SOCIALIST SCHOLARS CONFERENCE
A battleground for and against the war
By John
Catalinotto
New York
An ideological battle--one that is an essential part of a
life-and-death worldwide class struggle over the war in the
Balkans--was reflected at the annual Socialist Scholars
Conference held at Borough of Manhattan Community College here
April 9-11.
The conference organizers--at least their top
leadership--were leading the charge into battle against
Yugoslavia. Those fighting against the bombing and the war had
to do so under organizational disadvantages. But they succeeded
in pulling together a strong meeting that answered the pro-war
arguments and set up networks for future anti-war actions.
In the days ahead this battle will be waged again and
again--both within the progressive movement, to win over
activists, and out on the streets to win over the working class
against the barrage of pro-war propaganda. It is a vital
struggle.
The Democratic Socialists of America organized the
conference. Since the U.S. ruling class is so rich and
powerful--and satisfied to let the Republicans and Democrats
run the government--it has not yet found it necessary to give
an important role to this or any other social-democratic
organization.
It's different in Western Europe, where the working class is
more politically conscious. There members of social-democratic
parties--groups that for the most part belong to the Second
International--often are elected to office, where they do no
more than manage society within a capitalist framework. Right
now, parties of this type have the reins of government in
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium.
Social democrats lead war drive
Instead of refusing to participate in the war, these
social-democratic governments have hitched their militaries
behind Pentagon leadership to attack a small country in the
Balkans.
Laborite Prime Minister Tony Blair in Britain sounds more
rabid than Clinton. Social Democrat Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder and his War Minister Rudolph Scharping would be
heading Germany's war charge except that Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer--a Green Party leader--yells even louder for
war. They can't wait to use German troops in the Balkans
again.
The ruling class can find it useful to have
social-democratic parties lead the country to war. The workers
usually have more confidence in these parties, while they are
more skeptical of the conservatives. These social-democratic
class betrayers are often more skilled at putting a
"humanitarian" cloak over what is at heart an outright
imperialist annexation of territory.
Warmongers Denich and Williams
While no one has handed the DSA the government here, its
leaders have nonetheless accepted the task of selling the war
to the left movement. At the conference, the top warmongers
were Bogdan Denich and Ian Williams. They have also made their
position clear in articles in the Nation magazine.
In brief, they are for using NATO troops to fight their way
into Kosovo and occupy it. Their argument echoes the
imperialist propaganda claiming that Yugoslavia's
leaders--especially Slobodan Milosevic--are so evil and what
they're doing in Kosovo is so bad that NATO intervention is
justified.
This is the same argument used by the social democrats in
office in Europe to justify sending imperialist British, French
and German units to bomb and perhaps to invade an oppressed
nation. It is also Clinton's argument.
In short, while it is short on truth and devoid of analysis,
it has the weight of the imperialist bourgeoisie and their
media behind it.
Compared with anti-war intellectuals like Harvard linguist
Noam Chomsky, Denich and Williams arouse little respect among
left activists. They did, however, have organizational
advantages. They participated in a panel where almost all
participants were anti-Yugoslav and pro-war, and they
discouraged discussion of the war in other conference
workshops.
A counter-workshop
Those who wanted to answer their arguments had to organize a
counter-workshop. When the assigned room could hold only 20
participants, they moved it to a spot in the hall facing
stadium seats. There 150 people gathered to discuss for over
two hours what was obviously the hottest topic of the day.
Activist Yugoslavs Barry Lituchy, Gregory Ilyich and Nadja
Tesich painted a completely different picture of Serbian and
Yugoslav history as they countered the media's present campaign
to demonize the Serbs.
Sara Flounders of the International Action Center called for
all anti-war forces to unite in action against this U.S. war
drive. She announced both the April 17 worldwide coordinated
demonstrations and a national action in Washington set for June
5.
In a lively discussion period, it appeared that most in the
audience opposed the bombing, whatever their evaluation of the
Yugoslav government. And many applauded the most militant calls
for strong anti-war actions.
More than one person pointed out how impossible it is to
think that intervention by NATO forces or the Pentagon--which
has carried out dozens of large-scale aggressive military
actions against smaller nations, and which oppresses Black and
Latino and other nationalities at home--could possibly help the
Kosovo Albanians or any other peoples.
This experience was repeated for those handing out hundreds
of anti-war leaflets and fact sheets the IAC prepared. In
addition, dozens of people bought the book "NATO in the
Balkans" by Ramsey Clark, Sara Flounders, Richard Becker, Nadja
Tesich and others. And hundreds picked up Workers World
newspaper. The struggle continues.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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