American Insurgents: A Brief History of American Anti-imperialism

297 Pages·2012·1.31 MB·English

by  Richard Seymour

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All empires spin self-serving myths,
and in the US the most potent
of these is that America is a force for democracy around the world. Yet there is a tra-
dition of American anti-imperialism that exposes this misleading mythology. American
AMERICAN INSURGENTS
Insurgentsis a surprising, revelatory history of anti-imperialism in the United States
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since the American Revolution. It charts the movements against empire from the Indian M
Wars and the expansionism of the slave South to the Anti-Imperialist League of Mark E A BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN ANTI-IMPERIALISM
Twain and Jane Addams. Seymour crafts a lively and transparent explanation of why R
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some of these movements succeeded and others failed. The result is a vital perspective C
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for those organizing antiwar resistance today.
N Richard Seymour

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“American Insurgentspresents an indispensable history of anti-imperialist movements U
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in the United States....Seymour shatters a whole host of standard misconceptions about
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resistance to overseas adventures, refuting the common portrait of a US public apathetic
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to the crimes of its government in foreign lands....The book is illuminated by the coura- N
geous and inspiring voices of US anti-imperialists, from Frederick Douglass to Muhammad T
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Ali to current opponents of recent US wars in the Middle East.”
—Michael Schwartz,author, War Without End
“In these times of international rebellion, [Richard Seymour] has given us a tool with R
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which to build a movement for a more just world, both within and beyond our borders.” c
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—Camilo Mejía,author, Road to ar-Ramadi ar
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“In the tradition of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United Statesand Joe Allen’s e
y
Vietnam, Richard Seymour shows that US imperialism has generated significant domestic m
opposition rooted in grassroots movements for racial, economic, and social justice.” o
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—Michael Letwin,founding member, r
New York City Labor Against the War and Labor for Palestine
Richard Seymouris a socialist writer and columnist and runs the blog Lenin’s Tomb.
He is the author of The Liberal Defence of Murderand The Meaning of David Cameron.
ISBN: 978-1-60846-141-7 $17
www.haymarketbooks.org
US History / Politics
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American Insurgents
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American
Insurgents
Richard Seymour
A Brief History of American Anti-Imperialism
Haymarket Books
Chicago, Illinois
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© 2012 Richard Seymour
Published in 2012 by Haymarket Books
PO Box 180165
Chicago, IL 60618
www.haymarketbooks.org
773–583–7884
ISBN: 978-1-60846-141-7
Trade distribution:
In the US, Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, www.cbsd.com
In Canada, Publishers Group Canada, www.pgcbooks.ca
In the UK, Turnaround Publisher Services, www.turnaround-uk.com
In Australia, Palgrave Macmillan, www.palgravemacmillan.com.au
All other countries, Publishers Group Worldwide, www.pgw.com
Cover design by Josh On. Cover image of antiwar protesters
at an ROTC ceremony at Ohio State University in 1970.
Associated Press Photo.
Published with the generous support of Lannan Foundation
and the Wallace Global Fund.
Printed in the United States by union labor on FSC certified paper stock.
Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data is available.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
union bug FSC logo
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Contents
Preface ix
One Revolution and Anti-Imperialism:
The Internal Foes of Empire 1
Two Cuba Libre, the Anti-Imperialist League,
and Beyond 35
Three From Wilsonianism to Bolshevism 59
Four The Cold War and Decolonization 97
Five After Vietnam 135
Six From the End of History to the “War on Terror”169
Epilogue Revolution in the Middle East 199
Notes 217
Acknowledgments 253
Index 255
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To Marie, with all my love
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Preface
It is yet another Civilized Power, with its banner of the
Prince of Peace in one hand and its loot-basket and its
butcher-knife in the other.
—Mark Twain
Empire, Naked and Unbound
That the United States is an empire is no longer a matter of con-
troversy. Until 2001, America’s awesome global dominion had been
referenced only in coy euphemisms—“leadership,” “diplomacy,”
“dominance,” or, if you were a particularly brazen Realpolitiker,
“hegemony.” American statesmen would respond with a mixture
of bemusement, indignation, and faux-naiveté to the idea that the
United States was an empire. What, us? You misspeak. We lead, we
provide an example, we may even exercise a certain power due to
our unique gifts. But we are not imperialists, by no means.And per-
haps in official disavowals, there was the spirit of a saying attributed
to Jimmy Hoffa: Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to
say you are, you probably ain’t.
But the World Trade Center attacks changed this, just as they
changed everything else. Journalists, academics, intellectuals, and
even on the down-low politicians suddenly found that they rather
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