Socialist Fight Issue No. 9 Summer 2012 Price: Concessions: 50p, Waged: £2.00, €3.00 Greece: Trotskyist class politics not anti-austerity Popular Frontism Contents Page 2: Editorial: Greece: Trotskyist class politics not anti- austerity Popular Frontism. Page 3: GRL Motion of Support to Construction R+F. Page 4: Diversion: Stuff the £500 Olympics bonus; Where We Stand – Socialist Fight EB. Page 5: Motion to the GRL NC on 12 May on the Labour party and Labour Representation Committee. Page 6: Leitrim woman is honoured by NICRA co-founder as the ‘prisoners’ friend’ IRPSG report. Page 7: Support Republican Prisoners - Join the Protests! Page 8: The framing of Michael McKevitt - Part two By Mi- chael Holden. Page 9: Fascists attack Irish March By Charlie Walsh. Page 10: Today, 14 May, is Thaer Halahleh's 77th day on The Libyan ‘revolution’, “... Lenin warned against pre- hunger strike. maturely confronting respected native institutions, Page 11: May Day Greetings from the LCFI to the Interna- tional Working Class. even when these clearly violated communist princi- Page 12: The Malvinas: the imperialist offensive in the ples and Soviet law. Instead he proposed to use the South Atlantic By the LCFI. Soviet state power to systematically undermine them Page 14: Cultural Imperialism; Ireland, Workers Power and while simultaneously demonstrating the superiority the Sparts By Gerry Downing. of Soviet institutions, a policy which had worked well Page 17: David North’s SEP; a backward, workerist/ against the powerful Russian Orthodox Church.” reductionalist political current By Tony Fox. Dale Ross (D. L. Reissner), ‘Women and Revolution', ‘Early Bolshevik Work Page 19: Tariq Mehanna’s powerful sentencing statement among Women of the Soviet East’ (Issue No. 12 Summer 1976). Page 21: Letters page; French elections. “... the connection between imperial politics and cul- Page 22: Bolshevism vs. SWP: To lead the working class or ture is astonishingly direct. American attitudes to follow the TU bureaucracy By Ret Marut Page 24: Mumia’s Death Sentence officially dropped By American “greatness”, to hierarchies of race, to the Ailish Dease, The Angola 3. perils of “other” revolutions (the American revolution Page 25: The Greek Elections By Savas Michael-Matsas, being considered unique and somehow unrepeatable Comment on this By Socialist Fight. anywhere else in the world) have remained constant, Page 26: Free Salameh Kaileh and all socialist militants. have dictated, have obscured, the realities of empire, Page 27: Burma: Imperialism’s plaything By Ailish Dease. while apologists for overseas American interests Page 29: The Imperialist infantilisation of Afghan, Asian and have insisted on American innocence, doing good, African women. fighting for freedom.” Page 31: Obituaries, Dave Spencer, Gerry Foley, Ron Spurway. Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, speech at York University, Toronto, Page 32: How Des Warren, and only Des Warren, wrote The February 10, 1993. key to my cell By Chris Corrigan. Socialist Fight is produced by the SF Editorial Board. Signed articles do not necessarily Contact: PO Box 59188, London, NW2 9LJ, [email protected] represent the views of the SF EB. ,đoàn kết là sức mạnh, Jedność jest siła اتحاد قدرت است ., ,Unity is strength, L'union fait la force, Es la unidad fuerza, Η ενότητα είναι δύναμη ykseys on kesto, યુનિટિ થ્રૂ .િા , Midnimo iyo waa awood, hundeb ydy chryfder, Einheit ist Stärke, एकता शक्ति, है единстве наша сила, vienybės jėga, الوحدة هو ,unità è la resistenza, 団結は力だ “ , A unidade é a força, eining er styrkur, De eenheid is de sterkte ,אחדות היא כוח ,bashkimi ben fuqine !Ní neart go chur le céile, pagkakaisa ay kalakasan, jednota is síla, 일성은 이다 힘 힘, Workers of the World Unite ,القوة Socialist Fight Page 2 Greece: Trotskyist class politics not anti-austerity Popular Frontism masks powerful Greek nationalist sentiments in that PASOK leaders via the PASKE federation and Editorial SYRIZA as in the Communist KKE. The contrast in their own right will not lead the Greek working he election results from Britain (3 May), between SYRIZA and the Bolshevik-type party of class in revolution. France, Greece and Germany this sum- Lenin could not be greater. The other TU federation which has to be taken mer, shows a generalised collapse in “The world political situation as a whole is chiefly very seriously is ESAK/PAME, the TU federation support for the direct parties of the ruling characterized by a historical crisis of the leadership linked to the KKE. To hide their defence of the Tclass and a swing to the left in the working class of the proletariat”, is Trotsky’s opening sentence capitalist system (they “don’t support the idea of and oppressed - where they chose to vote at all. of the Transitional programme of 1938 and it still world revolution like ‘Trotsky, Pablo, Castoriadis or But there is no real progress in the central ques- applies with all its force today. In Greece the prob- Marcuse’!”) they adopt an ultra leftist Third Period tion of the hour, that of the revolutionary leader- lem is the existing leadership of the working class Stalinism, denouncing all other leftists and refusing ship of the working class to seriously address the and the role they play in defence of capitalism. We to participating in joint demonstrations and strikes economic crisis of capitalism and forwards to the must put forward a United Front policy of inter- with the PASKE. This has resulted in internal fric- political wresting of power. In Britain the swing to vening in the divisions that is opening up between tions and expulsions, particularly amongst its the Labour party was significant in recent local the ranks and the leaders of the main trade union student leaders where their vote has also fallen. In government elections (Boris Johnson’s mayoral federations and their political representatives in the general election they increased their vote by election in London aside). Labour now has a 39% parliament. It is by tackling this crisis that we can only 0.9% to 8.48%. They had previously attacked to 31% lead over the Tories in the polls. In Ger- forge the revolutionary leadership that is needed. the PASKE from the right, as in the five day school many the results from Schleswig-Holstein and As Trotsky said at the end of the first section of the teachers’ strikes in 2006, and were widely viewed North Rhine-Westphalia are a significant setback TP, “The turn is now to the proletariat, i.e., chiefly then as strike-breakers. Their obvious insincere for Merkel’s conservative CDU party. The SPD has to its revolutionary vanguard. The historical crisis leftism has failed to win the masses. Nevertheless significantly increased its vote and the vote of the of mankind is reduced to the crisis of the revolu- they have a powerful implantation in the trade Free Democrats (Merkel’s partners in federal gov- tionary leadership.” unions, particularly the urban industrial workers. ernment) has collapsed as has that of Die Linke. In Greece this means examining how we can ex- So has their youth movement, the Communist In France and Britain we must insist that imperial- pose, defeat and replace with more militant and Youth of Greece (KNE). Here the United Front ist wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya with interven- revolutionary fighters the leadership of PASKE, the tactic is necessary, fighting to build a rank and file tionist Imperialist wars looming against Syria and labour movement faction linked to PASOK, ESAK/ movement in the union and exploring whether Iran (and Britain’s posturing in the south Atlantic) PAME linked to the KKE (the Communist party) and entry is possible (and safe) in the KNE. do affect political outlooks and voting. Crucially Autonomous Intervention, linked to the SYN, the DIMAR, a rightward split from SYRIZA, of euro- support for these adventures ties the far left leading force in SYRIZA. The latter was in second communist origins, gained 6.11%. The fascist groups to the trade union bureaucracies and place with 16.7% per cent up from 4.6% per cent in Golden Dawn got a dangerous 6.9% showing the thereby to their own Imperialist bourgeoisies. So 2009. Trotskyist class politics and NOT simply anti- sharp class polarisation in Greece. social patriotism has shown most of the far left austerity Popular Frontism - is at a premium now. The Front of the Greek Anticapitalist Left, Antar- groups to be rotten at the core, as WWI exposed Every serious contestant in this class struggle sya, comprises ten far left groups. It contains or- the German SPD through to the British Labour knows this. For example Tassos Anastassiadis, ganisations from ex-Communist Party (KKE) to Party - and their apologists. Andreas Sartzekis, of OKDE-Spartakos, Greek sec- Maoism and Trotskyism. The Workers Revolution- The electoral radical reformist New Anti Capitalist tion of the FI in the Antarsya alliance, recently ary party (EEK) is not a member. What then of the party (NPA) in France has gone the same way as wrote: “... indeed, whereas the leaderships of GSEE prospects for revolutionary leadership in Greece? the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in (the confederation of private sector workers) and Workers Power Dave Stockton correctly attacks Britain and Die Linke in Germany. The voters do ADEDY (the federation of public sector workers), in Antarsya’s programme thus: not see them as any type of potential opponents both of which PASOK is in the majority, have every “Antarsya’s programme was a terrible muddle. It to capitalism itself. It was the posturing of Mélen- reason not to mobilize against “their” government, did not even address the fact that the reformist chon who rallied the radical French voters by di- they had no choice but to give in to the pressure parties – SYRIZA, KKE, and DIMAR – plus the trade rectly opposing the worst aspects of the capitalist exerted since December by the trade-union left.” unions, represent the overwhelming mass of the crisis and the Front National of Marine Le Pen.