Internationalist Notes #17
National Liberation at Work
Valiant freedom fighters for the independence of East Timor shot
and killed a school teacher in front of a class full of students. According
to an APnews report on December 3, 1997, Francisco Amaral was killed
because separatist rebels suspected him of collaborating with government
security forces. Where are those leftists who critically support all
national liberation movements when they commit atrocities? Probably too
busy supporting some other "liberation" movement to notice. All workers are
oppressed, especially in Indonesia, they have no reason to support the
slaughter of each other in the name of some pathetic bid for regional
autonomy. Liberal reformers and little warlords only have the interest of
the particular faction of the ruling class that they happen to represent at
heart.
Chemical Warfare, Oil and Iraq
With another round of confrontation over Iraq ending, it is
important to note that this is only a prelude to further conflict with
Iraq. The much heralded glory of democracy stands revealed as another form
of capitalist imperialism as surely as fascism and stalinism were forms of
capitalist imperialism. No matter what the system of government, every
state exists to further the interests of the economic power of the faction
of the capitalist class that it represents. The capitalist news media has
obscured the US government's strategic interests in the Persian Gulf region
with the endless saga of political fallout from a few presidential
blow-jobs. US interests remain unchanged in the gulf region, as during the
Gulf War when thousands marched in the streets chanting "No Blood for
Oil!", the rulers of the US must pursue their "vital strategic interests"
with redoubled vigor, as the plans for oil pipelines from the Caspian Sea
make intervention even more necessary to the point of installing a US
client state and a permanent military presence in Iraq. The endless litany
in the bourgeois press of Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" has served
to obscure the real nature of the US state's interests in the region as
well as obscuring the history of the US government's own use of biological
"weapons of mass destruction". It is all the more important to view US
democracy as it is, not a fantasy of what "progressives" or reformers of
all stripes would like it to be.
Dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf and through the Gulf can
only increase in the next century. The major world powers have been
consolidating their political and economic relations with the Persian Gulf
States as with the other major oil producers. An article by Gawdat Bahgat,
from the US military's unofficial mouthpiece, the Strategic Review states,
"Furthermore, the Persian Gulf, Mainly Iran, can serve as a gateway for
another promising energy repository - the Caspian Basin." 1
This is just to show how the Pentagon, the State Department and the
ruling class as a whole view the Persian Gulf states and Central Asia, as
energy repositories or locations with resources for the taking. Wherever
the oil pipelines run, a US military presence in Iraq will be necessary in
order to wield control over the region. So the long term goals of the US
government in towards Iraq require that the Ba'ath regime in Iraq be
overthrown and replaced with a client state. Possibly with a US friendly
puppet opposition acting as a proxy. In essence, a former US client must be
replaced with a new acquiescent US client state.
What of "weapons of mass destruction" how is it that the US state
has taken on the role of enforcing the official rules of warfare? During
and after the Second World War, the military had millions of pounds of
Sarin nerve gas produced. The reports of the US military using nerve gas in
Vietnam go all the way back to 1970 and were not just a figment of CNN
reporter April Oliver's imagination. On May of 1970 news of stockpiles of
GB nerve agent started appearing in the world press. Swedish newspaper
Dagens Nyheter reported of US military use of VX nerve gas use in Cambodia.
2 Witnesses abound among Vietnam veterans, particularly those in special
operations units who maintain that the US military did occasionally use
nerve gas. Admiral Thomas Moorer (ret.), who was a chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff in 1970, confirmed the use of Sarin gas in operations
involving the rescue of downed U.S. airmen. 3
Even more widespread in Vietnam was the use, by the US military, of
riot control agents and herbicides, almost all of which are lethal at
certain levels and combinations. Two of the most common chemicals used were
the tearing agent Chloroacetophenone (CN), and Diphenylaminochloroarsine
(DM). These two chemicals were often used together with an even more lethal
effect, particularly in enclosed spaces such as underground tunnels and
bunkers. Although these two chemicals are not considered chemical weapons,
or weapons of mass destruction, they are as toxic or more toxic than
similar concentrations of other more famous chemical warfare agents such as
Cyanogen Chloride (CK), distilled Mustard gas (HD), or Lewisite. 4
The UN definition of chemical warfare as signed by the US
government on February 1, 1970 defined weapons derived from riot control
agents or chemical herbicides as not covered by the Geneva protocol on
chemical weapons. 5 Presumably, it would've been alright according to UN
definitions if Iraq developed deadly chemical and biological weapons not
covered under the Geneva protocol. The US dropped 12 million gallons (45.4
million liters) of Agent Orange on Vietnam alone. 6 The ruling class can
make or unmake any law or form under which it chooses to abide. Any
supposed moral or humanitarian claim by the US government must immediately
be dismissed as another imperialist maneuver.
During the Gulf War the US military used artillery rounds with
shells of depleted uranium and missiles containing depleted uranium. This,
along with US bombing of oil fields, often erroneously attributed to the
fleeing Iraqi army, has been the main contributing factor in the so-called
"Gulf War syndrome", the symptoms of which are consistent with radiation
poisoning. Cancer rates in Southern Iraq have increased by nearly 200
percent since the end of the Gulf War. 7 The US government is not concerned
with Iraq's capacity to harm its immediate neighbors, nor is it concerned
with enforcing international law - Uncle Sam wants control of oil and the
flow of oil.
Ironically, 140 gallons of Sarin "nerve agent", the main active
ingredient of nerve gas spilled at a military incinerator and weapons dump
called the Deseret Chemical Depot, run by EG&G Defense Materials Inc., in
Utah this last December. It was the largest such reported spill to date at
a facility which houses some 42 percent of the U.S. chemical weapons
arsenal which amounts to 27 million pounds of nerve and blistering agent
combined. 8 Workers in the US have more to fear from the US military when
it comes to chemical weapons than some mad bomber or hostile nation.
Protests against these military actions should always stress the sordid
nature of what the US government's strategic interests truly are in Iraq -
this most recent attack on Iraq will not be the last. This is the
imperialism of the democratic state at work. ASm
1 Bahgat, Gawdat. Oil Security in the New Millenium - Geo-Economy vs.
Geo-Strategy. Strategic Review. Fall 1998. Pg. 22-25
2 Verwey, Will D. Riot Control Agents and Herbicides in War. A.W. Sijthoff
International Publishing Co. BV., Netherlands 1977. pg. 184-5
3 Oliver, April. and Arnett, Peter. Did the US Drop Nerve Gas?. Time. June
15, 1998.
4 Verwey, Will D. Riot Control Agents and Herbicides in War. A.W. Sijthoff
International Publishing Co. BV., Netherlands 1977. pg. 14-34
5 Verwey, Will D. Riot Control Agents and Herbicides in War. A.W. Sijthoff
International Publishing Co. BV., Netherlands 1977. pg. 5
6 Lamb, David. Agent Orange Poisons Generations in Vietnam, Study Finds.
International Herald Tribune. Wednesday, November 4, 1998.
7 APnews. Iraq Blames U.S. for Gulf Illnesses. 12-2-1998.
8 APnews. Army Downplays Sarin Spill in Utah. 12-15-1998.
The Nature of Democracy
It is a common perception that when democracy doesn't work that it
is because there is not enough democracy. On the contrary, democracy today
is exactly as the ruling class has always intended it to be. The
"progressive idea" that exists in the minds of so-called progressives is
that they are inexorably moving towards progressively more perfect forms of
democracy. Unfortunately, reality is how things are - and not how we would
wish it to be.
In 1891 Engels wrote, in his famous introduction to Marx's "The
Civil War in France" on the United States, that "There, each of the two
major parties which alternately succeed each other in power is itself in
turn controlled by people who make a business of politics, who speculate on
seats in the legislative assemblies if the Union as well as of the separate
states, or who make a living by carrying on agitation for their party and
on its victory are rewarded positions."
He continues by stating, "And nevertheless we find here two great
gangs of political speculators, who alternately take possession of the
state power and exploit it by the most corrupt means and for the most
corrupt ends - and the nation is powerless against these two great cartels
of politicians, who are ostensibly its servants, but in reality dominate
and plunder it."
A more fitting description of democracy in the US would be hard to
find. Today however these two groups of gangsters, today control the
largest propaganda machine in the world. It is utopian to think that this
democracy can be reformed, altered or even influenced. The Reform Party
today presented as the alternative to Democrats and Republicans is not at
all different or an alternative. A real third party has long been the dream
the left in the US, it has always been a pipe dream even as union militants
and activists struggle to organize a Labor Party that is already a
still-born product of the left-wing of capitalism. The remains of the left
in this country have largely confined themselves to petitioning the
democratic wing of the ruling class for favors in an attempt to keep
today's "reforms" from undoing the work of reform that they sacrificed
their political existence to.
By voting citizens give up all collective interest in favor of a
private ballot, they also allow the ruling class to claim popular support
when they deserve no support. Although both domestic and foreign policies
of our government have only one priority that is to protect investments and
encourage higher worker productivity. In this respect the tasks of our
government are largely "bipartisan", which means most fundamental policy
decisions will be the same regardless of which ruling party is in power.
What it means is that whether the "citizens" who vote agree with the
government or not, the ruling class will do whatever it takes to remain in
power.
In union certification elections this tendency to use the private
ballot against workers is very familiar. On the national level private
individual voters are intimidated into voting for the candidates they
consider the least rotten. After all, goes the familiar refrain, what might
happen when the other party gets in power. For some voting is the only way
to exercise political opinion, simply because that is the way things are
always done.
It is only when workers realize that it makes no difference what
they do as individuals, the way to exercise power and influence is to act
collectively as a class. The biggest barrier to this is the twofold weapon
of capitalist democracy that calls any collective action on the part of the
working class merely the action of a mob and that the only way to win power
is to behave as good citizens of the democratic state and pursue only the
most tired and pointless political expression, that of electoral democracy.
When the next election comes make an effective decision, stay away from the
polling places and become active in something that really does count - take
up the class struggle.
Today democracy is not at all the progressive creation that it was
during the time of the American and French Revolutions. Democracy is the
main weapon in imposing state austerity and eliminating all social welfare
and state industry, democracy is useful in that everything the democratic
government does has the fig leaf of approval from the majority of citizen
voters. So democracy attempts to enlist workers in supporting all that runs
contrary to their most basic interests. The progressive role of democracy
had ended by the First World War. The reformist notions of progressives are
an impossibility and in reality are reduced to the defense of reforms that
grow increasingly precarious in an economic system that can only continue
by extracting as much as possible from workers.
Letter Section:
The following letter was printed with the intention of illustrating
a part of the historic background of prison labor in the U.S., it was not
intended to be presented as being in agreement with the positions of
Internationalist Notes nor does it mean that it is being put up for
criticism Prison industries were very popular during the first half of the
century but were scaled back during the period relative economic prosperity
after the Second World War. This has changed over the last thirty years
with the end of the post war boom. Profits from prison industries have
tripled from $392 million in 1980 to $1.62 billion in 1997. 1 Also
startling, is that as state prison populations grow, the individual state
governments are able to use this as a labor pool to contract out to out of
state prisons, both public and private, as a super cheap labor force to be
bartered for with the "corrections" facilities of other states. The letter
heavily concentrates on the moral and legal aspects of this as "chattel
slavery". Morality and Legality are not subjects that Internationalist
Notes dwells on, but this letter does touch on some key points. The
reliance on forced labor to build up an economy in transition to
capitalism, in contrast with prison labor today being used to shore up a
capitalist economy in decay, is a distinction which is not clearly made in
this letter but this point does not alter the reality and force inherent in
it.
1 APnews. Prison Industries Often in the Red. December 1, 1998.
"Massa" is Alive and Well - Slave Labor in US Prisons
From 1861-65 the dis-United States of America engaged in a
protracted and bloody civil war. One of the results of the Union army's
crushing of the Confederate States was that through raw force of arms and
massive bloodshed, slavery, legally authorized and sanctified by the
'sacrosanct' U.S. constitution was abolished. The original intent and
desire of the slaver founding fathers to have slavery in perpetuity in the
U.S., was done away with. Or so all the history (propaganda) books would
have it believed - the BIG LIE. However, Simon Legree did not die. What
those history books deliberately fail to say is that even before the end of
the civil war, the capitalist powers that be were reintroducing chattel
slavery, by name and putting it right back into that sacred cow, the U.S.
constitution. Only this time around slavery would be, according to the new
improved hallowed U.S. Constitution, open to all, regardless of Race,
Creed, Sex, or Skin Color, etc. The rapacious capitalist never sleeps.
Several months before the end of the Civil War, the 13th amendment was
ratified and became law throughout the United States, on December 18, 1865.
In its entirety the 13th amendment states:
Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
Slavery is slavery is slavery, however, according to the legal
double-talk and mountebank capitalist semantics, this new and improved
chattel slavery was and is different (good and moral) because it is all
inclusive. And this before the ink was dry on the signed Civil War peace
papers. Chattel slavery was in fact the law of the land right there in the
Constitution again. The capitalist's capitalist, Simon Legree, revived,
resuscitated, and resurrected. Further, lickspittle courts, groveling and
Kowtowing, with their suck like lips stuck to the capitalist posterior
towed the capitalist line 100% and critically declared the word "duly" in
the 13th amendment to be meaningless surplusage, case closed. Chattel
slavery back in style the same year it was "finally" abolished. Here in the
"land of the free and the home of the brave", by judicially eliminating the
word "duly", capitalist courts opened the door of slavery, for innocent as
well as guilty prisoners - precisely the scenario in Nazi Germany. The
southern ruling class had declared war on the north to preserve chattel
slavery, refusing to give up their guns without a fight. When it comes time
to defend the ultimate form of capitalist exploitation, slavery,
capitalists know no borders - their flag is the almighty dollar.
Today all those who take an oath to uphold and defend the U.S.
Constitution are taking an oath to uphold and defend slavery. Just like 150
years ago, all Federal Judges take this oath, as does the President and
congresspersons and myriads of other overt and covert slavers. That reveals
several things, including a deep moral blindness in our society. A willing
and intentional creation of non-persons as slaves. Today when it is pointed
out to capitalists and their apologists that chattel slavery is indeed a
formidable part of American society, they smile and say "yes but it is
legal." That is exactly the same shameful and immoral argument their
ancestors made 150 years ago. It was the same unconscionable argument in
Dred Scott. The more things change the more they stay the same. Then as
now, and individual is either for it or against it. Morally and ethically
there is no middle ground, never was and never will be. It is not wrong
"except' or "generally" any more than child rape is wrong "except" or
"generally". Slavery is always dead wrong. Its sleazy, slimy, sly, slick,
amoral apologists are dead wrong. Vocal American critics of Chinese Prison
Labor and Sudanese slavery are con-artists, snake oil salesman, and
obfuscators of the first rank. When has the corporate/capitalist media ever
called for the abolition of American Slavery? Never.
Some states and their slaver apologist leaders claim that even
though chattel slavery is the law of the land, they do not engage in it
because they pay prisoners, innocent and guilty, pennies a day. As befits
such masters of duplicity, they then take back their pennies a day by means
of sleight of hand "charges" such as for (inadequate) medical care. Here in
Texas they don't bother to play that game. No siree! They pay prisoners
nothing and vaingloriously proud of it. Enforcing the law they call it,
here on the South's biggest plantation. That's not all, supposedly when the
American civil war ended, all Texas slaves were freed by state decree on
June 19, 1865, but not quite. During the Civil War one of the South's
largest manufacturers of Confederate Johnny Reb uniforms was the Texas
prison system. However, with the end of the Civil War, the Texas prison
system did not cease to manufacture the gray uniforms of traitors.
Clutching the 13th amendment they increased manufacture of such uniforms
which then, as now, are the same precise gray uniforms of Texas prison
employees. This is sharply meant to be an open and ever present reminder
that the harsh and oppressive capitalist slave holding beliefs and
mentality have remained alive, well, and are the motivation behind many a
state action. Instead of abolishing slavery as it said it did, Texas
institutionalized it, tossing in some whites and hispanics for good
measure, following the "new and improved" U.S. Constitution with its
chattel slave 13th amendment. Make no mistake, it is the intrastate
popularity of such pro-slavery actions that slaver Governor George W. Bush
intends to ride to reelection and from there catapult himself into the
presidency. Texas now houses far more prisoners than the entire country of
Brazil. Now, the federal courts in Texas refuse to send slaves any 42-1983
civil rights lawsuit forms. Texas federal courts now furnish the prison
slave holders with such federal forms and the slave holders at their gray
discretion, distribute them. After all, what is the Constitution among
slave holding friends? Manus Manum Lavat. All in the family.
Robert J. Zani
Michael Unit
Tennessee Colony, Texas
Who are we?
The Communist Workers Organization was founded in the UK in 1975 but the
political origins of our positions are much older. We regard ourselves as
heir to a common tradition which goes from the Communist League of Marx and
Engels through the First, Second and Third (Communist) Internationals to,
most recently, those left currents which were expelled from the Third
International in the 1920's as the process of Stalinization developed.
We have always been opposed to all forms of capitalist exploitation and
oppression as well as state capitalist currents such as Stalinism, Maoism,
Trotskyism and all the other counter-revolutionary distortions of Marxism.
Since 1984 we have formed part of the International Bureau for the
Revolutionary Party initiated by II Partito Comunista Internazionalista
(Battaglia Comunista).
Our Basic Positions
1. The aim of the working class is to establish a stateless, classless,
moneyless society without exploitation, national frontiers or standing
armies and in which the free development of each is the condition for the
free development of all (Marx): Communism.
2. Such a society will need a revolutionary state for its introduction.
This state will be run by workers' councils, consisting of instantly
recallable delegates from every section of the working class. Their rule is
called the dictatorship of the proletariat because it cannot exist with out
the forcible overthrow and keeping down of the capitalist class worldwide.
3. The first stage in this is the political organization of class-conscious
workers and their eventual union into an international political party for
the promotion of world revolution.
4. The Russian October Revolution of 1917 remains a brilliant inspiration
for us. It showed that workers could overthrow the capitalist class. Only
the isolation and decimation of the Russian working class destroyed their
revolutionary vision of 1917. What was set up in Russia in the 1920's and
after was not communism but centrally planned state capitalism. There have
as yet been no communist states anywhere in the world.
5. The International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party was founded by the
heirs of the Italian Left who tried to fight the political degeneration of
the Russian Revolution and the Comintern in the 1920's. We are continuing
the task which the Russian Revolution promised but failed to achieve - the
fight to free the workers of the world and for the establishment of
communism. Join us!
Communist Workers' Organization
P. O. Box 338, Sheffield S3 9YX, UK
Los Angeles Workers' Voice
P. O. Box 57483, Los Angeles, CA 90057
Internationalist Notes
P. O. Box 1531, Eau Claire, WI 54702
(
geocities.com/capitolhill)