsin E. Europe, the USSR and Yugoslavia, isthat the bourgeois democratic right to sel determination o oppressed nationalitiesis subordinated to the political revolution.In 1995-1999 when the ex-Yugoslav DWSswere in the process o capitalist restoration,we were or the deeat o NAO, the de-ence o Serbia, or a multi-ethnic Bosnia,

and or the right to sel-determinationo Kosovo as a socialist republic within aederation o Yugoslav socialist republics.

Libya is a semi-colony acing a global cri-sis o capitalism. It is an oppressed nationand has to be deended against imperial-ism, the main enemy. Our position on Lib-ya shows that despite the complication o the NAO bombing (which we opposed,)or the national democratic revolution tobecome permanent, it has to proceed onthree ronts: against the incumbent nation-al Gadda regime, against the preerredimperialist replacement regime the NC,and against the direct intervention o im-perialism. We do not call or dual deeat-ism. Imperialism is the main enemy whileGadda is the immediate enemy o therevolution. In this situation, imperialismis never called on by revolutionaries to in-tervene in a civil war or in a war o nation-al independence, because it is always themain enemy. On the other hand, in somesituations, revolutionaries can reuse to

stop aid by imperialism when it is calledor by a national liberation movement,as rotsky explains in ‘Learn to Tink’.

How does Trotsky’s ‘Learn to Think’

relate to this?

rotsky argues against the anti-imperialistswho deny the right o national democraticmovements to make use o inter-imperialist

rivalry to get material aid in their struggleagainst imperialism. Tis does not meanor a second that imperialism ceases to bethe main enemy, and we never stop ghtingto deend the oppressed country and deeatimperialism. At the same time, i a nationalliberation struggle calls or imperialist aid,which o course would only be oered toadvance the interests o one imperialismagainst another, workers in those countriesoering aid would not stop that aid, nor stoptrying to deeat that imperialism at home.We do not call for it, we warn against

the imperialist interests tied to aid, butwe do not stop it if it aids the revolution.

Tose who signed the joint statement onLibya called or the deeat o imperialismand the victory o Libya. In the absenceo proletarian aid the NC demanded alimited NAO intervention. It did so inits own interests to help remove the re-gime. None o us were in the position tostop the NAO bombing and had we beenable to do so we would probably also havebeen able to arm the revolution ourselves.

Even so, had we made a decision to notstop imperialist aid to the insurrection, wewould certainly not have demanded it, andwe would certainly have warned against it.

Conclusion

In the early 1990s the LRCI made a ma- jor right-turn under pressure o capitalistrestoration o the DWSs and imposed acondition on their deense – the politicalrevolution must be subordinated to bour-geois democratic rights which included the

right to orm restorationist parties clearly linked to imperialism. Bourgeois democ-racy however, was the principle method by which ‘ast track’ restoration was imposedin Eastern Europe and the USSR. Tosewho warned against this right-turn saidthat this would represent a restorationistpopular ront with imperialism – the ‘dem-ocratic counter-revolution’. Tey were bu-reaucratically expelled rom the LRCI. Sowe think that the LRCI at that point was abureaucratic centralist organization and

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that it subsequently has not overcome thabureaucratization. While the comrades othe RCI broke to the le rom the LFIover undamental questions o class ori-entation and the period, the LCC cannotmove towards usion with the RCI untithat organization recognizes the materiabasis o the LRCI’s right-turn away romunconditional deense o DWSs to a resto

rationist popular ront with imperialismDave Brown orLiaison Committee o Communists

Correspondence

We completely DISAGREE with support toSyriza...critical or otherwise. Tere is another smaller coalition which is less sociademocratic, but we would oppose electorasupport to that coalition as well. O course,i we had Greek comrades who elt they hadto carry out a temporary entry tactic, they

might be orced to give electoral supportWe believe Greece is in a pre-revolution-ary situation. Tat is, electoral support toelectoral “Le” parties can apply to situations where there is no immediate possibility o revolutionary change. In 1968 inFrance, the C.P. succeeded in diverting themovement into an election. I believe thesituation in Greece is similar. When thestruggle is in the streets and actories, elec-tions change the ocus o the struggle andallow the middle class to line up with thebourgeoisie. Tere is no immediate danger to the electoral ranchise in Greece asyou suggest.. though a coup is now morethan likely. But we don’t ght againscoups by exercising “our right to vote.”In a pre-revolutionary situation, we pro-pose armed sel-deense, actory occupations, soviets....but Voting? Huh?Also we note in other articles you em-phasize the need or General Strikesand Nationalizations....BU I don’t seeany mention o Soviets, Workers Coun-cils, Cordones Industriales, Peoples

Assemblies. (Did I miss something?Tere seems to be no transition rom theGeneral Strike (called by who?) and thetaking o power in your documents. Fous the transition to DUAL POWER is key..I was in a one day General Strike last yearin Spain called by the unions...great spirit but the union bureaucracy just used itto work o the rustration workers eelTe question o the General Strike has tostudied...or it is just a slogan at the bottom

 (cont.pg.19

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leaets.Our immediate task is to EXPOSE the lack o democracy within capitalism. I don''tbelieve Peace and Freedom is doing that by pretending to run candidates,.... while thebourgeoisie pretends to count the votes.Earl Gilman CWG responds

We direct the readers' attention to the let-ter rom Earl Gilman, English languagespokesperson or the El Nuevo opo ten-dency. We are riendly with these thought-ul olks and have crossed each other's pathsnumerous times in political struggles overthe years. Earl does not agree with our tac-tic o this past June in recommending a voteo critical support to SYRIZA in the Greek elections. o be air, we think what he knew about our position was not much morethan the revelation o it, the act o it. But

his objection was chiey that a pre-revolu-tionary situation is not the time or givingany kind o support to elections or postsor presidents. We thought this was curioussince he also said that depending on the realsituation on the ground in Greece he mightavor entry into ANSARA by worker revo-lutionaries. Ten he spoke o the P&FP andother le tendencies' electoral campaignsand said "...they pretend to run and thebourgeoisie pretends to count the votes...."Let's address each o these thoughts. 

We look at the touchstone or us, the ex-perience o the Bolsheviks in the Russianrevolution, and we note that wheneverthey were a legal organization and evensometimes when they weren't yet re-le-galized, the Bolsheviks ran or oces inthe questionably real Dumas and oth-er bodies. Ten as late as the all o 1917,i.e., aer the worker and soldier ranks-claim to be ghting to organize a masshad aced down the Kornilov rising, theBolsheviks ran in and won(!) the ma-

 jor city mayoral elections. What this tellsus is that these elections mattered in theminds o important sections o the work-ing class. Tis was how matters stood, inour view, in the Greek elections o thispast June. We gave a highly critical sup-port to SYRIZA with great reluctance, ex-actly because they are no Bolsheviks. Butthe workers see them as their party nowa-days. Tey are a contradictory amalgam o tendencies, only the largest o which is

sipras' SYNAPISMOS, which was already tacking to the right as we wrote our piece(and as we warned.) At the same time,orces in SYRIZA were organizing andhaving some success generalizing Pop-ular Assemblies. As good as that was wedid not see them organizing these bodiesin the workplaces, nor did we see themorganizing workers' militias to ght the

ascists, the Golden Dawn party. We saidwe will walk with you through these poll-ing places and vote or SYRIZA and bethere with you through every kind o ex-perience, but what you really need to bedoing now is organizing workers coun-cils and militias or working class sel-de-ence and the deence o the minorities. We deend the right to vote and don't sneerat it like the ultrales and Anarchists do.We see this right as a species-being right,completely apart conceptually rom the

"citizen" right that the bourgeoisie some-times invests with sentimental content andspends the rest o the time emptying o any social importance. Tis right is underattack right now, with the A.L.E.C. corpo-ratists leading the mass disenrachisemento the oppressed. Tey imagine a ascismon-the-cheap, without the superstate andthe taxes to pay or it; a bourgeois pipedream i there ever was one(!) In this con-text we generally support a vote or the le(yes, however small,) and point to how rotsky even wanted the SWP to call or

a vote or the CP, i.e., or Earl Browder in1940. Just at that moment the CP was ght-ing against the coming war and against JimCrow. What WE did not do was make anendorsement because each o the "social-ist" campaigns have disappointed us on thescore o making their electoralism serveimportant struggles. We asked them, wewaited and then we told them. We had wor-ried that you may have an anti-labor party position re the U.S., and don't know whereyou come down on the question. MostLatin American groups we converse withoppose our position in avor o a ghtingworkers labor party. Like Max Schachtmanthey say they can't imagine how it wouldnot be a reormist party, citing the LulaP experience and completely missing thepoint o rotsky's reply to Schachtman. We cannot speak to the possibilities or ad-

 vantageousness o the ANSARA entry ideawith any authoritative knowledge, but we

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can see how this would be a practical possibility and not a sel-delusion like the I.M..'sdeep entryism in the P.S.U.V. Tey claimto be ghting to be organizing a masrevolutionary workers party rom within a campaign or "proundisacion" o theChavez "Bolivarian Revolution," and --nosurprise!-- they call or a vote or Chavez

So we were very glad to see that you neitherare taken in by "21st Century Socialismnor do you seem to think anything can anylonger be accomplished in the P.S.U.V. It isgood to see that the electoral tool is indeedin your "rollaway" and that you are not re-luctant to reach or it. We would be gladto know more about the worker militantcandidate you are endorsing in Venezuelaand think it likely that we would do so too(ed. note: Comrade Gilman appears to

have not read the article where we ex-

 plained the need for building workers

assemblies & workers militia in GreeceWe supply this link  http://cwgusa.wordpress

com/2012/07/11/hwrs-on-the-greek-elections-

may-312012/  Our call for general strike nev-

er stands alone like the IWW, rather as in

this material we developed when we were

in the HWRS  http://www.humanistsforrevolution

arysocialism.org/Current_Articles/Dec12Ports_cov-

er.htm we build a bridge for the working

class between the present struggles and

the program of the socialist revolution.)

 Comradely, or the CWG, Dan McNamara

(cont. from pg. 20)

Harare Zimbabwe

WORKING PEOPLE`SCONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

As the RWG we call on all the dele-gates to this convention to ght or aCONGRESS OF WORKERS DELE-

GAES AND HE POOR as the onlyplatorm to conquer the demands othe workers and the poor. For this wemust start to organise rom our dier-ent sectors and organisations to mo-bilise them or the struggle against the vicious attack on the workers and poor

Issued by the RWG([email protected])

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What we Fight For

We ght to overthrow Capitalism

Historically, capitalism expanded world-wide to ree much o humanity rom thebonds o eudal or tribal society, and de-

 veloped the economy, society and cultureto a new higher level. But it could only dothis by exploiting the labor o the produc-

tive classes to make its prots. o survive,capitalism became increasingly destruc-tive o "nature" and humanity. In the early 20th century it entered the epoch o im-perialism in which successive crises un-leashed wars, revolutions and counter-rev-olutions. oday we ght to end capitalism’swars, amine, oppression and injustice,by mobilizing workers to overthrow theirown ruling classes and bring to an endthe rotten, exploitative and oppressivesociety that has exceeded its use-by date.

We ght for Socialism. 

By the 20th century, capitalism had cre-ated the pre-conditions or socialism –aworld-wide working class and modernindustry capable o meeting all our basicneeds. Te potential to eliminate pover-ty, starvation, disease and war has longexisted. Te October Revolution provedthis to be true, bringing peace, bread andland to millions. But it became the victimo the combined assault o imperialismand Stalinism. Aer 1924 the USSR, along

with its deormed ospring in Europe,degenerated back towards capitalism. Inthe absence o a workers political revo-lution, capitalism was restored between1990 and 1992. Vietnam and China thenollowed. In the 21sst century only Cubaand North Korea survive as degenerateworkers states. We unconditionally deendthese states against capitalism and ghtor political revolution to overthrow thebureaucracy as part o world socialism. 

We ght to defend Marxism 

While the economic conditions or so-cialism exist today, standing between theworking class and socialism are political,social and cultural barriers. Tey are thecapitalist state and bourgeois ideology and its agents. Tese agents claim thatMarxism is dead and capitalism need notbe exploitative. We say that Marxism is aliving science that explains both capital-ism’s continued exploitation and its at-tempts to hide class exploitation behindthe appearance o individual "reedom"

and "equality". It reveals how and why the reormist, Stalinist and centrist mis-leaders o the working class tie workersto bourgeois ideas o nationalism, rac-ism, sexism and equality. Such alse be-lies will be exploded when the struggleagainst the inequality, injustice, anarchy and barbarism o capitalism in crisis, ledby a revolutionary Marxist party, produc-

es a revolutionary class-consciousness.

We ght for a Revolutionary Party

Te bourgeois and its agents condemn theMarxist party as totalitarian. We say thatwithout a democratic and a centrally orga-nized party there can be no revolution. Webase our belies on the revolutionary tradi-tion o Bolshevism and rotskyism. Such aparty, armed with a transitional program,orms a bridge that joins the daily ght todeend all the past and present gains wonrom capitalism, to the victorious socialist

revolution. Deensive struggles or bour-geois rights and reedoms, or decent wag-es and conditions, will link up the strug-gles o workers o all nationalities, genders,ethnicities and sexual orientations, bring-ing about movements or workers control,political strikes and the arming o theworking class, as necessary steps to work-ers' power and the smashing o the bour-geois state. Along the way, workers willlearn that each new step is one o many ina long march to revolutionize every barrierput in the path to the victorious revolution.

We ght for Communism.

 Communism stands or the creation o aclassless, stateless society beyond social-ism that is capable o meeting all humanneeds. Against the ruling class lies thatcapitalism can be made "air" or all; thatnature can be "conserved"; that socialismand communism are "dead"; we raise thered ag o communism to keep alive therevolutionary tradition o the' CommunistManiesto o 1848, the Bolshevik-led Oc-

tober Revolution; the Tird CommunistInternational until 1924, the revolutionary Fourth International up to 1940 beore itscollapse into centrism. We ght to build anew Communist International, as a worldparty o socialism capable o leading work-ers to a victorious struggle or socialism.

o subscribe write us [email protected]

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Harare Zimbabwe

WORKING PEOPLE`S

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

October 13th a working peoples con-

stitutional convention is convened

in which the ZANU PF ofcial CO-

PAC proposed constitution which

enshrines the bourgeois develop-

mental model based on the Chinese‘Market Socialism’ will be chal-

lenged by working class militants.

The proposed constitution states all

“State and institutions and agen-

cies of government at every lev-

el must endeavor to facilitate rap-

id and equitable development, and 

in particular must take measures to

 promote private initiative and self-re-

liance;...” rmly enshrining the

state’s favoring of private enterpriseas the motor force of development.

(Statement below distributed by the Revolutionary

Workers Group , Zimbabwe)

REJECT THE ANTI-POOR COPAC

DRAFT WRITTEN BY IMPERIALISM

AND THEIR AGENTS!!

FIGHT FOR A CONGRESS OF WORK-

ERS DELEGATES INCLUDING THE

ORDINARY POOR!!

Te Revolutionary Workers Group(RWG) welcomes all delegates to this

historic meeting in the context o aglobal assault on the living conditionso the workers and the ordinary poor.Te Copac dra or the Kariba dra 2continues the attack on the workersand the ordinary poor albeit in a sub-tle manner. Te demands by workers,residents, inormal traders, students,youth, women and the sick who arethe majority o the people were le outand this is not suprising. Te nal drawas written by the three parties and the

imperialists represented by the UNDP.Te whole process has proved to bea grand trick to dupe the ordinary people into supporting a capitalistdocument. Te orthcoming all stake-holders’ conerence will not changeanything, as it will only be a sym-bolic talk shop and even parliamentworking under the instructions or thethree parties will not change anything.

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