The dog and its tail: Imperialism, the Jewish question, the Cuban question and terrorism
604/04/2016 by socialistfight
“We will return”. promise the counter-revolutionary Cuban Gusanos. Orthodox Jews reject the racist state of Israel – are THEY racist?
Statement by the Liaison Committee for the Fourth International 3-4-2016
1) The Jewish question was historically deformed by imperialism. Zionism became a component part of the rise of finance capital from the foundation of the State of Israel, which has become an agent for the expansionist interests of imperialism;
2) We oppose the mechanical anti-Semitic identification which makes Zionism equal to Judaism. Several Jewish activists join with the oppressed people in the fight against Israel. We fight the persecution of Jews, as in the case of Ukrainian Jews by the Nazi pro-NATO government in Kiev;
3) The Zionist bourgeoisie, by its economic influence, has an inordinate political weight within the world imperialist bourgeoisie and strongly influence their decisions about the Middle East and the Palestinian question. Similarly the Cuban ‘gusanos’ (‘worms’, the popular derogatory name for the former Cuban capitalist mainly living in Florida who were driven out by Castro after 1959) influence the maintenance of the US blockade against the workers’ state. Both have a lot of influence in the multinational media consortiums. Although the ‘Gusano’ bourgeoisie is less influential in imperialist policy, both fractions of the bourgeoisie, ‘Gusano’ and Zionist, are already organic imperialism components influencing the political, legal superstructure, and the US party system;
4) Zionism and Israel (as gusanos) are converted into organic part of the imperialist bourgeoisie and, to some limited extent and very useful to imperialism itself even in the service of its historical interests. It is no coincidence that Obama feels a certain difficulty to discipline both Zionism as the Gusano fraction of imperialism associated with Republicans, to achieve the current objectives of the White House in Cuba and the Middle East. The project of the Gusanos émigré layers and elements derived from it in US bourgeois politics is to work with whatever US bourgeois forces it can to undermine Cuba due to its counter revolutionary aims, it is necessarily hostile to any tendencies in US bourgeois politics that want a thaw in relations with Cuba. The most fundamental difference between the Gusanos in the USA, and the Zionists, is that the Gusanos are traitors to Cuba and indeed the whole of the masses of semi-colonial Latin America. Whereas the Zionist lobby are the strongest partisans of Israel as an imperialist state and project.
5) Today, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are the main recipients of oil stolen by the Islamic State of wells in Iraq and Syria. Thus, the Islamic State, unlike Al Qaeda is no longer just an imperialist creation, but a functional mercenary army, a department of the secret service of the Israeli secret service Mossad and the CIA, working to the Islamophobic policy of imperialism, the driving out of migrant workers and their putschist adventures as in Syria, etc. The US warplanes bombed ISIS quite heavily on behalf of the Kurdish YPD/YPG in Syria. They bombed ISIS in Syria, although not as thoroughly as Russia. They have bombing around Mosel, reportedly with heavy civilian casualties in the student resident quarters of the University; a deliberate civilian bombing. Putin has reached an agreement with Obama over Syria; and there may be an agreement to abandon Assad and replace him with a US puppet. In these circumstances we must oppose US and NATO bombing of ISIS and be very cautious of the way we support Russian bombing and where the alliance with the US is going lest it end up supporting the installation of a pro-imperialist regime in Syria.
6) In this sense, the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Pentagon and the WTC, carried out by Al Qaeda, were carried out in direct contradiction with imperialism, the former masters of Bin Laden in Washington. Although such actions, by his method, have justified the recolonisation of Afghanistan and Iraq under the name of “war on terror” by G. W. Bush. No attack of the Islamic State addresses imperialist institutions; they are only actions directed against civilians, journalists, to justify imperialist intervention and war campaign in the Middle East and, in particular, against Syria and the oppressed peoples where Islam is in a majority. We have seen that the attacks claimed by the Islamic State are very useful to imperialist machinations, they lead to an enhancement of terrorism policy and justify the intensification of imperialist terror upon all the oppressed peoples and, in particular, the people of the Middle East.
7) “The tail” are the imperialist fractions linked to Zionism and the Cuban Gusanos. The tail gained strength in the definition on the movements of the “dog”, imperialism, with the end of the Soviet Union, when Cuba has weakened and imperialism saw the possibility of reinforcing its dominance over Latin America and the Middle East. Imperialism has weakened with the capitalist crisis of 2008 which caused a momentary downturn of expansionist policy and paved the way for the entrance of other competitors on the world market, China and Russia, coordinated in the BRICS. Since then, the most organized fractions of imperialism in relation to its dominance in the Middle East and Latin America, demand and alert the dog Israel that the overcoming of the political “power soft” of the Democrat Obama by another even more bellicose one against Cuba, Iran, Palestine and the bloc of nations led by Russia and China is necessary. This supporting tail drives imperialism to the right in order to regain lost ground from this Eurasian block. This is the counter- attacking move that has created the current inter-capitalist cold war and drives it towards World War III.
8) However, the Zionists and the gusanos are not the only fractions of imperialism, they are added to other indigenous fractions which converge mainly in the Republican Party and are expressed by Donald Trump, the candidate to inaugurate the Nazi phase of US imperialism. Trump is the American expression of the right turn of the imperialist bourgeoisie, it needs to overcome the current stage of the Cold War, marked by coups (Honduras, Paraguay, Libya, Ukraine), with occasional and indirect conflicts (Syria, Yemen, Ukraine) for the open dispute of world domination by subduing the Eurasian block to establish a pattern of exploitation of people able to usher in a new capitalist cycle of accumulation.
9) The lack of a revolutionary direction and objective existence of large workers’ states that threaten the rule of the bourgeoisie and put the question of the revolution on the agenda allows the luxury of ruling classes competing with each other to super exploit workers. In this war, the revolutionary workers take the opposite side of the imperialist bourgeoisie and its right turn, if necessary, in a united front with the fractions of non-imperialist bourgeoisie, as in Ukraine, Syria and Yemen, against NATO. Revolutionaries take advantage of the divisions of the world bourgeoisie and simultaneously fight to advance the struggle of the workers against exploitation in all nations. Our strategy is to build revolutionary workers’ parties to combine the anti-imperialist struggle with the struggle for the seizure of power by the masses through the socialist revolution. This means fighting for the permanent revolution strategy and the reconstruction of the world party of socialist revolution, which the Liaison Committee for the Fourth International calls.
Original in Portuguese
O cão e o rabo: Imperialismo, a questão judaica, a questão cubana e o terrorismo
1) A questão judaica foi historicamente deformada pelo imperialismo. O sionismo se converteu em um componente do ascenso do capital financeiro e fundou o Estado de Israel, que se tornou em agente dos interesses expansionistas do imperialismo;
2) Nos opomos a identificação mecânica, anti-semita, que iguala judaísmo com sionismo. Vários ativistas do judaísmo se irmanam aos povos oprimidos no combate a Israel. Combatemos a perseguição dos judeus ucanianos por parte do governo pró-OTAN nazista de Kiev;
3) A burguesia sionista, por sua influência econômica, possui um peso político superestimado dentro da classe dominante imperialista em todo mundo, influenciado suas decisões acerca do Oriente Médio e a questão palestina. Do mesmo modo, relativo a Cuba os gusanos influenciam na manutenção do bloqueio dos EUA contra o Estado operário. Ambas possuem muita influência nos consórcios midiáticos multinacionais. Ainda que a burguesia gusana seja menos influente na política imperialista, ambas as frações da burguesia, gusana e sionista, já são componentes orgânicos do imperialismo, influindo na superestrutura política, jurídica, e no sistema de partidos dos EUA;
4) O sionismo e Israel (assim como os gusanos) se converterem em parte orgânica da burguesia imperialista e, em certa e limitada medida, instrumentalizarem o próprio imperialismo mesmo a serviço de seus interesses históricos. Não é por acaso, que Obama sente uma certa dificuldade para disciplinar tanto o sionismo quanto a fração gusana do imperialismo associada aos republicanos, para realizar os objetivos atuais da Casa Branca em Cuba e no Oriente Médio;
4) Hoje, Israel, Arábia Saudita e Turquia são os principais receptadores do petróleo roubado pelo Estado Islâmico dos poços no Iraque e na Síria. Deste modo, o Estado Islâmico, diferente da Al Qaeda não é mais apenas uma criação imperialista, mas um exército mercenário funcional, um departamento do Mossad e de certo modo, como uma parte do sionismo influencia na máquina de guerra e espionagem imperialista, ISIS também é um departamento da CIA, funcional a política islamofóbica do imperialismo, a caçada aos trabalhadores imigrantes e suas aventuras golpistas como na Síria, etc.
5) Nesse sentido, os atentados do 11 de setembro de 2001, ao Pentágono e ao WTC, realizados pela Al Qaeda, foram realizados em contradição direta com o imperialismo, os antigos amos de Bin Laden em Washington. Ainda que tais ações, por seu método, tenham justificado a recolonização do Afeganistão e Iraque sob o nome de “guerra ao terror” de G. W. Bush. Nenhum ataque do Estado Islâmico se dirige a instituições imperialistas. Foram apenas ações voltadas contra civis, jornalistas, para justificar a campanha de guerra de intervenção do imperialismo no Oriente Médio e, em particular, contra a Síria e os povos oprimidos de maioria islâmica. Temos visto que os ataques reivindicados pelo Estado Islâmico são maquinações imperialistas diretas, um aprimoramento da política de ações terroristas que justifiquem o recrudescimento do terror imperialista sobre o conjunto dos povos oprimidos e, em particular, os povos do Oriente Médio.
6) “O rabo” são as frações imperialistas ligadas ao sionismo e aos gusanos. O rabo ganhou força na definição acerca da movimentação do “cão”, o imperialismo, com o fim da URSS, quando Cuba se debilitou e o imperialismo viu a possibilidade de reforçar seu domínio na América Latina e no Oriente Médio. O imperialismo se debilitou com a crise capitalista de 2008 que provocou uma retração momentânea da política expansionista e abriu espaço para a entrada em cena de outros competidores no mercado mundial, a China e a Rússia, coordenando os BRICS. A partir de então, as frações mais organizadas do imperialismo em relação ao seu domínio no Oriente Médio e América Latina, exigem e alertam ao cão que é necessário uma superação da política “power soft” democrata de Obama por outra ainda mais belicosa contra Cuba, o Irã, Palestina e o bloco de nações lideradas por Rússia e China. O rabo, coadjuvante, tensiona ao imperialismo à direita para retomar o terreno perdido para esse bloco eurásico, movimento de contra-ataque que criou a atual guerra fria intercapitalista rumo a uma 3ª Guerra Mundial.
7) Todavia, os sionistas e os gusanos não são as únicas frações do imperialismo, elas se somam a outras frações autóctones ou que confluíram principalmente ao partido republicano e que se expressam no trator Donald Trump, candidato a inaugurar a fase nazista do imperialismo ianque. Trump é a expressão estadunidense do giro à direita da burguesia imperialista, que necessita superar o estágio atual da guerra fria, marcada por golpes de Estado (Honduras, Paraguai, Líbia, Ucrânia), com conflitos pontuais e indiretos (Síria, Iêmen, Ucrânia) para a disputa aberta do domínio mundial subjugando o bloco eurásico para estabelecer um padrão de superexploração dos povos capaz de inaugurar um novo ciclo de acumulação capitalista.
8) A falta de uma direção revolucionaria e da existência objetiva de grandes Estados Operários que ameacem o domínio da burguesia e coloquem a questão da revolução na ordem do dia permite as classes dominantes o luxo de disputar entre si a superexploração dos trabalhadores. Nesta guerra, os trabalhadores revolucionários tomam o lado oposto ao da burguesia imperialista e ao seu giro à direita, se necessário for, em frente única com as frações da burguesia não imperialistas, como na Ucrânia, na Síria e Iemen, contra a OTAN. Os revolucionários se aproveitam das divisões da burguesia mundial e simultaneamente combatem o avanço da superexploração dos trabalhadores em todas as nações. Nossa estratégia é construir partidos revolucionários dos trabalhadores para combinar a luta anti-imperialista com a luta pela tomada do poder pelas massas através da revolução socialista. Isto significa lutar sob a estratégia da revolução permanente e pela reconstrução do partido mundial da revolução socialista, cujo Comitê de Ligação pela IV Internacional convoca.
I would note that analogizing the Zionists to the gusanos (which I agree with) differs from SF’s interlocking ruling-class theory.
In the latest WW, editor Peter Manson argues that your position is anti-semitic because it reinforces anti-Semitic ideology without being antisemitic per se. (I think that’s a more precise way to put it than this gibberish about “personal” antiSemitism – and the apparent ability of some Jews to see personal antiSemitism in your soul.) This argument isn’t quite as stupid as it sounds. To evaluate the argument, it’s important to note that Manson believes Jewish ethnocentrism is analytically irrelevant. (How is this anything but vulgar materialism?) But he has a point that positions can reinforce racism without being racist – with the proviso that the position is false. (Truth comes first.)
Now, if one accepts Peter’s vulgar Marxism, I can see (from that point of view) expelling someone for holding views that, while not racist, are false and (needlessly) reinforce racism. Holocaust revisionism isn’t necessarily racist, although it is false. The doctrine of black intellectual inferiority is typically viewed in this same light – reinforcing racist ideology without being necessarily racist. (What, however, is inexcusable is libeling someone an “antisemite” merely for holding views, no matter how false, that at most reinforce antiJewish racism. This is their crime against the SF comrades.)
Whatever the correct resolution of troublesome positions regarding scientific or historical fact in general (and I would be willing to tolerate even differences regarding race and intelligence when they’re nonprogrammatic), there’s a significant difference with the Jews, who are no longer in any sense oppressed. Why all this worry about possibly stirring up a little antiSemitism? The CPGB appears enslaved to the myth that Jews continue to be endangered by imperialism. (Although Hillel Ticktin has pronounced a Nazi re-run impossible.)
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I don’t see how a belief in black intellectual inferiority can be non-programmatic. Seems to me that opposing such chauvinist nonsense is pretty fundamental to Marxism. The fact that such notions have appeared in the socialist movement at times is an adaptation to the culture of the oppressor nations at the core of imperialism. And adaptation to imperialism in any form is a programmatic danger to Marxism. If we come across people with such deviations in their politics we don’t passively tolerate them, we polemicise and argue that they are profoundly wrong.
If that had been done over a range of questions, including not least over Zionism and its particular, specific variation of racism, the would-be Marxist left would be in better shape.
I’m not in favour of tolerating ‘a little antisemitism’. It actually is rare thankfully. That is a function of Jews being no longer oppressed. Which raises the chicken and egg problem – which came first? For me it was the substantive material change that rendered anti-semitism basically obsolete.
Ticktin is right, the Holocaust is unrepeatable. The political conditions that created it have ceased to exist and been replaced by others. Jews are not eternally oppressed. And it is not possible to step into the same river twice, as Buddhists say.
A sharp reply to Manson’s awful letter has already been sent.
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It’s not rare among the Arab masses, and communists should be entirely willing to “tolerate” it there! The Zionist atrocities will necessarily give rise to anti-Semitic sentiment. (Just as the Nazis inevitably gave rise to anti-German sentiment, despite the Germans not being an oppressed people.) It requires an advanced consciousness to separate Israel from “the Jews.” It does as little good to inveigh moralistically against this spontaneous anti-Semitism as to polemicize against the religion of the masses.
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“Black intellectual inferiority” was an excessively angular phrase. But many population geneticists do conclude the “races” differ (on average in overlapping distributions) on the various intellectual abilities. Evolutionary theory tells us the races are apt to differ statistically on behavior traits, although empirically the influences are hard to separate. I don’t see any programmatic relevance in this, and I don’t think the evidence speaks clearly to the direction of the genetic influence: the population geneticists overestimate the value of twin studies. But are their views “racist”? At that point, there does arise a programmatic question: should the left demand such research be halted or try to shut down forums – recall Jenson?
To what extent are certain traits of the Jews genetic? Perhaps it can be argued that questions like this don’t deserve to be researched. You may say, who cares? But all sorts of trivial research programs exist, and leftists, as defenders of intellectual freedom, should be against banning population-genetic research as racist. And these issues, politically unimportant, are usually not suitable for broad polemic – except for analyzing their diversionary (and anti-intellectual) quality.
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Regarding ‘anti-semitism’ among the Arab masses, that is not real racism, but a confused ideology of the oppressed driven by hatred of that oppression coupled with despair at anything happening to change that.
There is a difference between freedom of enquiry in scientific terms in society in general, which should not be restricted, and saying a belief in systematic and inherent differences between ethnic groups is ‘non-programmatic’. There is no way of measuring such things without them being affected by social circumstances and influences. We live in societies where racial oppression is deeply ingrained, and the driving force of such investigations in virtually every case is some desire, even if unconscious, to justify that.
You can’t ban the kind of prejudices that drive such things, you have to fight against the oppression that exists in reality. But such ideas are of programmatic significance for Marxists and we cannot be neutral about them. Unlike matters of ‘identity’, provided they do not involve supporting oppression in some form, when we can be neutral.
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Since you’ve defined the term racism to exclude the feelings of oppressed toward oppressor, on your terms, this has to be true. But it’s a pollyanna definition. If an Arab joins ISIS because he hates and wants to kill individuals of a certain ethnicity, it’s racism. Marxists should take a very different attitude toward the racism of the oppressed, but that doesn’t mean definining it out of existence.
To show it is programmatic, you at least have to identify a programmatic consequence!
Since you say there’s no way to know, it could be so. Does it then, on your view, have unknown programmatic consequences? I don’t see how. As communists, our ideal is distribution according to need, not ability.
To proclaim that “there is no way of measuring such things” is an anti-scientific viewpoint. How the hell do you know with such certainty that there’s “no way”? The topic isn’t in my view programmatic, but the attitude – the readines to say “there’s no way of knowing” – will have implications beyond this particular subject. You can’t say in advance that there’s “no way” to determine something.
Do you place the same racist onus on those saying the Jews have a genetic intellectual advantage? Some researchers think the proclivity to certain Jewish diseases confer an intellectual edge. If a specific gene were discovered with such effects, would you still say you don’t know? The methods aren’t rigorous enough at present, and in my opinion the topic doesn’t deserve much scientific attention, but ruling such claims inherently outside science isn’t defensible.
To address the more general issue: I think you let your moral aversion to racism get in the way of scientific thinking. Racism is ugly; it’s also very human.
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