[Marxism] Alan Woods versus James Petras

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Many people in Iran are thinking now about many things. Unfortunately, 
it seems that many of our western intellectuals have lost the ability to 
think at all. One of the saddest things I have read for a long time was 
an article written by James Petras in Global Research on Monday, June 22 
with the title Iranian Elections: The ‘Stolen Elections’ Hoax. It is 
particularly sad because James Petras is a penetrating analyst who often 
writes very good articles. Unfortunately, he has fallen into the trap of 
comparing phenomena that have nothing in common and from an erroneous 
comparison he inevitably draws wrong conclusions. In this article we 
read the following:

     “Almost the entire spectrum of Western opinion makers, including 
all the major electronic and print media, the major liberal, radical, 
libertarian and conservative web-sites, echoed the opposition’s claim of 
rampant election fraud. Neo-conservatives, libertarian conservatives and 
Trotskyites joined the Zionists in hailing the opposition protestors as 
the advance guard of a democratic revolution.”

Petras repeats the scandalous accusation of the Iranian regime that the 
protests on the streets of Iran are organized by imperialism. He does 
not produce a shred of evidence to back up this calumny. He calmly 
asserts it and uses the old Stalinist method of the amalgam to link 
together the Trotskyists with - the CIA and Zionism. This is the 
language of Vyshinsky, not Marx or Lenin. It is the language of a man 
who has lost his bearings to such an extent that he does not know how to 
distinguish between revolution and counterrevolution.

The fact that US imperialism has plans for regime change in Tehran does 
not mean the movement is controlled or has been created by the CIA, as 
Petras and some other “Lefts” claim. There is not the slightest doubt 
that the U.S. is covertly trying to effect regime-change in Iran, and 
has been doing so for the last three decades. We know that Washington 
has set up a special fund for this purpose. We know that the 
imperialists have been trying to demonize Iran, presenting it as a 
threat to world peace and the stability of the Middle East. But the 
curious thing about the present situation is how circumspect the 
Americans have been. They have been very cautious over the elections, as 
have the Europeans. The only European head of state who has accused the 
Iranian regime of rigging the elections is President Sarkozy of France.

Contrary to what Petras writes, the right wing neo-Conservatives in the 
USA are saying that Ahmadinejad won the election. This seeming paradox 
is easily explained. These reactionaries wish to show the hopelessness 
of dealing with the Iranians at all, except by bombing them from a great 
height. What about the Zionists, who Petras claims are also behind the 
protesters? Not so! Like the US Neo-Cons, the Zionists also say that 
Ahmadinajad won fair and square! And why is this? Because the Israeli 
reactionaries want to provoke a war with Iran in order to destroy its 
nuclear capability and weaken it militarily.

So there we have it. It is not the Trotskyists who are in a united front 
with the reactionaries in the USA and the bellicose Zionists. They agree 
wholeheartedly with James Petras’ assessment of the Iranian elections. 
As the saying goes, necessity makes strange bedfellows! However, we do 
not use the method of the Stalinist amalgam and we would not like to 
accuse comrade Petras of being in a united front with these the 
reactionaries in the USA and Israel. Rather, we assume that he has made 
a lamentable mistake.

The cause of this mistake is obvious. Petras and others have noted 
(correctly) that US imperialism has interfered in the internal affairs 
of states like Venezuela, Bolivia, Georgia, the Ukraine, Lebanon etc. 
and has not hesitated to encourage, organize and finance opposition 
movements, which take to the streets, often using the excuse (justified 
or not) of rigged elections to destabilize governments that are not to 
the liking of Washington.

This is perfectly true. It partly explains the reaction of many people 
in Venezuela (not just Chavez), who have drawn a parallel between the 
reactionary movements of the middle class escualidos trying to 
destabilize the Bolivarian government and the Iranian protests. Similar 
parallels have been drawn with the semi-fascist gangs that have 
organized violent street protests against the government of Evo Morales 
in Bolivia.

However, there is a fundamental error in this reasoning. The government 
of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia are progressive 
governments that are faced with opposition movements of the reactionary 
oligarchies that have ruled these countries for generations and are 
seeking to re-impose their dictatorial rule with the open support of US 
imperialism. These are the concrete facts and that is why the Marxists 
have always denounced the attempts of the reactionary opposition to 
overthrow the elected governments of Venezuela and Bolivia by right wing 
oppositions masquerading under the false flag of “democracy”.

What has this got to do with the situation in Iran? The government of 
Iran is not a progressive pro-working class government but a reactionary 
theocratic dictatorship, which has systematically repressed the workers’ 
movement, denied trade union rights, arrested, tortured and executed 
trade union activists, for decades. In Venezuela, when workers occupy 
factories, the government often nationalizes them and accepts the 
workers’ demands. In Iran, if workers occupy factories they would be 
brutally repressed and imprisoned, if not worse.

These are facts, and facts are stubborn things. The facts show that 
there is nothing progressive about the rule of the mullahs in Iran, and 
there is no basis whatsoever for comparing it to Venezuela and Bolivia. 
By recognizing the “victory” of Ahmadinejad, President Chavez seriously 
damaged the image of the Bolivarian Republic in the eyes of the people 
of Iran. And in the last analysis, the only real friends of the 
Bolivarian Republic are the masses. The Marxists will always be on the 
side of the masses of any country in their struggle against injustice 
and oppression. That is true of Venezuela and Bolivia – and it is also 
true in Iran.

full: 
http://www.marxist.com/iran-regime-steps-up-terror-general-strike-needed.htm

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