The Case for Supporting Bosnia Peace Plan

[TimW333521@xxxxxxx]

While I assume many, perhaps most, on the left oppose sending U.S. troops to
Bosnia, little is being said about this, and no action that I know of is
being taken.  The main opposition to troops comes from the Republicans and
becomes the more virulent the farther to the right one goes.  I would suggest
that this right wing, essentially isolationist, attack on the Bosnian peace
plan is caused by the fact that, with all its huge flaws, the plan is overall
a positive good and in the interests of the Bosnian people and its working
class.  As internationalists we Marxists should support it.

Why?

1)  There is a good chance the war is over and the Bosnian people can live
under relative conditions of peace.  Only such conditions will permit a
revival of the Bosnian labor movement.

2) Since the war was an ethnic one which was harmful to all sides, its ending
is a positive good.

3) There is least a chance that a multi-ethnic Bosnia, or a multi-ethnic
 portion of Bosnia (Sarajevo) will survive.  If the war continued there would
be no such chance.

3)  The main aggressor, Serbia, though not defeated,  was at least stanched.

4)  Most compelling: this peace, imperfect as it is, is the ONLY real
alternative to continued fratricide.

Having established that this flawed peace is better than the continued
horrors of war and genocide, the question remains: is there any alternative
way to secure the peace than the sending of U.S. troops in as part of NATO?

To which I would answer:

1)  There was no "working class" way.  There exists no workers state anywhere
with the leadership, will or power to enforce a peace settlement.  Workers
without state power are quite powerless in this kind of situation.  Let's be
real!

2)  A true multi-national UN-type force would have had more input from
non-imperialist nations than NATO.  But such an alternative was not in the
cards because those who REALLY control the UN are the same as those who
control NATO, and they fear building a UN force with even potential
independence from them.

But then: Is not the U.S. an imperialist power and will it not therefore
impose its will, its interests, its social system upon all sides in Bosnia?
 Certainly.

But:

1)  None of the belligerants are waging an anti-imperialist struggle and so
the issue is not the suppression of such a struggle.

2)  It is difficult to see how the U.S. could impose upon Bosnia what is
already there.  The reality is that Bosnia will be no more nor less
"socialist" after a year of U.S. troops than it is now.

3) I would suggest there will be a far better chance for socialism  there in
a year or two than there is there now.  This is not only because socialism is
of little use to dead bodies but because the conditions of war have
encouraged right wing revanchist forces on all sides.

4)  This leads me to the contrarian notion that from time to time, while
acting in its own interests, the U.S. can actually do something which is
represents broader interests.

Example: Haiti!  The left is in far better shape in Haiti today than before
the U.S. intervention.  This may not fit well with our traditional views but
it does fit the facts!





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