Reaction: Pro-war jingoism awakens, but so does 
disgust with Amerikan warmongers

September 19 -- The open manifestation of war 
inside u.$. borders, with all its horrors and 
sorrows, has called forth "the most turbulent 
feelings which disturb the usual somnolent state 
of mentality [of the masses]," as Lenin wrote at 
the beginning of World War I. This "wake up call" 
is fraught both with perils and opportunities for 
those of us who understand that the main culprits 
for these attacks and countless other atrocities 
are the Amerikan government and the imperialist 
system it defends.

Lenin broke the turbulent feelings caused by war 
into three main streams, which we also see today.

"1) Horror and despair. Hence, the growth of 
religion. Again the churches are being filled, 
joyfully declare the reactionaries. 'Wherever 
there is suffering there is religion,' says the 
arch-reactionary Barrès. And he is right." We see 
this in the innumerable candlelight vigils and 
appeals to set politics aside our of "humane 
considerations" (see article on page 7). We also 
see it in Reverend Falwell's statement that the 
World Trade Center attack was a result of Amerikan 
"godlessness" (see article on this page) and the 
fact that the most popular article e-mailed from 
yahoo.com over the last week has been "Did 
Nostradamus really predict New York Attack?"

"2) Hatred for the 'enemy,' a sentiment that is 
kindled by the bourgeoisie (not so much by the 
priests) and of economic and political value ITAL 
only to the bourgeoisie. END" We see this in the 
hundreds of hate crimes carried out against 
Muslims, Arabs, and south Asians carried out since 
the bombings. We see it in support for crackdowns 
on civil liberties, especially for non-citizens 
(see articles on page 3 and 7). We also see it 
calls like that from jingoists like Ann Coulter, 
who wants to bomb "anybody who smiled in response 
to the [World Trade Center attacks.]" "We should 
invade their countries, kill their leaders, and 
convert them to Christianity... We carpet-bombed 
German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. 
And this is war."

Hey Ann, maybe it's barbarous arrogance like that 
which got Amerikans into this jam in the first 
place?

"3) Hatred for ITAL one's own END government and 
ITAL one's own END bourgeoisie..." While the 
majority of Amerikans will not go from zero to 
sixty, politically speaking, in the space of a 
week, we can already see evidence that some have 
(that is the thrust of some of the letters printed 
on page 2 and an article on this page). Certainly 
as more and more Amerikans think more and more 
about the real causes and meaning of terrorism --
about the fact that Amerikan imperialism has 
created a situation where "any nut with a 
suitcase" can blow up a city and has no real 
solution to this problem, to say nothing of the 
literally millions Amerikans have already killed 
in the last 50 years -- they are bound to come to 
the conclusion that to really do away with 
terrorism and all war, we must do away with the 
imperialist system and strive for a society without 
class, nation, or gender oppression: Communism.

MIM and MIM-led mass organizations like RAIL, 
SLALA, and USW will strive to help people make 
that connection in the coming days, as part of our 
principal task: "Create public opinion and 
independent institutions of the oppressed to seize 
power."

Note:
V.I. Lenin, "Defeat of one's own government 
in the imperialist war," in: Selected Works, v. 5, 
New York: International Publishers, 1943, p. 147.