Markin comment:
In 2007-2008 I, in vain,
attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American
presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed
election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the
event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious,
in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who
really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the
Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world
politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially
the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois
commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things
to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies,
the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for
a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some
of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on.
************
LABOR AND THE WAR IN IRAQ (2007)
This diary entry (very
slightly edited) is from my blog, dated January 19, 2007. It should be read as
part of, and in connection with, my first two dairy entries- An Open Letter to
All Anti-war Activists and An Open Letter to the Rank and File Troops in Iraq.
Also see note on first diary entry as an introduction to my purpose on this
site. That said, this entry as the others is a little jagged for being dated.
However, as in those entries I stand by the political points presented.
Sometimes the big issues of war and peace can only be resolved in the
workplace, in the barracks and in the streets. Now is such a time.
LABOR-SUPPORT YOUR CLASS BROTHERS AND SISTERS-BUILD
ANTI-WAR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS SOLIDARITY COMMITTEES-IMMEDIATE UNCONDITIONAL
WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ!
As readers of this space are
aware over the last year I have been running a propaganda campaign for the
anti-war movement to change its focus and concentrate on winning over the rank
and file troops that are fighting the bloody war in Iraq. Readers will also
note that these commentaries are part of a byline dedicated to fighting for a
workers party here in America. Recently I received a rather surprising
communication from a young militant who, in essence, accused me of having a
‘military’ deviation on the war question. The basis for this comment is the
notion that propaganda for a workers party- a political solution to the crisis
of leadership in the American labor movement and thus ultimately the question
of the war in Iraq- precludes my so-called ‘military’ solution. Needless to say
this calls for some commentary, or rather clarification, on my part.
Politics, including left-wing propaganda
politics, is about timing as much as any other factor. A realistic look at the
political landscape of the organized labor movement today shows no particular
movement at the base to defend itself against the onslaught of effective wage
and benefit cuts. Nor is there a serious commitment to massively organize the
working class into trade unions, particularly the critical Wal-Mart and
Southern labor forces that would go a long way to reversing the decline in the
power of the organized labor movement. Given those conditions what is the
likelihood today of galvanizing organized labor for meaningful political action
in opposition to the Iraq war? While many unions and labor federations,
including my union, have gone on record in ‘paper’ opposition to the war, it
remains a paper position except for support to bourgeois , mainly Democratic
Party, ‘anti-war’ candidates. This
abject support is the labor equivalent of those meaningless non-binding resolutions
that the Congress is so fond of, and by the way requires no heavy lifting.
A look at the general
political scene is even more depressing, if not down right embarrassing to
those in the anti-war movement who, unlike me, took the mid-term 2006 elections
as good coin. After six years of getting hammered by the likes of Dick Cheney
and Karl Rove one would think that those esteemed bourgeois politicians from
Hillary “Hawk” to Obama the “Charma” would be able to ratchet up the courage to
say no. No, not meaningless non-binding resolutions gently chiding President
Bush for his ‘surge’ strategy. No, not trying to have one’s cake and eating it
too by supporting the troops and opposing the war policy. The only meaningful
anti-war parliamentary maneuver is to vote NO on the war budget. That proposition
will come up for a vote (maybe) soon. Watch all the rats deserting ship on that
one after the great political courage they summoned up to vote for the
non-binding resolution. It will not be pretty and it is not recommended for the
faint-hearted.
If one takes a look at the
causality lists from the war or reads the seemingly endless local news profiles
of those who have died or been severely wounded (a more difficult number to
digest) it is plain as day that working people from the cities and small towns
of America have taken the brunt of the beating in Iraq. While my appeals to
form ant-war solidarity committees have been generic one thing is clear the
class brothers and sisters of those soldiers and sailors have a very deep
interest in getting their people the hell out of Iraq. Thus, the dragging out
of the war, the average citizen’s frustrated desire to get out, the bourgeois
parties political impasse, the anti-war leadership’s parliamentary cretinist
strategy and labor’s unwillingness to take decisive action at this time makes
it necessary to call for the troops to take action as the short way home. We
must not let our anti-war class brothers and sisters in uniform stand
alone. Yes, in a beautiful, politically
conscious labor movement we should be
calling for political strikes against the
war and calling on dockworkers and others not handle military goods to Iraq but that is
not the case right now (although it might be latter). Until then I can take the
heat on my ‘military’ deviation-as long as we get those anti-war solidarity
committees up and running- and those troops out.
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