Tag: quest r

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.