How to End the Colonial Occupation of Iraq
“As long as the bourgeoisie has at its command the banks, the factories, the land, the press, and the state apparatus, it will always be able to drive the people to war when its interests demand it.”
-Leon Trotsky
At present time the Colonial Occupation of Iraq has become unpopular within mainstream society in the United States. Poll after poll has given less favorable results to the Bush administration, marking an important shift from the initial “consensus” presented to us at the start of the terror bombing and invasion of this oil-rich country.
Let us not forget that from the beginning there was an agreement between the Democratic and Republican parties and both voted overwhelmingly to make possible the invasion of Iraq. They convinced many people that they would be received as “liberators”, and convinced themselves that they could plunder and massacre the Iraqi people without a fight. But now that the Iraqi resistance continues to grow and make further gains against the mercenary armies the capitalist parties try to cover their left flank to avoid the radicalization of society and vomit their nauseous “anti-war” rhetoric when they find the adequate forums. And the reformist self-styled “leftist” groups that organize pacifist marches and rallies are giving them the central stage, the necessary space to channel the understandable discontent and outrage against the state towards the electoral system. And so we find Jesse Jackson and other class and race traitors calling for “regime change”, i.e. “vote for the Democrats”, and chanting their oh-so-radical “Bring our troops home”. Well, those are not “our troops”, even if most of the people that are being used as cannon fodder by the capitalists and their corporations come from the working poor, or from minority groups because they are acting as the armed thugs of the imperialists, therefore their defeat is in the interest of the oppressed and the working class around the world. Every blow against the imperialist army is a blow against the capitalist class. How can we see them as “our troops” when they have caused almost 30,000 Iraqi civilian deaths since their invasion? While tens of thousands are held in concentration camps, and when those that have not been murder or incarcerated languish without a job? What is the mentality of these murderers? Lieutenant General James Mattis put it very clearly: “It is a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people”.
War is not just a “bad idea” that can be changed by voting for another capitalist politician. The Democrats have proven to be as murderous as the Republicans. Some reformists have pointed to the Green party when this organization has always said that U.S. troops should gradually leave while leaving the U.N. in Iraq to “keep order” i.e. supervise the plundering of the oil fields. But the U.N. solution is not the panacea of the Greens; arm chair revolutionaries and “radicals” like Noam Chomsky have also made such disgusting proposals that seem very reasonable to the moderates within the
bourgeoisie. But let us not disregard the fact that the U.N. is -as Lenin called its predecessor the League of Nations- “an imperialist den of thieves”; hypocritically representing their particular interests as if they were the general interest. Let us not forget that their sanctions on Iraq caused the slow death of 1.5 million civilians and that they thoroughly disarmed the country before the imperialist invasion.
Now that it is clear to all that this is, in Lenin’s words, “a predatory war of plunder”, you may ask, how can we stop the colonial occupation of Iraq? Should we hold our hands and chant peaceful hymns? Should we march a thousand times around the White House? The answer you already may suspect is no. We cannot call for peace while the capitalist class holds power and while they are armed to the teeth. At present time pacifism acts in the interests of the oppressors, as Leon Trotsky wrote: “The essence of pacifism is a condemnation, whether hypocritical or sincere, or the use of force in general. By weakening the willpower of the oppressed, it serves the cause of the oppressors.” We have to understand that the government at home is the enemy; it is not neutral but serves the interests of those that hold economic power. Parading around the capital will not cause the war to end, to think that the capitalist state can be pressured into acting against their own interests is very dangerous because it also serves to channel discontent towards the innocuous means that this same state desires. If we want real change we need to look towards the working class, the only class whose social power can cause the economy to stop, and whose interests are diametrically opposed to those of the capitalist class. Today a strike of dock workers in solidarity with the Iraqi working class can cause much more harm to the war plans than a thousand marches. If the workers refused to load up weapons or rations for the mercenary armies the government would be in deep trouble.
Our program should be one of class struggle to sweep away imperialism. War is inherent to the capitalist system of production and distribution which needs to plunder new lands, find cheap labor, and place surplus products in other nations in order to survive; therefore the only way to end the colonial occupation of Iraq and all future wars is through the destruction of capitalism, through the instrumentality of the revolutionary party of the working class, the only class that by their position in the means of production, their number and their form of organization has the possibility of creating an egalitarian Socialist society that could organize the economy in such a way as to finally serve the interests of human beings, and not only of the murderous parasites that now hold economic and political power.
“As long as the bourgeoisie has at its command the banks, the factories, the land, the press, and the state apparatus, it will always be able to drive the people to war when its interests demand it.”
-Leon Trotsky
At present time the Colonial Occupation of Iraq has become unpopular within mainstream society in the United States. Poll after poll has given less favorable results to the Bush administration, marking an important shift from the initial “consensus” presented to us at the start of the terror bombing and invasion of this oil-rich country.
Let us not forget that from the beginning there was an agreement between the Democratic and Republican parties and both voted overwhelmingly to make possible the invasion of Iraq. They convinced many people that they would be received as “liberators”, and convinced themselves that they could plunder and massacre the Iraqi people without a fight. But now that the Iraqi resistance continues to grow and make further gains against the mercenary armies the capitalist parties try to cover their left flank to avoid the radicalization of society and vomit their nauseous “anti-war” rhetoric when they find the adequate forums. And the reformist self-styled “leftist” groups that organize pacifist marches and rallies are giving them the central stage, the necessary space to channel the understandable discontent and outrage against the state towards the electoral system. And so we find Jesse Jackson and other class and race traitors calling for “regime change”, i.e. “vote for the Democrats”, and chanting their oh-so-radical “Bring our troops home”. Well, those are not “our troops”, even if most of the people that are being used as cannon fodder by the capitalists and their corporations come from the working poor, or from minority groups because they are acting as the armed thugs of the imperialists, therefore their defeat is in the interest of the oppressed and the working class around the world. Every blow against the imperialist army is a blow against the capitalist class. How can we see them as “our troops” when they have caused almost 30,000 Iraqi civilian deaths since their invasion? While tens of thousands are held in concentration camps, and when those that have not been murder or incarcerated languish without a job? What is the mentality of these murderers? Lieutenant General James Mattis put it very clearly: “It is a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people”.
War is not just a “bad idea” that can be changed by voting for another capitalist politician. The Democrats have proven to be as murderous as the Republicans. Some reformists have pointed to the Green party when this organization has always said that U.S. troops should gradually leave while leaving the U.N. in Iraq to “keep order” i.e. supervise the plundering of the oil fields. But the U.N. solution is not the panacea of the Greens; arm chair revolutionaries and “radicals” like Noam Chomsky have also made such disgusting proposals that seem very reasonable to the moderates within the
bourgeoisie. But let us not disregard the fact that the U.N. is -as Lenin called its predecessor the League of Nations- “an imperialist den of thieves”; hypocritically representing their particular interests as if they were the general interest. Let us not forget that their sanctions on Iraq caused the slow death of 1.5 million civilians and that they thoroughly disarmed the country before the imperialist invasion.
Now that it is clear to all that this is, in Lenin’s words, “a predatory war of plunder”, you may ask, how can we stop the colonial occupation of Iraq? Should we hold our hands and chant peaceful hymns? Should we march a thousand times around the White House? The answer you already may suspect is no. We cannot call for peace while the capitalist class holds power and while they are armed to the teeth. At present time pacifism acts in the interests of the oppressors, as Leon Trotsky wrote: “The essence of pacifism is a condemnation, whether hypocritical or sincere, or the use of force in general. By weakening the willpower of the oppressed, it serves the cause of the oppressors.” We have to understand that the government at home is the enemy; it is not neutral but serves the interests of those that hold economic power. Parading around the capital will not cause the war to end, to think that the capitalist state can be pressured into acting against their own interests is very dangerous because it also serves to channel discontent towards the innocuous means that this same state desires. If we want real change we need to look towards the working class, the only class whose social power can cause the economy to stop, and whose interests are diametrically opposed to those of the capitalist class. Today a strike of dock workers in solidarity with the Iraqi working class can cause much more harm to the war plans than a thousand marches. If the workers refused to load up weapons or rations for the mercenary armies the government would be in deep trouble.
Our program should be one of class struggle to sweep away imperialism. War is inherent to the capitalist system of production and distribution which needs to plunder new lands, find cheap labor, and place surplus products in other nations in order to survive; therefore the only way to end the colonial occupation of Iraq and all future wars is through the destruction of capitalism, through the instrumentality of the revolutionary party of the working class, the only class that by their position in the means of production, their number and their form of organization has the possibility of creating an egalitarian Socialist society that could organize the economy in such a way as to finally serve the interests of human beings, and not only of the murderous parasites that now hold economic and political power.
