From Workers World Party:
See you at the June 1 anti-war conference
By Deirdre Griswold
War is the ultimate resolution of the deep inner
contradictions that periodically throw the capitalist system
into economic crisis. Again and again in modern history, the
governments controlled by big business have roped in huge
numbers of workers and herded them into battle, invoking all
the old clichés of patriotism while using these young
lives and bodies to extract concessions from capitalist rivals
and surrender from subjugated nations.
How to resist the war drive has been of the utmost
importance to Marxists ever since World War I. In 1914 the
social democratic parties of Europe, which had been so
successful in organizing the workers that the socialists
commanded large blocs in the parliaments, saw their solidarity
shattered in a few days when war broke out.
With only a few courageous exceptions, these deputies, who
for years had declared in international congresses that they
would never support a capitalist war for the division of
spoils, caved in to the patriotic frenzy. The result was the
worst slaughter the continent had ever seen. Trench warfare was
so bloody that on just one day--July 1, 1916--in one battle at
the Somme River, British troops suffered over 57,000 casualties
when their officers ordered them to storm fortified German
positions defended by machine guns. A third of them died.
The trenches are gone now, replaced by weapons whose
horrendous possibilities were not envisioned even by the
science fiction writers of those days. But the capitalist
system of production for profit remains, and it is showing once
again the irrational compulsion to shore up profit margins
through military aggression, no matter the cost.
Workers World Party is looking forward to the June 1
national anti-war conference of the ANSWER--Act Now to Stop War
& End Racism--coalition for signs that the movement coming
together today in response to the Bush administration's
far-flung military plans has the staying power to resist and
eventually shut down what the generals predict will be an
open-ended conflict that could go on for years.
In 1962, just three years after the founding of the Party,
its youth arm organized the first demonstration in the United
States against the Vietnam War. Youth Against War & Fascism
soon became known around the country for its bright orange
banners and bold tactics. Unlike some of the other anti-war
groups of that time, YAWF supported a variety of forms of
resistance to the war: mass demonstrations, militant street
actions, refusing to be drafted, and organizing inside the
military. It worked in coalitions, and struggled to move those
coalitions to the left, counterpoising the demand for
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam to the weaker "Negotiate
now" slogan of the traditional peace groups.
The Vietnam War eventually stimulated not just a resistance
to military aggression but a broader social movement that
wanted to change U.S. society. This was particularly strong in
the Black, Latino and Native communities, which experienced
racism from the officers in Vietnam as well as inside the U.S.
itself.
YAWF saw building solidarity with the Black Panther Party,
the Young Lords and other revolutionary organizations of the
oppressed as central to the anti-war struggle. The heaviest
government oppression came down against these groups, just as
today the Bush administration is using extraordinary measures
against the Arab and Muslim communities as it focuses its war
drive on the oil-rich lands of the Middle East and Central
Asia.
The 1960s became so turbulent, and the Vietnamese were so
determined to fight for their independence at any cost, that
the ruling class of the U.S. split over what to do. Eventually,
it was forced to withdraw totally from Southeast Asia or face
widespread mutiny in the armed forces and at home.
Today a new generation of Workers World Party members is
engaged once again in anti-war work. They recognize that the
problem is not just a mistaken policy or a clique of
ultra-right politicians, but the much more deadly flaw of an
imperialist economic system driven by its own irrational
contradictions.
They have seen the U.S. political establishment--Republicans
and Democrats alike--launch missiles and bombs against Iraq,
Yugoslavia, Sudan and now Afghanistan. They have seen U.S.
tanks, helicopters, missiles and ammunition taken into battle
against the Palestinian people by Israeli occupation
forces.
And they have responded by working hard in a common effort
with others to build a strong, united, anti-imperialist
movement that can stay the hands of the war makers.
Reprinted from the May 30, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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