On Sat, 22 Feb 2003 12:17:39 -0500 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
writes:
> Jim Farmelant wrote:
>
> >Back in 1938 Trotsky wrote:
> >
> >"I will take the most simple and obvious example. In Brazil there
> >now reigns a semifascist regime that every revolutionary can only
> >view with hatred. Let us assume, however, that on the morrow
> >England enters into a military conflict with Brazil. I ask you on
> >whose side of the conflict will the working class be? I will
> >answer for myself personally -- in this case I will be on
> >the side of 'fascist' Brazil against 'democratic' Great Britain.
> >Why? Because in the conflict between them it will not be
> >a question of democracy or fascism. If England should
> >be victorious, she will put another fascist in Rio de Janeiro
> >and will place double chains on Brazil. If Brazil on the
> >contrary should be victorious, it will give a mighty impulse
> >to national and democratic consciousness of the country
> >and will lead to the overthrow of the Vargas dictatorship.
> >The defeat of England will at the same time deliver a blow
> >to British imperialism and will give an impulse to the
> >revolutionary movement of the British proletariat. Truly,
> >one must have an empty head to reduce world antagonisms
> >and military conflicts to the struggle between fascism and
> >democracy. Under all masks one must know how to distinguish
> >exploiters, slave-owners and robbers!" (Writings, 1938-39, page 34)
>
> But in this case the U.S. helped install the fascist in the first
> place, and there was no likelihood that a new kind of fascist would
> take his place. 65-year-old analogies have probably reached
> retirement age.
Well, in the case of Pinochet, his days as head of state in Chile are long over, although the aftereffects of his regime continue to haunt that country. However, the issue here is that he was being prosecuted in the Spanish and British courts for crimes that he committed as head of state in Chile, and that very act of prosecution was most certainly a threat to the national sovereignty of Chile and by setting such a precedent to the sovereignty of not just Chile but to any country whose leaders, for reasons good or bad run afoul of the dominant imperial powers. As Carol put it:
"But let me affirm again: the claim by England or Spain that _their_ courts were legitimate judges of Pinochet was a vicious claim, and anyone who defended Pinochet in that context was doing a great service to the anti-imperialist movement."
And speaking to the issue of 65 year old analogies, this one seems especially applicable to the current situation that we are facing of the US versus Iraq - US imperialism versus the hideous regime of Saddam Hussein. Going back to what Trotsky wrote 65 years ago, the issue appears then to have been which was the greater threat to the working class, a fascist regime in Brazil or British imperialism. Trotsky's answer was British imperialism. And to the question, which side should the working class support in the event of a war between Brazil or Great Britain, his answer was Brazil, since a British victory would at best have to the replacement of a nationalist fascism in Brazil with one that was subservient to British imperialism. While, if Brazil were to have won, that victory would have constituted a major blow to British imperialism while helping to radicalize the proletariats of both belligerents (Trotsky's reasoning here was not unlike the reasoning that Marx & Engels used for justifying their conditional support for the Prussian side in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870).
Now a days the issue appears to be which is the greatest threat to the world, the hideous regime in Bhagdad which has been effectively defanged since 1991 or US imperialism which is intent on not just taking control of Iraq and its oil fields but wishes to redraw the map of the Middle East. Whic side do you think that Trotsky would have supported, not to speak of Marx & Engels?
Jim F.
>
> Doug
>
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