OPE-L message, RE: [OPE] England and Ireland

> How do you explain or extend the same formulation to those instances where there are regional imbalances and as a result > struggle for separate provinces within the same bourgeois constitution?

Hi Bapuji:

Good question. The answer is yes, I believe. For instance, one might

say that the Mexican working class will never be free so long as

the people of Oaxaca are subjugated. Or, so long as there is caste

oppression in India, the Indian working class will never be free.

In US history, I think it would have been valid to claim that so long as

there was slavery the US, wage working class would never be free.

This did not mean that the end of slavery represented freedom for

wage-workers but it constituted a necessary, historical pre-requisite

for that eventuality.

One might also say that so long as women are oppressed, men will

never be free. Yes?

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Hi Dave Z:

I agree, of course, that US reaction does not have its roots in the

occupation of Iraq. That should be clear since US reaction obviously

pre-dated that occupation. But, I think it is nonetheless true,

paraphrasing Lenin, that "Reaction in the US is strengthened by

the occupation of Iraq". Yes, it's true, that Iraqis will free

themselves from their occupiers yet class society in the US will

persist but that would represent a defeat for US imperialism and a

victory for the international working class.

In solidarity, Jerry

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"The English working class will never accomplish anything until it
has got rid of Ireland. The English reaction has its roots in the
subjugation of Ireland" - [Marx, December 10, 1869]

"The English working class will never be free until Ireland is
freed from the English yoke. Reaction in England is
strengthened by the enslavement of Ireland (just as reaction
in Russia is fostered by her enslavement of a number of nations)".
- [Lenin - 1915, _The Right of Nations to Self-Determination_,
Section 8: "The Utopian Karl Marx and the Practical Rosa
Luxemburg"]

The same could be said in relation to Iraq, couldn't it?
The US working class will never be free until Iraq is freed
from the US yoke? What are some other contemporary
extensions?