‘Unbelievable that US strike on Syrian army was mistake' – fmr MI5 agent

USA: Remembering Mississippi's Free State of Jones : "Poor Men Fight Rich Man's War"

Newt Knight - he lived for others - the story of the Free State of Jones now made into a Film about to come to Cinema near you





Democracy and Class Struggle says Newt Knight after being reviled as a traitorous criminal bandit by the Confederacy and its racist hangers on - is now being having  his truth revealed - he was man who lived for others. 

"Poor Men Fight Rich Man's War"




"The Poor Folks don;t write the history books"    

India: Long Live the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union : burning the effigy of the chief minister by Harsh Thakor

LONG LIVE THE STRUGGLE OF AGRICULTURAL DALIT LABOURERS FROM THE CLUTCHES OF TYRANNY.

SALUTE THE RESILIENCE OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS LED BY PUNJAB KHET MAZDOOR UNION IN LAMBI IN CHIEF MINISTER BADAL'S CONSTITUENCY IN 3 DAY PROTEST .

MAY THE AGITATION SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE.GREAT TO ALSO SEE SUCH PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN BURNING EFFIGY OF CHIEF MINISTER ..

SUCH EVENTS ARE A STEPPING STONE FOR A MASSIVE UPSURGE.LIKE A CANDLE LIGHT TURNING INTO A BONFIRE..

TRIBUTE TO METICULOUS GROUNDWORK OF .P.M.K.U. WHO ARE SOWING THE SEEDS FOR MANY A LOTUS TO BLOOM.

Over a thousand agricultural labourers thronged around Chief minister Prakash Singh Badal's constituency in a protest for demands from 15-17th September..

The main demands was for 5 marlas of land.

The women comrades stole the show burning the effigy of the chief minister.

On the 2nd and 3rd days a heroic jam was launched on the highway.

The town of Lambi looked illuminated with the red flags of .P.M.K.U. activist's who displayed the tenacity of a boulder.

The protest went a long way in ressurecting the demoralized spirit of agricultural dalit labourers in Punjab, labourers assembled from 8 districts.Moral support was also given by activists of the B.K.U-Ekta(Ugrahan) who made a kitchen for the protestors. Punjab Tribune paper reports below.Lambi/Muktsar: Activists of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Unionon 15th July launched their three-day protest at Lambi village.

They are demanding free five-marla plots for the homeless, compensation against cotton crop failure for farm labourers and financial aid for families of debt-laden farmers who committed suicide.

Lachman Singh Sewewala, general secretary of the union, said, “If the state government did not fulfil our demands, we will intensify our stir.

The CM, on April 1, had assured us that 20,000 plots would be given to farm labourers, but the process has not started yet.”He appealed to the state government to provide permanent employment to the poor and stop thrashing Dalits in the name of cow protection..

On,September 16 Agitating activists of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union blocked the Fazilka-Delhi national highway at Lambi village for nearly two hours today. They were demanding free five-marla plots promised to the homeless by the state government.

Senior officers, including Vishesh Sarangal, SDM, Malout, and SP (D) Baljit Singh, had come to meet the protesters. They assured them of a meeting with the CM during his visit to Badal village on September 18, but the protesters did not relent and sought time for the panel meeting to discuss issues in detail.

The protesters said the state government did not allot residential plots to a number of poor families.

Besides, a large number of farm labourers had not yet got compensation against last year’s cotton crop failure. Similarly, a number of genuine people were deprived of the benefit of blue cards.

They also demanded immediate compensation for the families of those who committed suicide due to debt.

Union general secretary Lachman Singh Sewewala said, “We have informed the administration about our demands. If the government does not give us any assurance as regards our demands, we will intensify our protest from tomorrow. Some other unions are also likely to support us.”

On April 1, he said, the CM had assured them that 20,000 plots would be given to farm labourers, but the process had not started yet.

On the final day on 17th July : activists of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union burnt an effigy of CM Parkash Singh Badal in Lambi village on the concluding day of their three-day protest on Saturday.

They announced to disrupt the state government’s programmes across the state, even as the district administration assured them that their meeting with the CM had been fixed in Chandigarh on September 20.

The farm labourers’ demands include five-marla plots for the homeless and compensation for last year’s damage to the cotton crop.

The women activists in gathering of around 400 burnt an effigy of the chief minister which was very symbolic.

India: Message from the Revolutionary Democratic Movement in Punjab We Firmly Stand with the People of Kashmir by Harsh Thakor

Punjab We Firmly Stand with the People of Kashmir

Once again, Kashmir is boiling with rage. The pent-up anger of the people of Kashmir against their brutal oppression by the Indian Security forces has erupted in powerful massive protests in the form of gatherings, demonstrations and skirmishes and clashes with these forces, in which more than 75 people have been killed, many blinded and more than thousand injured so far.

It is more than 60 days now since the cold-blooded killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani by the security forces on 8th of July. Yet the anger of the people is finding no let-up. Brave Kashmiris are valiantly fighting against the atrocities and brutalities of the security forces. They are coming out on the roads time and again, in large numbers, caring little for the restrictions, curfews and even firings. They deserve our salute.

The just and righteous struggle of the people of Kashmir has gained support from variety of sections of the people world over. In India too, the reports of such solidarity actions supporting the Kashmiri people are pouring in.

In Punjab also some such actions have taken place. The solidarity activity in Punjab, scattered over a wide area and taking different forms such as conventions, public meetings, demonstrations and other forms of mass-propaganda, was chiefly organized by the communist revolutionary, revolutionary democratic and other pro-people forces active in the state.

Almost all the sections of society such as peasants, workers, employees, intellectuals, students and youth participated in these solidarity actions; especially the leading sections and front rank activists and fighters of the revolutionary democratic movement of the state participated in considerable numbers and with a marked conviction.

As a result of this entire activity by different sections of revolutionary democratic movement of Punjab, a clear message has emerged in support of the people of Kashmir. The voice has been raised not only against the brutal treatment meted out to the people of Kashmir by the armed forces, but also against the tyrannical and despotic political stance of the Indian rulers and in favor of the right to self-determination of the nation.

The movement of Punjab, thus, could be seen standing resolutely by the side of the people of Kashmir. Here is a brief report (with a note that more of such activities are still on the calendar):
 First among the series of solidarity actions is a state level convention, organized jointly by four revolutionary organizations i.e. CPI(ML) New-Democracy, Inquilabi Kendra Punjab, Lok Sangram Manch and Lok Sangram Manch (RDF) and held in the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall, Jalandhar.

The convention was attended by around 300 hundred participants from all over the Punjab. Com. Darshan Khatkar, com. Mukhtiar Poohla, com. Balwant Makhu and com. Rajesh Malhotra were the speakers who discussed the issue of Kashmir, its historical perspective, the struggle of the people of Kashmir, their right to self-determination and the AFSPA at length.

The convention demanded the Indian armed forces be removed from Kashmir, democratic atmosphere be created and the right to self-determination be exercised. At the end a protest march was also in the city.

Another organization, namely CPRCI(ML) sent a solidarity letter to the convention wherein the organization expressed its solidarity with the cause of the convention. It also appreciated the fact that the convention was organized jointly by three revolutionary organizations of Punjab and pointed out the scope and need for more joint activities.

The state committee of Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR) called upon its units to raise a voice in support of the Kashmiri people in one or the other form. Following the call, the Bathinda district committee of AFDR, with support of the mass-organizations of peasants, land laborers, students, youth and electricity employees, organized a district level convention.

The convention was attended by around 350 participants including peasants, land laborers, noted intellectuals and democratic activists of the area, youth and students, including few Kashmiri students from locally situated Central University. It is worth mentioning that 30 of the peasant and land-labor activists performed the role of vigilantes to prevent any possibility of disruption or provocation all through the proceedings.

The original main speaker“ Gautam Navlakha “ could not make it to the convention for health reasons. The convention was thus addressed by other two speakers  Narbhinder, state committee member of AFDR and Sh. Parminder Singh, one of the founding members of AFDR and member of its state secretariat presently.

Sh. Narbhinder explained the historical context of the Kashmir problem, and Dr. Parminder built his speech around the conception of the very roots of democracy i.e. the people have the right to decide their own fate. Suppressing any nationality, he said, against its will, in the name of integrity of a country is anti-democratic.

The right to self-determination of the people of Kashmir is their democratic right.

The democratic character of each and every person and institution will now be tested on the grounds whether or not it raised a voice to support the people of Kashmir. The government of India is trampling down not only this right of the Kashmiri people but also the constitutional rights to raise a voice, to assemble and even to live.

The expansionist designs of Indian and Pakistani governments have thrown the Kashmiri people in grave peril.

The convention demanded that the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people must be ensured; AFSPA and other black laws should be repealed; restrictions on media should be revoked; attacks on democratic activities and organizations upholding rights of the Kashmiri people should be stopped. Apart from this the convention condemned the communal fascist atmosphere being created against the religious minorities, dalits and adivasis in the country. A silent protest march with eye-catching placards and posters was also held in the end.

 Lok Morcha Punjab (LMP) gave a call to hold a gathering on the issue of Kashmir in Lambi region (home constituency of CM Parkash Singh Badal, an alliance partner of ruling BJP) of Muktsar district. Supported by the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union (PKMU), the convention was attended by around 250 land laborers, including 125 women and considerable number of youth participants. Sh. N. K. Jeet, state advisor of LMP and Sh. Pavel Kussa, state secretary of Naujwan Bharat Sabha addressed the gathering.

The convention started with a homage to Nanak Singh, the deceased leader of PKMU. During his speech, Sh. N. K. Jeet threw light on the perilous condition of the people of Kashmir under the brutal attack of the Indian armed forces.

Curfews, killings, beatings, arrests, pellet guns, clashes and mourning assemblies have become a norm of the day in Kashmir.

Touching upon the historical aspect of the Kashmir issue he said the accession of Kashmir in 1947 was only an ad hoc arrangement under certain conditions including the condition of holding a referendum.

But the Indian rulers had gradually violated all the conditions and occupied the territory permanently. Sh. Pavel Kussa told about why the struggling people of Punjab and India must support the people of Kashmir as both are fighting, in one way or the other, against the feudal-imperialist subjugation of their lives, livelihoods and lands.

This is, he explained, the common cord between the struggle of the two. The struggle of the people of Kashmir for self-determination could only succeed by becoming part and parcel of the struggle of the toiling people of India against the feudal and imperialist exploitation.

Another convention was organized in Samrala by Lok Morcha Punjab. It was addressed by  state secretary Sh. Jagmail Singh and attended by around 100 participants.

Punjab Students Union (Lalkaar) and Democratic Students Organization, organized a successful rally at Punjabi University (one of the reputed universities in Punjab) against the atrocities being committed upon the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite the confrontation with the Hindu fanatical organizations, the heavy pressure from the police to draw back the proposed demonstration and warnings against the programme from the University authorities, students did not relent.

A gathering of 150-200 students was addressed by the leaders of both the student organizations. The participant students were upholding posters demanding the restoration of democratic rights and condemning the atrocities let loose upon the people of Kashmir. While addressing the rally Gurpreet of Punjab Students Union (Lalkaar) said that the Hindu fanatical organizations who were blaming us for vitiating the atmosphere were themselves doing so. He said that the acts like curfew, PSA and AFSPA must be opposed along with the atrocity of every kind.

Hardeep, speaking on behalf of Democratic Students Organization said the issue of Kashmir has been getting along with India since 1947 and Kashmir was being crushed between the interests of India and Pakistan. The government of India had never taken the issue of peace in Kashmir seriously.

The sole solution of the tangle of Kashmir is that all the people living in all parts of Kashmir occupied by India as well as Pakistan must be given the right to vote to decide their future, which was promised by Nehru.

After the leaders concluded their speeches, the students present there showed their resentment by observing silence with their faces covered with black strips. The resentment was to show solidarity with Kashmir and against the attempts by the police administration to suppress their voice in favor of the truth, rights and justice.

Releasing press notes, these organizations also said that it was thoroughly and unconstitutionally a wrong manner in which the University was turned into a police cantonment. And it was done under the concealed plot of suppressing their voice. The other organizations of the students like AISF and SFI also turned around there and SFI also issued a press note condemning the plot and suppression of the students voice.

Earlier, a kind of propaganda campaign was organized by PSU (Lalkaar) during which the issue of Kashmir was highlighted among the campus students through 100-125 wall posters and open discussion on the issue, attended by 40-45 students.

Another students organization namely Punjab Students Union, also undertook an agitational propaganda campaign on the issue of Kashmir in few of the schools and colleges of the State. During this campaign, around half a dozen public meetings, with considerable number of students were held. The institutions where the meeting were held are Govt. senior secondary schools at Nanga and Takhanwadh villages of Moga, ITI Moga, Govt. Barjindra College Faridkot and Govt. College Muktsar.]

A small gathering of around 15 youth workers was held in the Mazdoor Hall, in the industrial city Ludhiana by Naujwan Bharat Sabha.

Apart from the above mentioned activities directly organized on the issue of Kashmir, the issue was prominently discussed during some other conventions also. In a convention, organized by the AFDR and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Vichar Manch, on the issue of the injustice to minorities and the rising intolerance in the country”, at Punjabi Bhavan Ludhiana, Umar Khalid, the student leader from JNU expressed concerns over the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir. He said The aspirations of Kashmiri people need to be brought to the centre stage rather than using pellet guns against them.” He termed the recent killings of civilians in J&;K as extrajudicial killing.

Our struggle is against the oppression meted out to the lesser privileged, Dalits, Adivasis and civilians of Jammu and Kashmir,added Khalid.

We are supporting Kashmiris for their sake, we are supporting them for our sake, as we know their fight for independence is actually our fight for independence.

It is the people, according to him, who should be deciding about what kind of azadi they want.

Again, in a convention on The Adivasi Struggles and Democratic Rights, the issue of Kashmir was discussed by Umar Khalid, the main speaker. The convention called by Lok Sangram Manch and attended by around 200 people. Speaking about real democracy Khalid said “we ought to decide what type of freedom be accepted – the hollow illusion of freedom as preached from the Red Fort or the real freedom being created through struggles”. He also declared that “There is no army in the world which can suppress aspirations of the people…. Kashmiri people are independent as their aspirations are alive.

In another convention organized by Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall, Nivedita Menon, a renowned professor of political thought from JNU and the chief speaker, also spoke about the Kashmir issue. She said  it is the citizens of the land who make a nation.

We cannot make any part of country an integral part forcefully at gunpoint. She asked in an ironical tone to try removing military and AFSPA from Kashmir if the claims of its being an integral part of India are true.

Last but not the least, this entire solidarity activity was done in face of a possible act of disruption, provocation or mischief by rogue elements  pertaining to the feverish attempts on the part of the Indian rulers for utilizing the Kashmir issue to provoke the national chauvinistic feelings and gain some political mileage.

This fact has its own significance. Through this activity is also expressed the common bond between the people struggling against the different forms of feudal-imperialist oppression and exploitation. The response that this activity gained has clearly shown that ample possibilities are still present or further joint or co-ordinated activities on a wider plane which need to be realized.

Wales: Remembering Owain Glyndwr and Welsh National Uprising 16th September 1400

Geiriau:

Bore niwlog ar waun,
mae cynnwrf yn y goedwig -
swn cleddyfau yn taro yn y wawr.

Daw yr haul i sychu'r gwaed
ar gyrff y brwydwyr ffyddlon,
ambell un yn gelain ar y llawr.

Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
ac mae lleisiau'r milwyr dewr yn codi stwr.
Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
ac mae lleisiau'r milwyr dewr yn codi stwr.

Trwy y wlad mae'r fyddin gref yn ymladd a chynhyrfu,
clywch yr atsain ym mhob dref a chwm.
Does dim cwsg i'r rhai sydd nawr yn brwydro dros iawnderau.
Ceisio dial tynged pobloedd llwm.

Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
ac mae lleisiau'r milwyr dewr yn codi stwr.
Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
ac mae lleisiau'r milwyr dewr yn codi stwr.

Owain yn dy garchar, wyt ti'n aros am yfory
pan fydd cyrff dy filwyr eto'n rhydd?
Pan ddaw'r bore arwain fi drwy'r wlad a thrwy'r dinasoedd,
arwain fi i'r frwydr gyda thi.

Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
ac mae lleisiau'r milwyr dewr yn codi stwr.
Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
ac mae lleisiau'r milwyr dewr yn codi stwr.

English Translation:
A misty morning on the moor,
there's commotion in the forest -
the sound of swords striking in the dawn.

The sun will come to dry the blood
on the loyal fighters' bodies,
some lying dead on the ground.

Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
and the brave soldiers' voices create uproar.
Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
and the brave soldiers' voices create uproar.

Through the land the strong army fights and agitates,
hear the echoes in each town and valley.
There is no sleep for those who are now fighting for rights.
Trying to avenge the fates of poor folk.

Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
and the brave soldiers' voices create uproar.
Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
and the brave soldiers' voices create uproar.

Owain in your prison, are you waiting for tomorrow
when the bodies of your soldiers will once again be free?
When the morning comes lead me through the land and through the cities,
lead me to battle by your side.

Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
and the brave soldiers' voices create uproar.
Glyndwr, Glyndwr,
and the brave soldiers' voices create uproar.


Carrying the banner of National and Social Liberation of Wales into the 21st Century -
Yr Aflonyddwch Mawr - The Great Unrest and the Welsh Socialist Republican Congress

FOR MORE ABOUT YR AFLONYDDWCH MAWR - THE GREAT UNREST AND THE WELSH SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN CONGRESS VISIT :
http://greatunrest2012.blogspot.co.uk/

France : Labour Law Reform Protests - The Struggle Continues

Long Live the Struggle and Red Salute from Democracy and Class Struggle to the militants of the French Maoist Party

1916 and Lenin on Imperialist Economism Remembered and Revisited by Nickglais

Our Norwegian comrades at Tjen Folket - Serve the People recently wrote an excellent article called Politics over Economy which addressed the question of Economism and how that inhibits the struggle against Capitalism and Imperialism

Lenin’s classic “What Is to Be Done” was written in opposition to economism.

Economism is a tendency in the workers movement that only focuses on economic struggle – struggle for wages, welfare and rights in the workplace – and that limits itself to union work.

As a resistance to this, Lenin puts forward at versatile political struggle with a much wider spectrum of resistance against the bourgeois state.

This article reminded Democracy and Class Struggle of Lenin's Dispute with Kievsky on the National Question - in fact Norway figures large in that dispute - with Lenin firmly supporting Norwegian Independence from Sweden in his exposure of Imperialist Economism.

Lenin's October 1916 Article " A caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism" illustrates how the blinkered economist viewpoint had been extended to national struggles by Kievsky  -  one cannot read this 1916 article without being struck by how many of Kievsky's mistaken ideas on the national question are present on the so called "revolutionary" left particularly in UK and USA today.

We reminded the "British" Left of their mistakes on the National Question many years ago in our article the Cosmopolitan Left and the National Question.

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-cosmopolitan-left-and-national.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/norway-politics-over-economy-by-tjen.html


LENIN ON IMPERIALIST ECONOMISM BY DOUG LORIMER


During the first imperialist world war, a trend began to emerge among the Russian revolutionary Marxists that argued that since national oppression could not be abolished without an economic revolution against imperialism and capitalism, Marxists did not need to concern themselves with the problems of a political revolution to achieve democracy.

Instead, the "nascent trend of imperialist Economism" (as Lenin characterised it) argued that all that was needed to abolish national oppression was the anti-capitalist economic revolution, i.e., the socialist revolution.

The imperialist Economists ignored the fact, as Lenin explained in his October 1916 article "A Caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism", that in "all the colonies and the semi-colonies … there still exist oppressed and capitalistically underdeveloped nations" and, therefore, "Objectively, these nations still have general national tasks to accomplish, namely, democratic tasks, the tasks of overthrowing foreign oppression" in the political sphere.

Furthermore, the imperialist Economists displayed "just as complete a misinterpretation of the relationship between socialism and democracy" as the "late and unlamented Economism of 1894-1902". Explaining what he meant by this, Lenin wrote:

All "democracy" consists in the proclamation and realisation of "rights" which under capitalism are realisable only to a very small degree and only relatively. But without the proclamation of these rights, without a struggle to introduce them now, immediately, without training the masses in the spirit of this struggle, socialism is impossible.

Having failed to understand this, Kievsky bypasses the central question, that belongs to his special subject, namely, how will we Social-Democrats abolish national oppression? He shunts the question aside with phrases about the world being "drenched in blood", etc. (though this has no bearing on the matter under discussion). This leaves only one single argument: the socialist revolution will solve everything!

Or, the argument is sometimes advanced by people who share his views: self-determination is impossible under capitalism and superfluous under socialism.

From the theoretical standpoint that view is nonsensical, from the practical political standpoint it is chauvinistic.

It fails to appreciate the significance of democracy. For socialism is impossible without democracy because: (1) the proletariat cannot perform the socialist revolution unless it prepares for it by the struggle for democracy; (2) victorious socialism cannot consolidate its victory and bring humanity to the withering away of the state without implementing full democracy.

Source:

http://links.org.au/node/132


IMPERIALIST ECONOMISM BY DESMOND GREAVES


Connolly had no great difficulty in convincing his comrades in Ireland of the need to combine their proletarian demands with the all-important democratic demand of national liberation.

He found it less easy to convert English Socialists, who confused the growing fraternity of the peoples in the struggle against imperialism with the abolition of the state boundaries established by imperialism for the purpose of exploitation.

To this day there survive sincere Socialists of the old school who are confused enough to believe that the Irish should withdraw their demand for independence in the interests of internationalism.

There are some who fondly imagine that the international unity of the workers of Europe will be strengthened as a result of the Common Market.

It is as much as to say we will be united provided we are all put in the one prison.

The classical centre of this argument was Poland. Lenin called it “imperialist economism”. Economism, as you will remember, was the doctrine that it was sufficient for a workers’ party to prefer proletarian demands, and that democratic demands were not their business.

Lenin re-plied that this was to leave the stuff of politics to the bourgeoisie. In the same way, to refuse to challenge the frontiers established for and on be-half of landlords and capitalists, where they conflicted with the wishes of the people, was to leave vital questions affecting the lives of the millions to be decided by imperialism.

It is remarkable that such splendid characters as Rosa Luxemburg should have been associated with this recrudescence of Proudhonism.

The controversy continued over nearly twenty years, and it was against this background that Joseph Stalin drew up his celebrated theses on the National and Colonial Question, and Lenin conducted some of his most profound and thought challenging polemics, which continued until that stage of the First World War when theories could be tested in practice.

The theses of Stalin on Marxism and the National Question were concerned not so much to refute imperialist economism or the new Proudhonism, as to answer the Austro-Marxists who were trying to divorce nationality from territory of residence.

These had made the fantastic proposal that members of the various nationalities inhabiting the Austro-Hungarian Empire should register the nationality they belonged to, and have the right to elect a national council, irrespective of their place of residence, which could then conduct “the cultural affairs of the nation”. Stalin showed that the main concern of these opportunists was to frame a national policy which would not upset the political integrity of the Empire, and could so leave the essence of national oppression untouched.

In the course of his refutation of National Cultural autonomy, Stalin was obliged to attempt a definition of a nation, which he described as:

“…a historically evolved, stable community of people formed on the basis of a common language, economic life and psychological make-up manifested in a community of culture.”

Stalin emphasised that it was sufficient for a single one of these characteristics to be absent to disqualify a community from the title of nation. The national policy of Bolshevism was based on the right of self-determination of nations, which was meaningless without the right of territorial secession. At the same time the exercise or non-exercise of that right was a matter for the nation to decide in the light of circumstances, the paramount consideration being of course the question of class interests.

The work of Stalin on the national question was a powerful contribution to Marxist thought and stood the test of practice in the revolutionary period that followed to a remarkable degree.

Less than a year after the Easter Rising came the collapse of Czarism in Russia. The general principles of Bolshevik national policy were enshrined in the slogan for a peace “without annexations or indemnities “. Lenin explained carefully that this meant the undoing of old as well as new annexations; it meant England’s evacuating Ireland as well as Germany’s getting out of Belgium.

And it is interesting to note the difference be-tween Lenin’s approach and that of President Wilson’s, whose embellishment of the imperialist war was typified in his notorious fourteen points. At the peace conference it was agreed that no nation seeking in-dependence should be heard unless Britain, France and the USA unanimously agreed to listen. On this basis both Irish and Egyptian claims were vetoed.

A glance at Stalin’s strict conditions will show that it could be a subject for considerable debate as to whether this people or that possessed all the qualifications of nationality.

Was a people to be denied the coveted prize of independence because it could not convince an international jury that it was a nation in the full sense of the word?

Who was to decide? Lenin’s reply was that in case of difficulty the people themselves decided if they were a nation or not. He put it this way:

“The theoretical definition of annexation involves the conception of an ‘alien’ people. ie a people that has preserved its peculiarities and its will for independent existence.”

He adds that the slogan must be “taken as inseparably connected with the proletarian revolution. Only in connection with the revolution is it true and useful.”

This was in May 1917, and the Bolsheviks were pointing out that an imperialist peace could only be an exchange of annexations. Of course, one should note that this presumes other things equal. As Lenin frequently pointed out, every democratic principle is open to abuse.

I doubt whether English Socialists would accept the secession of Cornwall from a Socialist England after the United States had occupied it and secured a separatist majority while its troops were still there. Certainly the Irish will not accept an English-concocted nationality for Ulster. But the refusal to accept the abuse of a principle does not vitiate the principle. And on that principle the Bolsheviks acted and permitted secessions which involved future military risks.

Perhaps I should add one thing about the Stalin theses. It is a criticism which he made himself.

In 1925, criticising Semich for underestimating the importance of the right of secession, he notes that Semich quotes from Stalin’s theses the passage “The national question is a struggle of the bourgeois classes among themselves.” He comments:

“Stalin’s pamphlet was written before the imperialist war, at the time when the national question had not yet assumed world-wide significance in the eyes of Marxists, and when the basic demands concerning the right to self-determination were considered to be, not a part of the proletarian revolution, but a part of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. It would be absurd to ig-nore the fact that since then a fundamental change has taken place in the international situation, that the war on the one hand and the October revolu-tion in Russia on the other has converted the national question from being a particle of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a particle of the proletar-ian-socialist revolution.”

Would we be wrong in saying that in respect of this question, Connolly anticipated the Bolsheviks, noting the beginnings of the change in 1894 and showing his grasp of it the moment the imperialist war broke out?

And may we not think that the Easter Rising in Ireland, which Lenin used as a test of the validity of his theses on national self-determination written earlier in 1916, was an important contributory factor in rendering Bolshevik thought more precise, just as the Fenian Rising had stimulated Marx?

One of Lenin’s main points of emphasis was that imperialism had divided the world thanks to the corruption of a small section of the proletariat into two opposing camps, workers in the imperialist countries, a corruption which might of course ideologically affect the majority. We discern it in the two world trade union movements of to-day.

It is still true that a people which oppresses another forges its own chains.

This is the great significance of the national liberation struggle for the British working class.

Source:
http://www.connollyassociation.org.uk/desmond-greaves/the-national-question/

Philippines: All US military forces in entire country must go home says Communist Party of the Philippines

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today welcomes the pronouncement yesterday of GRP President Duterte saying US special forces operating in Mindanao will “have to go.” The CPP says Duterte’s pronoucement comes at a most propitious time as the Filipino people are set to mark on Friday the 25th anniversary of the end of the Military Bases Agreement. The Filipino people must stand united and declare “Yankees, go home!”

The CPP calls on the Duterte regime to follow-through the declaration with actual political and diplomatic measures to effect the removal of US troops.

In line with his government’s declaration of pursuing an independent foreign policy, the CPP urges the Duterte government to pursue the removal of all US troops not only in Mindanao. There are US special forces, army and naval troops operating across the entire country.

Under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) of 2014, the US military has set up or is setting-up facilities inside AFP camps such as Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, Benito Ebuen Air Base in Mactan and Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro.

US military troops and advisers have long been operating clandestinely inside AFP camps in Cagayan Valley, Bicol, Samar, Panay, Negros and elsewhere. US troops remain stationed in Guian, Samar, which they have not left since 2013 after extending “assistance” in the wake of supertyphoon Yolanda. Many US soldiers are not Caucasian so as not to attract attention.

There are also so-called “rotating troops” around the country including inside Clark Air Base, Subic Naval Base and Villamor Air Base. Thousands of US troops regularly dock at various ports of the country for “rest and recreation” subjecting Filipino women to rape and abuse.

There are US military personnel inside the AFP’s Camp Aguinaldo as well as FBI and NYPD agents inside the PNP’s Camp Crame. In a display of gross lack of national dignity, the AFP has allowed the US military to maintain an exclusive compound inside its main headquarters which is off-limits even to the top generals of the AFP. The US government has kept convicted US Navy serviceman

Joseph Scott Pemberton detained inside an American facility in Camp Aguinaldo in a flagrant violation and contempt of Philippine laws.

The Duterte government must stand against the US military flying surveillance drones and dropping so-called “smart bombs”. Duterte must demand clear information to the February 2, 2012 incident where scores of civilians, including a religious leader, were killed by a US a “smart bomb” dropped in Parang, Sulu, where the AFP first announced the “neutralization” of so-called terrorist Marwan.

The GRP President must also investigate and demand a clear and complete accounting of all clandestine operations carried out in Sulu, the rest of Mindanao as well as other parts of the country.

GRP President Duterte can only establish mutual relations with the US as well as with China and other countries by establishing the Philippines as an independent and non-aligned country.

To do so, he must end all agreements which bind the Philippines to the US and make the country a vassal of the US military. He must abrogate the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951, the Mutual Logistics Service Agreement (MLSA), the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the EDCA.

Only then can the Philippines stand on solid ground to demand equality and respect.

13 September 2016

Communist Party of Philippines

Syrian Ceasefire - The Israeli Factor

Israel said its aircraft attacked a Syrian army position on Tuesday after a stray mortar bomb struck the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, and it denied a Syrian statement that a warplane and drone were shot down.

The air strike was a now-routine Israeli response to the occasional spillover from fighting in a five-year-old civil war, and across Syria a ceasefire was holding at the start of its second day.

Syria's army command said in a statement that Israeli warplanes had attacked an army position at 1 a.m. on Tuesday (2200 GMT, Monday) in the countryside of Quneitra province.


The Israeli military said its aircraft attacked targets in Syria hours after the mortar bomb from fighting among factions in Syria struck the Golan Heights. Israel captured the plateau from Syria in a 1967 war.


The Syrian army said it had shot down an Israeli warplane and a drone after the Israeli attack.
Denying any of its aircraft had been lost, the Israeli military said in a statement: "Overnight two surface-to-air missiles were launched from Syria after the mission to target Syrian artillery positions. At no point was the safety of (Israeli) aircraft compromised."


The seven-day truce in Syria, brokered by Russia and the United States, is their second attempt this year by to halt the bloodshed.


(Reuters Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Tom Perry in Beirut and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Dominic Evans)

Imprisoned Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has called for a return to peace talks and urged the Turkish state to take a step for the resolution of the Kurdish question.

Imprisoned Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has called for a return to peace talks and urged the Turkish state to take a step for the resolution of the Kurdish question.

The Kurdish leader's brother Mehmet Öcalan visited Imrali Island Prison on Monday afternoon and made a statement yesterday (Tuesday) in Kurdish capital Diyarbakır (Amed), bringing the 8-day hunger strike demanding a meeting with Abdullah Öcalan to an end.

Mehmet Öcalan said, “We met with the Kurdish people’s leader on Imralı Island yesterday. He sends his greetings and respects to all.”

Brother Öcalan criticised the arbitrary approach to meetings with the PKK leader saying: “Our right to meet with Öcalan has been violated by the state. If this [Turkish] state is run by rule of law, they should have recognised us our legal and democratic right. Before this visit he [Öcalan] hadn't been allowed to see his family for two years and hasn't had access to his lawyers for five years. He can’t exercise his legal rights. Öcalan has great importance for Kurds and the Middle East.”

Mehmet Öcalan also chastised state officials and Turkish media for describing the PKK leader as a 'terrorist'. “He has been struggling for peace, to stop the bloodshed for 23 years. But the press calls him the ‘terrorist leader’. We absolutely reject this language.”

“We didn't end the peace process”

Mehmet Öcalan said his brother's isolation continued but that he was able to meet with the three other inmates on the island prison, all of whom have been imprisoned for PKK membership.

Brother Öcalan relayed Abdullah Öcalan's message as follows:

“The isolation continues. I don’t have any physical problems. Our projects [for a solution] are ready. If the state is ready, we can solve the issue within 6 months. We didn't end the solution process. I talked to the [Turkish state] committee that came to visit me, and they said they were going to return in 15 days [April 2015] but didn't. The Kurdish issue isn’t a 40 year issue, it is a 200 year issue. If the state was sincere we could have resolved the matter and this many people wouldn’t have died. I lose sleep over these deaths. This country doesn’t deserve these deaths. If the state is ready, they can send two officials here [for discussions]. The Kurdish issue is a serious matter.

“No unilateral solution”

“Our projects are ready. This is a dead-end war, it’s not a war one side can win. It has continued for 40 years, and maybe it will continue for another 80. The blood and tears must stop. A solution can’t be achieved unilaterally. The state is the bigger party, if they point towards a solution, the issue will be resolved. Today is Eid. But it can’t be a celebration if 30 people are dying every day in a country. I celebrate this holiday, but it’s not ethical in this situation. The intellectuals, democrats, political parties and citizens of this country must act immediately for a solution to this issue.”

Hunger strike ends

After Abdullah Öcalan's message was read Democratic Society Congress co-chair Leyla Güven made a statement and brought the hunger strike to an end. Güven said:

“50 Kurdish politicians, intellectuals, writers and artists went on a hunger strike demanding a meeting with Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. The hunger strike's only demand was direct contact with Mr. Öcalan, a committee to visit him to ensure his wellbeing. Yesterday, Mehmet Öcalan met with him. We resisted and won through resistance today as we did in the past. The hunger strike continued for 20 days in Strasbourg and 8 days in Amed (Diyarbakır). I salute those in resistance.

But we always said, hearing from him once doesn’t mean this isolation has ended. As a people we are relieved that he is well. However the struggle will continue so that there is an end to isolation and freedom for Öcalan.
"
Source: ANF