Re: Turkish and Kurdish martyrs

[malecki@xxxxxxxxxx (Robert Malecki)]

Hugh writes;

>I think Robert M misjudges both the impact of the hunger-strikes, and the
>numbers of fighters ready to put their lives on the line in Turkey and
>Kurdistan. A lot of people are ready to do it, both passively, in a sense,
>as in a hunger-strike, and actively in armed struggle.

Hugh, during the anti-war movement when thosands of lives were at stake
everyday people did some pretty silly things, (including myself) because we
were not ideologically prepared ourselves or thought that the masses were
not ready to intervene. That is the problem here. It wasn,t until years
later i would learn that the Leninists certainly had the same situation in
Russia. However they stuck to their guns of educating and preparing the
Proletarian vanguard for its role of leading a proletarian revolution. So
the critique is not only against the Turkish militants who want to drown
facists in their own blood. But adventurists actions of armed struggle and
sabotage in a situation where the masses are not ready for carrying out this
task.
>
>In one way what Bob says is obvious -- a living fighter with a gun in his
>hand is more use than a dead one. But when you are rotting in jail, you are
>not a living fighter with a gun in your hand, and wars are fought *now*.

Yes and no. In fact in Turkey it would be a combination of illegal and legal
activity to raise the conciousness of the masses. Work inside the unions,
amongst the urban poor, etc..

>Civil wars also involve a huge battle for popular support.

Are you saying that a civil war is on the agenda in Turkey? I think this a
romantic fake leftist illusion about the reality of Turkey today.

>Even if most people (in other words, the masses) are not ready for
>immediate revolutionary socialist mobilization, and this is obviously the
>case in Turkey, they are often receptive to and influenced by acts of
>personal heroism. This is what happened in Ireland, as has been mentioned,
>with Bobby Sands and his comrades. It's happening today throughout Turkey.

The Irish Nationalists tactics are wrong also. Because replacing class
struggle with suicidal adventurist action like the IRA or hunger strikes in
prison does not in reality raise the conciousness of the workers. Despite
what these leftist and nationalist think. In fact they are trying to replace
the hardwork of organising class struggle with themselves. Sometimes heroric
and certainly defensible, but stupid and will not lead the class struggle
forward. Don,t worry when the time comes for this kind of struggle the point
will be arming the workers and not trying to replace this with the present
tactics of various left formations of putting their bodies on the line in
place of a proletarian Vanguard.

>Don't forget that one of the triggers of the Russian revolution of 1905 was
>the mowing down by Tsarist troops of the peaceful demonstration to petition
>the Tsar led by the priest Gapon. In Gapon's words, Bloody Sunday, 9
>January 1905, 'divided the Tsar from the people by a river of blood'. This
>slaughter of the innocents brought the anger of the proletariat, already
>rising with the great mobilizations and strike waves, to the point of
>eruption.

Yes, and the failure of the Russian revolution in 1905 was because their was
no party to lead the masses to victory! I doubt if there is a party in
Turkey today which even comes near this goal. In fact the left there does
not differ from anywhere else for that matter. In fact what we have is a
veritable mess their.
>
>So don't underestimate the contribution made by the self-sacrifice of the
>comrades on hunger-strike.

Naturally i do not under-estimate the dedication of these people.And i
defend them against the Turkish bougeoisie and half military state that is
trying to exterminate them. But the politics of this kind of stuff is
bankrupt. We do not need martyrs but communist revolutionaries. And work
inside prison is much more then demanding "better" conditions for political
activists! Why not better conditions for all prisoners or are the politicos
on the left something special?

>And don't forget that for every hunger-striker there are dozens of people
>working outside agitating for the demands of the strikers and fighting to
>keep the comrades alive to be able to fight the better as a result of the
>improved conditions or releases that can be won.

This i do not doubt. But it is mainly the left making a lot of noise both
inside and outside the prison with no clear idea of demands for the prison
population in general in so far as the material i have seen presented on
this list. Why even the Panthers had a better line on this stuff then the
Turkish Left who are surpose to be Communists.

>The brave death of a comrade in a good cause is both tragic and inspiring.
>This is something the mercenary armies of the imperialists can never
>emulate however much they try.

This death is very sad. A waste! A horrible stupid throwing away of a
possible communist militant for very unclear political reasons other the
getting a few priviledges for politicos locked up as i understand it. When i
was in prison it never even dawned on me the possibility of seperating
political prisoners and the normal prison population. In fact it became a
challenge to draw these people into the battle. However i doubt that many of
the politicos can even relate to the normal prison population. this was the
case in the US. They put themselves above the common theif or whatever as
something special. In fact it was a great chance to draw thousands of urban
poor into a higher struggle.

Finally, it is every communists duty to defend these militants! But to
capitulate to the romantiscism and emotional atomsphere on this list at
present without clearly taking a position on tactics and the program of
struggle is liquidating any kind of struggle for a Bolshevik line.

I am sorry if this offends the emotional and romantic discussion of martyrs
going on here. But Trotskyists try to tell the truth, no matter how hard
that might be.

It reminds me of the Vietnanese Trotskyists who were executed by the
Stalinists in saigon in 1945. We Trotskists did not try to make them
martyrs.Even if their deaths as you claim are and inspiration! In fact by
surrendering their arms  to the Stalinist Police cheif they politically
signed their own death warrants and the death of the first Vietnamese
revolution.

malecki




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