Re: [Marxism] Militant withdraws support from garment union's challenge to emplo

["David Altman" <altman_d@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

--- In swp_usa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "acpollack2@xxxx" <acpollack2@xxxx> wrote:

(Below is my comment on Fred's post (below) to the marxism list on a new
Militant article.)

Jesus, that's pathetic (the Militant's new stance). For a taste of what
Fred's talking about re proletarian military policy, see
http://www.marxists.org/archive/cannon/works/index.htm and scroll down to
1940:
1940: Military Policy of the Proletariat
1940: First Results of our Military Policy
1940: Militarism and Workers' Rights
1940: Lenin, Trotsky and the First World War
1941: Socialism On Trial (part two has a section on the policy)

Andrew:

Thanks for posting this. I've skinmmed over the articles by Cannon on the
Proletarian Military Policy and found them most interesting. I question
their applicability to the current situation, though. The PMP was a response
to a concrete problem: The workers rightfully felt threatened by fascism and
wanted to fight it arms in hand. In proposing military training under union
control the SWP sought to link up with this entirely progressive sentiment
without giving an inch to bourgeois patriotism. Surely it would be absurd
and counter-revolutionary to propose "military training under union control"
to fight the Iraqi insurgents!

The Militant's June 13th article WAS a concession to social patriotism. Not
only that, it was of a piece with the SWP's de facto "Third Camp" position
on the Iraq war, its bizarre fawning over Donald Rumsfeld's military
doctrine, and its enthusing over "the political space opened up for working
people" by U.S. intervention in the MIdeast. The Militant's new position,
dogmatic as it is, is BETTER than its old position. While I don't expect the
SWP to reverse itself on the other things, I could be wrong. One can expect
almost ANYTHING from this weird and increasingly isolated sect.

David Altman

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