Hitler’s Generals in the West German Army

Not just Nazi soldiers and officers joined the Bundeswehr after 1956. The West-German secret police was set up by former Wehrmacht officers who supported the invasion of the Soviet-Union and were part of the brutal Nazi Security Police. Reinhard Gehlen was Hitler’s chief of Foreign Armies East (FHO), the German Army’s military intelligence unit on the Eastern Front. Gehlen set up the GO (Gehlen Organisation) in 1946 with help from the U.S Army. Among its 4.000 members were Wehrmacht officers, SS and SD men.

By 1947, the GO came under direct control of the criminal CIA. From 1957 until 1968, Gehlen was the leader of the Federal Intelligence Service of West-Germany. He was a nepotist and corrupt official who gave preferential treatment to friends and family members. East Germany may have been a brutal Stalinist dictatorship, but it was right in their propaganda about how ex-Nazi’s led the West-German army and secret police.

Viktor Oban wins again!

The right-wing leader of Hungary has won another election. Since 2010, Viktor Orban has led Hungary with a corrupt fist. Using nationalism to hide his authoritarianism, Oban has profited from the deep anger and rejection of the liberal/social-democratic parties, who had ruled Hungary since 1990. Neoliberalism was their model, which was rejected by Orban and his Hungarian Civic Alliance (FIDESZ). Due to the lack of a genuine opposition, the ruling class of Hungary can remain in power at the expense of the working class.

Viktor Orban is a capitalist leader who has turned Hungary into a flawed democracy. A democracy that is limited by the fact that the capitalist cronies of the Hungarian Civic Alliance (FIDESZ) control most media outlets and the state media is deeply pro-Orban. Opposition candidates are given less media attention and are denounced by Orban loyalists. However the Hungarian leader cannot win with his capitalists friends in the state and media. He also plays on the rejection and hatred of the parties who ruled after the collapse of Stalinism.

From 1990 until 2006, the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) was the party of the neoliberal establishment. It was formed in 1989 out of the Stalinist party that ruled the Hungarian People’s Republic. From 1994 until 2010, the MSZP always won around 1/3 of the total votes in elections. Their electorate were mainly working class people and former Stalinist bureaucrats. Liberals from the Alliance of Free Democrats played a large role in the 1990’s, but lost significance as the MSZP became the party of the pro-EU, neoliberal establishment against the nationalist-conservative FIDESZ.

In 2006, social-democratic leader Ferenc Gyurcsány was caught lying. This resulted in a major conservative victory at the 2010 election that made Viktor Orban leader of the nation. The MSZP was never able to recover, the social-democrats were branded ”communist traitors” and lost more and more support as the state and media became tools of the Orban regime. Capitalists loyal to Viktor Orban were rewarded with ownership of media companies that started to spread pro-FIDESZ propaganda. This gave Orban complete support from both the state and private media.

The liberal opposition fails to offer a genuine alternative mainly because they look at the EU and western imperialism. Although FIDESZ is not a parties for the working class, many Hungarian workers tend to fall for the nationalist rhetoric of the government. With his opposition to the EU (at least in rhetoric), Viktor Orban portrays himself as a ”fighter for Hungarian interests”. Donald Trump also claimed to fighting for ordinary American workers, which is why he won in 2016. However unlike Trump, Orban has the full support of the state and media. This is why he can always count on a massive propaganda machine working for him.

There is no genuine left-wing. Even the Stalinists of the Hungarian Workers Party give their support to the Orban government when it comes to dealing with Russia and refugees. The Stalinists openly reject people fleeing wars caused by imperialism. They praise the brutal treatment of Syrian refugees by Hungarian border guards. As with many parties on the Marxist-Leninist (Stalinist) spectrum they side with Russian imperialism out of campism and claim that NATO is the bigger danger in Ukraine. In the recent election the Hungarian Workers Party only won 8.678 votes.

Hungarian workers know that their government is corrupt and not working for them. But they lack a socialist alternative since the liberal/social-democratic opposition against Orban is weak and does not present a clear break with the capitalist system. Each day they are bombarded with sensationalist stories and lies about opposition figures. Anti-Semitism is also part of the Orban camp as they claim that Jews are trying to control their lives. We see this in the hatred against George Soros who uses his millions to fund liberal politicians. Nationalists and the right-wing hate that, although they use the same methods!

Viktor Orban has won and can now rule until 2026. Unless a true workers party on a socialist program is build, the Hungarian Civic Alliance (FIDESZ) will remain in power. Like the MZSP they curse so often, FIDESZ has more in common with the authoritarian Stalinist era. Their control over the state and media are very similar to the times of the Hungarian People’s Republic. This is why many young Hungarians leave the country and settle in western Europe. For Orban this is not good, as 500.000 youth wish to live outside Hungary.

However that reality is not shown on television. Like the Russian media, the Hungarian media does not report reality. They report the line of the government and that means attacking political opponents, spreading misinformation and uncritical thinking. But this is not uncommon, in Russia and the USA, right-wing media outlets use the same methods now enforced in Hungary. They do not care about facts, they care about controlling what people think. This is why it is dangerous to have right-wingers in power, because they do not care about freedom of speech as Trump supporters demonstrated.

As International Socialist Alternative explains:

A genuine political alternative to the current corrupt, authoritarian regime would base itself on the working class and the various struggles taking place. Only a clear opposition with a programme that faces the social issues and actually mobilizes resistance in the interests of the working class, instead of just asking for a vote in elections before returning to the “old ways” as they were before Orbàn took power can bring actual change.

Finally: TRUMP YOUR FIRED

Finally, the horror that started in November 2016 is over. Donald Trump is fired from the Office of President of the American Empire. He is replaced by a puppet of capitalism: Joe Biden. Now the former right-wing president is leaving the White House. Millions of Americans are happy to see him gone. Trump will go down in history as the worst president. Under his administration over 400.000 people died due to American imperialist interference. Billions of dollars were given to the top 1% in tax cuts and many regulations protecting humans, animals and nature were removed to give capitalists more freedom to exploit them. The Republican president changed nothing positive in favor of working class Americans, worse many are suffering from dangers of poverty as Covid-19 destroyed their jobs and incomes. Biden will not change anything fundamental. This is why we need a socialist alternative!

Trump supporters invade Capitol building

Supporters of the loser Trump have invaded the Capitol Building in Washington DC. This is a deliberate attempt by these delusional supporters to disrupt the installation of Joe Biden as the next President of the American Empire. It is reported that the House Chamber is locked off as guards have drawn their guns. This indicates that Trump supporters maybe armed and willing to use weapons to invade the limited democracy that is the USA. Their dogmatic loyalty to a failed tycoon and capitalist exploiter, proofs why the right-wing is the biggest danger to the flawed democratic system that is the USA, There are millions of Trump supporters who are willing to use violence and terror to make sure that Donald Trump remains president. This invasion of the Capital Building is the final example of the undemocratic nature of the far-right Republican Party base and why they are the biggest danger to freedom and liberty.

The betrayal of the Dos Santos family

Isabel dos Santos is the richest women of Africa. She made her fortune by exploiting the fact that her daddy ruled as dictator of Angola from 1979 until 2017. José Eduardo Dos Santos started out as a African Stalinist, leader of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). This national liberation movement fought the Portuguese colonialists and defeated them in 1975. However the western imperialists would not give up, the USA started to train the anticommunists of UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola). Ironically both MPLA and UNITA claimed to be ”Marxist-Leninist”. By the end of the 1980’s however, both abandoned Marxist socialism. The civil war between the two parties ended in 2002. By then José Eduardo Dos Santos was the richest man of the country with his son and daughter living the lives of African royalties!

Angola is rich in oil, yet 70% of the population is living in poverty. This is because of the ”People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola” (MPLA), the corrupt capitalist party that betrayed its socialist roots in 1992, when they replaced their People’s Republic of Angola with the present day Republic of Angola. On the outside there is little difference between the former Stalinist state and this nepotistic country. The capitalist Republic of Angola is still using the revolutionary symbols of the past. On the Angolan emblem you still find the red star and on the flag is a half gear wheel crossed by a machete and crowned with a star!

These symbols are the only remnants of the period 1975-1992. Back then the MPLA was a typical African liberation movement, that claimed loyalty to revolutionary socialism to win military support from the Soviet-Union. After the Portuguese colonialists withdrew from Angola, the MPLA took power. They installed a typical Stalinist state with top-down planning of the economy. Opposition to the People’s Republic of Angola led by the MPLA came from National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). They were supported by the anticommunist world, including the People’s Republic of China who opposed the MPLA because of its sectarian feud with Moscow!

Originally the UNITA supported the ideology of Mao Zedong. Meaning they were revolutionary Marxist-Leninist. Their opposition to the MPLA government was based on sectarianism as Stalinist Russia and Maoist China did not have a good relationship in the 1970’s. The other resistance group to the MPLA was the National Liberation Front of Angola or FNLA. This group was never revolutionary leftist, therefore it received support from anticommunist governments as early as the 1960’s. After China abandoned Maoism and embraced state-capitalism after 1983, UNITA choose capitalism and right-wing nationalism in order to get weapons from the western world!

Dos Santos senior was the second man of the MPLA in the 1970’s. He worked with Agostinho Neto to build the people’s republic in 1975, after the departure of the Portuguese. Four years into the live of the new independent state, president Neto died of cancer. Dos Santos was elected as new leader of the MPLA and President of the People’s Republic of Angola. With the collapse of the Stalinist World between 1989 and 1991, Dos Santos also moved away from his anti-capitalist roots. By 1992, he had ”reformed into a social-democrat”. In reality, Dos Santos and his nepotistic family decided to embrace the new dogma’s of the 1990’s: unregulated greed!

Daughter Isabel Dos Santos decided to cash in on her father’s move towards capitalism. This capitalist bitch was born in Soviet Azerbaijan in 1973. Raised as part of the ruling Stalinist caste the young Isabel should have been a idealistic and proud ”Marxist-Leninist”. However by 1992, this turned out to be a facade. Because already in the 90’s, Isabel Dos Santos was working to enrich herself as director of companies listen on the Angolan stock market. Her millions are build on the nepotism that is so common in Angola under MPLA rule. The ex-Stalinist caste is now using the free market to enrich themselves, their children and their own at the expense of the Angolan population!

It was the 90’s that Isabel got her nickname: ”The Princess”. Because of her father, it was possible for her to make big money. In 2017, the MPLA moved against Dos Santos senior. It was then that Isabel decided to move out of Angola and choose Britain as her seat of operations. However the net started to close in on her. In December 2019 Luanda Provincial Court ordered the preventive seizure of Isabel Dos Santos personal bank accounts. It is now clear that most of her private wealth came from funds that belonged to the state-owned oil sector of Angola. In only two years Isabel made millions by staling money!

In short: Isabel Dos Santos ”the little princess” of the ex-Stalinist caste is a capitalist thief. She should be arrested and jailed for many years. However the bitch is not stupid. She has fled Europe and now lives in the United Arab Emirates with enough money to live very comfortably. The whole Dos Santos family and the ”People’s Movement” for the Liberation of Angola are class traitors and deserve our rejected and hatred. It is clear that there is no democracy in the Republic of Angola. The MPLA is winning elections by buying off voters and using the state media to limit voices of the opposition!

No African leader becomes rich by hard work. All get their millions because nepotism, corruption and capitalism. Isabel Dos Santos played the capitalist system very well. She is the best example of now anticommunist a Stalinist caste actually is. For the ruling MPLA of the People’s Republic of Angola in the 1980’s, Marxist socialism was a facade. The ideology only a tool to win financial and military support from Cuba and the USSR. Isabel is said to own 2,1 billion U.S dollars, all possible because of funds that belonged to the Angolan state. This money is stolen from the Angolans, it does not belong to her nor her family. All the wealth of Africa is centralized in people like Isabel Dos Santos!

Revolutionary socialists condemn her and Dos Santos senior. He accepted capitalism in 1991 in order to enrich himself, his son and daughter. José Filomeno dos Santos used to control the Fundo Soberano de Angola, the sovereign wealth fund that made him a millionaire. Meanwhile his sister Isabel controlled the the oil sector, which lost over 32 billion dollars in only two years. There is no doubt, the wealth of Angola is stolen by the Dos Santos family. But the MPLA will never go so far in expropriating them. Dos Santos senior is respected by the current capitalist president!

Meanwhile the idiots of the Portuguese Communist Party still send their solidarity greetings to the ”People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola” each year. Despite all the evidence, the Portuguese Stalinist party support the party that has stolen so much from the Angolan workers. Cuba remains on good therms with the capitalist Republic of Angola also. The island that ordered their soldiers to fight (and die) for people like Dos Santos has also starting to embrace the ideology of greed. Fidel Castro is death and Raul Castro has left the office of president. The new Cuban president is very interested in the state-capitalist model of China, a country that is gaining a lot influence in Africa!

Angola needs a socialist alternative. This is needed to overthrow the party that spawned the Dos Santos family. In the end, the ”People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola” has become what it claimed to oppose in the 1960’s/1970’s. Today it is a nepotistic club for elitist children like José Filomeno Dos Santos and Isabel Dos Santos to become millionaires. Their father made sure they had access to the wealth of Angola and for twenty year they enriched themselves with no shame. The removal of José Eduardo Dos Santos in 2017 will not end the nepotism or corruption coming out of the MPLA ruling elite. Children of the current president will be the next millionaires of Angola!

As long as the corrupt ”People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola” rules, there will be more billionaires like Isabel Dos Santos. Little ”princes and princesses” born privileged as kids of leaders who once claimed to oppose capitalism and nepotism. It is therefore essential that the Angolan working class rises up and removes the whole MPLA rotten caste from power. Only then can a true socialist Angola be born, free from the abuse caused by José Filomeno dos Santos and his children!

 

Isabel Dos Santos is a thief, whole stole from the Angolan working class!

 

Support the Iranian working class

The shot down of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 is a crime against the Iranian, Canadian and Ukrainian working classes. A missile from the reactionary: Islamic ”Revolutionary” Guard Corps (IRGC) brought the plane down on 8 January 2020. Just minutes after take off from Tehran Airport, the Boeing 737 was hit by a Tor missile, the same weapon used against Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. Now the Ayatollah regime has another crisis on its already bloody hands. First the economic crisis and now the murder of 176 innocent passengers and crew. It may have been ”human error”, but that does not hide the fact that the IRGC are to blame. They murdered these people and should be held responsible. Meanwhile the working class of Iran is showing their rejection of ”Supreme Shah” Ali Khamenei and his presidential puppet Hassan Rouhani!  

The regime blames U.S imperialism and western world, a typical reaction from a government that hides its own failures under a cloak of anti-imperialism. ”Supreme Shah” (leader) Ali Khamenei is in trouble as many Iranians reject him and his theocracy. For 40 years the theocracy disguised itself with revolutionary rhetoric against capitalism and imperialism.  However the facts remain that after the death of Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, the new Islamic ”Shah” decided to introduce austerity and capitalist barbarism. Khamenei privatized a lot of state owned enterprises, resulting in a increase in poverty as a new capitalist class emerged in the 1990’s. Many Iranians are young and born after 1989. They only know the capitalist reality of Ali Khamenei and its enforcement of Shia-Islamism!

U.S imperialism is partly to blame for the economic crisis. The American sanctions have hit the Iranian economy very hard since 1979. Revolutionary socialists have and will oppose the sanctions as they do not hit nor harm the Ayatollahs and the capitalist class. It is the average worker who is hit the hardest. Barack Obama had begun to lift the trade embargo after a treaty was signed, but it was har-hawk Donald Trump who reversed the deal made between the west and Theran. He and his far-right Republican Party never liked what Obama signed and with Trump in office, they restored the trade embargo and even murdered a Iranian general in Iraq!

This shows that the Republican Party in the USA is a far-right war-hawkish force. 87% of all Republicans fully support the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general of the Quds Force in Iraq. He was murdered by a American drone on 3 January 2020 at Baghdad Airport. The assassination is praised by many right-wing personalities and television outlets in the USA. They claim that Soleimani was a ”terrorist” and deserved to die. This black-white mentality is also enforced in Iran, the regime blames the shot-down of flight PS752 on the American imperialist aggression. While the USA is a danger to peace and a menace under Trump, the IRGC remains sole responsible for shooting down a civilian airliner!

We also learned that the assassination of Qasem Soleimani might just have been a political gesture towards Republican senators. These war-hawks want war with Iran so badly it is possible that Trump killed off the Iranian general to win their support. The murder of Soleimani and nine other Shia-leaders could have been a stunt to win over the minds of these far-right imperialist senators. In the end, the death of Soleimani could also have been personal, as both Trump and Soleimani fought a personal online battle using social media. It shows how dangerous the Republicans in the USA are to world peace and now that blond idiot almost started a war. The drone attack has also strengthened the far-right in Iran, who have called for retaliation and even attacks on U.S soldiers in Iraq!

Iran under ”Shah” Khamenei is a autocratic dictatorship that needs to go. This is not easy as the regimes is using the assassination of its general to rally millions . However there is one thing the Ayatollahs do not control, that is the fact that young Iranians want freedom. They make up 50% of the total population and do not want to live in a theocracy. 50% of all Iranians is below 35 of age. They are a generation grown up within a oppressive society that forces Shia-Islamism on them. Although the reactionary laws forbid alcohol or even dancing to western music, many do so in secret. There is a big underground youth culture that the regime cannot destroy. Despite arrests and torture, the youth or Iran remain resistant!

Western imperialism tries to hijack the protests in Iran for their own capitalist plans. We have seen this in Libya were many youth were misled into believing that NATO would result in their liberation. After NATO war planes aided the Libyan rebels in the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, the country fell apart in a brutal civil war. As of 2020, Libyans are still fighting among themselves. U.S imperialism is supporting one capitalist government, while Russia support another one. Both Libyans governments offer nothing to the working class and act as puppets for foreign powers. This situation must not happen in Iran, therefore any revolutionary uprising against ”Shah” Khamenei must be led by Iranians themselves!

Other imperialist countries are also intervening. Russia has a military presence in Syria were it supply and arms the Syrian Arab Army, the armed forces of the dictatorial Ba’ath regime. Dictator Erdogan of Turkey has started to move troops into Libya to provide aid for the UN recognized government in Tripoli. Turkish troops in Libya and northern Syria proof that Erdogan has imperialist plans of his own. He wants Turkey to become a regional power that can enforce its will upon others by force. In north east Syria, Turkish troops occupy parts that used to be part of the Autonomous Administration of North East Syria, a direct democratic proto-state founded after the collapse of Ba’ath Party rule!

Revolutionary socialists oppose all foreign interventions by both the USA, Turkey and Russia. We say no to right-wing leaders like Trump, Erdogan and Putin. These men love to portray themselves as strong leaders, in reality they only wish to command and conquer. All three are millionaires, grown rich by exploiting working class people. Protests against their war-hawkish behavior must be supported and organized. What the middle east and Iran is lacking is a workers party on a socialist program. We often say this, because many protests lack revolutionary leadership to go beyond simplistic demands!

The Ayatollah regime will not bend nor chance anything. They are reactionary conservatives who wish to preserve what they have. Trump, Erdogan and Putin are like them in keeping themselves and the ruling class in power. Iran may use religion and anti-imperialism, but its young population can look beyond the typical propaganda lies spread by the Iranian state media. The shot-down of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 proofs how trigger-happy the Islamic ”Revolutionary” Guard Corps is. Their inability to distinguish a drone from a passenger plane says enough. We call for the removal of Ali Khamenei and the IRGC. Iran must become a socialist democracy in order to end the injustice over the past 40 years!

Protests in both Iran and Iraq proof the growing resistance. What the working class of these countries need is a socialist alternative. If this is lacking then western imperialism can spread the illusions that they are the alternative. Liberal opponents may call on workers to support the EU and even the USA. We have seen this in Hong-Kong, were the pro-capitalist wing of the protesters against the Chinese ”Communist” Party, used flags of the USA at demonstrations. The state-capitalist regime used them to portray the whole movement as ”under control of foreign powers”. This is why we say that protests must not lean on a imperialist power. The USA and EU are not the beacons of liberty and freedom, Turkey and Russia also do not care about the need of average people!

Revolutionary socialists say:

• No to imperialist intervention in the Middle East, for the withdrawal of US, French, UK, Russian and all other foreign troops from the region and for the non-intervention by national governments in the affairs of neighbours; 

• For full support to the protest movements in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and elsewhere in their struggles against poverty, corruption and ethnic division;

• Build a mass anti-war movement in the US and internationally that stands in solidarity with the uprisings of workers and youth in the region;

• For the unity of workers and youth across the region to bring down the pro-capitalist governments, which are based on and promote ethnic division and conflict and their replacement by genuinely democratic workers’ governments with a socialist program to end poverty, corruption and authoritarian rule – for a democratic Socialist Federation of the Middle East with full democratic and national rights for all peoples and minorities.

Imperialist escalation

The middle east is again on the brick of escalation. American imperialists have attacked the Baghdad Airport, killing an Iranian general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Because the guards are called terrorists by the USA, Saudi-Arabia and Bahrain, Washington DC decided to launch a drone attack on this Iranian general. The attack has sparked furry among Shia-Muslims in both Iraq and Iran. Although the two countries used to be enemies, the imperialist escalation will drive the Shia dominated Iraqi government much more closer to Tehran. They have already threaten to leave the U.S led Multi-National Force in the fight against Islamic terrorism! 

War-hawk Donald Trump decided to kill over 10 important Shia-Muslim leaders during the drone attack on the Baghdad Airport. Among the ten murdered is Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Death is also Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Deputy Chairman of Popular Mobilization Committee. The Popular Mobilization Forces are Shia-Muslim militias created in 2014 to fight the Sunni-Islamic IS (Islamic State). They fight alongside the regular Iraqi Army and were vital in defeating IS in Iraq. The American imperialists however do not like the Popular Mobilization Forces because their role model is the Iranian revolutionary guards corps. They even share the same logo!

This attack by the USA on friendly terrain against allies of the Iraqi government proofs that Donald Trump is a greater war-hawk then Obama was. Trump wants to escalate the situation in the middle east, which might result in a all-out war with Iran. Because the murder of a Iranian general is not something Tehran will forget. Trump is responsible for destroying the agreement between the west and Iran. This agreement was honored by Iran, but the conservative war-hawks surrounding the idiot in the White House never supported it. After all, it was Barack Obama (a Democratic president) who made the deal, not a far-right Republican president!

The assassination of Qasem Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and other eight Shia-leaders is more or less an act of war by the USA against Iran and even Iraq. If the Iranian theocracy needed anything to start a conflict with the west then this is it. The American imperialists just gave them a golden opportunity to strike back. After all, the imperialists murder their general, their allies inside a country that is supposedly an ally of NATO. Donald Trump might just deliver Iraq right into the hands of Iran with this drone attack. Washington DC claims that Qasem Soleimani is responsible for attacks on American subcontractors and since his revolutionary guards are called ”terrorists” by the USA, the drone attack is called ”legal”!

Soleimani is not saint as the Iranian media portrays him. He was not the good Shia-leader fighting the evil of Sunni-Islamic extremism. As a leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Soleimani is co-responsible for the oppressive nature of the Shia theocracy and its sectarian militias in Iraq. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a conservative dictatorship that only allows a facade of democracy. Reality is that all elected officials are subjugated to one supreme leader: Ali Khamenei since 1989. Qasem Soleimani was a true war-hawk who promoted foreign interventionism. His units in Iraq killed off many innocent Sunni’s who were never allied to Islamic State!

Therefore no genuine socialist with weep for the death of this reactionary general of a theocratic intervention force. Qasem Soleimani was no friend of ordinary workers. His support for dictatorial and oppressive regimes proof this. From the Syrian Ba’ath regime to the Houthi movement in Yemen, Soleimani supported the brutality and sectarian nature of these groups/governments. His death is not a big lose for the working class of both Iran and Iraq. However the propaganda value is great. Tehran is now using anti-imperialism as a rally cry to unite the Iranians behind their theocratic government. The assassination could not have come at a better time!

Let us reverse the situation. What if Iran decides to call the U.S led Multi-National Force troops in Iraq; ”terrorist”. What if a Iranian drone would strike at a convoy with western military leaders, killing ten of them? How would the west react to the death of so many commanders? Right-wing scum would call it an act of war, but now the right-wing of the western world is praising the assassination. Dutch PVV (Party for Freedom) leader Geert Wilders called it ”great” that Trump killed off an Iranian general. Other Trump supporters join him in applauding. They don’t seem to care that this could lead to a potential war, killing thousands if not millions!

The attack on Baghdad Airport might have been a reelection strategy by the Trump team. Because leading the USA in a war might help that war-hawk to rally his disillusioned supporters. Because by now many white working class Americans realize that Trump is a pseudo-populist, who lied to them in 2016. He has not helped them getting their jobs back. In fact most work is still moved to cheap labour countries like India and China. Even Cambodia is now used as a place to produce a lot of products. Like China, Cambodia is led by an ex-Stalinist party who has embraced neoliberalism. Many capitalists love this country for the fact that it offers them cheap workers and little to no regulations regarding labour and environment!

Donald Trump needs to be removed. But not in the way the Democratic Party is trying to do. They try to remove the president because of his actions regarding Ukraine. Trump however is guilty of emboldening white supremacists, abuses at the border, attacking women’s rights and workers’ rights, ripping up of environmental regulations, enriching his own family at the public’s expense and more. Yet the Democrats do not go after him for these abuses. This is why we believe that the far-right president can only be defeated by organizing for a socialist alternative. Bernie Sanders has the potential to be a true alternative, despite his limited social democratic agenda. However if Bernie choose to capitulate to a typical Democratic candidate, again, then Trump might win in 2020!

 

Romania: capitalist failure

Romania, a country in eastern Europe. A poor nation as over 23% of its total population is affected by poverty. The average income is close to 600 U.S dollars a month. Capitalism in Romania was enforced brutally by the National Salvation Front in January 1990 after the overthrow of the Stalinist dictatorship in what is called the Romanian Revolution. However a close look would show us that although there was a mass movement against the brutal regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, it was a the pro-capitalist wing of the Romanian Communist Party who led the coup that resulted in the restoration of capitalism. Leaders of this pro-capitalist coup were Ion Iliescu and Dumitru Mazilu!

As we say goodbye to 2019, we look back at 30 years capitalism in Romania. Today the the political parties that came out of the National Salvation Front are rejected by most Romanians. This we see at the low turnout during elections. During the last held election in 2016, only 39.44% of all voters came to vote. It proofs that the established political parties were rejected by a clear majority of voters. One of the most hated is the Social Democratic Party (PSD). This party was born in 2001 after a fusion of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania and the Romanian Social Democratic Party. Although they claim to be leftist, reality has proven that Romanian social democracy is right-wing!

With right-wing we mean supportive of neoliberalism, austerity, the European Union and politics that favor the capitalist class. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) has been the largest political force in Romania since 2001. However due to the low voter turnout it can be said that the actual support for the party is relative low. Most Romanian political parties in the 1990’s had no clear ideology of their own. Most acted as vehicles for capitalist politicians (most who were ex-Stalinist) who need a force to support them. The PSD was the vehicle for Ion Iliescu, who kept a socialist facade after the overthrow of Stalinist tyrant Nicolae Ceaușescu on 21 December 1989!

Ceaușescu was the second tyrant of Stalinist Romania. Installed as leader of the Romanian Communist Party in 1965, his regime was build on nationalism and a extensive cult of personality. Nine years after he rose to power as leader of the communist party, Ceaușescu made himself: President of the Republic. This he may have copied from North Korea. Nicolae Ceaușescu was very impressed by the regime of Kim Il Sung after a state visit. Like the North Korean monarch, the Romanian ”Conducător” (Leader) wanted to be called Mr. President. So the Socialist Republic of Romania became a presidential state in name only. The cult of Ceaușescu was also centered around his wife Elena, who was praised as the “Mother of the Nation”!

The National Salvation Front did not advocate a restoration of capitalism at first in 1989. Nothing was said about the introduction of a market economy in the first declaration of the new government. It can be said the the National Salvation Front took over as ruling party, while the Romanian Communist Party simply disappeared from sight. The new regime was divided however on the issue of capitalism. Dumitru Mazilu was a supporter of full capitalist restoration. He disagreed with Ion Iliescu who wanted to keep the planned economy at first. For Mazilu, socialism (Stalinism in reality) had failed. Like Boris Yeltsin in Russia, Dumitru Mazilu had surrendered himself to the western idea that capitalism had won the Cold War!

Two years after the overthrow of the Romanian Communist Party, Ion Iliescu had converted to third way ”social-democracy” meaning support for privatizations, austerity and deregulation. His supporters split from the National Salvation Front and created the Democratic Salvation Front (renamed Party of Social Democracy in Romania in 93) to serve as his political vehicle. Iliescu won the 1992 election and remained President of Romania. His supporters worked with the nationalist-”communist” Greater Romania Party and Romanian National Unity Party to form the first true capitalist government. The coalition between ex-Stalinist social-democrats with nationalist-communists and right-wing nationalists is responsible for the destruction of the planned economy!

The Greater Romania Party today is a far-right nationalist party that no longer promotes ”national-communism”. But in 1991, the nationalist-Stalinist ideology of Nicolae Ceaușescu was popular among some Romanians, for its nationalism and rejection of capitalism. The Greater Romania Party was founded by none other then Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the “court poet” of Ceaușescu. Tudor is a hardcore nationalist and his views were liked by the late Stalinist dictator. Although no longer a party that promotes opposition to capitalism, the Greater Romania Party defends the nationalist-Stalinist regime. This has little to due with authentic anti-capitalism. Ceaușescu is only praised because he was a nationalist too and downplayed the international ideology of communism!

Support for Stalinist Romania today is high in capitalist Romania. 55% of all workers would like the Socialist Republic of Romania to be restored. This is very painful for the supporters of capitalism. The period 1948-1965 is mostly supported, this was the time of the People’s Republic of Romania under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, the first Stalinist dictator. Under him, Romania kept their independence and was by no means a puppet of Moscow. The period after 1965 until 1989 receives less support, this is largely due to the austerity cuts enforced by Nicolae Ceaușescu to pay off debts. According to Ceaușescu, Romania had become socialist in 1965, therefore the name of the nation was changed to Socialist Republic of Romania. Although the economy was not in the hands of capitalists, the nation was by means a healthy workers state!

With 23% of the population living in poverty and a larger percentage living on less then 600 U.S dollars a month, it is no surprise that support for Stalinist Romania remains high. Workers who experienced the Stalinist era are not nostalgic about the secret police or the fear of arrests. They want the social security back and a state that (claims) to be working for them. Stalinist Romania build a powerful illusion of working class people in power. Capitalist Romania today is a hell hole with a government working in the interests of the rich and capitalist class. Although 23% of all Romanians live in poverty, another 40% is at risk of it. It shows that capitalism failed, despite the propaganda of the government and media about the wealth of the nation!

Wealth has increased since 1989, Romania is not the most poorest member of the European Union. But this wealth is deeply unfairly divided. The top 20% earn an income that is seven times larger compared to the average 600 U.S dollars a month. 30 years ago the Romanian Revolution ended the kingdom of Nicolae Ceaușescu. However the pro-capitalist wing of his communist party remained in power for at least another 10 years. They renamed themselves social democrats and claimed to be democratic left-wing. In reality we know that they served the Washington Consensus, meaning: market fundamentalism and neoliberalism. This they shared with other Romanian political parties like the National-Liberal Party, a nationalist neoliberal force!

Romania needs a socialist alternative. Those who want a brake with the capitalist establishment however end up with neo-Stalinists like the Romanian Socialist Party (PSR). Founded as the Socialist Party of Labour by Ilie Verdeț a former prime minister of Nicolae Ceaușescu. After his death, the Socialist Party of Labour fused into the Social Democratic Party led by Ion Iliescu. Those who opposed the fusion created the Socialist Alliance Party and remained loyal to ”nationalist-communism”. To honor Ceaușescu, the party wanted to rename themselves into Romanian Communist Party. This was denied by the Bucharest tribunal and so the Romanian Socialist Party (PSR) came into existence!

Revolutionary socialists do not support the PSR for the following reasons:

1. The party is reactionary nationalist

2. Nostalgia for the brutal Ceausescu regime

3. Support for the state-capitalist regime in China

4. Opponent of women’s rights

5. Hostile to the LGBT community

The PSR is by no means a socialist alternative and their poor results at the elections proof this. Workers do not look at the PSR as a alternative as they do not vote for them in masses. The Committee for a Workers International (Majority) has a section in Romania called: Work Force (Mana de Lucru). This group fights for genuine Marxist socialism which is anti-nationalist and anti-bureaucratic, with no praise for the Ceausescu regime. Nationalism is deeply rooted in Romania, a result of the Stalinist regime and the capitalist ones after 1989. But this has not helped the working class in any way. Nationalism is and remains a poison used to divide workers and to hide the capitalist politics of the ruling class!

Mana de Lucru knows that the Romanian left-wing needs to work together. Capitalism is destroying the lives of millions. 30 years after the fall and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu, nostalgia for the Stalinist regime is at a record high. The ruling class and their politicians look the other way and pretend nothing is wrong. They celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution with empty talks about ”freedom” and ”democracy”. A workers party is needed to overthrow the capitalist class and build a Romania that is genuine democratic socialist, free from the injustice of the market dictatorship. In 1989, the masses rose up. Their trust in class traitors like Ion Iliescu and Dumitru Mazilu resulted in the capitalist hellhole that is Romania today. Now the time is right to finish what started 30 years ago!

There is more potential for establishing a political alternative in Romania than at any time in the last 30 years of capitalism. In 2019, we witnessed the most significant wave of strikes in decades. Industrial disputes such as that at Astra in Arad, where Romanian and Indian workers joined forces to ask for better wages for all, or the one at Electroaparataj in Targoviste, which lasted for over 3 months, show what huge potential there is. The Romanian working class’ appetite for struggle has increased visibly, and the political left together with the trade union movement need to channel it towards building the only genuine alternative to the status quo – a fighting, mass working class party that can propose a democratic and socialist alternative.     

By Vlad B from Mâna de Lucru, the CWI (Majority) in Romania

55% of all Romanians think positively about the Stalinist period (1948-1989)

Jeremy Corbyn failed

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British: Labour Party has failed. This is not something we say with pride. But the defeat of Labour at the recent elections in the United Kingdom proof that Jeremy Corbyn was unable to rally the working class towards a socialist alternative. Revolutionary socialists supported Corbyn in 2015 and we did so in 2019. This did not mean that we were not deeply critical of his reformist agenda and unwillingness to provide a socialist exit out of the EU. Instead Corbyn remained vague and also did not expelled the right-wing of Labour, who tried to oppose and sabotage him at every turn. The Labour Party is already losing members because of the lies and attacks of the capitalist establishment. However this and the present defeat could have been prevented with clear socialist policy in 2015!

When Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015, the capitalist establishment was in shock. The old Labour veteran was not a supporter of Tony Blair nor the neoliberal direction of the party since the late 1980’s. Corbyn remained a socialist and used classic leftist ideas to win over 200.000 new members into the Labour Party. His leftism won over the minds of millions and Labour scored good at the elections in June 2017. However during the Brexit referendum, Corbyn decided that we would stand against the idea of leaving the EU. The Labour Party opted for a NO vote and this cost them supporters. Also many Labour officials remained committed to austerity, this alienated many low-income workers who traditionally vote for the party!

Jeremy Corbyn said he would respect the wishes of the majority of British who voted to leave the European Union. However the media portrayed him and Labour as supporters of the EU, an institution most workers reject for its enforcement of austerity and capitalist barbarism. Instead Corbyn should have advocated a socialist exit, with the nationalization of the means of production and full rejection of any austerity measure in the name of ”balancing” the budgets. Rejecting neoliberalism as a whole is impossible inside the EU, because Brussels has build its union on this idea of a ”common capitalist market economy”!

Under Corbyn the Labour Party was split into two. You have the old right-wing party centered around those who supported Tony Blair and neoliberalism in parliament. This group we call the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). The others are made up of new party members who joined after 2015. These 200.000 members did not join because they are all supporters of neoliberal austerity as are a majority of elected Labour representatives. They want a clear brake with the cuts to social security and wish for the party to return to classic leftist ideas. Jeremy Corbyn’s biggest weakness was his lack of charisma and complete lack of revolutionary spirit. He was not a leader who stood strong against the wall of lies that came towards him. The capitalist media even dared to claim that Corbyn was antisemitic, a lie repeated over and over again!

Labour stood in the December 2019 election with a principled left-wing platform. However the media and the Conservative Party were able to dominate the election with Brexit. With Corbyn not offering a socialist exit out of the EU and the fact that many Labour officials still carry out austerity cuts, many working class voters decided that voting for Boris Johnson (conservatives) would mean Brexit and an end to European imposed austerity. What these voters failed to understand is that the conservatives will put the costs of leaving the EU on them. Workers will be forced to pay the price as no conservative government will put any burden on the ruling class and their businesses. Johnson and his new government will be exposed as typical capitalist and those who voted for him will realize that!

Brexit under capitalism will not improve the lives of millions. Instead it can only cause more poverty as Britain will no longer be part of a single market economy. New trade deals will have to be made and the EU will not be kindly to a nation who choose to defy the union. This is why socialists should stand for an exit on socialist principals. This includes the nationalization of 100 companies who dominate the British economy. Unlike capitalist nationalizations, the control of the new state enterprises will be given to democratic councils of workers. This is why we call for a Federal Socialist Republic of Britain. Corbyn however never called for a socialist Britain. He remained a classic social democrat who would not look beyond the institutions set up by the ruling class!

What now for millions who will suffer under a capitalist Brexit in January 2020? Socialist Alternative in England and Wales (CWI Majority) is calling on workers to organize. Boris Johnson may have won the election, but he can be defeated. The Conservative Party must be exposed and will be as soon as the price for leaving the EU is presented to the working class. It remains to be seen if the Labour Party can become a vehicle for socialist change. 20.000 members have already left in 2019, probably in response to the weak leadership of Corbyn or due to the massive lies spread by capitalist commentators every day. To be a leader of a mass workers party is not a easy job in a hostile capitalist world. The British tabloids are known for their sensationalism and love to smear. The next Labour leader could be a reformist-leftist like Corbyn or a supporter of the right-wing: Parliamentary Labour Party!

With Jeremy Corbyn the Labour Party had a chance of returning to its socialist roots. This has now failed because of Corbyn’s reformism and unwillingness to expel pro-austerity Labour officials. This would have split the party YES, but in the long run a true socialist Labour Party would have won the trust of a majority. Corbyn would then have become prime minister and able to carry out a program against austerity. Now these dreams are again cold, put on ice as the party is looking for a new leader. Although it is sad to say, Jeremy Corbyn failed. His ideas were a step in the right direction, but you need more then just ideas. Labour needed a revolutionary leadership and this Jeremy Corbyn did not provide this!

The capitalist class and their smear campaign worked. The vague position on Brexit and the responsibility for austerity cuts have led to this defeat for the Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn was smeared, attacked and abused all the time by the media. Now the Parliamentary Labour Party will use the defeat to launch a final assault on Corbyn and reinstall capitalist control. This can only be prevented if the members of the Labour Party reject the PLP and their pro-capitalist agenda. Revolutionary Socialist Media was unsure if the Labour Party was a workers party again as some leftists predicted. Fact remains that many workers choose to vote Conservative over Labour. For us the struggle for socialism and opposition to capitalism in Britain continues!

 

Jeremy Corbyn

Americans misled by Obama

Donald Trump is a far-right lying capitalist exploiter. We know this to be true, but Barack Obama’s administration between 2009 and 2017 also lied to cover up its imperialist plans. On the Afghan War the White House tried for 8 years to misled the American people into thinking that they were winning the war against the Taliban, the Islamic group that was overthrown in 2001. However now we know that the Taliban was not on the brink of defeat. In reality, the Islamic resistance has grown and controls huge pockets of the Afghan country. Obama’s administration knew that they were not winning in Afghanistan. So they manipulated the statistics in order to win support for the war!

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a corrupt dictatorship founded by U.S imperialism in January 2004, after the overthrow of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. This emirate was created by the Taliban group in 1996, after they had overthrow the Islamic State of Afghanistan, the Islamic successor to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978-1987) supported by the Soviet-Union. After the Russians left in 1988, the pro-Soviet government abandoned secularism and tried to include Islamism in their republic. However the reactionary Mujaheddin (Islamic fighters) rejected the short-lived Republic of Afghanistan (1987-1992) and overthrew it with the fall of Kabul in April 1992!

Between 1979 and 1992, the USA and western capitalism gave millions of U.S dollars to the Mujaheddin to fight the Russians. With the collapse of the Republic of Afghanistan, a new Islamic state came into effect. This state was deeply conservative, but not enough for the Taliban. They wanted a pure Islamic emirate that would enforce Islamism with brutal force. Moderate Islamic forces were defeated by 1996 and the Taliban was able to control 2/3 of Afghanistan. They named their state the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The western world ignored the Afghan civil war after the Soviet withdraw of 1988. It was not until the attacks of 11 September 2001, that the west turned their imperialist armies again on Afghanistan!

After the 9/11 attacks the Bush administration claimed that the Taliban were protecting Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda. During the 1980’s, the USA had supplied the anticommunist opposition with dollars to arm and fight the Russians. Bin Laden was called a hero by western newspapers, because of his anticommunism. In 1984, the Afghan Service Bureau (MAK) was set up by three Saudi’s (Bin Laden was one of three) to raise funds and train Islamic fighters in the war against the pro-Soviet Afghan government. MAK trained Muslims in over 100 countries to fight for Jihad, they had recruiting offices in 33 American cities. Four years later, the money that Osama Bin Laden received was used to create ”The Base” or Al-Qaeda in Arabic!

President George W. Bush demanded that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan surrendered Osama Bin Landen to the Americans. The Taliban refused to do so unless the USA could bring about proof that Bin Laden had organized 9/11. Bush then choose to invade Afghanistan and install a pro-American regime. He choose the remnants of the Islamic State of Afghanistan (1992-1996) as his puppets. In the western media, the anti-Taliban opposition was called the Northern Alliance, because the so called ”moderate” Islamic forces only controlled 10% of the northern part of the country by 2001. After the USA removed the Taliban from power, the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan was set up in July 2002!

Although the New Afghanistan was praised as a democracy in western capitalist media outlets, the state is not secular. In fact it is forbidden to go against the principals of Islam. Political parties may not reject any fundamental law of the Koran. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is very clear about this and there is no mention of freedom of thought and apostasy from Islam is punishable by death. This is the state that western imperialism created and keeps alive. A brutal reactionary regime that is almost equal to the Iranian theocracy.  Now in 2019 we know that the War in Afghanistan is one big failure. The Afghans are not free, they are oppressed by a government who can only survive on American and European financial and military support!

 

The situation as of late 2019. The Taliban control huge pockets of the Afghan country, despite 18 years of war with western imperialist powers.