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Book Review: “Turn the Guns Around: Mutinies, Soldier Revolts, and Revolutions” by John Catalinotto


By Gregory William

World View Forum has published a new book by John Catalinotto, a long-time anti-war activist and working class revolutionary. In the late 60s and early 70s, Catalinotto was an organizer of the American Servicemen’s Union, or ASU.

The ASU was an important organization in the struggle against the U.S. imperialist war in Vietnam. The union brought together rank and file soldiers on the basis of class, helping to intensify mass resistance to the military brass who were carrying out the directives of U.S. capitalists—the capitalists being the enemy of both the U.S. soldiers and the Vietnamese people.

Catalinotto brings together excerpts from period documents (many letters from G.I.s stationed in Vietnam and around the world, sent to ASU headquarters) with his newer analysis of these events. The book can be read as an exciting panorama of the 60s and 70s, told from the heart of the anti-war movement. It also details how this resistance did not develop in isolation, but rather in conjunction with the Black Power, Chicano, women’s, and other movements of the time.

Additionally, Catalinotto analyzes many other revolutionary situations in their military aspect, for example the Paris Commune, which in 1871, was the rst instance of modern working class revolution. They were successful (however briefly) because, at a pivotal moment, soldiers broke the chain of command and refused to fire on the armed workers—hence the title of the book, “Turn the Guns Around.” This was the case in the Russian revolution. He also demonstrates that the rebellion in the military even facilitated the U.S. defeat in Vietnam.
Countless soldiers deserted or went AWOL, the highest rates in modern history. And from 1969-1972, there were 900 documented incidents of U.S. troops killing their officers or sergeants.

The author has an overarching argument that he builds up with all these examples. He agrees with Karl Marx who concluded that workers must carry out armed resistance in order to break the power of the capitalist (or bourgeois) state; otherwise any resistance will be smashed by the capitalists who control repressive institutions such as the police. And in one revolutionary episode after another, rebelling soldiers, breaking the chain of command and joining workers in revolt, have played a decisive role.

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Celebrate Black August! Free all political prisoners!

By Malcolm Suber

August has been the month when the Black resistance to national oppression has been expressed most sharply going back to the days of enslavement.

August 2017 marks the 50-year anniversary of the widespread Black rebellions against racist national oppression in the USA. The Black masses came out into the streets of America to challenge state enforced segregation, poverty and police terror. Detroit, Newark and more than 180 cities and towns went up in flames representing the fire in the belly of the black masses for freedom and liberation. Unfortunately, conditions for the Black masses have not fundamentally changed since the 1960s. Poverty and police terror are still rampant.

The response of the US state to these righteous Black rebellions was the creation of the FBI’s COINTELPRO whose aim was to destroy the Black revolutionary leadership by murdering many leaders such as Fred Hampton and jailing many others. The ruling class feared that the Black rebellion would spread and allies would join the liberation struggle to overthrow the racist capitalist government. There are still dozens of political prisoners in the United States, many of whom have been incarcerated for more than 40 or 50 years. They have become elders inside prison- Black, Puerto Rican, Native, Chicano/Latino and white revolutionaries who have dedicated their lives to the freedom struggle.

The New Orleans Workers Group supports the commemoration of Black August as a time to recognize the life, work and struggles of these revolutionary fighters who have been held as political prisoners. The NOWG is composed of workers and the oppressed that consciously call for and organize toward ending the rule of the billionaire capitalist class. We see ourselves as part of the revolutionary heritage of resistance that harks back to the founding of this racist settler country. From the resistance of indigenous tribes against the settler-colonialists to the first flight to freedom by the enslaved African captives, there have been outstanding leaders and organizers who have fought for the freedom and liberation of the oppressed.

In 1979, revolutionary captives in the California prisons began to call on revolutionary supporters to commemorate Black August to focus on the fact that the US capitalist state had many political prisoners in its gulags. They called on supporters to begin the necessary work of exposing the capitalist state and working to free our heroes and sheroes from imprisonment.

Black August, as noted by one of our most famous political prisoners, Mumia Abu-Jamal, is “a month of divine meaning, of repression and radical resistance; of repression and righteous rebellion; and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us”.
The triggering event for contemporary Black August can be found in the actions of Jonathan Jackson who was gunned down at the Marin County courthouse on August 7, 1970 as he attempted to liberate three imprisoned Black liberation fighters: James McClain, William Christmas, and Ruchell Magee (still imprisoned), the sole survivor of the August 7th rebellion.

George Jackson was assassinated on August 21, 1971, a deliberate move by the US state to eliminate his revolutionary leadership. Three prison guards were killed in the rebellion sparked by George’s assassination. The government charged six Black and Latino prisoners with the guards’ deaths. These six brothers became known as the San Quentin six and were later acquitted of all charges.

Black August is a time for revolutionaries to rededicate themselves to struggle and to study the revolutionary history of the Black Liberation Movement. A brief listing of Black struggles in August include:

• The arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, VA in August 1719

• The start of the Haitian revolution in August, 1791

• Gabriel’s rebellion of August 30, 1800 • Nat Turner’s rebellion August 21, 1831

• The Watts Rebellion of August 1965

• The Detroit rebellion August 1967

• The RNA 11 shootout with the FBI in Jackson, MS on August 18, 1971

• The bombing of MOVE by Philadelphia police August 8, 1978

Long live the spirit of Black August! Free all our political prisoners!

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Socialists Must Fight Imperialism!

by Quest R.

Socialism is the weapon that workers and oppressed people in every corner of the globe use to resist the constant abuse that capitalists and imperialists have inflicted. It has a rich history with both victories and defeats. Today, billions of people consider themselves part of this tradition, and they struggle under the banner of socialism. It is the responsibility of all who fight under this banner to study its history, the lessons that have been learned through bitter struggle.

Socialists have had to learn many lessons about nationalism and Internationalism. Through all this, the movement has suffered many splits, with some refusing to take up a revolutionary position. These people took the easy, “respectable” way out to appear non-threatening to the ruling class. The modern “democratic socialists” operate in this counter-revolutionary manner.

Long ago the revolutionary movement established two basic principles that lay the groundwork for consistent anti-imperialism.

First, is the right of oppressed nations to self-determination, which affirms the progressive role of nationalism in the countries dominated by imperialism. One reason for this is that the workers in imperialist countries like the U.S. and the people of oppressed countries, for example Venezuela, share a common enemy: the imperialist ruling class in the U.S.

And second, is the counter-revolutionary nature of nationalism in imperialist countries. Revolutionaries in imperialist countries realize that when their ruling class is in a conflict (whether military, political, or economic), it is good for the workers everywhere when imperialists are defeated or weakened. To be a nationalist in an imperialist country is both a betrayal to the people of oppressed nation and the workers in the imperialist country. The downfall of imperialism requires that we identify with the workers of the world instead of some imperialist flag, which represents the system that terrorizes both us and the people of the world.

On both these points, the “democratic socialists” reject the revolutionary outlook and side with imperialism. They consistently side with the imperialists in military conflicts. From Vietnam, to Iraq, to occupied Palestine, and the whole Cold War, the “democratic socialists” have encouraged workers to accept the U.S. government’s narrative. Time after time they’ve proved themselves unwilling to take the hard road: organizing people against the imperialist war machine and its media spokespeople. They deny the legitimacy of the oppressed people’s continuous fight to ward off imperialism. They refuse to lend support to almost any movement or government that bumps heads with the U.S., even though weakening the U.S. establishment strengthens our movements. When the movements and governments of the third world have the courage to strike blows against U.S. imperialism, then they are, in a sense, doing our own work for us. We should strive to be as fearless and self-sacrificing as the revolutionaries who have stood up to our government. But the “democratic socialists” will always encourage you to play by the rules of the establishment. If allowed, they will only lead our movements for liberation into a dead end: defeat and cooperation with the enemy. The only politics relevant to working and oppressed people, the only politics that stand a chance of winning real victory for the exploited here and the super-exploited abroad, is revolutionary politics. Without liberation for oppressed nations around the world, U.S. workers will never have a society that works in our interests.