No. 16, May-June 2003  Table of Contents Selected articles linked Click on image to left for pdf version of complete issue.

 

Defeat Colonial Occupation of Iraq U.S. Imperialism Get the Hell Out! The conquest of Iraq was a display of the supreme arrogance of the imperialist rulers of the United States who fancy themselves masters of the world. Baghdad aflame and in ruins is the gory image of imperialist barbarism. As Bush and Blair strut the world stage imitating Spanish conquistadors or Roman emperors, they talk of spreading “democracy” as colonialists a century ago spoke of their “civilizing mission.” Above all, the invasion was about securing U.S. domination of  an imperialist “New World Order” which would reign supreme over the planet. Antiwar demonstrations were enormous, involving millions of protesters, but these “popular front” protests were dominated by bourgeois pressure politics, and the warmongers in Washington and London were impervious to pressure. Inside Iraq, the most aggressive political forces have been those of religious reaction. The Islamists feed off the desperation and abject poverty of the masses of the Near East and the obscurantism sponsored by the oil-rich reactionary regimes installed by the imperialists. The fight to drive the U.S./British colonial occupiers from Iraq must be championed by the working class throughout the world. International socialist revolution, extending to the imperialist centers, is vital to the emancipation of the toilers of the East from colonial and semi-colonial slavery.  Defeat Colonial Occupation of Iraq  (31 May 2003)

From Baghdad to Harlem and Oakland: Imperialist War Breeds Racist Cop Terror  Alberta Spruill: Victim of NYPD Killer Elite Alberta Spruill is dead because she was black. The 57-year-old church-going city worker was preparing to leave for her job when a squad of New York cops burst in the door of her Harlem apartment without warning and threw a deafening flash grenade. Alberta had a heart condition and screamed that she couldn’t breathe. She died on the way to the hospital. These Gestapo-like no-knock raids are now routinely carried out in black, Latino and immigrant neighborhoods. Like the brutal police assault on antiwar protesters and longshore workers in Oakland last month, this war on working peopleand oppressed minorities is the domestic reflection of the imperialist war and colonial occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. The same day Alberta was murdered, layoff notices were sent to thousands of NYC workers. The power of the workers movement, at the forefront of all the oppressed, should be mobilized against killer cutbacks and racist cop terror. Alberta Spruill: Victim of NYPD Killer Elite  (20 May 2003)

U.S. Threats Over Crackdown on Counterrevolutionaries Liberals, Reformists Join Imperialist Hue and Cry For Revolutionary Internationalist Defense of Cuba! For the past two months, there has been a dramatic increase in U.S. provocations and threats against Cuba. A rash of hijackings, followed by an outcry over Cuba’s repression of counterrevolutionary plotters. This is not just stepped-up harassment, it’s preparation for war: For the last four decades, American rulers, Republicans and Democrats alike, have shown their unrelenting hostility to the Cuban Revolution, seeing its existence as a threat to U.S. domination of Latin America. But as the White House and Pentagon are gearing up for more “robust” action against Havana, a layer of liberals and left intellectuals in the U.S. and Europe have been bleating over repression in Cuba. It is precisely to this layer that Fidel Castro has appealed over the years in pursuing the pipe dream of “peaceful coexistence” with imperialism. Trotskyists call for all-out defense of Cuba against counterrevolution from without and within, to smash the imperialist stranglehold by international socialist revolution throughout Latin America and extending into the heartland of Yankee imperialism. For Revolutionary Internationalist Defense of Cuba!  (17 May 2003)

Defend Cuba Against Counterrevolution! Decades of U.S. Biowarfare Against Cuba In May 2002, a high U.S. official accused Cuba of having “at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort.” While accusations of biological warfare by Cuba are utterly bogus, a typical Cold War “disinformation” campaign, the United States government has a long history of using biological and chemical warfare against the Caribbean island nation. Decades of U.S. Biowarfare Against Cuba  (May 2003)

The U.S.’ Pretext for Imperialist War The Great Chemical Weapons Hoax  The battle cry from Washington over supposed Iraqi chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs is grotesque coming from the mouths of the U.S. imperialists who nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki, used tons of chemical arms including phosphorous bombs in Korea, and blanketed Vietnam with napalm and Agent Orange. In fact, the chemical arms which Iraq actually did obtain were supplied to it by Washington, and it was Britain that first used poison gas in Iraq. Liberals ask “where are the banned arms?” They are looking for an excuse to accept the bloody U.S. imperialist invasion and colonial occupation of Iraq. The Bush regime will eventually oblige them by “finding” (planting) something. In addition to dissecting the lies and exposing the hypocrisy, a thorough examination of the chemical weapons hoax reveals that it is American imperialism, with its enormous stocks of nuclear, chemical and bioweapons, that represents a threat to humanity. It’s necessary to fight to smash imperialism through international socialist revolution. The Great Chemical Weapons Hoax, Part 1 (May 2003)  The Great Chemical Weapons Hoax, Part 2 (May 2003)    U.S./British Massacre at Dresden (May 2003)

Spectre of Shachtman as SL/LRP Centrists Debate Revolutionaries and the Test of War  The invasion and colonial occupation of Iraq by U.S. imperialism and its British junior partner spells untold misery for the Iraqi masses. The war also laid bare the politics of reformist leftists who devoted themselves to building a popular-front “antiwar movement.” They offered Democratic politicians a podium and a liberal “peace” program, while policing the “movement” to keep “militants” in line. Two groups which stand to the left of the reformists debated in New York City on May 10, the Spartacist League and the League for the Revolutionary Party. Both say they defend Iraq against the U.S. invasion and claim to be Trotskyists, but as centrists their words do not match their deeds. In important ways, they conciliate “their own” capitalist rulers, and have an increasing number of common elements. Behind the opportunist stances taken by the SL and LRP one can discern the ghost of the anti-Trotskyist renegade Max Shachtman. Revolutionaries and the Test of War (10 May 2003)

After U.S. Destruction of Baghdad... ...Bush’s Obscene Victory Party After the U.S. bombed the center of the Iraqi capital to smithereens, opened the gates to looters, stood by as the National Museum, National Library and dozens of hospitals were sacked, just as American troops were carrying out massacres, shooting point-blank into crowds of protesters, George Bush decided to hold a victory party. The commander in chief of U.S. imperialism jetted out to the USS Lincoln for a dramatic tailhook landing, as hundreds of uniformed spectators cheered. The press repeated the theme of Top Gun. But haven’t we seen this somewhere before? Yes, this is a remake of the opening scene from Leni Reifenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, the infamous propaganda film the 1934 Nazi party congress, starring Adolph Hitler. Triumph of the Will 2  (7 May 2003)

Break From The Popular Front of the Fake Left! For Class War Centered on Proletarian Actions Against U.S./British Imperialist Occupation of Iraq and Aggression by U.S. and Philippine Bourgeoisie Against the Working People!  Declaration of the Rebolusyonaryong Grupo ng mga Komunista (Philippines)  The Rebolusyonaryong Grupo ng mga Komunista, along with the League for the Fourth International/Internationalist Group, calls on the working class in the Philippines and the whole world to combat the imperialist occupation of Iraq by the U.S. and Britain and the imperialist aggression of U.S. military troops in the Philippines. A genuine revolutionary party of the working class must be built patterned on the Bolshevik Party of Lenin and Trotsky – that led the victory of the first workers state created through workers revolution in 1917. Such a party will fight consistently to ensure that the struggle of the class and the working masses is directed not only against the imperialist war but also in leading the working class in the struggle to break from all variants of “popular fronts,” a struggle for political independence and for workers revolution and the seizure of political power from the bourgeoisie.  May Day statement of Philippine RGK  (30 April 2003)  (pilipino) Bumaklas sa popular na prente ng Pekeng Kaliwa!!  (30 Abril 2003)

Imperialist War on the Home Front Oakland Cops Shoot at Longshore Workers and Antiwar Protesters On April 7, police launched a brutal assault against antiwar demonstrators and dock workers in the port of Oakland, California, firing on the crowd of more than 500 with shotguns and wounding at least six longshore workers. The cops were shooting rubber bullets, wooden dowels and bean bag rounds, tossing concussion grenades and using “sting balls,” aiming directly at the dock workers. Enraged workers walked out after the attack. This clash shows starkly that the colonial invasion of Iraq means increasing police-state repression on the home front. While reformists and liberals beseech the government for “peace” and tie antiwar protests to the Democratic Party of imperialist war, the Oakland cop attack underlines that these mass murderers must be defeated, by the power of the working class. The Internationalist Group has fought to mobilize this power, through “hot-cargoing” war materiel and workers strikes against the war, fighting to build a revolutionary workers party. Oakland Cops Shoot at Longshore Workers  (7 April 2003)

Bush’s Blitzkrieg Runs Into Iraqi Resistance Defend Iraq! Defeat U.S. Imperialism! Class War Against Imperialist War! The opening salvos of the U.S. invasion of Iraq were supposed to “decapitate” the Iraqi leadership and shock the army and population into submission. On Day One of the war, March 20, tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops streamed north across the Kuwaiti border. The mouthpieces of the American empire were exultant: the U.S. attack, modeled on Hitler’s concept of “lightning war” (Blitzkrieg), was “on schedule.” But by Day Three the U.S. expeditionary corps had run into an unexpected storm of resistance. The Iraqis did not lie down before the U.S. military juggernaut, and instead began hitting the invaders’ vulnerable supply lines. Before long, Operation Cakewalk was mired in the mud and sands of south central Iraq. But the Iraqis must not fight alone. With the invasion under way, workers strikes against the war are urgently needed, particularly in the imperialist countries – not ritual work stoppages and a parade but mobilizing proletarian power against the imperialist war machine and the capitalist governments waging the war.  Bush's Blitzkrieg Runs Into Iraqi Resistance  (28 March 2003)

Defeat U.S. Imperialism!! Defend Iraq! Defeat the Aggression of U.S. Imperialism and the Local Bourgeoisie on the Working Class and the Moro People in the Philippines! (Combat Imperialist War With Class War Through Proletarian Actions!) Declaration of the Rebolusyonaryong Grupo ng mga Komunista (Philippines) on the War on Iraq Once again, U.S. imperialism has launched a war of aggression which will use its arsenal of powerful weapons against Iraq. At the same time, U.S. troops and Philippine troops have started military operations in the Philippines as the “second front” of the “global war against terror.” We print here the March 24 statement on the Iraq war by the Revolutionary Communist Group (RGK) in the Philippines, which sympathizes with the League for the Fourth International. The RGK calls for the defeat of the imperialist war of aggression and for defense of Iraq as well as for the defeat of the U.S./Philippine army operations in Mindanao and in other parts of the Philippines, and fights for recognition of the right to independence of the Moro people. The RGK points out that the bourgeois “anti-war” politics of “popular fronts” only lead to defeat for the working people, as occurred in the “people’s power” movements in 1986 and 2001. This underlines the need to fight the imperialist war through mobilization of the proletariat on a revolutionary class program, and the urgent necessity of building a revolutionary party of the working class.   Statement of Philippine RGK on the War on Iraq  (24 March 2003)  (pilipino) Pahayag ng Rebolusyonaryong Grupo ng mga Komunista hinggil sa digmaan sa Iraq  (24 Marso 2003)

Mass Murderers Bush and Blair Bomb Baghdad Defend Iraq! Class War Against Imperialist War! Mobilize Workers’ Power for Defeat of  Bloody U.S. Imperialist Aggression! For Strikes Against the War! No Police State!  Build a Revolutionary Workers Party! On March 19, U.S. president George Bush Jr. launched the long-announced invasion of Iraq. The huge expeditionary force assembled by the United States and Britain in the Arab/Persian Gulf is on the march. The sociopathic mass murderers in the White House and Pentagon are raining bombs on Baghdad. In this war of imperialist rape and conquest, working people and the oppressed around the world have a side. The Internationalist Group/U.S. and League for the Fourth International call to mobilize workers power in defense of semi-colonial Iraq and for the defeat of the imperialist butchers who are laying waste to the besieged Near Eastern country. Millions have protested against this obscene war, but pacifist peace crawls, no matter how large, will not stop the imperialist warmongers. Civil disobedience is ultimately a futile appeal to the “conscience” of the capitalist murderers. Their butchery can only be stopped by mobilization of a greater power, that of the international proletariat that has the strength and social position to bring the war machine to a grinding halt. All-out workers mobilization is called for to defeat the capitalist rulers and their war.  Mass Murderers Bush and Blair Bomb Baghdad  (20 March 2003)  (español) Los carniceros  Bush y Blair bombardean Bagdad  (20 de marzo de 2003)  (português) Os carniceiros Bush e Blair bombardeiam Bagdá  (20 de março de 2003)  (Nederlands) Massa Moordenaars Bush & Blair Bombarderen Bagdad  (20 maart 2003)  (français) Les bouchers Bush et Blair bombardent Bagdad  (20 mars 2003)  (japanese)

Defeat the Imperialists! Defend Iraq! For International Workers Solidarity! Rotterdam Protest Calls for Workers’ Boycott of Weapons Transport, Strikes Against the War On February 15, more than 80,000 opponents of war on Iraq marched in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Yet simultaneous with this outpouring of antiwar sentiment, the Dutch cabinet secretly gave the green light to U.S. transport of war materiel across the Netherlands. A national day of action against war transport was called for February 25, the anniversary of the 1941 February Strike against the Nazi deportation of Jews. The Verbond voor de Vierde Internationale (VVI – League for the Fourth International) has been calling since last fall to mobilize workers action to stop the war cargos. In response to the news of trains with U.S. military equipment heading to Rotterdam, the VVI issued an appeal for a mobilization on February 25 that would march to the docks of the company shipping war goods to the Gulf.  Rotterdam Demo Calls for Workers Boycott of Weapons Transport  (5 March 2003) 1941 February Strike Against the Deportation of Jews from Netherlands (March 2003)

French-Russian-German Axis Is No Force for “Peace” – Class Collaboration Won’t Stop Imperialist War Mobilize Workers’ Power Against the  War on Iraq! Defeat All the Imperialists! Translation of a leaflet issued by the Verbond voor de Vierde Internationale (League for the Fourth International), at Amsterdam antiwar demonstration,  February 15. The U.S. imperialists and their British allies are itching to launch their planned invasion of Iraq. Currently, the French, German, Belgian and Russian governments are maneuvering to avoid a new United Nations resolution explicitly authorizing war at this time. Yet all the imperialists and their allies and flunkeys backed Security Council Resolution 1441, which is the banner under which the massacre of the Iraqi people will be waged. The League for the Fourth International declares that this imminent invasion of Iraq must be fought by mobilizing powerful working-class action internationally, including labor boycotts of war material and workers strike actions against the war. Iraq must be defended and the imperialists defeated!  Defeat All the Imperialists!  (15 February 2003)  (français) Pour la défaite de tous les impérialistes !  (15 février 2003)