Many people on the left like to say that the conservative Tea Party groups have hijacked left-wing protesting tactics. The Tea Party groups have used such tactics as "die-ins" and marches on Washington DC. Tea Party groups have even threatened to boycott companies that are supporting the rise of "socialism." I find this funny, since true socialism is incompatible with private firms and certainly would not be funded by them.
According to Stephen Gordon, a well-known libertarian activist, protesting tactics are not all the Tea Party groups have hijacked. In fact, the Tea Party idea itself has been usurped. This should explain the internal and destabilizing rivalries within the national Tea Party movements.
Instead of being led by grassroots, anti-tax activists as originally planned before Tea Parties became popular, the Republican Party (GOP) is taking over the Tea Party movement in much of the US. The Tea Party Express, for example, has close ties to a Republican consulting firm. It comes as no surprise that the GOP is using the Tea Parties in order to further their own agenda and could care less about lowering taxes.
Gordon called this a takeover by "big government Republicanism." He claims that the grassroots conservative movement has nothing in common with remote-controlled wings of the Republican Party.
Three Maoist leaders have challenged the government’s decision to promote Toran Jung Bahadur Singh to second in command of the Nepal Army.
Maoist leaders Krishna KC, Himal Sharma and Bina Magar filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking the scraping of the government’s decision to promote Singh.
KC, Sharma and Magar were detained by the Bhairabnath Battalion of the Nepal Army during the insurgency period from where, according to OHCHR, 49 detainees disappeared. Singh was head of the battalion at that time.
The government on December 24 had promoted Singh to Lieutenant General, Chief of General Staff, despite opposition from UN bodies in Kathmandu and other national and international human rights organizations. He was given the command of acting army chief when Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Chattra Man Singh Gurung embarked on a visit to India.
Over a dozen human rights organizations have urged the government to review the decision to promote Singh.
Before you read this, I would just like to say that I'm looking for someone to translate this essay into various Eastern European languages.
It has been my misfortune to notice that too many Eastern European comrades are glorifying Josip Broz Tito, the former pseudo-communist leader of the semi-socialist Yugoslavia. So, with this essay, I intend to remind them of all the crimes and mistakes Tito made. Yes, Tito did some good things in his life. You could consider fighting the Nazis one of them. But what about the bad things he did? These you never hear about. This essay should also serve to remind the bourgeois patriots of NATO nations about the criminal roles of their countries in Europe.
Tito voted for imperialist intervention in the Korean Conflict and even considered sending Yugoslav troops to help the Americans fight the Koreans. Tito linked himself to NATO with the Balkan Pact. Under Tito, Yugoslavia supported the most reactionary regimes, claiming they were “non-aligned” (Mavrakis, 184). Tito closed the borders to the Greek communists, depriving them of 1/3 of their forces. This also deprived them of important routes. This happened in 1949 after the split with the Soviet Union (Mavrakis, 171).
Tito declared to the New York Herald Tribune that, “in the event of a Soviet attack anywhere in Europe, even if the thrust should be miles away from Yugoslavia's own borders… [he would] instantly do battle on the side of the West ... Yugoslavia considers itself part of the collective security wall being built against Soviet imperialism.” Who was building this security wall? The NATO imperialists, that is who (Klugmann, 98)!
British leader Churchill took steps to ensure that Tito would be on the side of capitalism. In his memoirs, Churchill said Tito promised that “communism would not be established in Yugoslavia after the war [WWII].” Tito once said to Churchill, “Now I understand that you were right, therefore I am with you. I like you even more than I did previously” (Hoxha, 54).
The American imperialists sent Tito’s Yugoslavia great economic, military, political, and ideological aid that became increasingly more frequent. This aid was sent on the condition that Tito would take Yugoslavia down a capitalist-friendly road, while at the same time maintaining socialism in appearance only (Hoxha, 54-55). Investments, credits, and loans poured into Yugoslavia from the capitalist world. 7 billion dollars in credit came from the USA alone. Yugoslavia’s debt to other countries amounted to 11 billion dollars. During the Tito years, that was a lot of money. Under Tito, Yugoslavia entered into joint ownership with foreign capitalist firms and states. Prices went up each day under Tito, and there was mass unemployment and migration of labor (Hoxha, 59-60). Tito’s policies made Yugoslavia poorer than most of the industrialized West, and made Yugoslavia dependent on foreign aid from the imperialists (plp.org source).
The bourgeois magazine Business Week once declared, “For the United States in particular, and the West in general, this encouragement of Tito has proved to be one of the cheapest ways yet of containing Russian Communism.”
Tito allowed for land to be bought and sold freely, and let the free market flourish in the town and countryside. This strengthened the capitalist character of Yugoslavia. Tito‘s self-administration policy brought economic chaos to Yugoslavia. It put one section of the working class in competition with another, caused uneven development of its republics and regions, and brought about national feuds and strong class differences (Hoxha, 58).
Alexander Clifford, a Daily Mail correspondent, wrote about the economic reforms adopted by Tito in 1951:
“…Yugoslavia looks like ending up a good deal less socialised than Britain: price of goods ... determined by the market --- that is, by supply and demand; wages and salaries ... fixed on the basis of the income or profits of the enterprise; economic enterprises that decide independently what to produce and in what quantities; there isn't much classical Marxism in all of that.” (Klugmann, 150)
In June 1948, the Information Bureau of the Communist Parties, which included eight different parties, published a resolution criticizing the Yugoslav Party. It underscored that Tito paid no attention to the increase in class differences in the countryside nor to the rise of capitalist elements in the country (Klugmann, 9).
Tito began a massive purge of Yugoslavia after the Information Bureau criticized him. He imprisoned at least 200,000 people who supported the IB’s criticism (Klugmann, 43, 143).
According to Tito, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia only played an educational role. It rid itself of democratic centralism, and no longer was the vanguard of the working class. This is a clear abandonment of Marxism-Leninism despite the claims of the Yugoslav revisionists (Hoxha, 56-57). This shouldn’t come as a surprise since tens of thousands of bourgeois, petty-bourgeois, and Kulak class members joined Tito’s party during the war of resistance against the Nazis (Klugmann, 13). The party became completely rotten on the inside.
Sources: “On Trotskyism: Problems of Theory and History” by Kostas Mavrakis (recommended read) “Imperialism and the Revolution” by Enver Hoxha (World View Publications, 1979) “From Trotsky to Tito” by James Klugmann Business Week, April 12, 1950 http://www.plp.org/cd95/cd1220.html
Here are two video primers about the Communist Party of India (Maoist) from the Maoist Rebel News. Who are the Maoist rebels, what do they want? These questions and more are answered in the following videos.
The following is the text and sources to the YouTube video called "How and Why Communism Works."
Means of Production: A factory or farm for example. Mode of Production: The system under which the means of production operate. Capitalism is a mode of production. Socialism: Transition phase between capitalism and communism Communism: A society achieved after socialism. From each according to ability, to each according to need.
How is production regulated under socialism?
Since profit (the motive and regulator of production under capitalism) has been abolished, production is regulated under socialism by centralized state planning, based on maximum democratic consultation with consumers so as to secure the maximum possible satisfaction of the needs of the working people.
Why is it necessary, under socialism, for the production of the means of production to expand more rapidly than the production of consumer goods?
Because consumer goods (by which the needs of the working people are directly satisfied) are produced with the aid of means of production. Consequently, a continuing expansion of the production of consumer goods depends on the production of means or production expanding more rapidly than the production of consumer goods.
On what basis are consumer goods distributed in a socialist society?
Since, at this stage of economic development, the needs of the working people cannot be met in full, some form of rationing is necessary. And since it is desired to bring about the speediest possible development of production, this rationing system must be one which stimulates productive effort on the part of the working people.
The distribution of consumer goods under socialism is related to the value, quantity and quality of work performed. This principle is embodied in the slogan of socialist society: 'FROM EACH ACCORDING TO HIS ABILITY, TO EACH ACCORDING TO HIS WORK!'. A worker will be paid according to labor time. The worker will be given a certificate stating he/she has done X amount of work. For example, if you did two hours of work, you could exchange your certificate for a product that took two hours to make. These certificates of labor are distinct from money because they can only be obtained by labor and only be exchanged against consumer goods.
Like many tickets they would be non-transferable. Only the person who had performed the labour could use them. (3) They would be canceled after a single use, just as a theatre ticket is destroyed on entry to the theatre. When individuals withdrew goods from a shop their vouchers would be canceled. The shop, as a communal organisation, has no need to buy in goods, it is just allocated them, so its only interest in the labour vouchers is for record-keeping purposes. (4) They would not serve as a store of value. They could have a ‘use by’ date on them. Deductions will be made for communal needs.
It has been argued that although calculation in terms of labour time may be fine on Robinson Crusoe’s island it would never be practical in a real economy because of the sheer complexity of the problem. That is incorrect. Modern computer technology would have little difficulty in keeping track of how much work had gone into making things.
What is needed to achieve communism?
Firstly, a vast increase in the production of materials, sufficient to meet all the essential needs of all the working people, without rationing; and secondly, a change in the outlook and attitudes of the mass of the working people, in that they have come to accept work as a natural obligation, performed according to ability without economic compulsion, and in that they have come to take from distribution centres only what they need.
The adoption under socialism of the principle of distribution according to work performed is necessary in order that the first prerequisite of communism -- a vast increase in the production of material wealth -- may be attained as soon as possible.
Outlooks and attitudes depend on a person’s conditions. If a person lives in a society based on competition and selfishness (capitalism), they will be greedy. A person will be the opposite if they live in the opposite kind of society (socialist/communist).
Here are some examples from the Soviet Union’s system.
The collective farms sold their products to the state at set prices and distributed the proceeds to the members of the collective. Industrial products also had monetary values assigned to them, and banking and accounting systems were used both to control the movement of goods between enterprises and to incentivise efficient production.
For the majority of economic operations, material resources were assigned directly to and between enterprises rather than being bought and sold through a market. The planning process involved communication and negotiation with the country’s communist party leadership and with the workers and wider population (often taking the form of mass meetings); with the planners and ministry officials using their technical expertise to assess the estimates and requests provided by enterprise managers.
During the 1930s, and again in the 1950s following reconstruction from the appalling destruction of World War Two, the results obtained while using this system were phenomenal.
Why did socialism fall in the USSR and Warsaw Pact countries?
First let me point out the obvious. A country, regardless of whether it’s capitalist or socialist, needs to trade. That is why communism calls for revolutionary internationalism. The USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies fell due to economic harassment and strangulation by its enemies. If the USA and its allies had suffered infrastructure damage as bad as the Soviets and their allies did, then capitalism would have fell instead of communism.
Although technology transfers to the socialist countries were strictly forbidden (by capitalist countries), the US authorities went much further than this; with varying degrees of success they obstructed all trade with the USSR and its allies.
The USA enshrined its ban on the export of technology and goods to the socialist countries into legislation in the 1949 Export Control Act. In the spring of 1950, The US and its West European allies agreed to set up a body entitled the Co-ordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls (CoCom) to ensure that the other capitalist countries (including Japan) observed the embargo. Before entering into trade with any socialist country, firms in the advanced capitalist nations were required to apply to CoCom and submit to assessment and verification procedures. The original list of items covered by CoCom specified 144 classes of products which were fully or partially covered by the ban including machine tools, petroleum equipment, chemicals and chemical equipment, scientific equipment and 12 non-ferrous metals; during the 1950s the list was expanded to over 450 classes. Export of ‘know how’, for instance by technology licensing and participation of Western firms in Soviet development projects, was out of the question.
In addition, the US authorities imposed an almost total ban on imports from the socialist countries and pressured other capitalist countries to do the same. This effectively put the socialist bloc into technological and economic quarantine.
Sources: http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/the_soviet_model_and_the_economic_cold_war_01331.html http://www.oneparty.co.uk/html/marxism/Cl8.html Towards a New Socialism by W. Paul Cockshott and Allin Cottrell
I also recommend you watch this newer video that I made. It's a great follow-up to what you just read.
The following contains the sources and text to the YouTube video "Marxism and the Nation State."
Many, but not all, revisionists say any form of nationalism is incompatible with Marxism. They do this by quoting and misunderstanding a passage from chapter 2 of the Communist Manifesto. Here is that passage.
“The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got. Since the proletariat must first of all acquire political supremacy, must rise to be the leading class of the nation, must constitute itself the nation, it is, so far, itself national, though not in the bourgeois sense of the word.” - The Communist Manifesto, chapter 2
This means the proletariat has no country under capitalism. Marx is talking about before the revolution! This isn’t to say the proletariat should be nationalist in the bourgeois sense of the word. It’s “nationalism” should take the form of anti-imperialism and rally around the truly Marxist elements of the Communist Party. These elements should be the ones that truly want to build socialism and help the cause of the world revolution. The reason I bring up anti-imperialism here is because the imperialist camp will always try to restore capitalism in a socialist country.
China under Mao Zedong was an example of all this in practice.
“…and struggle hard so as to build China into a great and powerful socialist country and help the broad masses of the oppressed and exploited [people] throughout the world in fulfillment of our great internationalist duty.” - Mao
Marx supported anti-imperialist nationalism
When it came to British imperialism in Ireland, Marx sided with the oppressed nation, Ireland.
“Hence it is the task of the International everywhere to put the conflict between England and Ireland in the foreground, and everywhere to side openly with Ireland” -Karl Marx
Marx also supported the national movement of the Poles and the Hungarians in his day.
When discussing the Paris Commune, Marx wanted something called national unity. National unity was to be organized in order to keep the state under the control of the proletariat. To protect it from imperialists and bourgeois traitors within the proletarian government.
Lenin also took up these stances.
“The proletariat demands a democracy that rules out the forcible retention of any one of the nations within the bounds of the state.” -V. I. Lenin, "The National Programme of the RSDLP"
“…emphasis must necessarily be laid on their advocating freedom for the oppressed countries to secede and their fighting for it. Without this there can be no internationalism.” -V. I. Lenin, "The Discussion on Self-Determination Summed Up"
Sources: “The Communist Manifesto” by Marx and Engels “Ireland and the Irish Question” by Marx and Engels “Where do Correct Ideas Come From” by Mao Zedong “The Foundations of Leninism” by J.V. Stalin “The State and the Revolution” by V. I. Lenin http://www.isreview.org/issues/13/marxism_nationalism_part1.shtml
A federal jury today agreed with some but not all of the government’s allegations that former neo-Nazi leader Bill White made threats against various people with whom he disagreed.
White was found guilty of threatening a Citibank employee, intimidating tenants of a Virginia Beach, Va., apartment complex, threatening a University of Delaware administrator and threatening a Canadian human rights lawyer, according to The Roanoke Times. He was acquitted of threatening the Citibank employee with the intent to extort, threatening Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts and threatening a New Jersey mayor.
The jury reached its verdict late this afternoon after deliberating for less than four hours. During the eight-day trial in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Va., the jurors heard testimony from victims who said they were terrified by theblog posts, telephone calls and E-mailsthat White used to target them. The defense, which did not call any witnesses, argued that White’s communications were protected free speech under the First Amendment.
White, 32, was the self-described commander of the mainly internet-based American National Socialist Workers Party, a neo-Nazi group, and ran a hate website until his arrest last fall. He could be sent to prison for up to 40 years.
Jeremy Olson, 33, was arrested for throwing tomatoes from a second-story floor at former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin. This event occurred during her "Going Rogue" book signing at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
The book signing was four hours long, but some psychotic Palin fanatics had been waiting in line for the book signing for 9 hours.
The tomatoes missed Palin and hit two police officers, one of which was hit in the eye. The juicy missiles ended up around ten feet away from the ex-governor.
Olson was charged with fourth degree assault of a police officer and disorderly conduct.
About half of every ten Americans and registered Republicans doubt Palin's ability to govern responsibly. Who could blame them? Olson, I applaud your actions, but I must criticize you. You should have thrown grenades instead of tomatoes.
FARC and ELN, Colombia's two biggest rebel movements, have said they will join forces. This comes after years of being put on the defensive by the policies of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) said in a joint statement on Thursday that they would unite "with force a belligerance" against the Uribe regime.
"Our only enemy is North American Imperialism and its oligarchic lackeys," said the rebel statement.
ELN is estimated to have about 5,000 members, and FARC is estimated to have about 9,000. They both claim to adhere to some form of Marxism, but the ideology of ELN is mainly just left-wing liberation theology.
Iraq is now accusing Iran of sending soldiers to seize the disputed al-Fakkah (Fauqa) oil well. The oil field is located in Maysan province in the border region between the two countries. It's just 200 miles south of Baghdad.
"At 3:30 this afternoon, 11 Iranian [soldiers] infiltrated the Iran-Iraq border and took control of the oil well. They raised the Iranian flag, and they are still there until this moment," said Ahmed Ali al-Khafaji, Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister.
Iraqi security forces were present when the Iranian troops arrived, but there were no reports of any fighting. Yahoo! News has reported that the US military does not have any information on the incident. The Iranian soldiers have left the oil field, but their flag still remains present.
The Iraqi Prime Minister called for a meeting of the National Security Council. The Council claims the actions supposedly taken by Iran violate Iraq's sovereignty.
A spokesperson for the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad said the claims that Iran seized al-Fakkah were "baseless and mere rumors." The National Iranian Oil Company is also denying claims that Iranian soldiers crossed into Iraq.
The two countries have begun diplomatic talks over this issue. Something is fishy in Iraq! If the US military was unaware of the incident, and if there was no fighting when this incident supposedly happened, then one must wonder if Iran really seized the oil field. Maybe the Iranian troops never left the oil field...because they were never there to begin with.
Authorities in Thailand are still trying to determine the final destination of a cargo plane they seized on Saturday that contained 35 tons of weapons from North Korea. The airplane was registered with Air West, a shipping company from the country of Georgia.
The airplane's crew, who are now in the custody of Thai police, stated (through their lawyer) that they thought they were shipping oil-drilling equipment. They claim they were ignorant of what the boxes they were shipping really contained.
"They didn't know what was in the boxes, they were just transporting them," their lawyer told the media. "Their job is to pick up the cargo and go to the destination."
The weapons that were seized included rocket-propelled grenades, explosives, and parts to surface-to-air missiles.
A government spokesman said the airplane was headed for the Sri Lankan capitol of Colombo, but they are not sure if that was its final destination. They suspect it was going to the Middle East. The airplane was in the United Arab Emirates before it picked up its cargo, which is why many are suspecting the final destination to be somewhere in the Arab world.
Cheon Seong-Whun of the Korea Institute for National Unification said that the arms seizure may prompt North Korea to make a quick decision to return to the six-party talks.
"The seizure of North Korean weapons in Thailand will not seriously hurt the mood for dialogue," said Koh Yu-Hwan, a professor at Dongguk university.
The United States and its allies sell weapons all of the time. Why can't North Korea? Some people will cry that it's because North Korea sells weapons to "bad guys." These "bad guys" can't be any worse than the Jundallah, a group of Sunni militants that the US has been supporting. These militants use terror tactics like suicide bombings and killing civilians to get their way. And let's not forget the Khmer Rouge, who the US also supported. They supported Pol Pot and his men in order to tip the balance of power in Indochina against the Soviet ally Vietnam. This is a fact, and you can look it up. American hypocrites, leave North Korea alone!
Thai authorities impounded an Ilyushin 76 airplane filled with 35 tons of weaponry supposedly from North Korea. Four men from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus were arrested over this.
The airplane was taking a break to refuel in Bangkok's Don Muang airport on Saturday when the arrests and impounding took place. Thai authorities were made aware of this airplane by American intelligence agents.
Thailand's Foreign Ministry has stated that it took action because a UN resolution has banned North Korea from selling weapons.
Thai Air Force spokesman Capt. Montol Suchookorn said the airplane flew in from Pyongyang.
The media has given different reports on the plane's destination. Some say the weapons were going to Pakistan, others say they were going to Sri Lanka. It is possible that the weapons were for the new People's Liberation Army guerrillas in Sri Lanka.
Any further information on where the airplane was trying to go has not been revealed because the Thai government claims it is a matter of national security.
Many officials worry that this seizure could have negative affects on the ongoing efforts to persuade North Korea to return to the six-party talks.
The Partisan will keep you updated on information about the destination of the North Korea airplane and its weapons.
Deutsche Telekom has had a strong track record of cooperating with labor unions in Germany.
Since Deutsche Telekom came to the United States and started T-Mobile USA, it has betrayed its reputation by hiring notorious union-busting firms, distributing memos to managers instructing them on how to stop organizing drives, and intimidating employees who want to join a union.
It has created an unfair double standard by denying T-Mobile USA workers their right to organize. Not only did this get Deutsche Telekom in trouble with the National Labor Relations Board, it violated the company's Social Charter, which states it's "in favor of cooperating with legitimate democratic employee representation in an open and trusting manner."
The following has been taken from thefirecollective.org
Today, seemingly a world away, the population of a small, oppressed nation is engaged in an ongoing revolution that is straining and maneuvering for a decisive victory. Rather than pursuing a rigid path in a sterile and dogmatic way, these revolutionaries have employed a diversity of tactics -- from a people's war to political negotiation to mass protests -- aimed at freeing the country's people. Their thinking is fresh, and they've wedded creative innovation with a movement committed to socialism and worldwide liberation from capitalism and imperialism.
They deserve our active political work. We need to help break through the mainstream media whiteout -- so more people here in the U.S. can see the ways this revolution is radically changing society, and so we can stop the U.S. government from intervening in Nepal while falsely branding revolutionaries there as terrorists.
Nepal: Toppling Kings and Castes
Nepal is a small country bordered on three sides by India and by China on its fourth frontier. The country is predominantly rural. Exploited peasants of many ethnicities and cultures represent 90 percent of the total population.
Nepal's monarchy emerged in 1768 to unify the country as a kingdom. This autocratic and theocratic royal family and military force ruled the largely feudal society until revolution arose to oppose it. Through compromises the monarchy made in the face of first the British colonialists, and later the Indian state, the country functioned as a semi-feudal, semi-colonial system in which most Nepalis suffered the worst indignities and crushing poverty. The country was an absolute monarchy until 1990, and even then, the poverty and oppression of the feudal system and the monarchy remained through the slightly varied form of a parliament subordinate to both the king and Indian expansionist interests.
On February 13, 1996, guided by its leader Prachanda, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) launched a planned countrywide military insurrection. The Maobadi, as they are called in Nepal, started their revolution with thousands of initial actions, liberating Rolpa and Rukum, two extremely impoverished neighboring districts in Nepal that are home to the Kham Magar nationality. Nepal’s ruling class, royals and the police responded with repression against peasant populations.
As the revolution continued to advance through this repression, deep divisions within the monarchy and between political parties emerged. King Birendra did not send the royal army against the Maobadi, and resisted those in his own family who (with Indian backing) demanded intervention. And then he (and most of the royal family) died in a palace massacre in 2001 that brought his brother, Gyanendrah, to the throne. The king sent in the Royal Nepal Army (RNA), terrorizing the people in ways that had not been seen.
Over ten years, the people's war won many victories, liberating 80 percent of the country's land, developing new forms of people's power, people's courts, new forms of cooperation like the people's communes, and much more. They formed new autonomous people's governments in the countryside with deep roots among the poor farmers. In response, the monarchy, police and military burned peasant villages, committed mass rape, censored the press, dissolved the toothless parliament, and, at times, disconnected mobile phones and the Internet -- and carried out numerous other repressive measures.
Through an intense struggle over how to confront this situation, the Maobadi decided they had a unique possible opening to unite with broad new forces entering the struggle. They helped turn the revolt against this particularly hated king into a revolutionary challenge to the ideas and institutions of the monarchy itself. The Maobadi called for a ceasefire, and they went into the cities to organize the people there who had previously been kept away from their revolution. They negotiated temporary alliances with parliamentary forces who had opposed the revolution, but who had since come under attack by the monarchy.
And shortly after, in April 2006, people hit the streets demanding an end to the monarchy, even while the king issued orders for protesters to be shot on sight. That movement shook the entire country, and forced Gyanendrah to restore the parliament he had previously dissolved and step down from power. Nepal became the world's youngest republic. The monarchy was toppled by a combination of the ten-year people's war and a loose and diverse alliance of progressive people in the urban areas.
The Maobadi launched a process (since 2006) where the struggle has focused on what the new Nepal would be -- a parliamentary republic integrated in a corrupt Indian-style parliamentary system subordinate to the world capitalist system, or a people's democratic republic on the socialist road with an electoral system. This struggle has been waged through sharp political offensives and contestation, but without armed struggle, while the whole process has rested on the existence of a People's Liberation Army, representing a fundamental challenge to the military and the reactionary plans for the future. The effort has also forwarded the very radical concept of a Constituent Assembly -- a historic gathering of elected representatives to envision and create a New Nepal, to fight through which future would replace the monarchist past -- as a special and temporary and potentially revolutionary institution for debating and choosing between bourgeois democracy and people's democracy.
Elections to this Constituent Assembly were held, and the Maobadi took part in these as a tactical step, winning a plurality in the elections. People celebrated in the streets.
The elections and the Constituent Assembly were part of solving the ongoing Nepali crisis by pushing forward the revolutionary process under new conditions. However, the army remains, and forms the basis for the current state (and for the current government in Kathmandu). Although the monarchy is now abolished, the army refuses to bow to civilian control. The current (inevitable and foreseeable) stalemate has not been mainly "a failure" of that process, but the way people would learn, through living experience, who stood for what. The Royal Nepal Army (now renamed the Nepal Army) has contested fundamental change in feudal relations and it has continued to repress the people. And Barack Obama and the U.S. have supported the army's defiance of legitimate civilian control, encouraged a military/royalist coup, labeled the Maobadi "terrorists," sent trainers for commando units and the officer corps, and most likely conducted other intrigues that have not yet been exposed, despite the fact it is clear the Maobadi are leading a major struggle against injustice with the support of millions of people, and are not terrorists at all.
The Resistance, The Revolution
Nepal’s revolutionaries say they are applying the Maoist strategy of New Democratic Revolution and they say they innovate in tactics. They have broken with orthodoxy, but not their radicalism. They have created a sub-stage within the larger strategy -- alternating the armed offensive with political offensive. They were able to quickly move from a countrywide insurrection to revolutionary people's war, and then to mass political mobilizations, quickly shifting their tactics while openly debating their strategy of New Democratic Revolution.
Around the country, the Maobadi advocate for women's equality in Nepal, including reproductive freedom and property rights, condemning the sex trade, and an end to arranged child marriages that were happening. The revolution is challenging the ways traditional society has oppressed young people through arranged marriages, harsh discrimination by caste and forbidding of inter-caste marriages. Taking to heart's Lenin's idea that "the measure of any revolution is the degree to which it liberates women," and saying "without the participation of women, no revolutionary movement in this world has succeeded nor will succeed in the future," the Maobadi organize campaigns against domestic violence and educational programs intended to orient women to see themselves as full participants in society and struggles. In addition, a new generation is demanding a right to have love matches (to choose its own marriage partners). Such revolutionary changes to the culture, as well as breaking down the caste system, have won wide support for the Maobadi. Here we have a society where it has historically been illegal for women in some areas to eat before their husbands, where women were legally the property of their husbands, and where women are now playing leading roles in the revolution and its party.
The Maobadi were a critical part of the diverse 2006 People's Movement or Jana Andolan, a broad coalition movement that ended monarchic rule. The effort also put into place a peace accord and the ascension of Maobadi to Nepal’s Constituent Assembly. However, while they were in the assembly, the Maobadi have been kept out of control over the actual state apparatus because a hostile feudal army existed undefeated. Nepal will remain oppressed by imperialism until the Maobadi and the people end this army's power.
The people's war and the emergence of the People's Liberation Army made possible the mass movement that toppled the monarchy in 2006. However even as elected representatives of the people debated how to form a New Nepal – it has become clearer the still-undefeated Nepal Army remains a key obstacle to radical change. That army high command has refused to accept civilian control. And while the Maobadi were for a while heading the elected government -- they were acutely aware they did not yet dominate the state (or control the army forming the key remaining institution of that old state.)
From the essay “No Revolution Can Be Replicated, But Developed,” Basanta of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [new name of the CPN(M)] explained the organization believes, while there are general truths governing revolution, each revolutionary struggle also has its own character and needs.
Basanta wrote:
"Comrade Mao has taught us that 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' It is a general truth for any revolution and a revolutionary party. In due course, gun is decisive to make a revolution victorious. But it is possible only when the party of the proletariat fights ideologically and politically in all fronts and crushes all the strategies that the imperialism and domestic reaction enforce to prevent revolution in the given country. In the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution, the enemy strategy has been to make use of various measures that can prevent the development of revolutionary consciousness among the masses. To abort revolution in its embryo, the measures that the imperialist system has been making use of are psychological warfare, cultural war, enemy infiltration to carry out destructive activities in the party of the proletariat, economic and political reforms to confuse the revolutionary masses, network of NGOs and INGOs to entrap petty bourgeois circle in the reformist mirage, foreign employment, religious superstition etc. Armed suppression and genocide is its final resort after the revolution is born. In short, the enemy fights a total war. Unless one can revolutionize masses by waging ideological war to crush such measures, no people’s war, even if initiated, can attain its goal." [NGOs are non-governmental organizations that perform social services and develop political networks with international funding.]
The Maobadi resigned from the national government in May, 2009 (i.e. from government posts heading key ministries and the post of prime minister) when the army refused to obey their commands to reorganize its high command. The Maobadi wanted to help make it clear to the people that government office, without control over the army, would be a farce or worse, and would be courting a coup. And the UCPN(M) openly started to organize new mass protests and talk about preparing a communist insurrection.
From the beginning of the 2006 peace process, the Maobadi organized their ongoing struggle at two levels (from the streets and villages, and from within their elected posts in the assembly and government) while the People's Liberation Army awaits and trains in camps scattered throughout the country. In this complex and rapidly developing position, which has all along had elements of highly contested "dual power," the Maobadi have been fighting to create the conditions for a successful seizure of overall power – so the revolution can press through, and the uprooting of ancient oppressions can take place. This is necessarily taking the form of preparing the people (and the People's Liberation Army fighters) for new storms, and in particular new uprisings focused on overall countrywide victory and state power. Why Nepal Matters
The Maobadi have put forward a vision in which a new socialist Nepal could be the catalyst for world revolution and a struggle uniting South Asia.
This is a time when far too many progressive people have lost hope over the very idea of a radically new society. The Nepali revolution speaks to and leads millions. It confirms a real-but-radical revolutionary mass movement is possible.
Through the revolution, the Maobadi are challenging unequal power relations in South Asia, in ways destined to impact imperialism and capital worldwide. Western powers sense the revolution’s popular power, and have supported pro-monarchy and pro-U.S. forces with weapons and aid to India. Will Nepal be the next victim of U.S.-supported destabilization? Support for the revolution is important to defending this remarkable movement.
What You Can Do Stay informed. Nepal’s revolution is still in process, and is threatened by forces opposed to the liberation of Nepal's people. Websites like Revolution in South Asia are sharing news as it happens.
Share this material. Pass the word about the revolution in Nepal by sharing this information with others.
Educate yourself & others. As revolutionary organizer from the Kasama Project, Mike Ely, writes, “Here it is: A little-known revolution in Nepal. Who will we tell about it? What will we learn from it? What will we do about it?”
There need to be teach-ins and solidarity campaigns that go up against the media white-out surrounding this struggle. Our collective wants to be part of organizing that, and encourages others to take up new solidarity work as well.
Defend this revolution. As the U.S. calls these revolutionaries terrorists, politically conscious people should be here to defeat those lies. When more repression comes down on the revolutionaries of Nepal, there should be mass mobilization in the country orchestrating it. Let's unapologetically stand with the struggle of the Nepali people. Revolutionaries are Not Terrorists! Take Nepal's Maobadi off the U.S. Terrorist Lists!
Victory to Nepal's Communist Revolution! All Power to the People!
An official document from the US Air Force recently revealed that the military base in Palanquero, Colombia will provide the US with "an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America." This contradicts the claims of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the US State Department about the agreement signed between the two countries on October 30th.
Uribe, like a broken American record, has been constantly saying that the agreement will not affect other countries in the region. The Air Force document, dated May 2009, only confirms the concerns of Colombia's neighbors and proves that Uribe is telling lies.
The agreement between Uribe and the US will allow the American military to access seven bases in Palanquero, Malambo, Tolemaida, Larandia, Apiay, Cartagena, and Malaga. The agreement also allows for "the use of all other installations and locations as necessary" throughout Colombia with no restrictions. Even commercial airports can be taken over by the US military according to the document.
The document seems like a complete renunciation and violation of Colombia's sovereignty because it gives complete immunity to American military, civilian, and security contractor personnel.
The document states that the US will conduct operations against supposed "narcotics traffickers and terrorists" and also against "anti-US governments" (document's words). The Bolivian Alliance for the People of our America (ALBA) nations are considered a threat by the US. Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador will be the primary countries targeted by the American military and secret agents.
"The strong security cooperation relationship also offers an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America to include mitigating the counter-narcotics capability."
This statement, from the newly revealed Air Force document, clearly proves that counter-narcotics operations will be merely secondary. So it is not the real reason Obama and Uribe are doing this, despite what those liars are claiming.
"Palanquero supports the mobility mission by providing access to the entire South American continent with the exception of Cape Horn," the document reads.
Not only does the document confirm that Palanquero will increase the US warfare capabilities on the continent, it also states that it will increase the American ability to carry out espionage and intelligence operations throughout the continent.
Narcotics and terrorism are the last things on the minds of Obama and Uribe. What they are really doing with this agreement is preparing for more wars in Latin America.
Venezuela recently captured three DAS agents, Colombian spies, and found documents with them that contained information on destabilization missions against Cuba, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
Recently, Venezuelan authorities found ten dead bodies in Tachira, a border zone with Colombia. An investigation found that the bodies were those of Colombian paramilitary operatives who had infiltrated Venezuelan territory. This paramilitary infiltration is part of a destabilization campaign against the regime of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The dead operatives were part of a plan by the US and Colombia to create an oppressive paramilitary-lead state inside Venezuelan territory.
American President Barack Obama and his advisers announced a "new" strategy for the war in Afghanistan recently. It offers absolutely nothing new. The strategy Obama talked about in his recent speech is just a bunch of rehashed Bush and Cheney tactics. I would not be surprised if it reminded many people of Mikhail Gorbachev's "bloody wound" speech, which lead to a temporary Soviet troop surge in Afghanistan during the 1980's.
The Russian media seems to be comparing the American war in Afghanistan to the Soviet one, but many Americans seem to be comparing Obama's Afghan conflict to the Vietnam War.
Obama claimed that the Afghan War is different from Vietnam because there is a coalition of forces operating in the country. The problem is that only Britain, France, and Canada are willing to conduct offensive military operations over there. The rest of the allied countries are doing nothing. For example, Turkish soldiers never leave their base in Wardak province.
The Vietnam War had six countries helping the US, and South Korea alone had more combat troops in Vietnam than the entire coalition has in Afghanistan today. America's allies in the Vietnam War had around 69,000 combat troops over there. America's allies in Afghanistan have only around 17,000.
Obama went on to say in his speech that the war against the Taliban is different than Vietnam because the Viet Cong never attacked American soil, but the Taliban and its friends supposedly have. This is completely wrong. It was Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaida that attacked the US on 9/11, not the Taliban. The Taliban even offered to arrest Bin Laden and hand him over to international authorities, but Bush refused to take them up on their offer because he had imperialist interests (oil and money) in Afghanistan. The Taliban and Osama were not very close buddies. Only around 100 Al-Qaida members remain in Afghanistan anyway, yet the US is now increasing its troop strength in the country. Apparently the war in Afghanistan is not about what your rulers have been telling you it's about.
Afghan President Karzai's regime is an illegitimate, corrupt plutocracy. The Afghan National Army, which is supposed to take over after the US and its allies withdraw, is not strong enough to fight the Taliban. Last month the Afghan Army only reached half of its recruiting goal. It is plagued by drug abuse, illiteracy, and desertion. Even the US Center for Army Lessons Learned has said that the Afghan National Army will never grow beyond 100,000 men because of all of this. Just like in Vietnam, the Pentagon is telling lies to the people by claiming the Afghan Army is larger than it really is. Only 32,000 of its members are combat troops.
Obama's plan to negotiate with moderate elements in the Taliban is doomed to fail. American Admiral William Fallon said the negotiation plan is "shortsighted," and Taliban leaders laughed at Obama for even suggesting such a thing. General McChrystal's plan to secure the urban areas is hopeless because the Taliban is growing and working in the rural areas. The General's mistake is the same one that Alexander the Great, the British, and the Soviets made.
Pakistan's reaction to Obama's speech says it all. The Pakistani ISI is renewing its covert ties with the Afghan Taliban because it thinks they might soon return to power!
American and coalition soldiers, please listen to me, you are going to be killed because of the President's plan. He is not better than Bush, who was also a war-mongering, selfish idiot. It seems that the Western governments, regardless of whether they are liberal or conservative, don't care about you. They just want to use you for their own gain. The Taliban is not your enemy, they just want their country back, and the only way you can get back to your countries is by turning your guns around and launching mutinies. Your countrymen will support you in this action. Your true enemy is at home and wears a suit, not a turban. It is right to rebel!
Here is a video from GreenWatch TV, a Houston television show, where they interview members of the Maoist FIRE Collective about the revolutions currently being fought for in Nepal and India.
A Marxist group of Tamil militants with connections to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and Cuba is preparing to mount a new insurgency in Sri Lanka six months after the Government declared an end to the 26-year-old war there.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was founded in eastern Sri Lanka four months ago and has vowed to launch attacks against government and military targets unless its demands for a separate Tamil homeland are met.
“This war isn’t over yet,” Commander Kones, head of the PLA’s Eastern District military command, told The Times during a night meeting in a safe house in the east of the country last week.
“There has been no solution for Tamils since the destruction of the LTTE [Tamil Tigers] in May. So we have built and organized the PLA and are ready to act soon. Our aim is a democratic socialist liberation of the northeast for a Tamil Eelam [the desired Tamil state].”Kones, a nom de guerre, claimed that the PLA had 300 active members and expected to recruit 5,000 volunteers from the 280,000 Tamil civilians recently freed from detention camps.
He said that the PLA, commanded by a ten-man committee, was an entirely separate organization from the LTTE, but said that former LTTE cadres would be able to join the organization provided that they swore their allegiance to the PLA’s political aims.
“There are former LTTE members in the PLA now,” he said. “But the LTTE was an extremist organization that fought only for itself rather than the people’s needs.
“It is totally destroyed now and I don’t worry about it. We are socialist ideologues and we are trying to draw different Tamil groups together for a people’s struggle, a people’s war.”
Although the PLA’s capabilities remain unclear, it includes in its ranks several experienced insurgents who fought against the government forces in Sri Lanka in the 1980s before falling foul of the LTTE and either leaving the country or becoming dormant.
Commander Kones, now in his forties, had himself been given guerrilla training at a camp in Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1983, where his trainers included fighters from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).
“We still have a relationship with the PLO, as well as Cuba and Indian Maoist groups,” he said. “They fight for their rights just as we do.”
During later action against government forces in eastern Sri Lanka he was imprisoned and tortured, before escaping from the country to live in Europe.
The threat of an aspiring new Tamil insurgent group comes at a complicated time for the Sri Lankan authorities.The unified image that accompanied their decisive victory over the Tamil Tigers in May has been eroded. The architect of that victory, General Sarath Fonseka, has become embroiled in a political scrap with the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa as both men vie for a presidential election victory next month.
Their rivalry could split the vote of the Sinhalese majority, offering the swing vote to the country’s Tamil minority, who have yet to declare their political allegiance. A new round of violence during this period could have a dramatic reversal on efforts to stabilize the country.
“We are much more politically skilled than the LTTE ever were and know how to avoid the ‘terrorist’ label that they acquired,” Kones said.
“Our enemy is simply the Government here, and we fight just for Tamil rights. We are not against the international community,” he said. “Indeed, we want them to support us in pressurizing the Sri Lankan Government.”
Kones said that he had no intention of trying to emulate the Tigers’ style of warfare, but suggested a more asymmetric strategy involving attacks by widely dispersed PLA cells. However, he added that his targets would include economic and administrative centers, as well as military forces.
Other PLA insiders said that one of their likely first fights would be with groups of former LTTE cadres led by the infamous Colonel Karuna. Karuna split from the LTTE ranks in 2004 and later joined the Government, but still holds influence in eastern Sri Lanka.
“We are getting stronger by the day, much stronger than any other group,” Kones said. “The day of action is close.”
A few nights after meeting Commander Kones, deep in a rural area, The Times encountered three young PLA recruits waiting for a guide to take them to one of the organization's jungle training camps. Two were 15 years old, one was 16. “The PLA sound very interesting to us,” they said. “They are the only ones now doing something for the Tamil people.”
Theirs was not, however, a pervading sentiment. Shattered by their experiences in the war zones this year, depressed by their subsequent incarceration in detention camps, few Tamils expressed any great enthusiasm for a return to war.
“I’m not interested in Eelam,” Raja Muragaswaran, 31, who was released from a camp last month, said. “I lost everything that I had ever worked for in the name of Eelam. How many died for Eelam, and all for what? We just want peace.”
The following entry is the text to the YouTube video called "The Soviet Union and Revisionism."
Eventually, in the USSR, state-capitalism developed due to bureaucracy and other factors. This was Khrushchev and his lackeys’ fault.
“The running of industry by individuals inevitably leads to private ownership.” - Engels
The state-capitalists placed managers in charge of factories and farms. The managers had all of the power in their workplaces. The working people had none. The managers and similar bureaucratic elements made more than ten times the amount of the worker. Just like under Western style capitalism, the managers didn’t have answer to the masses. This lead to departmentalism and competition between state enterprises instead of cooperation and emulation. Just like in the West.
Central planners had no idea what was going on because enterprises were sending false information to planning agencies in order to compete with other enterprises. Enterprises tried to outplan each other and resorted to hiding and hording resources. What they were trying to do, in a way, was draw profits from a centralized supply of credit and resources.
17 American, 18 Japanese, 13 West German, 7 Italian, and 20 French multinational companies had been allowed to establish themselves in the USSR by 1977. The same thing happened in many of the Soviet “satellite states” as well. The Soviet Union set up banks similar to those of Western countries and put them in many capitalist countries. These banks became competitors and partners of many Western capitalist banks.
In his book A Critique of Soviet Economics, Mao Zedong pointed out that the post-Stalin Soviet economists had abandoned and forgotten many principles of Marxist political economy.
The Soviet Union’s so-called “aid” to other countries was similar to America’s supposed “aid” to other countries. The USSR, just like the US, would give poor countries “aid” which would put the receiving country in debt and make it dependent of the USSR. The allies of the USSR eventually became mere appendages of the Soviet military and industries.
If you’re looking for a good Marxist country, then check out China during the Mao era. China may have restored capitalism, but Maoism still lives on. If you don’t believe me, then check out the news.
Sources: “Maoist Economics and the Revolutionary Road to Communism: The Shanghai Textbook” with an introduction by Raymond Lotta “Imperialism and the Revolution” by Enver Hoxha (World View Publications, 1979)
New Delhi:Weeks before the government launches one of its biggest offensive against Maoists, the extremists have welcomed it saying this will strengthen their movement in tribal areas.
The Maoist think tank believe that the government’s stand is responsible for their success in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. “The more destruction they (security forces) cause, the faster will our people’s army grow and our guerrilla war spread to other parts of the country. Thanks to the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh, our war has achieved in four years what would have taken two decades. Now, thanks to home minister P Chidambaram, our war will expand to wider areas, mobilize more people and gather momentum,” said Azad, the spokesperson of the CPI (Maoist) in a document made available to DNA.
“Maoism teaches us that self-preservation is possible only through war. You cannot defend yourself against a powerful and extremely cruel enemy by submitting to him meekly. You have to choose the appropriate method to fight a relatively superior and powerful enemy and only by this can you ensure the preservation of your forces,” he said.
Targeting prime minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram for not doing enough for the tribals of mineral-rich areas, the Maoist leadership says the government is only interested in these areas because of resources but is doing nothing to develop them. The rebels are clear there’s no question of getting down to talks if laying down arms is a pre-condition.
“Never, not even in our dreams can we think of laying down arms. We have taken up arms to defend the rights of people and to liberate them exploitation and oppression. Laying down arms would be betraying the masses,” Azad said.
“We may lose some forces in this brutal offensive by the enemy. But you must keep in mind that when the people’s war began we had only a handful of committed cadre.
Today, it has grown into a big mass movement with a people army and a countrywide presence. Even if we lose some forces, we will rebuild the movement as we are now doing in Andhra Pradesh. You will see the results of our underground work soon,” said Azad.
Hinting at more attacks against policemen, Maoists said they have asked their cadre not to use brutal tactics such as those used on Francis Induvar, the slain policeman from Jharkhand.
Thousands of Maoists held a torch procession tonight in preparation for a nationwide Banda (closure) tomorrow. The action was called in retaliation of an incident in Kailali district on Friday. Police had used deadly force in removing thousands of Maoist aligned landless squatters from forest land.
Unified CPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda has likened Friday's Kailali incident with political suppression during the partyless Panchayat era.
Addressing a function at Trichandra Campus in Kathmandu Saturday, Dahal said the government was inviting political confrontation and bloodshed in the country by resorting to brutal suppression on landless squatters. He also demanded fair investigation into the incident to bring the culprits to justice.
The Maoist chairman further said some parties were in a mission to dissolve the constituent assembly on fear that new constitution of Nepal would be pro-communist. He also accused other parties of deliberately delaying the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants.
During the clash between police personnel and thousands of landless squatters in Dudejhadi jungle, Kailali, at least seven people were killed and dozens injured. Police said they were forced to open fire as the squatters, who had constructed huts in the jungle, refused to follow the evacuation orders.**
Meanwhile, the Unified CPN (Maoist) has announced nationwide general strike (bandh) on Sunday in protest against the police action in Kailali.
Issuing a statement, the United People's Movement Nepal of the Maoist party called upon all to join the protest. The party is to organize torch processions Saturday evening and nationwide bandh tomorrow.
** The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and its affiliates recently gave land to the poor, landless people (the "squatters"). They provided the landless people with forest land that was state-owned. The repressive government of Nepal didn't like what the Maoists and their partners did, so they used the police to forcefully evict the landless poor.
The National Democratic Front in Southern Mindanao calls as brazen to the core the latest bid of Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to overextend her stay in power by pining for the House Speakership via a congressional seat in her hometown in Pampanga. The move is despicable for the thousands of victims of her fascist rule, for the more than 50 victims of a massacre executed and masterminded in cold-blood by an Arroyo vassal-warlord, the Ampatuan clan.
By seeking the protective political and legal cover of the reactionary Congress, Mrs. Arroyo affirms her guilt over many large-scale corruption cases and over a thousand cases of extrajudicial and political killings committed by her regime.
Her extreme hunger for power and sheer tenacity to escape accountability for all the crimes against the people perpetrated by her regime has pushed her to do unprecedented things: from electoral cheating to supporting political warlords, promoting worst human rights violators like Jovito Palparan and now running for an inferior position in the reactionary legislative branch to push her Charter Change scheme and eventually rule again.
It is utterly shameless for Mrs. Arroyo to claim that serving is in her DNA as she miserably failed the people in all fronts. The masses in Pampanga and all over the country must stop her from holding on to power. Instead, she and her minions must be prosecuted for all crimes against the people which were committed under her nearly a decade of fascist and corrupt rule.
(Sgd) Rubi del Mundo Spokesperson National Democratic Front of the Philippines Southern Mindanao
Taken from PhilippineRevolution.net (link available in links section to your left).
If this is how the US military treats its own women, imagine how they treat foreign, civilian women in Iraq and Afghanistan! Yeah, real "heroes." How could anybody support a country and a military where rape is all too common, even glorified?
