April 24, 2006
Note: The following is from the conclusion of "Elections, Democracy and
Dictatorship, Resistance and Revolution," a talk given by Bob Avakian,
Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, in 2004, before the
elections that year. It has been edited for publication here, and in a
few places brief explanatory comments have been inserted within
brackets. The audio file of the entire talk is available on bobavakian.net and revcom.us.]
"People in the military need to be told the truth, just like everybody else does."
Let's talk about the relation between the struggle now and the
revolutionary goal. One of these right-wing groups tied to the
Republican Party attacked me for, among other things, being the author
of the following, which is part of the "Three Main Points" that appears
in every issue of our weekly newspaper, the Revolutionary Worker [now Revolution]:
"The whole system we now live under is based on exploitation, here and
all over the world. It is completely worthless and no basic change for
the better can come about until this system is overthrown."
Well,
let me say that I will readily and proudly stand up for that statement
and everything it embodies. I will do so because it is true,
and because it is crucial that this truth be put forward broadly and
boldly. And while clearly recognizing and having no illusions about the
fact that an attack of this kind, for making a statement like this, is
very serious, especially in the circumstances we are now facing, and
that attacks like this must be taken seriously, indeed, and must be
effectively answered and turned back against the attackers; while
having all that clearly in mind, let me also say that, in a strategic
sense, I am glad to be attacked in this way by these kinds of forces
To
paraphrase a well-known statement by Mao Tsetung, this kind of attack
shows that this statement from the "Three Main Points" in our newspaper
has hit upon a profound reality and fundamental truth that these
reactionaries do not want brought to light. But the fact that this
statement is true, that no basic change for the better can come about
until this system is overthrown, does not mean that there is
no use, no good purpose and that nothing can be achieved in building
resistance to this system now and in fighting against particular
outrages and injustices of this system. On the contrary, it
is crucial to build such resistance, as powerfully as possible,
especially around the major ways in which this system and those who
rule it are moving to attack and oppress masses of people here and
throughout the world. What a recognition of the truth of this statement
should lead us to is an understanding of the need to build all
resistance to this system with the revolutionary goal in mind and in a
way that builds toward and advances things as far as possible, as fast
as possible, toward that goal of revolution
In this
context, I want to speak, before ending, to a controversy which has
arisen within the broad movement of opposition to the imperialist wars
of this system, and in particular the war against Iraq. This
controversy centers around the slogan "Support the Troops" and whether
or not it is correct to raise this as part of opposition to the wars in
which these troops are involved.
I want to speak,
briefly, to the importance of this, and the political and ideological
struggle that has gone on around this, and needs to go on around this,
both in relation to more immediate objectives, that is, opposing the
continuing occupation of Iraq, as well as the imperial wars of this
system in general; but also in terms of the strategic perspective of
making revolution.
Now, some people have raised: we
should support the troops, but not the war. Well, to show why I believe
this doesn't make any sense, you only have to say: if you support
people, you have to support what they're doing. If you don't support
what they're doing, you shouldn't support them. To illustrate this even
more graphically, suppose you came upon a gang rape and you found this
woman in this desperate situation fighting back, but being jumped on by
a number of guys. Would you raise the slogan, "support the rapists, not
the rape"? Obviously not. If what people are doing is wrong, murderous,
against the interests of the people, you cannot support that and you
cannot support them. You support them if and when and in the ways in
which they resist and rise up against that. But you do not raise the
slogan, "support the troops not the war," any more than you would
raise, "support the rapist, not the rape."
This is, both
literally as well as metaphorically, what these U.S. troops are doing
in Iraq and elsewhere — rape and plunder in the service of a system
that lives and thrives off plunder and exploitation. That should not be
supported — and they should not be supported while that is what they
are doing. We have to understand, these are the armed forces of a
system of worldwide exploitation and plunder. They do not fight for
"their country," except in the sense that "their country" means this
system and its ruling class of capitalists-imperialists. That they do fight for, whether they are aware or not that this is what they are fighting for
Still
less do they fight for the rights and freedom of the people, here or
anywhere else. Really, think about it — and I've had lots of experience
arguing with soldiers going all the way back to the Vietnam War. And I
can tell you from my own experience the answer is: this doesn't happen.
But ask yourself, how many within the U.S. armed forces say to
themselves as they are going off to the theaters of war, or especially
as they are about to enter battle: "I am doing this so those fucking
hippies and other protesters can have the right to demonstrate against
what I am doing"? Come on
And despite what they are
conditioned to fall back on, when the reality of what they are doing
begins to rip through the lies with which they are indoctrinated, these
troops are not actually fighting for their buddies, including those who
have been wounded or killed in battle. What and whom you are fighting
for is an objective thing, not a subjective matter of what anyone thinks they are fighting for
You
can see this, for example, by analogy in the whole struggle around the
Confederate flag. A lot of these white people in the South say, "well,
that flag doesn't stand for slavery and oppression, that just stands
for Southern heritage." Well, what is your fucking heritage? Your
heritage is inseparable from and is founded on slavery and oppression
and the Ku Klux Klan. That is your Southern heritage. There could be no South and no Southern heritage without it.
And
the same applies here. You are fighting for a system of imperialism,
whether you recognize it or not. And, of course, they try to do
everything they can to prevent you from recognizing it. And we have to
ask: how do these troops get where they are, to fight where they're
fighting? Who organizes and determines the mission they are fighting
for? Did they and their buddies somehow catch a plane all on their own
and fly to Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever else they are sent? Did they
make the decision to have the war and then determine how and with what
weapons and so on to fight it? Come on.
Can you imagine a
couple of guys get together and say, "Hey, dude, let's get a map.
Greenland, OK! Let's go fight. Excellent, dude." I mean that's not the
way soldiers end up in theaters of war. "Let's raise some money from
our friends so we can get a plane ticket and go fight a war somewhere.
Let's go down to the Navy surplus store and buy some weapons to fight
it with." That's not how it happens. They are trained,
indoctrinated, organized and commanded to fight in certain ways for
objectives which they may or may not realize or be aware of
Look,
for example, at the Iraqi prison torture scandal. We all know, I think
most people here at least know, that this is not unique. It's coming
out now that it's very widespread, and not just in Iraq. Even Al Gore
said that this stuff is a result of Bush and the rest declaring the
Geneva Convention on prisoners of war and on human rights to be invalid
and irrelevant in this context - or "quaint," as one of Bush's legal
advisers [now Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales] put it.
But
more than that, this is what the U.S. military has done all over the
world. They are an army of conquest, seeking to impose an oppressive
rule on people all over the world. Check out the beginning of the
Marine Corps hymn. I'm not going to sing it. But "from the halls of
Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli." Where the fuck are the halls of
Montezuma and Tripoli? I'll give you a hint, they're not in the U.S
Imagine
if Qaddafi had developed a hymn that said: "from the shores of Florida
to the low lands of Ontario, we will fight our nation's battle." Can
you imagine the uproar about that?!
But this Marine Corps
hymn and what they boast about tells you they're an invading army of
conquest and plunder enforcing a system of worldwide exploitation. And
in order to do that, when you're objectively in a position of
oppressing the people whose countries you're invading and occupying,
and when you have the whole culture that exists in this country [the
U.S.], including around women, you are going to do the kind of things
that these U.S. troops did in Iraq, in Abu Ghraib and other places; and
in Afghanistan; and in Guantanamo. And you're going to especially do it
when you're commanded to do so and the whole force of the military is
behind it
Recently, the newspaper the Toledo Blade
did a series of exposures about atrocities committed by U.S. troops in
Vietnam: cutting off the ears of women, old women, old men and children
and wearing them as trophies of war and committing other mutilations
and atrocities. This is still coming out, 30 years later. And
everywhere in the world that the U.S. military is stationed, it turns
whole sections of the surrounding area into brothels for U.S. troops.
This is a reflection of the nature of this army and of the nature of
the system for which it is fighting and which it is seeking to enforce.
So
then we have to ask a question — since they [U.S. troops] are always
conditioned to talk about the "bad guys" — "we're the `good guys' going
off to get the `bad guys.'" It's that cop mentality. And we know that
these abuses in the prisons in Iraq are not different than the abuses
in the prisons in the U.S. I was reading an article by Mumia Abu-Jamal
[a famous political prisoner, a supporter of the "Move" organization
and a former member of the Black Panther Party, who has been on death
row for over 20 years] pointing out that one of the people working in
the prisons in Iraq was from the prison he's now in, in Pennsylvania.
This kind of abuse is an integral part of this system. This system
cannot do what it does, and cannot have its enforcers enforce what it
is, without doing these things constantly
So the question is: who, then, are the good guys and the bad guys?
It
is necessary to confront these troops with this fundamental truth. It
is necessary to create a situation in which, in fact, they do not have, and are increasingly aware
that they do not have, the support of the people for what they are
doing and what they represent. This is of great importance in building
resistance to particular wars. It was extremely important in resisting
the war in Vietnam. As a result of the work of antiwar forces and
resistance within the military itself, there were more than 100
newspapers, radical newspapers within the military, coffee houses set
up outside many military bases, and many soldiers were influenced to
turn against what they were being ordered and trained to do
I
remember there was a survey in the late '60s taken by the Army itself
about which political leaders in society members of the U.S. armed
forces looked to at that point. And among the Black soldiers — but this
also had support more broadly in the military — leaders of the Black
Panther Party scored higher than any official of the U.S. government.
Now, that is a very important thing and a very favorable development,
in terms of resisting a particular war but also thinking more
strategically, beyond that, in terms of revolution
I'm
not advocating that anybody do anything in this regard, but you think
about a situation that moves toward increased resistance, in the face
of everything that's at stake now, moves even beyond that toward
revolution: well, then the military in this country is going to be
called out to engage in bloody suppression against what would be going
on by way of resistance, and especially revolution, when things get to
the point where the ruling class feels threatened. And the kind of
developments that went on in the Vietnam War [the resistance against
that war] would need to go on, on a much bigger scale, in the face of
all this. Not that that would solve all the problems of revolution, but
it could be one very important factor
So, people in the
military need to be told the truth, just like everybody else does. We
did that in the struggle against the Vietnam War. I remember being in
Berkeley at an antiwar table, day after day, arguing with soldiers who
would come. They'd come on leave, you know, they'd come as they were
about ready to ship out to Vietnam. We got in arguments, one after the
other, and we told them the blunt truth about what they were doing and
why it was wrong. And this had a good effect — sometimes immediately,
but more over a period of time — not just what we did in Berkeley, but
what people were doing overall. And this is a question of strategic
significance, both in relation to building resistance, but also in
thinking about revolution.
So I've gone on a long time
and now I am going to conclude. And in doing so, let me repeat the
first and include also the rest of the "Three Main Points" that appear
in our newspaper:
- The whole system we live
under is based on exploitation, here and all over the world. It is
completely worthless and no basic change for the better can come about
until this system is overthrown.
- Many different groups
will protest and rebel against things this system does, and these
protests and rebellions should be supported and strengthened. Yet it is
only those with nothing to lose but their chains who can be the
backbone of a struggle to actually overthrow this system and create a
new system that will put an end to exploitation and help pave the way
to a whole new world.
- Such a revolutionary struggle is
possible. There is a political Party that can lead such a struggle, a
political Party that speaks and acts for those with nothing to lose but
their chains, the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
"This Party has the vision, the program, the leadership and
the organizational principles to unite those who must be united and
enable them to do what must be done. There is a challenge for all those
who would like to see such a revolution, those with a burning desire to
see a drastic change for the better, all those who dare to dream and to
act to bring about a completely new and better world: Support this
Party, join this Party, spread its message and its organized strength,
and prepare the ground for a revolutionary rising that has a solid
basis and real chance of winning."
We
don't have to live this way, in a world like this. Another world IS
possible. Despite the difficult and painful pangs of birth, a new world
is in birth. Let's do everything we can to hasten this new world into
being