Arguments for ground war - forget it

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>>A socialist revolution is a political project of self-emancipation 
>>of the proletariat -- whether you succeed or fail, it's undeniably 
>>your own project.  In contrast, to argue for "a massive 
>>reconstruction and development program," as things stand now, is to 
>>pray for the ruling class's sense of mercy, generosity, noblesse 
>>oblige, civilizing mission, or something like that.
>
>They've got the money and the organizational resources to do it. If 
>there were sufficient popular pressure coming from the US and the 
>rest of the world it's conceivable it could happen - not out of 
>noblesse oblige, but because the ruling class has been forced to. 
>And if the demand were met - a very big subjunctive, I know - it 
>would be a political gain for the forces that made the demand, and 
>more importantly, a gain for the people of Afghanistan.
>
>Besides, whatever happened to that old Trot strategy of making 
>impossible demands? Not a bad idea in my book.
>
>Doug

Sorry, I'm not a Trotskyist -- call me a Marxist at large.  :->

Let's take the best case of U.S. power-elite largess toward foreign 
nations: the Marshall Plan & development of Japan.  They didn't 
change policy and decide to rebuild Germany, Japan, & Europe in 
general because of pressures from Americans.  They did so because (1) 
the USSR existed as an alternative to capitalism; (2) the CPs came 
out of WW2 in Europe with bases of popular support and an aura of 
having been the best resistance fighters against fascists (and the CP 
in Japan, too, quickly reconstructed and massively expanded itself 
shortly after the end of the war); and (3) (often socialist) 
anti-colonial movements were on the forward march.  Currently, we 
don't have popular pressure that is equivalent of (1), (2), & (3) 
combined & probably won't have it in the next decade either. 
Moreover, the history of the Marshall Plan & the like shows you that 
you won't get a reform by arguing for a reform; you'll get a reform 
when you credibly threaten the ruling class with a revolution, or 
better yet, revolutions spreading all over the world.

As far as reconstruction and development of Afghanistan by the U.S. 
and/or the U.N. are concerned, a more likely prospect is that they 
will resemble what has happened to the Marshall Islands, as described 
in excruciating detail by JoAnn Wypijewski, "This Is Only a Test: 
Missile Defense Makes Its Mark in the Marshall Islands," _Harper's_ 
(December 2001): 41-51.
-- 
Yoshie

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