From owner-marxism Tue Sep 26 06:04:21 1995
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 02:04:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Maoist Internationalist Movement <mim3@nyxfer.blythe.org>
Subject: Against the "democratic" "left"
Against the "democratic" " left"
We believe that the historical experiments of China and the Soviet
Union are now litmus tests for socialists. However, there is also the U.$.
experience of the Civil War and Reconstruction to point to on questions of
dictatorship and democracy for those of us more familiar with that history already.
Dictatorship, not "democratic" lies
We are now taught about the greatness of Abraham Lincoln and his
contributions to democracy. What we sometimes forget is that the North
took over the South using war and dictatorship. The slave-owning
planters could not be left to themselves or they would have restored the
previous system. Hence, the "Radical Republicans" pushed the presidents to take
a relatively strong stand including depriving some traitors and white
reactionaries their political rights. (Hey, look it up in any
encyclopedia, probably under Reconstruction or Civil War.) Even despite all this
war and dictatorship, it wasn't enough because the KKK arose
and took away Black gains.
Looking back:
1. Are we pacifists or did we support the use of force against the
South?
2. If we aren't pacifists then isn't organized force better than
unorganized force? Force toward a set of goals?
3. And if we admit we want organized force in place, then why not admit
it's a dictatorship?
Before the Civil War and after, the idea of equal political rights for
Blacks was deemed an extreme idea indeed and northern states like New York
showed few supporters for the idea in ballot questions. Getting used to
the idea of a Black political role presupposed a violent upheaval, after
which people no longer visualize Blacks just as slaves. At the time though,
pacifists would have told us to oppose the Civil War. Likewise, there
were democrats with a small "d" who believed in the majority rule process as
it functioned – without Blacks or "rights" for anybody but white men.
Likewise today, the Committees of Correspondence (CoC), Solidarity and
DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) criticize us Marxists for
dictatorship and extreme ideas. They note the collapse of the Soviet
Union and conclude that further adaptation to bourgeois democracy is
necessary to become popular. They either don't care about the majority of the
world's population and true majority rule or they don't realize u.s.
imperialism's role. They use the word "democratic" as if there were some democracy in
existence to respect, thereby buying into the status quo. Those with a
more critical bent are attempting to change the meaning of "democracy" with
about as much chance as the libertarians have of changing the meaning
of "capitalist."
The "democratic left" knows it doesn't like CIA and Pentagon "policy,"
but it is not able to draw conclusions or it concludes it favors labor
aristocracy interests in alliance with imperialism--majority rule for
labor aristocrats. Since 1950, the United States government has used
force against several Third World governments elected by ordinary
bourgeois democratic elections including in Guatemala, the Dominican
Republic, Chile, Nicaragua and Angola. U.S. imperialism also overthrew
elected governments in Iran and the Congo. There is some democracy for
white people, but when it comes to the world's majority there is no
democracy, only outside interference. Uncle Sam is happy when you elect
his candidate, but if you don't, he kills your candidate as in the case
of Salvador Allende. No matter how polite or mushy your candidate is, if
Uncle Sam doesn't like your candidate, he stands next to you in the
polling booth and twists your arm till you say uncle.
So there is no democracy today, only a whitewash of imperialism. That's
why we at MIM today say that dictatorship of the proletariat over the
bourgeoisie and dictatorship of the oppressed nations over imperialism
is going to be 1000 times more democratic than what we call "democracy"
now. And communism will be 1,000,000 times more "democratic" to the
point where we will no longer use "democracy" as a reference point for
anything but confusion and chauvinism.
Pat for MIM
--- from list marxism@lists.village.virginia.edu ---