Severian
28th August 2006, 06:21
With any political question, it can be useful to go back and see what communists historically have said and done about it. They often faced some of the same problems, and "those who will not learn from history" can easily end up repeating past mistakes.
Besides, on this board there have been some false statements about what these historic positions have been. So I'd like to straighten that out.
I'm going to look at a time when communists were breaking from the social-democratic tradition of the Second International which "only recognized the white race", and which, while sometimes verbally opposing colonialism, certainly did not join colonial peoples in fighting against it.
Really, the widespread commitment on the "left" to "anti-imperialism" all goes back to the early Communist International. Yes, even you rabid anti-Leninists, that's where your "anti-imperialism" originally came from. But many people have forgotten the original reasons for it; it's become an end in itself.
The early Communist International clearly explained that support to anti-imperialist movements was a means to an end. That end is the alliance of working people in different countries, increased class-consciousness and moving closer to the overthrow of all exploiters. Anti-imperialist movements should only be supported - if it advances those goals.
It's worth reading all these documents in full, but knowing that not everyone will do so, I'm pulling out a few highlights. It should be kept in mind these were written at a time when there were few wage-workers in the countries subject to imperialist domination.
The Second Congress of the Communist International adopted Theses on the National and Colonial Question (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/2nd-congress/ch05.htm#v1-p177) which laid out some conditions for support to anti-imperialist movements:
a) All Communist Parties must support the revolutionary liberation movements in these countries by their deeds. The form the support should take must be discussed with the Communist Party of the country in question, should such a party exist.
b) An unconditional struggle must be carried out against the reactionary and medieval influence of the clergy, the Christian missions and similar elements.
c) A struggle is necessary against Panislamism, the Panasiatic movement and similar currents which try to tie the liberation struggle against European and American imperialism to the strengthening of the power of Turkish and Japanese imperialism, the nobility, the big landlords, the clergy, etc.
......
e) A determined fight is necessary against the attempt to put a communist cloak around revolutionary liberation movements that are not really communist in the backward countries. The Communist International has the duty to support the revolutionary movement in the colonies only for the purpose of gathering the components of the future proletarian parties – communist in fact and not just in name in all the backward countries and training them to be conscious of their special tasks, the special tasks, that is to say, of fighting against the bourgeois-democratic tendencies within their own nation.
Also Supplementary Theses on the National and Colonial Question (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/2nd-congress/ch04.htm#v1-p115) - drafted by an Indian communist, M.N. Roy.
7. Two movements can be discerned which are growing further and further apart with every day that passes. One of them is the bourgeois-democratic nationalist movement, which pursues the programme of political liberation with the conservation of the capitalist order; the other is the struggle of the propertyless peasants for their liberation from every kind of exploitation. The first movement attempts, often with success, to control the second; the Communist International must however fight against any such control, and the development of the class consciousness of the working masses of the colonies must consequently be directed towards the overthrow of foreign capitalism. The most important and necessary task however is the creation of Communist organisations of peasants and workers in order to lead them to the revolution and the setting up of the Soviet Republic. In this way the masses of the people in the backward countries will be brought to communism not by capitalist development but by the development of class consciousness under the leadership of the proletariat of the advanced countries.
8. The real strength, the foundation of the liberation movement, will not allow itself to be forced into the narrow framework of bourgeois-democratic nationalism in the colonies. In the greater part of the colonies there already exist organised revolutionary parties which work in close contact with the working masses. The Communist International must make contact with the revolutionary movement in the colonies through the mediation of these parties and groups, for they are the vanguard of the working class. At present they are not numerous, but they express the will of the working class and lead the revolution behind them. The Communist Parties of the various imperialist countries must work in the closest contact with the proletarian parties of the proletarian countries and through them support the revolutionary movement in general both materially and morally.
9. In the first period the revolution in the colonies will not be communist; if however from the very start the communist vanguard emerges at its head the revolutionary masses will be brought on to the correct path along which, through the gradual gathering of revolutionary experience, they will reach the hidden goal. It would be a mistake to try to solve the agrarian question straight away according to purely communist principles. In the first stage of its development the revolution in the colonies must be carried out according to the programme of purely petty-bourgeois demands, such as distribution of the land and so on. But from this it must not be concluded that the leadership in the colonies can be allowed to fall into the hands of the bourgeois democrats. On the contrary, the proletarian parties must carry out an intensive propaganda of communist ideas and found workers’ and peasants’ councils at the first opportunity. These councils must work in the same way as the Soviet Republics in the advanced capitalist countries in order to bring about the final overthrow of the capitalist order throughout the whole world.
Lenin's speech on these theses (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jul/x03.htm#fw3):
There has been a certain rapprochement between the bourgeoisie of the exploiting countries and that of the colonies, so that very often—perhaps even in most cases—the bourgeoisie of the oppressed countries, while it does support the national movement, is in full accord with the imperialist bourgeoisie, i.e., joins forces with it against all revolutionary movements and revolutionary classes. This was irrefutably proved in the commission, and we decided that the only correct attitude was to take this distinction into account and, in nearly all cases, substitute the term “national-revolutionary” for the term “bourgeois-democratic”. The significance of this change is that we, as Communists, should and will support bourgeois-liberation movements in the colonies only when they are genuinely revolutionary, and when their exponents do not hinder our work of educating and organising in a revolutionary spirit the peasantry and the masses of the exploited. If these conditions do not exist, the Communists in these countries must combat the reformist bourgeoisie, to whom the heroes of the Second International also belong.
A few months later, the Communist International sponsored a Congress of the Peoples of the East, at Baku in Soviet Azerbaijan. Thousands of delegates from the majority-Muslim peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia adopted a call for a "holy war" against British imperialism "under the red banner of the Communist International."
From the opening speech of the Congress, by Zinoviev (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/baku/ch01.htm)
The most powerful blow, at the very heart, has to be dealt against British capitalism. That is true. But at the same time we must educate the working masses of the East to hate and to want to fight against the rich in general — Russian, Jewish, German, French. The great importance of the revolution that is beginning in the East lies not in requesting the British imperialist gentlemen to take their feet off the table, and then permitting the Turkish rich to put their feet on the table with the utmost convenience. No, we want to ask all the rich, ever so politely, to take their dirty feet off the table, so that there may reign among us not luxury, not charlatanry, not mockery of the people, and not idleness, but that the world may be ruled by. the working man with toil-hardened hands. [Tumultuous applause.]
Accordingly, we say, directly and definitely to the non-Party delegates here: Pan-Islamism, Musavatism, all these trends are not ours.
We have a different policy. We can support a democratic policy such as has now taken shape in Turkey and such as will perhaps tomorrow make its appearance in other countries. We support and will support national movements like those in Turkey, Persia, India and China not out of any mercenary calculation but because the conscious worker will say to himself: the Turks who have today not yet understood where all their interests lie will understand this tomorrow. We must support this Turk and help him, and wait for a real people’s revolution to arise in Turkey, when veneration for Sultans and other survivals will all at once depart from his mind. I must, as the elder brother, hasten this movement, says the advanced worker. I will support the present national-democratic movement of the Turks, says the Communist worker, and at the same time I consider it my sacred duty to call upon the Turkish peasants, the Persian peasants, and downtrodden, oppressed working peasants of the entire East, to hate all the rich, all the oppressors, to teach them the simple truth that we need real economic equality between all men and real brotherly unity between all who live by their labour.
The Baku Congress also adopted theses on Soviet power in the East (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/baku/ch06.htm#theses1), on the agrarian question (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/baku/ch06.htm#theses2), indicating the centrality of these points, in the International's view, to the revolutionary movement in the East.
Besides, on this board there have been some false statements about what these historic positions have been. So I'd like to straighten that out.
I'm going to look at a time when communists were breaking from the social-democratic tradition of the Second International which "only recognized the white race", and which, while sometimes verbally opposing colonialism, certainly did not join colonial peoples in fighting against it.
Really, the widespread commitment on the "left" to "anti-imperialism" all goes back to the early Communist International. Yes, even you rabid anti-Leninists, that's where your "anti-imperialism" originally came from. But many people have forgotten the original reasons for it; it's become an end in itself.
The early Communist International clearly explained that support to anti-imperialist movements was a means to an end. That end is the alliance of working people in different countries, increased class-consciousness and moving closer to the overthrow of all exploiters. Anti-imperialist movements should only be supported - if it advances those goals.
It's worth reading all these documents in full, but knowing that not everyone will do so, I'm pulling out a few highlights. It should be kept in mind these were written at a time when there were few wage-workers in the countries subject to imperialist domination.
The Second Congress of the Communist International adopted Theses on the National and Colonial Question (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/2nd-congress/ch05.htm#v1-p177) which laid out some conditions for support to anti-imperialist movements:
a) All Communist Parties must support the revolutionary liberation movements in these countries by their deeds. The form the support should take must be discussed with the Communist Party of the country in question, should such a party exist.
b) An unconditional struggle must be carried out against the reactionary and medieval influence of the clergy, the Christian missions and similar elements.
c) A struggle is necessary against Panislamism, the Panasiatic movement and similar currents which try to tie the liberation struggle against European and American imperialism to the strengthening of the power of Turkish and Japanese imperialism, the nobility, the big landlords, the clergy, etc.
......
e) A determined fight is necessary against the attempt to put a communist cloak around revolutionary liberation movements that are not really communist in the backward countries. The Communist International has the duty to support the revolutionary movement in the colonies only for the purpose of gathering the components of the future proletarian parties – communist in fact and not just in name in all the backward countries and training them to be conscious of their special tasks, the special tasks, that is to say, of fighting against the bourgeois-democratic tendencies within their own nation.
Also Supplementary Theses on the National and Colonial Question (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/2nd-congress/ch04.htm#v1-p115) - drafted by an Indian communist, M.N. Roy.
7. Two movements can be discerned which are growing further and further apart with every day that passes. One of them is the bourgeois-democratic nationalist movement, which pursues the programme of political liberation with the conservation of the capitalist order; the other is the struggle of the propertyless peasants for their liberation from every kind of exploitation. The first movement attempts, often with success, to control the second; the Communist International must however fight against any such control, and the development of the class consciousness of the working masses of the colonies must consequently be directed towards the overthrow of foreign capitalism. The most important and necessary task however is the creation of Communist organisations of peasants and workers in order to lead them to the revolution and the setting up of the Soviet Republic. In this way the masses of the people in the backward countries will be brought to communism not by capitalist development but by the development of class consciousness under the leadership of the proletariat of the advanced countries.
8. The real strength, the foundation of the liberation movement, will not allow itself to be forced into the narrow framework of bourgeois-democratic nationalism in the colonies. In the greater part of the colonies there already exist organised revolutionary parties which work in close contact with the working masses. The Communist International must make contact with the revolutionary movement in the colonies through the mediation of these parties and groups, for they are the vanguard of the working class. At present they are not numerous, but they express the will of the working class and lead the revolution behind them. The Communist Parties of the various imperialist countries must work in the closest contact with the proletarian parties of the proletarian countries and through them support the revolutionary movement in general both materially and morally.
9. In the first period the revolution in the colonies will not be communist; if however from the very start the communist vanguard emerges at its head the revolutionary masses will be brought on to the correct path along which, through the gradual gathering of revolutionary experience, they will reach the hidden goal. It would be a mistake to try to solve the agrarian question straight away according to purely communist principles. In the first stage of its development the revolution in the colonies must be carried out according to the programme of purely petty-bourgeois demands, such as distribution of the land and so on. But from this it must not be concluded that the leadership in the colonies can be allowed to fall into the hands of the bourgeois democrats. On the contrary, the proletarian parties must carry out an intensive propaganda of communist ideas and found workers’ and peasants’ councils at the first opportunity. These councils must work in the same way as the Soviet Republics in the advanced capitalist countries in order to bring about the final overthrow of the capitalist order throughout the whole world.
Lenin's speech on these theses (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jul/x03.htm#fw3):
There has been a certain rapprochement between the bourgeoisie of the exploiting countries and that of the colonies, so that very often—perhaps even in most cases—the bourgeoisie of the oppressed countries, while it does support the national movement, is in full accord with the imperialist bourgeoisie, i.e., joins forces with it against all revolutionary movements and revolutionary classes. This was irrefutably proved in the commission, and we decided that the only correct attitude was to take this distinction into account and, in nearly all cases, substitute the term “national-revolutionary” for the term “bourgeois-democratic”. The significance of this change is that we, as Communists, should and will support bourgeois-liberation movements in the colonies only when they are genuinely revolutionary, and when their exponents do not hinder our work of educating and organising in a revolutionary spirit the peasantry and the masses of the exploited. If these conditions do not exist, the Communists in these countries must combat the reformist bourgeoisie, to whom the heroes of the Second International also belong.
A few months later, the Communist International sponsored a Congress of the Peoples of the East, at Baku in Soviet Azerbaijan. Thousands of delegates from the majority-Muslim peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia adopted a call for a "holy war" against British imperialism "under the red banner of the Communist International."
From the opening speech of the Congress, by Zinoviev (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/baku/ch01.htm)
The most powerful blow, at the very heart, has to be dealt against British capitalism. That is true. But at the same time we must educate the working masses of the East to hate and to want to fight against the rich in general — Russian, Jewish, German, French. The great importance of the revolution that is beginning in the East lies not in requesting the British imperialist gentlemen to take their feet off the table, and then permitting the Turkish rich to put their feet on the table with the utmost convenience. No, we want to ask all the rich, ever so politely, to take their dirty feet off the table, so that there may reign among us not luxury, not charlatanry, not mockery of the people, and not idleness, but that the world may be ruled by. the working man with toil-hardened hands. [Tumultuous applause.]
Accordingly, we say, directly and definitely to the non-Party delegates here: Pan-Islamism, Musavatism, all these trends are not ours.
We have a different policy. We can support a democratic policy such as has now taken shape in Turkey and such as will perhaps tomorrow make its appearance in other countries. We support and will support national movements like those in Turkey, Persia, India and China not out of any mercenary calculation but because the conscious worker will say to himself: the Turks who have today not yet understood where all their interests lie will understand this tomorrow. We must support this Turk and help him, and wait for a real people’s revolution to arise in Turkey, when veneration for Sultans and other survivals will all at once depart from his mind. I must, as the elder brother, hasten this movement, says the advanced worker. I will support the present national-democratic movement of the Turks, says the Communist worker, and at the same time I consider it my sacred duty to call upon the Turkish peasants, the Persian peasants, and downtrodden, oppressed working peasants of the entire East, to hate all the rich, all the oppressors, to teach them the simple truth that we need real economic equality between all men and real brotherly unity between all who live by their labour.
The Baku Congress also adopted theses on Soviet power in the East (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/baku/ch06.htm#theses1), on the agrarian question (http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/baku/ch06.htm#theses2), indicating the centrality of these points, in the International's view, to the revolutionary movement in the East.