Re: [Marxism] Internationalism, the main enemy, and what to do next

[Jscotlive@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 08/01/2006 04:35:54 GMT Standard Time,
Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

> The British antiwar movement of course hates Blair; nonetheless, in its
> failure to put the greatest focus on the imperialism of "its own
> country,"
> it failed to deepen its struggle. Blair is the leader of the greatest
> imperialist power before the domination of the United States and
> remains the
> United State's lesser, but absolutely necessary ally--not a puppy,
> just a
> smaller wolf. At the end of the day, the masses demonstrating against
> Bush
> could go home satisfied that they had opposed the wolf across the
> sea--"Bush
> Go Home." Their understanding and resolve would have increased had
> they put
> their focus on the lesser wolf.
>

Reply:

But surely this misses the point. Blair and British imperialism would be
nothing without US imperialism to latch onto. I disagree that the British 
antiwar
movement has not gone after Blair. A motion to impeach was recently singed by
over 100 MPs, and Rose Gentle and other Military Families Against The War just
had their first attempt to bring him into the High Court rebuffed.

My criticism lies in the lack of political depth to the antiwar movement in
Britain, by focusing everything on Blair and ipso facto leaving the system
which spawned him intact. Here in Scotland myself and other comrades have just
drafted a motion for our next party conference in March that the break-up of the
British State would weaken US imperialism by taking out its ally in the North
Atlantic.

I've pasted it below for you to look at:

Conference reaffirms the Party's commitment to waging the struggle for
Scottish independence under the banner of anti-imperialism, internationalism and
republicanism. As a socialist party in the tradition of John Maclean and James
Connolly we uphold the aforementioned principles, and in so doing recognise the
common enemy of all humanity at this point in our history as US imperialism
and its allies.

We reaffirm our commitment to the international struggle against US
imperialism and its determination to force neoliberalism to every corner of the 
planet.
Standing in solidarity with the people of Iraq, Latin America, Africa, and
oppressed peoples and communities everywhere, we understand that a key ally of
US imperialism in the North East Atlantic is the British State, formed in the
interests of a ruling class comprising English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish
members, and which denies genuine self-determination to the four nations on 
these
islands.

Therefore, whilst working with non-socialists on the issue of independence,
we recognise that the minimum demand necessary to ensure that independence must
be for a republic, with the abolition of all crown powers and the monarchy;
and a withdrawal from NATO and the closure of all imperialist military bases on
Scottish soil.

As part of this campaign we seek allies amongst the working class and
anti-unionist democrats in England, Wales and Ireland who also understand the 
need to
break up the British State in the interests of the working class throughout
these islands and all engaged in struggle against US imperialism
internationally.

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