[PEN-L:30373] Re: Re: Unconditional Anti-Imperialism

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 18/09/02 10:18 -0400, Louis Proyect wrote:
> At 08:34 AM 9/18/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> > Louis mentioned a week or two ago that Marx unconditionally
> > supported all manner of anti-colonial revolts, no matter how
> > primitive the nature of the resistance.
> >
> > If somebody could throw me a few cites where his arguments
> > on this point are explicaated, I'd appreciate it.
> >
> > max
>
>
> I should add that their record on such questions was not 100 percent
> consistent. At one point, Engels gave his backing to the USA in its war
> with Mexico.


I would have to check the details but my recollection is that Marx and
Engels at one time wrote some particularly unsympathetic remarks on the
"South Slav Question". These are probably best understood in the context of
their seeing Czarist Russia as the most reactionary force for decades after
the Congress of Vienna of 1815. Their changing perceptions might have also
been linked to Russia's declining relative strength in the middle in the
third quarter of the 19th century, before colonial expansion accelerated
and capitalist, imperialist, developments deepened.


> But as they both matured, Marx and Engels dropped any sympathy for the
> "civilizing" mission of imperialism.


My recollection is hazy but broadly my impression is that Marx and Engels
can best be understood to have a presumption of sympathy against all forms
of oppression, but they emphasise actual political support must depend on
the overall effect of whether the campaign weakens or strengthens the main
enemies on a global scale. I do not think that is necessarily inconsistent
with what Louis Proyect has written above.

Chris Burford

London