Workers Vanguard 2010 Vol 41 #949-970

2010·31.1 MB·English

by  Spartacist Publishing Company

6
MHCMUP
mUHeHS
Volume
No. 41
January to 3 December 2010
1
(Issues Nos. 949-970)
Published by: Spartacist Publishing Co.
Box 377 GPO, New York, NY 01
1 1 1
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2016 with funding from
in
Prometheus Research Library
https://archive.org/details/workersvanguard41spar
—
WOKkeHS VAHCQARP
No. 949 1 Janua
Afghanistan
Obama Escalates Occupation, As Promised
Now!
U.S./NAT0 Troops Out
All
On December 1 at West Point. Presi- his acceptance speech. Obama invoked state for their work toward developing gram of massive military and financial
dent Barack Obama announced a further the virtuesofa“justwar" in defenseofa nuclear capability in defiance of imperi- supporttothefundamentalistmujahedin
escalation ofthe U.S./NATO occupation barbaric occupation that has resulted in alist threats and sanctions. cutthroats in Afghanistan who killed
ofAfghanistan through the mobilization thedeathsofuntoldthousandsofAfghans The Nobel Peace Prize itselfdoesnot Soviet troops fighting on the side of
of30,000U.S. troops at “the fastest pos- andthepoundingofvillages throughaer- have any history of nobility. Past U.S. the modernizing nationalist People's
sible pace.” No one could miss the irony ial bombardment. Obama also look the recipients includeVietnamWarcriminal Democratic PartyofAfghanistan(PDPA)
when,ninedayslaterinOslo.Norway,he occasion to rattle sabers atcapitalist Iran Henry KissingerandJimmyCarter, who regime. The mujahedin forces, who
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In and the North Korean deformed workers in 1978 directed theCIA tobegin apro- continuedonpage 2
South Africa
Fight for a Black-Centered
Workers Government!
We reprint thefollowing articlefrom the Congress of the People (C.O.P.E.).
Spartacist South Africa No. 6 (Summer who split from theANC to the right after
2009/2010). new.'ipaperoftheSouthAfri- Mbeki was ousted as president last year.
can section ofthe International Commu- But as we wrote in Workers Vanguard
nist League (Fourth Internationalist). No. 933 (27 March 2009), newspaper of
TheAfrican National Congress (ANC) the Spartacist LeagueAJ.S.: “Despite the
wasted no time after sweeping the April ANC’s ‘pro-worker’ and ‘pro-poor’ rhet-
parliamentary elections to demonstrate oric, the ANC and —C.O.P.E. are both
that the new government under Jacob bourgeois-nationalist i.e., capitalist
Zuma would crack down on strikes and parties”that“representthe interestsofthe
township protests. The day afterthe elec- aspiring black bourgeoisie and the pre-
tions. military personnel were called on dominantly white capitalist ruling class.”
to break a strike by doctors demanding At the core of the recent spate of
overdue pay hikesand more fundsforthe strikes and protests is theexplosive anger
overburdened, hellish public health sys- at the base of society over the failure of
tem. Municipal workers who struck this the Tripartite Alliance, after 15 years in
winter for a rise in their paltry wages power, to fulfill expectations of social
were attacked by cops firing rubber bul- and ecdtiomic equality for the majority.
letsandthrowninjail. Protestersthrough- Township protesters complain that they
out the country demanding houses, roads voted for a better life but what they have
and sewage systems for their impover- EPA is getting worse. Striking postal workers
ished townships have met with similar Striking construction workers march in Johannesburg outside Soccer City demanded the closing of the apartheid
treatment. stadium, 8 July 2009. wage gap. Adding to longstanding mass
Likethe“neoliberal”ThaboMbeki and unemployment, the world recession has
Nelson Mandela before him. the populist Communist League (Fourth Internation- and COSATU bureaucracy worked over- thrown hundreds of thousands more out
Zumaisdoi—nghisjobaschiefofthecapi- alist). declared that no party in the April time togetout the vote fortheANC, tire- ofwork.
talist state an apparatus of organised elections represented the interests of the lessly portraying Zuma as a “friend” of A new study shows that the chasm
violence, based centrally on the police, working class and the poor, The SACP the workers as opposed to the leaders of continuedon page 7
military and prisons, that is wielded on
behalf of the filthy»rich ruling class
againsttheoverwhelminglyblack masses Break with the Bourgeois Tripartite Aliiance!
they exploit and oppress. This bourgeois
class dictatorship, which continues to
defend a system of white privilege, is
cloaked by the "non-racial democracy"
that was installed in 1994. when white-
supremacist apartheid rule was replaced
by a government led by the ANC and its
Tripartite Alliance partners, the South
African Communist Party (SACP) and
Congress ofSouth African Trade Unions
(COSATU).
As revolutionary Marxists, Spartacist
SouthAfrica, section ofthe International
Left: Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande with South African president Jacob Zuma (at right) at
7 COSATU national congress, 21 September 2009. Right: Police terror against protesters in Cape Town in July.
— — —
U
tionary Communist Party (RCP). which,
Afghanistan...
after spending years howling to “Drive
(continuedfrompage /) oruetadetrhse tBous"hfarceegirmeea.li"tyn"owaboluetctuOrbesamitas
threw acid in the faces of those who and "judge him by what he’s actually
dared teach schoolgirls to read, included doing, not his false narratives, his empty
those who wen—t on to found the Taliban promises, and his double-talk” (Revolu-
and A1 Qaeda Washington's Franken- tion online. 13 December 2009).
stein’s monster. Lying is what imperialist politicians
In jacking up U.S, forces in Afghani- do. Their whole system of "democracy"
.stan. Obama is doing exactly what he is based on the deception that the gov-
promised in his 2008 campaign. As we ernment .serves "the people." The fact,
wrote at the lime ofhis election, Afghan- as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
istan is "Obama's preferred theatre of explained more than 150 years ago, is
imperialistcarnage”(“Fight foraRevolu- that the bourgeois government serves as
tionary Workers Parly!” WV No. 924, 7 the executive committee for managing
November2008). Meanwhile, theslaugh- the affairs ofthe ruling class as a whole.
Reutersphotos —
terunderthe U.S. occupationofIraqcon- Above: Barack Obama with Nobel Bourgeois democracy paid for with the
tinues unabated. Upon assuming power. Peace Prize, Oslo, December 10. toil and blood ofmillions ofthe imperial-
Obama also stepped up bombing attacks Right: Villagers mourn victims of ists’ colonial and neocolonial victims
by pilotless drones in neighboring Pak- December 8 NATO attack in Armul, serves as a cover for the dictatorship
istan. Now, as Jeremy Scahill reports in Afghanistan. of the capitalist class over those they
"TheSecret US Warin Pakistan"(Nation. exploit and oppress.
23 November 2009), U.S. operations in rigged "election” that left him in office. Falling in line behind "democratic”
Pakistan include a secret program in Ascivilian deaths mount ever higherand imperialism, the bulkofthe reformist left
which a division of the infamous Black- detainees continue to be brutalized in the eagerly enrolled in the imperialists’ Cold
watermercenaryoutfit workingunderthe notorious Bagram prison, resistance to systemasawhole. Insofarasthe forceson War drive to destroy the Soviet degener-
Joint SpecialOperationsCommand plans the U.SyNATO occupiers is gathering the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan aim ated workers state. This included leading
“targetedassassinationsofsuspectedTali- strength. Obama agreed to his military theirblowsagainsttheimperialistoccupi- cheers for murderous, reactionary forces
ban andAl Qaedaoperatives, ‘snatch and commanders’ demand for more forces. ers. we call for their military defense like the Afghan mujahedin. To this day
grabs' of high-value targets and other However, the latest escalation has caused despiteourpolitical opposition toIslamic the RCP is quite proud of standing with
sensitive action inside and outside Pak- quivers particularly among Obama’s fel- fisumn.daWrenednteamlainsmdtahnedibmomuerdgieaoties, nuantcioonndail-- those who fought against the Soviet
bisotmanb.i"ngNortaiindgs stihneceesOcbaalmatai'osn ionfaudgruornae- rluolwinDgecmloacsrsa—tss,harreefdlebcytinUg.Sw.oralrliieess,isnotmhee tional withdrawal of all U.S. forces in APrDmPyA’,swihnitcehrvesnotuigohnt otno abmeehlailofraotfe tthhee
tion, Scahill writes, "The Obama admin- of which are threatening to pull out IraqandAfghanistan! HandsoffPakistan conditionsofwomen who weresubjected
iBsutsrhat-ieornahsatsrinkoeswisnurPpaakisssteadnt.h”e numberof tehnadtlesAsfgqhuaangimsitraen. iOsppboescitoimoinngtoatnhoethoce-r caanpditIarlains!t DruelfeernsdinNoWratshhiKnorgetao!nTwhheosraamien tiozetdhefobrrisdeeekpirnigceaanndedhuucratqiaona.ndNtoerrloers-s
The occupation of Afghanistan by cupation continues to grow in the U.S. death and destruction on the peoples of enthusiastic was the ISO. which went on
U.S,, British and other NATO forces, population, which has been battered by Iraq and Afghanistan have seized on the to hail the counterrevolutionary destruc-
with its attendant atrocities, has fueled the economic recession that has thrown recession to doleout hundreds ofbillions tionofthe SovietUnion itselfin 1991-92.
bpiltetse.rreWsaesnhtimnegnttona’msongqutihseliAnfgghaAnfgpheaon- milAlsiornesvooluuttoifontahreyirMjaorbxsisatns,dohuormessta.rting tuonitohnecbolnotoradcstusckwihniglebbaaniklsinganoduttothreipauutpo mytThhiecaRlC“tPhicrdonfcoorccet”e—d aunndnasmtielldc"lraeivmoslu-a
president, Hamid Karzai, is widely dis- pointisproletarianclassopposition tothe griualnetrss.aFtohrocmlea!ssFsotrruaggwleorakgearisnsptatrhteyUt.hSa.t tionary Maoists" (Revolution online. 13
credited. not least due to last year's U.S. rulers and the capitalist-imperialist December 2009). Bunk! There were two
fightsforsocialist revolution!
The liberal left cried "betrayal" over sSiodveisetinArthmeyciavnidl twhaerU.inS.A-fbgahcankiesdtIasnl:amtihce
Obama's West Point speech. But Obama
For the Dictatorship is loyally .serving the interests ofthe rul- rPeDacPtAionarreigeis,mewhtohsreearteebneeldliotnheagaUinSsStRt’hse
of the Proletariat! ingclass, which wantedafaceliftforU.S. southern flank. We Trotskyists took a
V.l. Lenin's classic 1917 work. The Slate imperialism aftereight yearsofthe inter- clear side, proclaiming: Hail Red Army!
nationally despised, wacky Bush regime.
anantdurReevoofluthteiosnt,atiesaandseimtsinhaisltoarniaclaylsidsevoeflotph-e Itwasso-called"socialists”whobetrayed tEixotnentdo Asofcgihaalngapienosploefs!OcWteobedrenRoeuvnocleud-
Ii ment as a centralized instrument offorce theworkingclassandoppressedby build- Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s with-
ing liberal "Anybody but Bush" antiwar —
A ia the hands ofthe dominant social class. coalitions and then hailing theelection of drawal of troops in 1988-89 an abject
Polemicizingagainstproponents ofthehour- Obama as a harbinger of "change." The capitulationto imperialism thatpaved the
geois model of parliamentary democracy, Workers World Party (WWP) proclaimed way for the final undoing of the Soviet
Lenin, writing on the eve of the October Obama’s election "a triumph for the workers state itself. For the RCP and
TROTSKY RteivoonlaurtyioMna,rxdirsemwatnhde olpinpeorbteuntiwsetenbetrreavyoallu.- LENIN Black masses and all the oppressed" MUanoiiosnttshatelwsaeswhtehree",maitinweansemyth.e”aSsoMviaeot
(Workers World. 20 November 2008).
d1r8o71wnPeadriisn Cbloomomd—unLeeI—nnivnwohkuiennndgetrthlheienPeardreivtsohileaunnteipcorenosalsreiyttaybrooifaltdpnrboerlsiesetfaloyrfihatenhlerdepvoolwuetironbeofvoerretbheroiwn-g wzahtiiloent(hIeSOI)nteenrtnhatuisoendalinSSoocciiaalliissttOWrograknei-r ZnSoeevsdieoenSttgaallienlaiirslatinecbreurdweeiactulhcarraeUcd.yS.wfhoiermgnpeedtrhiiteaslaCinhstmii.--
ing thebourgeois orderandsmashing the machineryofthe capitaliststate, replacing it (c2o1nviJnacneudarylar2g0e09n)u:mb"eOrbsamoaf’pseovpilcetoroyf (Begun by the RCP’s revered Mao, this
witMharaxw’osrckreirtsicsot-aatnea.lytical genius saw in the practical measures ofthe Commune the sgroemaet bsatsriucggsleenstiomfentthse aptastth—e htehaarttsoofmteh-e tDreenagchXeiraooupsinagl,liranecveilewdabsyctohnetRinCuPedasbya
ctourwnairndgi-cpeo,inbtecwahuisceh tthheeyopdpoorntoutniwstasntfetaorabnrdeadkoinrortevwoacnatbltyowrietchogtnhiesebobuercgaeuosiesioef,thaenidr twheindgodmiaftfetreernst."is possible, and that what "caTpihtealiIsStOroasdoecri.a’l’)democrats and RCP
wthheiychdothneotanuanrdcehrissttasnddoatnoaltlwtahentcotnodisetei,onesitohfergrbeeactasuosceiatlhcehyaanrgeesi.n "aWheurmruysotrnboetceavuesne libWerhaa!tliethteharteftohermwiasrtss,deoxpilsoiptraetaiocnhatnhde MthaeoidsetstsruccotnitornibouftetdhewUhSatSRthaeyndctohueldrest-o
think ofdestroying the old stale machine; how can we do without ministries and offi- oppression that are integral to the capital- toration of capitalism there. This was a
cials?” argues the opportunist, wfio is completely saturated with philistinism and who. ist system can be slopped by exerting world-historic defeat for the proletariat
at bottom, not only does not believe in revolution, in the creative power ofrevolution, pressure on the rulers to change course andtheoppressed internationally, includ-
but lives in mortal dread ofit (like our Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries).... "democracy" from below. Thus the ISO ingby removingwhatwasthe maincoun-
We, however, shall break with—the opportunists; and the entireclass-conscious prole- cosponsoredwith theSocialistAlternative terweighttothebloodyambitionsofU.S.
tariat will be with us in the fight not to "shift the balance offorces,” but to overthrow reformists a "Seattle Inauguration Day imperialism.Thecapitalist-imperialistsys-
the bourgeoisie, to destroy bourgeois parliamentarism, for a democratic republic after Celebration” that pathetically begged: tem will continue to wreak havoc and
the type ofthe Commune, ora republic ofSoviets ofWorkers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, "WeVoted Barack. NowGetOutofKabul death until it is overthrown through a
forthe revolutionary—dVi.ctIa.tLoernsihnip,oTfhethSetpartoeleatnardiaRte.volution (1917) aexnadctIlryaqw!h”atNohewprthoamtisOebdaomvaerhAafsghdaonnie- serAiessoopfpwoosrekdertso rtehveorluetfioornmsi.sts who lull
theworkersandoppressed withtheprom-
stan, the reformists have ditched their
pom-poms, forthe moment. Wringing its iseofcapitalismreformed, werevolution-
hands over the Afghanistan troop surge. ary Marxists reaffirm our fight to build a
t¥0RK£RS RRRCOARR y/orkers World(2 December2009) writes workers party modeled on Lenin and
that "the administration will have to rely Trotsky’sBolsheviks, whichledthework-
MarxistWorking-Class Biweekly ofthe Spartacist League ofthe U.S. most heavily on its vicious political ene- e1r9s17t.o pFoowrenreiwnOthcetoObcetrobReervoRleuvtoilountsi!onof
DIRECTOROFPARTYPUBLICATIONS; RayBishop mies within the ruling establishment,
EDITOR AlanWilde while alienating its strongest rank-and-
ECDIIRTCOURL.ATYIOOUNNMGASNPAAGRETRA:CSUuSsaPnAGFuElSlerElizabethJohnson fwiiltehsutphepowrotrerrsi.e"sTohfiCsoncgormepslsaiionntadlovDeetmaiol-s CORRECTION
EBPalDuaIlnTdOCioRnnIeeAH.LaMuBisOceAhraReD(ll;etDtBaeavrrsirseysdoiJtnao,rm)Ge,esBorr(umgcaeenFaAognsidtrenr6g,,eLdBiioztnoGnro)i,redFoBrnrao,ndgiWoeai,lslJeDoronJneBarnuunlie(n,pgrsHo.edluJecatnnieCoanKnemtroarrni.aggaEendr.)C,larkson. cerfaftesctsthaotf tthhee sruercgees,sicoonmabtinheodmew,itmhigthhte nalInPo"pSuwlianteioFnl"u(RWavVagNeos.A9b4o2r.igi-
JT(hFaoemuerStsphaRrIotnabtceeirrsntatstoiLnoen,aalgJiuosest)eipshthSeeUy.mSo.uSrectiono1theInternationalCommunistLeague erlueicntitohnesi.r chances in the 2010 midterm Swreopntgelmybesrta2t0e0d9)t,hata aphyootuoncgapAtuiso1-nI
AWP(DcuuBohobugmarlsuentiissgsnctteheniiss(cnsbVtg)eaosgoCuWfAiboiondsorndcaikrrrn2eiregpr9fsts9swi(ioVIBatnalSrhslnoS.gcaoNumod$airw01rtar20dtye,7i..05sn0^pgB/1Soot2u7nxhi24det6e1ei)sn3s3ce7s1pe7uc8ueo,btQsno.lPdNiOPteBi,ehwosrssxiNOuYoeeod1brwi3ikIc7nw,aY7eloJeNsruGkkYnl,pPeyoON,)1s,0Yiae0eNnx01gcde70ee1wps1pTtk6Yaeioilpsrdepkkipi,anhptgNpoinNYtneehge1w0(tl21hYa11rso2ter6)kei,7sEas3-Nlum2tYea-eir7IlnP8na6OatO2edSedcT(irEeMtedmsisAbtusoSeerarTiva.Elai)nRnbgyJ(uuS2tan1ehre2end,)d®S7tpJ3alaur2ldaty-dea7rcan8elen6sst1asi tDDheeecIcenewpmat“briAeonlrnsiswe”se20rt(0ihS9anot)cg.iaaOrlteibhsaetumsaWIe’oSdrsOktoeA"rfjdguiohssntaclinoifivnyseetr.tashn”e8 “hktresnarwoliiwdanneneaAtifbshloutrih"isagtIinnnosathfleakcgtnwi,roalwstnhhe.raedcpWaedhuaiasteeetddlooiyffs
Opinionsoxpnssaainsignedadrc/esorlerrersdonornecessaniyexpress(heedifona/inewpoinr buildup of troops, complaining that a turned away from the hospital,
Thedosingdalefornewsinthisissueis 15December2009. y "skeptical altitude toward the use ofU.S. “neglected.”ashergrieving mother
military power is what most of his sup- said, because "she was a little
No. 949 1 January 2010 porters expected of an Obama presi- black girl.”
dency." Then there is the Maoist Revolu-
2 WORKERS VANGUARD
Defend Simon Singh! Defend Scientific Medicine!
SIMON SIN6K
Thefollowing xtalemenl was issuedon apies are irreconcilable. While some Health to promote "alternative therapies."
December 14 by the Spartacist League/ popular treatments may be relatively eOZARD ERNST. MO which are international multibillion-dollar
Britain, sectionoftheInternationalCom- harmless and may sometimes have a pla- TRICK businesses, while Simon Singh has had to
munist League. It distributed that cebo effect, more often they are danger- fork out £100.000 (thus far) fighting the
evening at a talk by Simon Singh titled ous both in themselves and because they BCA libel suit. The libel laws are used to
"Scienceandthe BattleforFreeSpeech” divertpatients fromneeded medical treat- or defend the interests of big business. We
at Imperial College London. ment. This is borne out in the book Singh treatment also defend Dr. Peter Wilmshurst. a con-
We Marxists defend Simon Singh, the co-authored with Edzard Ernsttitled Trick sultant cardiologist at the Royal Shrews-
renowned science writer, against the out- or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on bury Hospital, who criticised the research
rageous libel action by the British Chiro- Trial (Corgi Books. 2008) an authorita- data used to promote a new heart implant
practicAssociation (BCA). At issue is an tive study of acupuncture, homeopathy, and was sued by the manufacturer. He
April 2008articlebySingh, titled“Beware chiropractictherapy andherbal medicine. faces financialruinasaresultofalibel suit
theSpinalTrap"publishedintheGuardian The authors concluded that “In fact, not by U.S. company NMT Medical.
whichchallengedastatementby the BCA only are .such treatments unproven, but Marxismhasasits foundationthegains
that chiropractic could help treat a num- over and over again we have seen that ofthe Enlightenment and bourgeois revo-
berofchildhoodailments includingcolic, alternative medicine is also potentially lutions which freed scientific and social
ear infections and asthma. Singh said dangerous." Regarding chiropractic ther- development from the shackles offeudal-
“there is not a jot of evidence" for this apy. they said it “might offer some—mar- ism. The triumph of capitalist counter-
claimandassertedthattheBCA“promotes ginal benefit, but only forback pain all revolution in the Soviet Union in 1991-92
bogustreatments."Libel suitsagain.st sci- its other claims are unsubstantiated.” has ushered in a period of theoretical,
entists and sciencejournalists are becom- ThelibelwritfromtheBCAquicklyfol- political, social and not least sexual reac-
ing increasinglycommon. In2007-08.the lowed the publication of Trick or Treat- tion. There'has been a growing assault
Guardian and journalist Ben Goldacre. ment?The Guardian had offered the BCA on science, including from Christian fun-
author of the book BadScience, fought a spaceforaresponse toSingh’s article. But damentalists seeking to undermine the
libel case against vitamin pill magnate the BCA declined, preferring instead to teaching ofDarwin’s theory ofevolution.
Matthias Rath who published advertise- hidebehindtheEnglish libellaws.TheBCA Particularly in this context it has become
ments in South Africa denouncing AIDS writ has sparked a public campaign and necessary toreassertthebasic premisesof
drugs as ineffective while promoting his over 20.000 people have signed a petition historical materialismandthecorrespond-
own supplements. Although Rath was callingforreformofthe libel lawsbecause ing programmaticprinciples ofMarxism.
forcedtodropthecase, theGuardianonly they "discourage argument and debate" simonsingh.net The libel laws in this country are part
recovered partofthe whopping £500,000 and haveno place in scientific disputes. As Simon Singh says: "Anypublisherhas of a system, including the institution of
legal fees it incurred. English libel laws, which are enforce- to make a calculation on whether to Parliament, that exists to keep the work-
In the reactionary political climate of able in othercountries, are so favourable defend a writ not on whether they have a ing class “in its place." We look forward
today's post-Soviet world, we Marxists to the claimant that London has been strongcasebutonwhethertheycan afford tothedaywhenthe libe—l laws andthesys-
findourselvesdefending the basic princi- dubbed “a town named sue."The English the extraordinary costs ofrunning a case tem ofliesthey uphold including feudal
ples of materialism, secularism and the libel system has no relationship to the tocourt"(5a;f.9mrm. 11 December2009). relics such as the monarchy, the—House of
rational humanism of the 18th-century question of truth. Indeed it is nothing The Britishcapitalistsystemistoblame Lords and established churches will be
Enlightenment. Against this ideological more than a protection from the truth for for the inadequate education system that swept away by socialist revolution. A
background, snake-oil treatments, com- the rich andwell-born. Unlike in the U.S. results in widespread ignorance of the future internationalplannedsocialistecon-
monlyreferredtoasalternative“medicine." forexample,wheretheaccusermustprove principles of science among the popula- omywill provide free,goodqualityhealth-
are growing in popularity and many are that the statement in question is false, in tion. and for failing to provide decent care for all and sweep away the material
even being funded by the state. The Brit- England the burden of proof is on the healthcare for the mass of the working basis for the persistence of dangerous
ish government spent £20 million oftax- defendant.With thecostsoflitigation 100 people. In thesecircumstancesmany peo- anti-scientific —quackery. In a world com-
payers' money on the refurbishment of times higherthan in most otherEuropean pleturntoremediesthatpromisemiracles. munistsociety where social classes and
the Royal London Homeopathic "Hospi- countries, more often than not cases are It is scandalous that in the 21st century all forms of oppre—ssion are part ofa dis-
tal," while accident and emergency units never taken to court but succeed in their Prince Charles, heir to the throne of the tant. barbaric past mankind will finally
are being closed down. dirty work simply by intimidating jour- mediaeval institution of the monarchy, be able to put intoplace the powerofsci-
Science-based medicineandquackther- nalists. newspapers and other publishers. received£900.000fromtheDepartmentof ence in the service ofall humanity.
barbaric stale machinery ofcapitalist rule
Revenge for Exposing Death Row Frame-Ups requires the forgingofa workers party, in
opposition to the Democratic and Repub-
lican parties ofcapital, to lead the multi-
Illinois: Hands Off rearcnioarl pErmoplettiaersiatDetoatphowReor"w(—“IAllbionloiisshGotvh-e
Racist Death Penalty!" WV No. 796, 31
January 2003).
Northwestern Innocence Project! * » *
The Partisan Defense Committee vig-
orously protests your office’s effort to
force the Medill Innocence Project at
Northwestern University’sschool ofjour-
nalismtoturnoverstudentgrades,e-mails,
academicrecords, investigative materials,
and course syllabi. This is a transparent
effort to intimidate the Innocence Project
faculty and students for their efforts to
expose frame-ups of innocent men and
women in the Illinois prisons.
For more than a decade, Medill jour-
nalism faculty and students have been
instrumental in exploding frame-ups in
a number of high profile cases in Illi-
nois. including that of death row inmate
Anthony Porter in 1999, which ultimately
led Republican governor George Ryan to
commute the sentences ofall the inmates
AP on the state’s death row.
November 1998 conference on death penalty at Chicago’s Northwestern University Law School featured 30 people Most recently, the Innocence Project
who had been released from death row after proving their innocence. has exposed new evidence pointing to
the innocence of Anthony McKinney,
We print below a December 3 Partisan clearing the "Ford Heights Four." four 167 inmates, Ryan’s wholesale clemency who is still in prison for a 1978 shooting
Defense Committee letter to Illinois' black men who had languished in prison order was met with howls ofprotest from of a security guard. Seething over this
Cook County State’s Attorney protesting for 18years, falselyconvictedofthe 1978 the Democratic machine of Chicago blow to the state’s frame-up machinery,
the prosecutors’ outrageouseffort tosub- murdersofawhite couple. Then in 1999. mayor Richard Daley, who had presided your office responded by subpoenaing
poena student records from the Medill Protess’s students blew open the frame- over many of those frame-ups as Cook academic records from the Innocence
Innocence Project at Northwestern Uni- upofinnocentdeath row inmateAnthony County State’s Attorney in the 1980s. It Project under the pretext ofattacking the
versity’s journalism school. As the PDC Porter, after which Protess set up the was none other than Barack Obama, then students’ "bias, motive and Interest"!
letterexplains,formanyyearsthe school’s Innocence Project as apermanent feature a. State Senator from Chicago’s South This blatant attempt to chill the Inno-
faculty, students and staff have been ofthejournalism school. Side, who promoted a package of death cence Project’sjournalism and investiga-
instrumental in lifting the lid on a series AftertheexonerationofPorterin 1999. penalty legislative "reforms" so that the tionspresentsadire threattoanyone who
of frame-ups of innocent people in the Republican governor George Ryan im- state’s discredited killing machines could would dare to expose and protest state
grips of the Illinois prison system. In posed a moratorium on executions in go back into operation. As Marxists, we frame-ups and the machinery of repres-
!996. Medill studentsworking underpro- Illinois. In 2003 he emptied death row. welcomed Ryan’sclemency ordercurtail- sion. including the racist death penally.
fessor David Protess won national recog- pardoning four innocent men and com- ingthedeathpenalty,whichweopposeon The PDC vehementlydemands: Hands
nition after they dug up critical evidence mutingthedeathsentencesofall theother principle,andexplained: “Togetridofthe offthe Medill Innocence Project!u
JANUARY 2010
1 3
—
Notes on the
Critical
Communism”
“Death
of
and
the Ideological Conditions
the Post-Soviet World
of
We print below, slightly edited for each according to his ability; to each discussed in Chapter I (“Class Society and ists cannot readily understand the ideas
ptddication. a 14 March 2009 document according to his needs"). Alienated labor the State”). In it Lenin summarily stales: expoundedabovebecausetheydon’tthink
by Spartacist League Central Committee has been replaced by creative, scientific “'The theory of Marx and Engels of the about them.
member Joseph Seymour. The document and cultural work (Marx once pointed to inevitability ofa violent revolution refers
was a contribution to discussions and composing music as an example of the to the bourgeois state. The latter cannot American Imperialist
debates preceding the J3th National latter). The state has withered away so bdiecstautpoerrscheidpeodfbtyhetphreoplertoalreitaatr)iatnhrsotautgeh(tthhee Triumphalism Is
Conference of the Spartacist League, that, in Engels' words, the governing of processof‘witheringaway.’ but,asagen- Not the Problem
U.S. section ofthe International Commu- men has been replaced by the adminis- eral rule, only through a violent revolu- While clarity on the question of the
nist League {Fourth Internationalist). tration of things. Racial, national and tion." (emphasis inoriginal] “death of communism" will not resolve
For a report on the ^conference, see ethnic affiliation has disappeared through Inthe post-Sovietperiod, the most fun- our problems, continued unclarity will
^'"WDVogNoD.ay94s8,of4tDheecPeomsbt-eSrov2i0e0t9)P.eriod"' gwliodbeaslprmeobaidliitnyte(r“etthheniicntperrnoactrieoantailonsovainedt daanmdenottahlerdliefffterteenncdeenbceitesweeconncoeurrnsselvtehse cfaoinltuirneuteotroecaogggnriazveatteheomuorsptrofbulnedmasm.enTthael
By Joseph Seymour shhaasllbebeentrheeplhaucmedanbyraccoel"l)e.ctTihveeifnastmiitluy- s(u“bTjheectEcmoanttoemricdiBsacsuissseodf itnheCWhiatphteerrinVg odiffftehreenlceeftb—ettwheatenw—oeursdeolvensotansdhatrhee rtehset
same ultimate goal has been an impor-
At our International Executive Com- tant underlying factor in recurrent politi-
BtonneieMbCnapraKoauee
mittee plenum in early 2008, there was a SPARTAClril cal problems in the party.
discussion ofand. I believe, inchoate dif- 06aHKpoTHBuiMiicn crariMHMSM While he was still Workers Vanguard
f“edreeantchesofocvoemrmuthneiscmo,n”tenwthiocfh tisheketyertmo KanHTOaTnKMCpTWMBHMBTCKUOJ/A1I0p3BWCTBBpSltMM. etrdiisttorI.ntJearnnaNtioorndaelinst[cGurroreunptllycoofnstchieoucseln-y
understanding the political-ideological COBBTCNHe paQOHNBl and consistently regarded the “death of
conditions of the post-Soviet world. At AonoH enbUNHCKo-OyiuBBCfcyHi communism” as primarily an expression
the time I argued: KOHTPpBBOmOKNIOl ofAmericanimperialistideologicaltrium-
'Animportantquestioninthediscussionof phalism. Hence his belief that the 1994
theworkinSouthAfricaand Mexico...is Zapatista-led uprising of impoverished
whetherandinwhat—sensethesecountnes Indian peasants in southern Mexicowas a
atinodneodt.hGerreceocuent—riaerseanChexicneapstiboenetnomwehna-t Left: Boris Yeltsin waves powerful counterblowweakening, at least
we call the ‘retrogression ofconscious- Russian flag on barricades o1 inLatinAmerica, the ideological effectof
ness* andthe 'deathofcommunism’ ide- capitalist counterrevolution the fall of the Soviet Union. Since Nor-
ology. But the concept of an exception in Moscow, August 1991. ICL den's defection from our organization in
impliesanorm. Sowhat’sthenorm?The distributed tens of thousands
overwhelming majority ofour tendency of leaflets headlined, “Soviet 1996, there has been a tendency in our
IS located in the advanced capitalist- Workers; Defeat Yeltsin-Bush party to lump together under the heading
imperialistcountries ofWest Europe and Counterrevolution!” Below: of “the regression of con.sciousness” (a
NorthAmerica.... It’s here that we every Spartacists protest Yeltsin term I coined in the fight with Norden)
dcaoym.mpuenruvassmi’veliyd,eoelnocgoyu.ntAenrdthIet'hdienakththoatf visit, New York City, 1992. a disbelief in a future communist soci-
thishasconditionedacertainskewed and Sygma ety. Westernimperialist triumphalismand
deformed understanding of the radically traditional social-democratic reformism.
changed ideological and political con- Somecomradeshavearguedthatourbasic
t’oAulrmsoasntddeivveirsyiontsimtehrowueghouustetthheewotrelrdm. difference with the rest of the left is over
g'edoeiatshtorficuommpmhaulritsims.m'Wwe'erelinnkoittttoablokuirn-g tifhewerefwoerrmeabsitlililtybaocfkthien ctahpeitdaalyisstosftaLtee,nians
aboutthetriumphalismofthebourgeoisie versus Kautsky in the immediate after-
ofIndiaorEgyptorBrazil. We’retalking math ofthe October Revolution.
'about the triumphalism of the Western A standard formulation in both our
impenalist.centrallyAmerican,bourgeoi-
sie. But adisbeliefin the possibility ofa public literature and internal discourse is
futureinternational communistsociety that the effect of the "death of commu-
and that's—the crux ofthe ‘death ofcom- nism" is "uneven” internationally. The
munism' in Third World countries is term "uneven” implies that the effect can
notandcannot be identified withAmeri-
can imperialist triumphalism and domi- be quantitatively measured on a linear
nation.Whatyouhaveratheristheriseof scale: quite high in the U.S. and France,
fairly significant, with a broad base of much lower in Mexico and South Africa.
support, political-ideological movements As a one-time student and then teacher
wimhpiecrhialcilsatimtrtioubmephoaplpisoms.edTthoeAmoebrviicoauns of academic economics. I think of a bar
example is. of course, nationalist popu- graph measuring and comparing, for
lism in Latin America exemplified by example, per capita national output in
HphuegnooCmheinvoenz.iBnutayvoeuryalsroighhatv-ewithnegswaamye WVPhoto defiffefcetrenitntceorunnattriioensa.llyBuotftthheedi“fdfeeartenhtioalf
wfbiuhnnidcLahamdeiesnntt.haHeluirsgismoeiConhft4ahvneetzNi.e-aWTerosntEyaesrBtnl.aIiOsrs.laaBmimilacl tainodnssofcoiralihzoautisoenwoofrkchialnddrent.he nurturing eAxwpalyaionefdthien Stthaetef”o)l,lowwhiincghpaisss.asguem:marily cthoamtmwuany.isWme"acraencnoontfrboenteudndweirtshtodoifdferi-n
Clinton all represent the ‘death ofcom- The overwhelming majority of self- "The economic basis for the complete ent forms not different levels of post-
munism’ in different ways in different consideredleftistsovertheageof, say.40 witheringawayofthestateissuchahigh Soviet ideology.
Thneatciornuaxlocofnttehxets“.d’’eathofcommunism" oarbo5v0e raesgarudtoapifaunt.urTehseocioevteyrdwehseclrmiibnegd pswhthyaisgciehcaotlfheldaeabvnoteuilrtohdpeismsieaspnptbeeaotrfws,eceaontmwmmheuinnctihalstmhaenradet expCloincsatiidnegrthReuscsoinaceipnt tohfisthere“spdeecatt.h oInf
is just that; a disbeVief in the historical majority ofyounger leftists, represented, consequently disappears one ofthe prin- communism,” we frequently use the for-
possibility of a global communist civ- forexample,inthe"social forum”milieus, cip—al sources of modern social inequal- mulation that the former Soviet Union is
ilization in the Marxist sense. This is a areeffectively ignorantofand indifferent ity asource,moreover,whichcannoton viewed at best as a “failed experiment.”
bpoalsiitciccalomtmeondnengcrioeusndwisthharoefdtenbystdriovnegrlsye tmountihsetMacirvxiilsitzatcioonnc.epTtheo—ifracgolnocbearlnscoamr-e dathunecytmiaeocrnceoiuncntotonvpbeuerbslriiecomnporovofepdethrietymm,meebadyniastthoeeflmyperrboey- TNhoartthisAmgeenreircaal.lyIttriuselienssWetrsuteEiunrmoupcehanodf
antagonistic attitudes toward Western defensiveandminimalist supporting the expropriation ofthe capitalists. the Third World. And it is not at all true
imperialism, parliamentary democracy, a democratic rights of oppressed peoples “This expropriation will make itpossible in Russia. Quite the opposite. The politi-
capitalist marketeconomy and otherdivi- (e.g.. the Palestinians), halting the dis- for the productive forces to develop to a callydominantsectionofthe new Rus.sian
sive issues (e.g.. environmental degrada- mantling of the “welfare state” in West tremendousextent.Andwhenweseehow capitalist class, represented by Vladimir
tion) separating left and right in the con- Europe, preventing the further degrada- tihnicsreddeivbellyopcmapeintta,liwshmeinswaleresaedeyhroewtamrudicnhg Putin, views the former Soviet Union as
venTtoionmaalkuesasguereofwtehesaleltuernmdse.rstand the tioIn'lolfrtehceasetnvmiyroanrmgeunmte(ngtlobbyalrweaferrmeinncgi)n.g pthreoglreevselsocfoutledchbneiqaucehiaelvreedadoynatthteaibnaesdi,swoef stpheeamko,sotfsRuucscseisasnf-ucleenxtpeerreidmsetnatlee-vbeuri,ldsiongt.o
tmeteayrimnosnfoeafatdguilrsoecbsoaulorfssecaa.lfeIu.’llllEybcrcoionemtomlmyuinrciesssttcaatrsecotciiht-ey Ltsheeinqsiuwneo’nstrkdTewhcaeasdSeptsua,btleithsaehnedbdaisRniecv1o9ld1ui8tfifaeonrnde.nicWnehsubeben-- addisreetenvsceewelnitoltilphtmaliteenndtethvteiotoeafsxbapltyryhoewrpienpstaruhioltidtuohicnentoifafvuneltlheefesnotcoranccpenoisntofauoils--f ptIohnlei2t0Si0oc5va.ilePctuattUiannsitdoreoncplhaweraesodfttthhhaeet"t2gh(re)elcahotlcelesatnptsgueeroyo-"f
has been overcome, thereby leading to tween revolutionary Mjirxist.sandotherleft human society.” (emphasis in onginalj (quoted in Edward Lucas. The New Cold
the elimination of wage labor (“from tendencies concerned the subject matter Thepost-Sovietgenerationofleftist activ- War: Putin's Rus.sia andthe Threatto the
4 WORKERS VANGUARD
Q
West [2008]). I assume a similar attitude
toward the former USSR is widespread
throughout Russian society al large.
In the past few years, the Putin regime
and the Russian elite more generally have
soughttorestoreStalin’shistoricalreputa-
tion as the premier leader of a Rus.sian-
dominated world power in the 20th cen-
tury. The Russian ambassador to NATO
displays a picture ofStalin in hisoffice. A
popularTV show. "The Name ofRussia,”
ranks Stalin as one of the country’s five
greatest historical figures (Economist, 27
November 2008). In 2007, an officially
sponsored educational guide. A Modern
HistoryofRussia, 1945-2006:A Teachers'
Manual, compared Stalin favorably with
Peterthe Great: "Stalin followed Peterthe
Great's logic: demand the impossible...to
get the maximum possible.” It continues;
“He [Stalin] is considered one of the
most successful leadersoftheUSSR.The
country’s territory reached the bounda-
ries of the former Russian Empire (and
in some areas even surpassed it). A vic- or the revival of mass communist parties
tory in oneofthegreatestwars waswon; claiming the Marxist-Leninisttradition.
industrialisationoftheeconomyandcul- Above: Armed workers
tural revolution took place successfully, Of Ends and Means: occupy Berlin newspaper
resulting not only in mass education but A Historical Journey district, January 1919.
awlosroldi.n tThheebeUstSSedRucabteicoanmael soynsete[mofi]n tthhee In ChapterV ofThe State andRevolu- Above right: Communist
lmeeandtinw—gascqoupuorntatcertdiiecisanlilLnyucsdacesif,eenactee;d.u"nemploy- otifoCnoimnmtuhneissetctiSooncioenty,"”ThLeenHiinghwreorteP;hase leaadnwedresrReoKasmraulrLLduieexrbeekmdnbetuchrhagtt
The New ColdWar “From the bourgeois point of view, it is month as SPD traitors
easy todeclare that such a socialorderis Scheldemann, Noske and
Hardly the description of a "failed ‘sheer utopia’ and to sneer al the social- Ebert (right) drowned
experiment.” ists for promising everyone the right to workers revolution
addIrnesaswtahye fitorismmtoarkeendibfyfitcuhlet"fdoeratuhs otfo orevceerivtehefrlaobmousorcioeftyt.heWiitnhdoiuvitdauanlycciotnitzreonl, in blood.
communism” in present-day Russia than aEnvyenqutaontthiitsydaoyf.tmruofsfltesb,oucrargse,oipsia‘nsoasv,anettsc’.
in West Europe and North America. In confinethemselvestosneeringinthisway, many should be a socialist republic.” To However,moredoctrinallyknowledgeable
tU"hsneoicoilnaalttiiessrm.sct”iolulnnotptrrii"emRsa,ursistlihyeanifdioemnrptmieefrriieadSloiwvsiimte.ht” By ttahhneedrtethbeeyrimrbse"etlbrfoaiuyshirngdgeeofbieonstchesatovhfaecniartpsii,tg”anloLirseaqnnUi’cne dtheismatnhedSiPsDthleeagdoearlshiopfroeusrpoonwdend:po"lTihciys. aangarrecehdiswtisthutnhdeemrsotnootdhetnheaetdwfohrilteheLinesnuirn-
SaSttdaaillsiicnnipiislsevvoiifeewwMeeaddrxaannaddngdferEneneqrguaeellnlsty.lyvIinleiRxfutisoesldilaea.ds snmuoepmapinoctrtsteyhdsotsaeenmd.injtHueseltlidefciitedudanltoshtewichnacpoiltuaadlveiosiwtneedtchloiy-s HtitnihoorwJnoeouvhagennhrdR,tihdettdhhceeeolnlpDs,eteoeibdpt.alu.teeenTtmhuoeasnsGtseeSdmroebvmcliaieydnt”eR(Poeqonvuwooetlthruei:-ds rssstiehazcitetpedi,,oonfhtahetrehyseMtialoprlrvxoemilarseitttnahprtriaroaiowtngeardosa,fmaiottnfhrdeatenhesebdiotduiieocrmntgpaethtoooair-s-a
as the successor of Peter the Great and category the ideological spokesmen for
Catherine the Great. For many Russians, the Socialist (Second) International, such Documents. 1918-1919: Preparing the fully communist society. In this regard,
communism has not died because it as Karl Kautsky, who considered himself FinogunthdeinBgolsChoenvgirkesRsevo[l1u9t8i6o])n.anIdntahtetnaacsk-- cRhoisstm,eErriccithesMiainhismapmr,isworinteidngGeirnm1a9n19a:nar-
never lived in the first place. an orthodox Marxist. cent Communist International, the social- “The theoretical and practical theses of
Even before the severity of the current Whether by 1917-18 the right-wing democratic leaders primarily condemned Lenin on the accomplishment of the
worldeconomicdownturnbecameevident leaders of the mass social-democratic revolution and the communist tasks of
thedictatorshipofthe proletariatas avio-
claesatsefadll,t"ofrbeee maanrkeitm”potrrtiauntmphcaulrirsemnthaidn pAalrbteirets (Te.hgo..maFrsiedirnicFhraEnbceer,t iEnmGielremaVnayn,- lationofdemocracy,whichthey identified tfhoerporuolretaarcitiaotn.h.a.v.epTrhoevriedeadrea nneowmbaosries
with a parliamentary-type government insurmountableobstaclestoa unification
the climate of bourgeois opinion even in dervelde in Belgium) subjectively still elected by universal and equal suffrage. ofthe whole revolutionary proletariat. It
tsshupecohkUe.aSss.mfeoTnrodmfaeoyrr,FAepmdreeorrmaiilcnaeRnnetsfeiarnvnaednchreeesacpdaepPciattuealdl badiendloitehnveoetr.dqiuBneustatinofenui.ttuhrIeenrsalodlciidallitikshetelyishoopcouidbelttiyhceliyys cowH,eraemiteimsouisrefwurlittotelnooiknattheLelnaitne '1s9M4o0ss-- pihsoaivntetruheoafdtdhtiaotsyaigtehrleedemcoeonnmttmhuebneimtsowstetenainmatprhocerhtitaswntots
Volckerforeseeadeep andprolongedglo- repudiate the traditional goal of the early 1950s by Trotsky’s colleague and great tendencies ofsocialism. They have
bal downturn.ComparisonswiththeGreat socialist movement as a utopian project. farnieanndarAclhfirsetdaRnodsmtehre.n Raolsemaedirnghardevboeleun- htuaddettooatbheanddioctnatBoarksuhniipno'fstnheegpartoilveetaartitait-
Dceopmrmeosnspiloanceo.f Tthhee 1T9o3r0ysmaaryeorbeocfomLionng- lutAioln.theinbeNgoivnneimnbgeorft1h9e18G,erthmeanceRnetrvios-t tionary syndicalist intellectual in France ForMainidhascacmep,ttMhaer"xd’issoapgirneieonmeonnt”thibseptowiente.n"
before adhering to the newly formed
don commented that reading the London IndependentSocialDemocraticPartypre- CommunistInternational. Inthis memoir, BakuninandMarxoverthedictatorshipof
Financial Times these days is like spend- sented a series of conditions (demands) Rosmer recounts the initial reaction to the proletariat concerned the means to
ing time with a millennial suicide cult. foracoalitiongovernmentwiththeSocial Lenin’s The State and Revolution among achieveasharedultimategoal; aclassless,
Nonetheless,nocurrentofbourgeoisopin- Democratic Party (SPD) on the basis of egalitarian and stateless society.
ion is now concerned with the prospectof the then existing workers and soldiers bKoatuhts"koyrthaonddox”JeasnociaLlondgeumeotcra(tMsarlxi’kse We all know that in a political polemic
imminent socialist revolutions anywhere councils. The first of these was: "Ger- grandson) and among anarchists: the ideas andpositions thatare nofargued
“It was an extraordinary book and it had against are in their own way as important
Petrograd, 1917: Leaflet issued a strange destiny. Lenin, a Marxist and a as those that are argued against. One does
by Petrograd Soviet's Military socialdemocrat,wastreatedasanoutcast notargueagainstpositionsthatone'soppo-
Revolutionary Committee announces by the theoreticians of the socialist par- nent does not hold and especially where
iKMiioitniBprigMiiPUKiHiwAOpiiiHiiruUMiiiliiiioiAnjpimiHv,:cAmTliMiMunllunuiPniiOiNHCii.pCi|iHvoisqH,etsu!lui- oGrevovevorelturhtnrimooenw.notBfeablnooduwr:vgiRecoetoidrsyGPuoraforvwdiossr,ikoenrasl otMtifaheresxamwinhsaeimrvc.ceh’hnictsflhmoaeuiynamdnesddhartiBowelikbateentdqy,Muait‘riusxtrm’ins.s'tao.fmO‘ipIntxhetrisuanrso’eeft ptlehofeltrieesmtiirscaiadziciconaglmsmaiognnatihngesrtoUu.nbSdl..awcFkeordloeibxenaromatplslreef,atinitdne
{nCTTMuHnt«i-oiHtlTOtir1m^IkI1,1ueIuilitmMi,iHiUalI.UCimim.nilroiiTitimMiihiamv- tsShomelodtAilnelry-sRIaunssntsdiitasunatie,CloohrnesgairdneqfsurasornottfeorSfsovoifets. atiaenrsde.s'ciaOtlulnaetdtehdietoo‘tuBhtlesarindhqeaunitdsh,mefowmriatrihenvssotalruuteciaeomntaaror--f twhienfgalrsaecinsottsiotnhaetxbploaucnkdseadreby"isnofemreiorri”ghtt-o
pennnuiii fiAiamunp,ieioCuTannmn Kptciwiii^ PyotfOtsuc oarntdhaondaorxchiMsatrs,xitshims,Blfaonrquthiesms.ynsdaiuccaeliasntds ewhaicthesw.roItne a19b1o8o-k2-0l.engLtehnipnolaenmdicTargoatisnksyt
Xj5t—uro«iu—iuKi! all. was a pleasant revelation. They had Kautsky. Nowhere in either The Proletar-
38 icTUiian! never heard such language from the ian Revolution andthe Renegade Kautsky
ao».iMe-P«a3ouxcQKJiiMOuH-MpMiAapfiin—M^lapijuii! LoMuairsx-iAsutgsutshteey kBnleawn,q"ui{1805-1881)was oarrguTeerargoariinssmt tahnedpoCsiotmimonunthiastma cdoommthue-y
•P>t(a»Ooonx«<TnMpTko>fQMppk*CAoCI*nBOIOI7'*^rM.iCKUO)k«Mk.AT«y%At|p>*'.srot btihen lcaostmmmuanjoirstretprraedsietnitoantitvheatofortihgeiJnaactoe-d sniisntcesoKcaiuettyskiyn tdhiedMnoatrxhiosltdsseuncsheaispoustiotpiioann.
with Babeuf’s Conspiracy of Equals in Let’s fast forward to the late 1930s,
the latter days ofthe French Revolution. when the international Communist move-
The Babouvistconceptionofcommunism ment had become completely Slalinized.
(developed in a pre-industrial society) Specifically, let'sconsidertheyoungMax-
was one ofdistribution and consumption ime Rodinson, a French Jewish intellec-
rather than production and the over- tual who later became a prominent left-
coming of economic scarcity. However, wing scholarwritingon theNearEastand
in labeling Lenin a “Blanquist," Kautsky. Islamic society. In a 1981 es.say. "Self-
Longuet. et al. were not referring to that Criticism.” he recalled the mindset that
aspectoftheJacobin communistoutlook. caused him tojoin the FrenchCommunist
By Lenin’s "Blanquism" they meant the Party in 1937 (he left in 1958):
insurrectionary overthrow of the capital- “AdherencetoCommunismentailed, and
ist state organized and led by a revolu- still entails, commitment to a struggle
tionary vanguard party. that IS supposed to enable humanity to
As Rosmer pointed out. The State ojuI accomplish an essential and eminently
Revolution was well-received by many beneficial leap; toput an end to asystem
that permanently produces poverty and
anarchistsandsyndicalists,someofwhom crime,thatsubjugatesandcondemnsmil-
thought that Lenin was moving from lionsofpeoplethroughouttheworldtoan
Marxism toward theirown political camp. continuedonpage 6
JANUARY 2010
1 5
—
Critical Notes...
(continuedfrom page 5)
atrociouslife,oreventodeath.The intent
IStocreatea liberated humanity inwhich
all can blossom to the full extent oftheir Lenin’s The State and
best potential, in which the collective of Revolution (1917)
free beings will control the administra- defended Marxist
tmiuonmofofthriunlgessainnddiwsiplelnlsaaybldeowfonrthhaermmionni-- understanding of the
i/.ing r—elaCtuiloln.sGahmeloinog. ahnudmaSniaibre:inTghse." osftactleaasss irunlsetraugmaeinntst
PersistenceoftheJewish social-democratic
Qiieslion (1983) revisionists such as
As an intellectual. Rodinson could Karl Kautsky (left).
articulate the liberatinggoalsofMarxism
better than the many millions of young
workers whojoined the Communist par- W.Pher
ties in France and Italy. India and Viet- over Clause IV in 1959-60. Miliband No. 25 {Summer 1978). In his presenta- ofcourse, the “death ofcommunism":
nam and elsewhere during the Stali—n era. wrote: "In the face of the violent resis- tion on “socialist man." Deutscher ad- “While communist power persists m the
aNloln.ettohebleessusr,em—anweyroefatlhseosemowtoirvkaetresd bnyota tthainsceenIcboyunttheerpeadr,tyt’hsewporrokpionsga-lclhaasds btoasbe]e dSroevsiestedgaenneurmatbieornooffislsefuteisstthaacttitvhiestpsosdto- waseonlrdvledas,ppcietoamhlaimsnugncieisdaetsaes.dTnhtooowsreeffilwnehcdtotahcaedlmylsnteahlmevimec-s
future visionofall-sidedsocial liberation. dropped.’’ By the 1980snoone would still not think about at all. fighting continuous rearguard actions to
They did not view theCommunist parties haveusedtheterm"parliamentary.social- preserve something oftheir former posi-
only as political agencies to defend and ism” to encapsulate the program or even Huntington Versus Fukuyama tion and power. Communists now find
further their economic and other social official doctrine of the British Labour Revisited themselves in the unenviable position of
defending an old and reactionary social
(e.g.. national) interests within the exist- Party. And in 1995. Clause IV was My thinking about the "death ofcom- order whose time has long since passed,
ing capitalist-imperialist system. dropped from the party’s formal program munism” and the ideological conditions likethemonarchistswhomanagedtosur-
etrhseInamngadesnlseefrtasilso,tciipnaotllei-ltdlieecmcaotluclarylasatdiwvchaonpcasreutdpipewsoorrtdkei-dd aftraoInmspt.ehsceoimaeelarcolfoyntftheoermebiingdceu1nd9ie6os0npssi,.tetoheprpeoswiatisona ommfaailnthldeyisdpceouvsstes-liSooonpvseidewtiintwhtohreNlocdorudwreasnse obifenititwnifeaolerln-y Fukuviyvaemian—totThthheheereeLEtawnseetdnxtMopiafrenteHhiss(sct1eeo9ndr9tyu2raa)yn."dcommon
gbnteooetotn.tueisranhsseaporliceyrieecdtthyoetmtomhMuaaannrrixtashidetsiictraslooclcwoyinne.ctdyeiI.fpnfteBi1ruo9etn6n1t.tohaftenhyde,a yUtlh.oeiSfus.ttwhwaOarandsnedrtIashndeositmciaeatnluniotzuliadaotelniraolSniionzcteaiedmallleoiexnscpttgrueaSslscssthiuioodnlneantrtohs-ef zdp1are9tin9im1oainrdaeiinnlntdyi1fha9iis9es6da.dtnehApeesax"rppdtrreueearvsteishoifuoorsfnolcmyoofnomouAmtrmeuedon,rrigiNasconmari”n-- cbfooriuoIntrmgweataohmseiostcnhoigeldlpeaaooipsllisotegciyuvo.refrcetonhntecsSlouovsfiieoptno.sbshlto-eScdovrtiheeawtt
imperialist triumphalism. Thus he often was the crux ofhis “end ofhi.story” the-
linked the term toGeorge Bush’s formula sis. He maintained that the sociocultural
ofa “new world order” proclaimed at the values and corresponding economic and
Terrorism time of the 199! Gulf War against Iraq. political institutions of the Western capi-
and Norden believed that the recognition by talist world wouldeventually prevail on a
(joiniuunism themain body of our tendency’s leader- global scale:
4Aa«VyIPAmI ship that the character of the post-Soviet "It is against this background that the
period was marked by a historic retro- remarkable worldwide character of the
'. i by LEON TROTSKY gression in the political consciousness of current liberal revolution takeson special
the working class internationally was a significance. For it constitutes further
capitulation to the pressures ofAmerican epvriocdeesnsceattwhaotrkthtehrate diisctaate.fsuandcaommenmtoanl
imperialist triumphalism. evolutionary pattern for all human soci-
Norden’s approachto thisquestionwas
influenced by the views of a right-wing
(then neo-conservative) American intel-
“ lectual, Francis Fukuyama, who declared
I that the collapse of the Soviet bloc sig-
BrownBrothers naledthe “endofhistory.”An oversimpli-
Terrorism and Communism (1920), written by Leon Trotsky at height of fied version of Fukuyama’s “end of his-
Russian Civil War, polemicized against anti-Bolshevik pamphlet of the same tory”thesis becamewidely known among
name written by Kautsky, who made common cause with imperialism in the whatcanbecalledtheeducatedAmerican
name of “democracy.” public, the kind ofpeople who.subscribed
to the New York Review of Books and
left social-democratic British intellectual Conference in New York City. In 1966. occasionally read Foreign Affairs. I don’t
Ralph Miliband published a book highly the organizers of the conference invited know ifNorden actually read Fukuyama.
critical ofthe Labour Party titled Parlia- Marxist historian Isaac Deutscherto give 1 did and I also read those right-of-center
mentarySocialism:A StudyofthePolitics a presentation on “socialist man.” At the American bourgeois ideologues, nota-
of Labour. The book came out in the time, the cultural and psychological bly Samuel P. Huntington and Zbigniew
immediate aftermath of a failed attempt characterofa truly socialist society, how Brzezinski. who strongly disagreed with
• by the party’s right-wing leaders to scrap people would think and act, was a matter Fukuyama’sro.syvisionofthe post-Soviet
Clause IV ofLabour’s 1918 constitution. of intense interest among young leftist world. I’m reviewing this debate because
Clause IV wasgenerallyseen asLabour’s intellectuals not only in the U.S. but it’s useful in understanding the relation-
maximal program: "To secure for the throughout the world. For example, in ship ofthe "death ofcommunism” to the
workersby handorbybrainthe full fruits the early 1960s Che Guevara was writ- various currents ofpost-Soviet bourgeois
of their industry and the most equitable ing about eliminating alienated labor ideology especially in (but not limited to)
distribution thereofthat may be possible, in "socialist” Cuba. For a retrospective the Western capitalist countries.
upon the basis ofthe common ownership analysis of Guevara’s thoughts on this Fukuyamalookthe term andconceptof
of the means of production, distribution question, see “‘Radical Egalitarian' Sta- the“endofhi.story”fromGermanphiloso-
and exchange " In describing the battle linism: A Post Mortem.” in Spartacisi pherGeorg Hegel. Hegel usedthatexpres-
sion to describe the world-historic conse-
AP
quencesofthe 1806battleofJenainwhich French workers demonstrate In
the army of Napoleonic France defeated Marseille against economic crisis,
ISrWIst the Kingdom of Prussia. In the aftermath March 2009. Banner reads: ‘They
SPARTACIST theFrenchoccupiedandgovernedwestern Are the Crisis, We Are the Solution!"
and southern Germany. Hegel was one of
—
OewnWithEiteullvtOfllciso(theCaplUHttSlat* IhMwdaIlMelaiUBaadih*CaiiiMiitSiiliDiin aintsemlalelcltuanlusmwbehro soufppporrotmeidneanntd cGoelrlambaon- esatliesHistionrsyhoonf.msaonmkeitnhdinignltikheeadiUrneicvteiro-n
anMdarExliescttoPrrailncTiapclteiscs of “NTehwe BClaansksr”upTthceyories craotnesdidweirtehdtthoebNeahpioslteoroinciacllyrepgriomgreestshaitveh.e oc"afAnnInidboetirfailwmaedgeiamnroeecrnaaowcwoyra.lt.d..asupbositnatntwihaellryedwife-
htainithpalefiiutotth*Trtachatr rro-lnipefTloanl»dtCAicmcoamnpdliMcaeisSohtaCcohutnmtaernr:evolution hudHebgoetlh’sacnoengcateipvteoafntdhea“poesnidtiovfehciosmtoproy-” fneoreantppafrreonmtoourr oobwvni,ouisn wwhaiychinthwehreicihs
elthePOUM.ThenandNew nent. Thenegativecomponentwasthatthe the future will represent a fundamental
TrotisnkytihsemSvpsa.nPiosphuCliavrilFWroanrtism instoTnid dmoonmairncahnitciadleoalbosgoylouftilsatmefseaundcatliEounerdopeand iwmeprmouvstemaelnstootvaekreoiuntroccurornesnitdeorradteiro,nthtehne
WIK — possibility that History itselfmight be at
WomH«emnPWWaondrkIUe‘\rolsuliaiMnid the AllUl*9M/DUKNUI.NWAWT.O«F»o,rcMOul**o<l>*t»h'*•0"*•lvho*Ilnu.tnloown-I slousptpoitrstefdorbmyerthepoCwherirsttioanshcahpuercthheesfuthuarde Fuaknueynadm.a"’[.esmnpohatsiiosnionfoariugniinavler1sally tri-
ConOtMnraaOdiFMoc>«t^iinoiniaswopaiinocttfiltmnC«.ihol.iWon«ia Today ^FoWiov•mo***a*n*T.Ir*oU*tbs»l»enr'ralsUtonPaTrhtry!ouFgeheSWocolrAkiKotnRA*evvMeulUuotnloln! cwForauesrnscethhoaRtfevhoitslhtueotriylo.inbTeahrsaelupnodpsreiirtnsictvioepolcdeosbmypooHfneegtnehlte uhleemcaptvuhayalnftsipr“eolkifberesromamlenr.esfvooomrleuAtmpireoornm"iiccnaaenmnteimupinnetdreiel-r-
oerardU «S9-2007 » j Lessons of Indonesia 1965 (and represented for him by Napoleon) alism. His main antagonist was Samuel
| hadbecomeall-conquering in therealmof P. Huntington who counierposed his
ideas and over time a new sociopolitical own “clash of civilizations" thesis to
order would be established throughout Fukuyama’s “end of history." Referring
No.61, Spring 2009. $1.50 (64 pages) No. 55. Autumn 1999. $1.50 (56 pages) Europe in conformity with the new Zeit- specifically to Fukuyama, he commented
geist (spirit ofthe age). condescendingly: “The momentofeupho-
Make checks payable/mail to Likewise. Fukuyama’s version of the ria at the end of the Cold War generated
Spartacist Publishing Co.. Box 1377 GPO, New York, NY 10116 “end ofhistory" had negative and positive an illusion of harmony, which was .soon
components.Thenegativecomponentwas. continuedon page 10
6 WORKERS VANGUARD
South Africa... not even begun to be met. An education
specialist at the Development Bank of
iconiinuedfrom page I) SouthernAfricagave one stark measure of
persistent, deep racial inequality: While
between the wealthy at the top and the one in ten white children get A-level
massesatthebottomhasbecomethe larg- passes in their matriculation [high school
est in theworld, surpassingthat in Brazil, graduation) exams, the number for black
The wealthiest areoverwhelmingly white learners is one in 1,000. Underlining
and enjoy First World living conditions, that blacks continue to be treated as
while blacks as well as coloured (mixed- second-class citizen.s, recently the newly
race) and Indian toilers are at Third appointed vice-chancellor of University
World levels.This isadamningindictment of the Free State pardoned the so-called
of the SACP/COSATU misleaders. who “Reitz Four,” inviting them to return to
promised the masses that the alliance the university in what was grotesquely
with the bourgeois ANC would bring called an act of “racial reconciliation."
social transformation and equality. The The four while racist students had been
result instead was neo-apartheid capital- kicked out last year following outrage
ism. While the political superstructure over a video they made of black campus
underwent a majorchangewiththeendof workers being fed urine-laced food and
the apartheid system of rigid, legally enduringotherhumiliations, partofa racist
enforced racial segregation and subjuga- campaign resisting integration ofcampus
tion.the foundationofthecapitalistecon- residences. Coloured (mixed-race) seasonal farm workers in Western Cape province, April
omy remains the superexploitation of The achievement ofnational liberation 2007. Blackand coloured masses live in povertyunderneo-apartheid capitalism.
mainly black labour. for the oppressed majority is inseparable
Asthe black majority’sangerovertheir from the emancipation of the over- base ofthe SACP over the more forward workers to a Marxist worldview.
unbearable conditions continues to build, whelmingly black working class from role their leaders are playing in the Zuma Nationalism is a bourgeois ideology
the Zuma government has made clear its the chains ofcapitalist exploitation. It is government. Many are angry that Blade that obscures the fundamental class
intention to beef up the state’s arsenal of the proletariat, which can*stop the flow Nzimande took a post as Higher Educa- divide in society by preaching the com-
repression against labour and the poor. of capitalist profits by withdrawing its tion Minister in direct violation of the mon interests of all who were oppressed
On the opening day of the COSATU labour, that has the social power to lead SACP constitution, which specifies that under while racist rule. Thus, everyone
national congress in September. Zuma the unemployed and all the urban and the party’s general secretary must serve from government ministers on the gravy
lectureddelegates about“violentstrikes.” rural poor in overthrowing the murder- full-time as an official of the SACP. (Of train to black mothers in desolate vil-
In a speech a week later, he supported ous capitalist profit system. course, serving asANC government min- lages struggling to keep their families
giving cops more leeway to "shoot to A prerequisite for such revolutionary isters has been the rule for leading fed are told to unite in the “broad
kill.” supposedly to fight South Africa’s struggle is the political independence of SACPers ever since the late Joe Slovo church" of the ANC, which the SACP
“abnormal criminal problem.” Zuma’s the working class from the bourgeoisie. was Housing Minister under Mandela.) falsely portrays as the party of national
reprimands, echoed by COSATU general In struggling for this basic Marxist prin- Nzimande has also been ridiculed for his liberation.
secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. did not go ciple. we say that the Tripartite Alliance Rl.l million BMW. which many see as In South Africa, where the capitalist
down well at the COSATU congress. must be broken along class lines. The exposing the hypocrisy of SACP leaders class is while (now including a handful
SAMWU
Leadersofthe municipal work- ofothers) and the working class is over-
ers and SATAWU transport workers whelmingly black, class divisions are
unions criticised the top COSATU lead- hugely distorted by the lens of racial
ership for failing to condemn police colour. The SACP uses this historic char-
January 2000:
attacksontheirstrikes thisyear. Butthese I® After more than acteristic of South African society to
same unions include cops and security 4,000 workers at openly and shamelessly advance its
guards whose job is to defend capitalist Volkswagen plant popular-front alliance with theANC. The
rule and profits by violently repressing near Port Elizabeth confusion of race and class fostered by
workers and the poor. SSA demands; staged wildcat strike nationalism is seen in the widespread
Cops and security guards out of the in defense of misidentificatio—n of all poor and op-
unions! suspended shop pressed people from towns—hip unem-
To justify their class-collaborationist stewards from ployed to petty shopkeepers with the
alliance with the bourgeois ANC. the NUMSA metal working class, which is defined by its
SACP and COSATU tops speak of a workers union, the key role in the process ofproduction.
“developmental state” under the ANC in SNAUCMPS-dAombuirneaatuecdracy Most dangerous of all is the reformist
which the working class must fight for mobilized to break left’sembraceofthecopsasfellow work-
“hegemony.”This claptrap was answered the strike. Over 1,300 ers. Black cops under apartheid were
almost 140 years ago by Karl Marx and workers were fired despisedbecausethey werecorrectlyseen
Friedrich Engels. Summing up the les- and 200 armed cops as serving the interests of the oppressor.
sons of the 1871 Paris Commune, the occupied surrounding ButAllianceapologistssay thatunderthe
founders of scientific socialism insisted townships to ANC-led “democratic” government, the
that “the working class cannot simply lay suppress resistance. police serve the people. So a white cop
hold of the ready-made state machinery may still be a racist Boer, but ablack cop
aprnedfawcieeltdo iatGfoerrimtasnowednitpiuornpoosfetsh”e(C1u8n7t2- Tripartit—e Alliance is a nationalist popu- who decry the corruption of government ibsotyhouartta“cckoimnrgadset.ri”keMseaanndwhfiilrein.g-trhuebyb’erre
mmiumsitstbeMsanmiafsehsetdo).thrTohueghcsaopciitaalliisstt rsetvaot-e glaorvefrronnmtenttahle ScooaultihtiAofnribcianndivnagriaantreofofr-a minTihsteersS.ACP is an example of what bulletsattownshipand studentprotesters.
lutio—n and replaced with a workers Tmihset SwAorCkPerasndpaCrtOyStAoTtUhetobposurgpeeoripseiteu.- rbeovuorlguetoiiosnawroyrkleerasdeprarVt.y,I.wiLtehnianwcoarlkliendg-a The Debate About Race
state the dictatorship ofthe proletariat.
ate the illusion that the interests of the class base and a pro-capitalist leadership Against abackdropofstrikes and town-
undBearssetdandoinng.thiSsSAfunfdigahmtesntfaolr aMabrlxaicsk-t proletariat and the bourgeoisie can be and programme. A revolutionary workers ship struggles, the Tripartite Alliance
centred workers government that would ethxepre"snsaetdioinnala cdoemmmocornatpircogrreavmomleut,iolni.k”e paagraliynstwiltlhebeSAbCuiPlt ainndpooltihteircalrecfoormmbiastt hmaasin.lsyeenpisthtairnpgeneilnegmednitvsisioonnstahtetAheNCt’ops.
eaxnpdrobpuriildataesotchieetcyapwihtaelriestthbelwoeoadlstuhckcerres- This is the essence oftheir class collabo- organisations, whose best elements must right wing against the SACP/COSATU
rationism. In fact, the class interests of be won away from theirtreacherous lead- bloc. Former Intelligence chief Billy
ated by labour is used for the benefit of the exploited are irreconcilably counter- erships to the Leninist-Trotskyist pro- Masetiha condemned the growing influ-
atlhl.rouSogchioaultistSoutrtahnesrfnorAmfartiicoan,, weoxutledndidneg- posInedtthoetehaorsleyodfatyhseirofextphleoit"enres.w South gornatmhmee.BoWleshfeivgihtktPoafrotry,gewahpiacrhtyumnoddeerlltehde eatncteheotfopSoAfCtPhe AanNdC.CSOpSeAakTiUng lferaodmersa
pend above all on the victory of prole-
Africa,” telling the truth about the bour- leadership ofLenin and Leon Trotsky led bourgeoisperspective, hecorrectlypointed
ttraireisanofretvhoeluUt.Si.o.nWiensttheEuimrpoepreiaalinsdtJcaopuann-, gweooridss.claAsfstenartu1r5eoyfeatrhseAofNCnewo-aaspafirgthhteiindg tOhcetowboerrkeRresvoilnutRiuosnsioaftIo9Ip7o.weIrn iSnoutthhe o2u0t09t)otthhaet MthaeilAN<6CG"uwaarsdinaont f(o9uOncdteodboenr
pwlhoeirteed atnhde. winortkiemress laikreethreutchulrersesnltyeceox-- c—apiintcalluidsimn,gmiannsyidewotrhkeinSgA-cClPas—snmiolwitawnitlls Aifnrdiecpae,ndseuncthoaf apnatrjtyincoapnpoosniltyiobnetobutihlet aLesaogciuaeli.(stANagCeYnLda).”leEaadrelrieJru.liAuNsCMuYloeumtah
nomic crisis, thrown onto the scrap heap. admit that the ANC is a bourgeois party. bourgeois ANC. This requires a head-on sought to take advantage ofthe unease at
Iptlawninleld teackoenoamny,inbtaesrendatioonnatlhesohciigahleisstt The critical question is. what program- fight against the nationalist ideology that the SACP’s base by condemning Blade
matic conclusions does one draw from holds the Alliance together and poses Nzimandeas a fake working-class leader.
level of technology, to lift the urban and this. Some reformist dissidents use this the biggest obstacle to winning advanced continuedonpage 8
rural masses out of poverty and back- to argue that the SACP should adopt
wardness and create a—clas,sless society a more “independent” posture in order
ofmaterial abundance the beginning of to gain more influence within the Tripar- Just Out! SPARTACIST
communist society. tite Alliance, thus giving a "left” cover I. _ '^AFRICA^^
CNlataisosnCaollilsamboarnadtion fwoorrkmianigntacliansisngtothietsscuabpoirtadliinsattieoxnplooiftetrhse NSewpsapraptearcoifsthte SSooutuhtAfhricAafnrseicctiaon FBriWegaokhwrtitkhfeothrresBaouGrBgoeloviasecTrrkipn-arCmtieetennAtltlri!aencde!
in the nationalist popular front. This is ofthe International Communist League
Squalor in black and coloured town- counterposed to the programme of class (Fourth Internationalist)
ships; miserable wages for factory work- independence of the workers from the
Issue No. 6 (16 pages)
ers, miners, teachers and municipal bourgeoisie and its parties, which means US$1 R2
cwoolrkoeurrse;djyaoilustjhaamn-dpadcekaethdswiinthpoblliaccekcaunsd- rtheecocglnasissienngemtyh.atWteheseAekNCto wisinaapdavratnyceodf SUuSb$s4criRptIiOon (4 issues) I
tody rising steadily; the criminal neglect workers to this programmatic understand-
of health care in the mid.st of the AIDS ing. which is needed to politically arm Make checks payabte/mail to: in South Africa:
paraendseigmnisctahnatdtohtehemrasrsaemsp'anatspdiirsaetaisoenss:faollr tShAeCmPtoanfdigChtOaSgAaiTnsUtltohpes.betrayals ofthe SNBpoeaxwrt1aY3coir7ks7,tGPNPuYbOl1i0s1hi1n6g Co. JSPproaihrvatanatcenieBssta.bguPrXog2s2t22N0e60t0Suite 248
social equality and a decent life have There is growing disgruntlement at the
1 JANUARY 2010 7
—
6
South Africa... haandd SbeAeCnPthien tmhaeinintsepronnatsioornaolfatrheenaAaNnCd Bitter fruits of class
collaboration. Right:
(continuedfrom page 7) had given military support to their guer- Thousands of workers
rilla actions, largely .symbolic, against and Communists were
Malema also made several appeals lo the the apartheid state. With the end of the slaughtered following
ANC's plebeian base by pointing to the ColdWar.theANC/SACPquicklycameto Chlang Kai-shek’s
perpetuation ofwhite privilege, touching terms with Western imperialism and coup in China, 1927.
off a wide debate in South Africa on the its South African junior partner. Nelson Below: Remains of
question ofrace. Mandela himself assured the capitalists Communist Party
In the main, Malema voices the inter- thatanANC-Iedregimewoulddefend pri- headquarters in
ests of the emerging black bourgeoisie. vate property. In 1990, even before the Jakarta, Indonesia,
Wabhoiulte ssepxewuinndgerretahcetiporneatreyxtdeofmafgioghgty- AleNadCercJaomeeSlionvtoopaonwdeNr,UtMheSSAAmCePtaslewnotrkit-s in sOcotmoebeorne19m6i5l,liaosn
Communists, workers,
ing “imperialist" concepts, Malemacom- ers union chief Moses Mayekiso to break peasants and ethnic
plainsabouttheZumagovernmentgiving a strike by workers at Mercedes-Benz in Chinese were
whites, coloureds and Indians key eco- EastLondon whohadoccupiedtheirplant. massacred.
nomicportfolios.Whilenotnamingnames, Once in power, the Tripartite Alliance nocredit
an SACP Central Committee discussion imposed austerity and continued to break
document for an upcoming SACP policy strikes,fromthe 1995 nursesstrikeandthe
VW
congress responded by criticising a “new 2000 strike to this year’s strikes by
ANC
anti-lefttendency" in the espousing courageous public hospital doctors.
“narrow 'Africanist* ideology.’* It was the elementary duty ofMarxists
Despite differences in rhetoric and to defend the ANC, the Pan Africanist
(sometimes) policy, both sides uphold Congress and the Azanian People’s
ANC nationalism. For the SACP and the Organisation againstmurderous apartheid
ANC mainstream, this comes wrapped in repression. At the same time, genuine
the doctrine of “non-racialism,” a vague Marxistsgive nopoliticalsupport to such
concept mainly defined in opposition to petty-bourgeois and bourgeois parties.
the racially exclusive citizenship and Writing after the 1994 elections, when
property rights that were the rule under Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s
British-dominion and apartheid rule. As first black president, the ICL declared;
Govan Mbeki. a historic leader of both “TheANC-Iednationalist movementcan-
the SACP and the ANC. explained: “The not achieve any semblance of‘liberation*
ANC is struggling to form one people, for the nonwhite masses since it is com-
to be represented in one parliament in mitted tomaintaining SouthAfricancapi-
one country.... The ANC is seeking to talism, which has always been based on
forge one nation, building a non-racial the brutal exploitation of the black toil-
democracy in a unitary state” (quoted in ers” (“South Africa Powder Keg," Black
Michael MacDonald, Why Race Matters History and the Class Struggle No. 12, Militant
in SouthAfrica [2006]). February 1995). chalpracticesoppressivelo women; these workers and peasants. In South Africa, it
“Non-racialism” promotes the notion Against all forms of nationalism, we desperately needed measures require the means the subordination ofthe SACP to
that national liberation and social equal- counterpose the fight for a black-centred socialist transformation of the economy the ANC. The only “growing over” we
ity for South Africa’s vast majority can workers government as part ofa socialist and society under the dictatorship of the have seen is some top “Communists”
be achieved under capitalism. The bank- federationofSouthernAfrica. Itwill take proletariat, fighting to promote socialist and union leaders becoming millionaires.
ruptcy of this perspective is exposed a workers government centred on the revolution internationally.
every day in every way. The stark truth is black majority to break the power ofthe As Trotsky stressed in an April 1935 The Left and “Nation Building"
letter lo his South African comrades; In reviving the call fora black-centred
“Insofar as a victorious revolution will workers government, we note that Spar-
radically change not only the relation lacist South Africa incorrectly stopped
between the classes, but also between the usingthissloganafter2001 Weremarked
.
races, and will assure to the blacks that in “South Africa: For a Black-Centered
place in the state which corresponds to WorkersGovernment!”(WorArerjVanguard
their numbers, insofar will the social No. 911, 28 March 2008) that "this
revolution in South Africa also have a deprived us of a crucial weapon in
nationalcharacter.” He continued; combating the illusion that the ‘national
“The historical weapon of national lib- democratic revolution’ has achieved a
eration can be only the class struggle,. 'rainbow nation’ based on the ANC’s
The Comintern (Communist Interna-
17 November tional], beginning in 1924. transformed celebrated doctrine of ‘non-racialism’.’’
2009: the program of national liberation of Exemplifyingthosewhopurvey such illu-
Zimbabwean colonial people into an empty dem- sions,theWorkers InternationalVanguard
immigrants ocratic abstraction which is elevated League ludicrously claimed that our cal!
oDuetsDiodoems, the asfetbrroeuvngetgltcehleaasgrsaeeiasnlisttlyibnoeafrtaictolenaastlshreoemplspaertielosvnsesis.onI(ntdetimhf-e- “speleakystoindtiovitdhee htahendsfoorfmetrhloysepowlhitoicastlillyl
Western Cape, porarily) from material interests and oppressed along ethnic lines” (see our
after being become simple ’anti-imperialist* forces." 1998 pamphlet Hate Trotskyism. Hatethe
tdhreiivrenhofmroems by ComUinndteerrnt,hethdeirefcotrieobneaorfs tohfe tShtealSinAisCePd SerpsarItnatceirsniastiNoon.al1V.a“nAguRaerpdlyLetaogtuhee”)W.ork-
anti-immigrant
attacks. adopted the dogma of“two-stage revolu- Everyone with eyes to see knows that
tion." which they translated as the “na- tribal and ethnic divisions in the town-
tional democratic revolution" that would ships and villages that were consciously
-somehow “grow over" into the socialist fostered by the apartheid regime are
revolution. The “two-stage" schema tells thriving under the “new dispensation."
workers and the oppressed lo subordinate where those at the bottom continue to be
their interests to those of the “progres- pitted against each other in a desperate
that 15 years after the demise of apart- Randlords.expropriatecapitalistproperty sive” bourgeoisie in the first stage of struggle for survival. As the enforcer of
heid. —whites—joined by a handful of and begin the socialist reconstruction of the revolu—tion, while the second stage austerity, the Alliance government can-
blacks are still on top and the black society, finally opening the road to the socialism is relegated to the distant not help but perpetuate these divisions
mpraosvsiedsesonantihnecrbeoatstionmg.ly“fNloinm-sryaccoivaelrisfmo”r laibgeroavteiornnmoefntthewnoounl-wdhintoetmabsesesr.acSiaulclhy cfuotmuerse.. FInrofmactC,hitnhea isnec1o9n2d5-s2t7agteo nIenvdoe-r aAnNdCevnegtaegreanionftdhieviadnet-ia-nadp-arrutlheeidtascttriucgs.-
the neo-apartheid capitalist order that is exclusive but would unite the manyblack nesia in 1965. the “first stage” has ended gle and black capitalist Tokyo Sexwale.
administered by the Tripartite Alliance tribal- and language-based groups along in the slaughter ofCommunists, militant who is currently the Minister of Human
government. with the coloured and Indian populations
equTahleityc"onatsintuhaetiSonACoPf d"oraccuimaelinsteddeliin-- wdheimloecraptriocvirdiignhgtsafmoprltehorseoowmhitaensd wfhulol e Cwniwiwu«iM»P—piiHi
cately puts it. is not due to the so-called would accept a government centred on International Communist League The Developmentand Extensionof
“1996 class project," which the SACP the black toilers and join in building a pamphlet comprising three articles Leon Trotsky’s Theory
invokes in order to blame the [Thabo] society based on genuine equality. from ICL press: "The Development of Permanent Revolution
Mbeki camp for the masses’ misery. The The call for a black-centred workers and Extension of Leon Trotsky’s
f“octolhuaensrdssipinnrgotjhieenctb”l1a9rc1eka2lellbyiytbe.etgTraihbnealaAtcNthhCieefAaslNwCaa’nysds gTlurotoviteosnrk.nym’TsernpotetrssikspyecatneixvpaelpaopilfinpceeadtrimotahnnaetonftinrLeevtoohn-e T“"1Ah9De2oTo3rwrontaysnWkodyifittsPhhteeErCxmCreioactmnuiieqtnnuitetveeorRfneOvf"Gfoeilarcunetmdsiaoonnf,y"the
represented the interests of an aspiring colonial and neocolonial world, where Capitalist State!" These articles
black bourgeoisie, although there was capitalism developed belatedly, the dem- together constitute an introduction
no meaningful layer of black capitalists ocratic tasks associated with the bour- to the historically founded principles
until recently. When the ANC consum- geois revolutions of the 17th and 18th and program ofTrotskyism
mated its aspirations to share power with centuries can be achieved only through (i.e., genuine Marxism).
the white ruling class in 1994, it was the proletarian revolution. Adequate housing ATrotskyistCritiqueofSeimony1923
logical outcome ofits programme. tor the millions in the townships, squat- $2 (56 pages) endtheComintern 30
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demise of the Soviet Union, a bureau- ity education, the eradication of lobola Box 1377GPO. NewYork. NY 1011
cratically degenerated workers state that (bride price)andothertraditional patriar-
8
WORKERS VANGUARD