Re: terror (Was: To the list...)

["Tom O'Lincoln" <suarsos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lou Pa writes:

>>I think it is urgent to point out (for the umpteenth time) that the
arguments made by Lenin and Trotsky against "individual terror" and against
the Narodniks have NOTHING to do with the actions of organized forces in
Palestine today.  NOTHING.  It is just WRONG for us to let ourselves get
confused by the bourgeoisie's usage of the word 'terror' and think that
bombings in Palestine are the same kind of thing as an anarchist shooting
McKinley.  It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the organized
campaigns conducted by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades,
or other organizations in Palestine as if they were "individual terror".
There is nothing "individual" about them.  They are carrying on guerrilla
war with, it must be said, the overwhelming support of the population in
Gaza and the West Bank.  They are not 'substituting themselves for the
masses' any more than Umhkonto we Sizwe or the French Resistance or the
July 26 Movement or any other guerrilla force has done.<<

Generally speaking I agree with the line Lou is taking -- as I did earlier
in the exchanges with Bob Gould about Iraq. I was not for condemning the UN
bombing and I agree this is not "individual terror". But I think we're
pushing it a bit if we see this has "nothing" to do with substitutionism or
terrorism. Guerrilla warfare even with mass support, can involve both.

Guerrilla warfare, however popular it might be, often tends to be carried
out by relatively small bands, operating in secret. The majority of the
working people can get relegated to the role of spectators. That's
substitutionism. Attacks on civilians also have a different quality than
attacks on military targets, like it or not. In the case of Palestine, at
the very least you have to acknowledge that there is political fall-out in
the west from kids getting blown up that wouldn't happen if soldiers were
killed.

There's a continuum, and somewhere along the continuum a struggle can go
seriously astray. I hope we don't get polarised into forgetting it. Mass
organising by workers at the point of production would be vastly
preferable, in my book. But that's theory, and this is the here and now --
and of course I support the actual struggle going on in front of our eyes.


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