Tag Archives: socialist

Statement on Unemployment

5 Feb

For Immediate Release

The January unemployment figures have been released. We believe that they will be slightly lower than before, and that the Obama Administration will be using this to say that their policies are working. However, there is a deeper truth to the matter.

The December 2010 unemployment figures, set at 9.4%, are grossly underestimated. The unemployment rate in the United States is calculated not by the amount of people who are able-bodied and out of work, but rather by those who are collecting unemployment insurance. As such, once someone has exhausted their benefits, they magically become employed. This rate also does not count those who are under-employed, that is to say those workers who are working part-time but should be working full-time. It also does not count as unemployed those workers who are working jobs far beneath their actual skill set or educational level.

With the election of many Republicans, most of whom are Tea Klux-Klaners, it is likely that the U.S. House of Representatives will attempt to cut the unemployment benefit package this year. After all, it is a cornerstone of their “Cut-Go” strategy.

Naturally, this will have reverberating effects across the economy. Those who are currently using their benefits to pay their bills and buy food will suddenly have nothing. Those who relied on the spending of those benefits will likewise face either a reduction of hours or unemployment.

The American Party of Labor understands that unless the working people of this country rise up, and seize the machinery of the state and the economy it is impossible for every worker to be guaranteed their social right to full gainful employment at a livable income.

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Fascism: Origins and Ideology

1 Feb

Post War Chaos

The social and political upheaval that accompanied the end of World War I fused the various attitudes (elitism, racism, irrationalism, anti-modernism) that characterized the radical right of the early years of the century into a cohesive political movement, fascism.

Fascism was nurtured in the atmosphere of chaos, uncertainty, disillusionment, and rebellion that swept the world in 1919.  Demobilized soldiers returned home to face unemployment, bread lines, strikes and riots.  The successful communist revolution in Russia and the growth of an international communist movement panicked the established order, especially business interests who felt that their social, economic, and political positions were directly threatened.  Many thought that a force willing and able to resort to unlimited counter-revolutionary violence was necessary to remedy the situation.

Street fighting in Berlin (1919)

Mussolini Comes to Power in Italy

Just such a force appeared in Italy.  Seemingly coming out of nowhere, black-uniformed paramilitary groups led by a former socialist turned ultra-nationalist Benito Mussolini stepped into the fray.  Nicknamed the “Blackshirts,” Mussolini’s squads brutally attacked socialists, communists, trade unionists and their sympathizers.  Soon, Mussolini’s squads attracted the attention of Italian businessmen who saw them as their best guarantee against the rising tide of revolution.  Support and money started to flow to Mussolini’s Fascisti di Combattimento or “Combat Units.” Making full use of the prevailing mood of chaos, the fascists combined extreme violence, passionate anti-communism and brute force to propel them to the forefront of Italian politics.  By 1921, the socialists and communists had been routed; and, backed up by his private army of Blackshirts, Mussolini becomes Italy’s main power broker.  Hailed by his followers as Il Duce (“the Leader”), Mussolini rallies the fascists to march on Rome on October 22, 1922; an act that intimidates Italian King Victor-Emmanuel into naming Mussolini as Prime Minister. Mussolini used his Blackshirts to brutalize any and all opposition, and, by 1925 his power was complete. The fascist dictatorship had begun.

Mussolini (center) and leading Fascists (1922)

The Fascist National Party, as it called itself after 1921, was governed by a Fascist Grand Council headed by Mussolini. In fact, however, power was much more diffused in Fascist Italy than appeared on the surface. The base of the fascist movement was the Blackshirt foot soldiers, the ‘squadristi.’ These fascist squads were controlled by a local boss or ‘Ras’ – curiously, this term comes from an Ethiopian term for a chieftain. Every neighborhood, city, and province had a Ras who operated as a near independent power in his region. Thus, despite Fascist propaganda which loudly claimed a monolithic unity behind its Duce, Mussolini never had complete freedom of action and always had to take into account the wishes and rivalries of the fascist bosses.

Il Duce Speaks

More effective at propaganda than at actually ruling, the fascist government quite often operated as more of a Mafia-like patronage structure than as an efficiently running state.  This despite fascist claims of establishing a modern, streamlined, disciplined system.  As for the name ‘fascism’ itself, there is some dispute as to its origin.  On the one hand there is the Italian word fascio, meaning a unit or detachment; on the other there is the fasces, a symbol of state authority in ancient Rome, that consisted of an axe in a bundle of rods.  The fascists will take this ancient symbol and make it their emblem.  Often contradictory, fascist thought claimed to reject liberalism and communism and to embrace authority, hierarchy and perpetual action and mobilization.  The fascist slogan of “Credire! Obbedire!  Combattire!” (“Believe!  Obey!  Fight!) embodied this sense of militarization as did the Fascist Decalogue, which every school child had to memorize:

  • Know that the Fascist and in particular the soldier, must not believe in perpetual peace.
  • Days of imprisonment are always deserved.
  • The nation serves even as a sentinel over a can of petrol.
  • A companion must be a brother, first, because he lives with you, and secondly because he thinks like you.
  • The rifle and the cartridge belt, and the rest, are confided to you not to rust in leisure, but to be preserved in war.
  • Do not ever say “The Government will pay . . . ” because it is you who pay; and the Government is that which you willed to have, and for which you put on a uniform.
  • Discipline is the soul of armies; without it there are no soldiers, only confusion and defeat.
  • For a volunteer there are no extenuating circumstances when he is disobedient.
  • One thing must be dear to you above all: the life of the Duce.
  • Mussolini is always right.

The fascist regime touted its achievements in expanding the educational  system and leisure-time activities, giving monetary bonuses to large families and embarking on major construction projects. Especially prestigious was an agreement with the Catholic Church which, for the first time, recognized an Italian government as legitimate. In economics, fascism promoted the idea of national self-sufficiency and large labor unions which were merged with corporate management, the corporate state. In reality, production declined, wages fell and big business and industrial interests dominated the fascist state.

Flag of the Fascist National Party (note fasces)

Fascism Defined

In 1935, the Seventh World Congress of the Communist International famously defined fascism as “the openly terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital.” This definition, termed the Dimitrov Formulation (after Georgi Dimitrov, head of the Comintern) provides a solid Marxist foundation for understanding the nature of fascism.  Some further fleshing out, though, is needed in order to fully distinguish fascism from other forms of bourgeois repression; for fascism is a very specific type of bourgeois dictatorship with its own unique features.

A problem here arises because, unlike other ideologies, fascism does not have a coherent body of thought behind it.  This is, perhaps a consequence of fascism’s origins in the various attitudes that constituted the eclectic radical right of the 19th century.  The closest that fascism comes to having a “Bible,” Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, is very specific to early 20th century German issues and does not function as a unifying text.  Many individuals from different backgrounds and concerns will come to fascism for different reasons.  Thus, there will be what has been termed “hyphenated fascism”:  radical-fascism, clerical-fascism, monarcho-fascism etc. It is often easier to say what fascism is against than to discern what fascism is for.  Moreover, the image fascism projects as a movement is often at variance with the reality that fascism imposes once it comes to power.  There will be two closely related, yet distinct variants of fascism:  Italian fascism and German fascism (National Socialism or Nazism).  However, it is possible to outline some of the qualities which all fascist movements have in common:

  • Fascism claims to be anti-liberal; anti-conservative and anti-communist.
  • Fascism claims to be a ‘Third Way,’ rejecting both capitalism and communism.
  • Fascism strives to establish a nationalist, authoritarian regime.
  • Fascism rejects the idea of class struggle, offering nationalism in its place.  The idea of melding labor and management into a nationalist whole is variously termed, in fascist terminology, National Corporatism (the Corporate State), National Socialism, or National Syndicalism.
  • Fascism actively pursues imperialism and territorial expansion.
  • Fascism rejects reason and rationality, and embraces irrationalism and romanticism.  As such, fascism makes extensive use of symbols, emblems, and uniforms.
  • Fascism encourages the total militarization of society and espouses a philosophy of ‘romantic violence.’
  • Fascism creates private paramilitary militias.
  • Fascism is extremely male supremacist, relegating women to subservient roles in society.
  • Fascism sees itself as a movement of the young, emphasizing energy, health, vitality and generational conflict.
  • Fascism promotes a charismatic, personalist, dictatorial style of leadership; with the leader worshipped as a god-like figure.

Italian and German Fascism Embodied: Mussolini and Hitler

Fascist Irrationalism: Book Burning in Nazi Germany

Italian Magazine Asserting “Youth on the March.” Fascist Militarization and the “Movement of the Young”

German Poster: Worship of the Leader

Although most of its first adherents were demobilized soldiers and street “toughs,” fascism broadened its appeal – otherwise it would have remained a marginal movement.  Industrialists were attracted to fascism for its intense anti-communism.  Large segments of the petty-bourgeois, office workers and small business owners, saw fascism as both protecting them from big business (note the contradiction with the fact of big business support for fascism) and saving them from falling into the working class.  Many in rural areas saw fascism as providing opportunities for advancement.  Thus, fascism became a mass movement.

Fascist movements aping Mussolini’s Italy and, later, Hitler’s Germany, spread throughout the world.  Falangism in Spain, Rexism in Belgium, Peronism in Argentina, the Arrow Cross in Hungary, the Iron Guard in Romania, and ex-Labour Party member Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in the United Kingdom.  Of the two variants of fascism, the Italian and German, some fascists claimed loyalty to the one, some to the other.  The difference between the two lies in that racism and anti-Semitism, while not a necessary component of Italian fascism, is central to German fascism (Nazism.)

Two ex-‘socialists:’ Mussolini and his British Protégé, Oswald Mosely

The Weimar Republic in Germany

After the German surrender in World War I, and the Kaiser’s exile to Holland, a new liberal democratic government was established, the Weimar Republic.  Led by moderates, the new German government managed to survive threats from both the left (the Spartacist Rebellion) and the right (an abortive attempt to establish a military dictatorship, the “Kapp Putsch”).  However, the Weimar Republic was discredited in the eyes of many for agreeing to the provisions of the Versailles Conference. This conference dismantled Germany’s oversees empire, took German territory and handed it over to the newly created state of Poland, placed French troops on German soil, forbade the existence of a German submarine fleet and air force, strictly limited the size of the German army, ordered that Germany pay billions of dollars worth of reparations to the British and French and decreed that Germany bear the sole blame for the outbreak of World War I.  Indeed, many refused to believe that Germany had even been defeated in the War; preferring, instead, to claim that Germany had been “stabbed in the back” by Jews, Liberals, politicians and socialists.

Street scene, Weimar Germany

This conspiracy theory, that Germany had been betrayed during the War, coupled with the failed communist revolution of 1919 led to rise of ultra-nationalist paramilitary gangs, such as the Frei Korps.  After helping destroy the communist rising and murdering its leaders, groups such as the Frei Korps now directed their anger at the Weimar Republic itself.  Assassination, political violence and right-wing plots to overthrow the government were rife in the early years of the Republic.  One such attempt, the Beer Hall Putsch “uprising” of 1923 took place in a Munich beer hall, hence the name, when a group of conspirators kidnapped leading city politicians who were holding a public meeting in the beer hall.  The conspirators’ plan was to seize the politicians, force them to call out the army, then march to Berlin and overthrow the Republic.  The plot was a dismal failure.  The army refused to play along, and most of the conspirators were caught or killed.  The leader of the conspiracy, an Austrian-born ex-corporal in the German army, was tried for treason and jailed.  His name was Adolf Hitler.

The Beer Hall Putsch, Munich 1923

Hitler and the Origins of Nazism

Born the son of an Austrian customs officer in 1889, the young Adolf Hitler originally wanted to be an artist.  Portfolio in hand, he traveled to Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1905 to enroll in the Academy of Fine Arts.  Hitler’s application was twice rejected by the Academy, and, penniless and homeless, he was compelled to eke out an existence on the streets of Vienna.

Painting by Hitler

Many historians and biographers have emphasized the importance of Hitler’s Vienna years (1905 – 1913) in the formation of his thought and personality.  It is in Vienna that Hitler first encounters racist and anti-Semitic literature.  Alone, bitter, resentful, too proud to work, surrounded by “hordes of alien races” (Slavs, Hungarians, Jews); Hitler moves from flop house to flop house, making a meager living by drawing post cards for tourists and spending the little money he had on racist literature and attending performances of Richard Wagner’s  mediaeval-heroic German operas.  Moving to Munich in 1913 to be among “real Germans” likewise ends in failure, and Hitler ends up on the streets again.  It is here, in Munich, that the declaration of war finds him in 1914, and Hitler joins the German army.

In many ways, the army provided Hitler with a sense of belonging that he had not known since leaving home in 1905.  He is several times cited for bravery in combat, and is awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, Germany’s highest military decoration.  This is interesting in that the Iron Cross, First Class, was a decoration usually given only to officers; yet Hitler never rises beyond the rank of lance-corporal.  The fact has caused some biographers to wonder if there was something about the moody loner who preferred to stay in barracks reading anti-Semitic literature rather than engaging in the usual carousing of young soldiers on leave that made his superiors not want to promote him.  In any event, the end of the War finds Hitler in a military hospital recovering from a mustard gas attack.  Like many others, Hitler is shocked at the news of Germany’s surrender and believes that Germany could only have been stabbed in the back by Jews and socialists.  Peacetime leaves Hitler with few options, and, rather than returning to the streets, he takes a job working as spy for the German military police.

Lance-Corporal Adolf Hitler

It is in this capacity that Hitler is sent to spy on a newly formed political group in Munich, the German Workers Party.  In the hothouse atmosphere of 1919 Munich, the military authorities assumed that a group calling themselves the “German Workers Party” would be another communist grouping.  After attending some meetings, Hitler is pleased to report back to his superiors that the German Workers Party is not a communist organization; rather, it is an ultra-patriotic nationalist group.  The group’s name is explained in that it intended to win German workers away from socialism and steer them into right-wing politics.

Hitler joins the group he was originally sent to spy on.  While attending meetings of the German Workers Party, Hitler discovers a previously unknown talent, a gift for public speaking and the ability to enthrall an audience with oratory.  Soon, the one-time spy becomes the organization’s most valuable member, and then its leader (“Fuhrer”). Once assuming leadership, Hitler changes the name of the group to the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).  The Nazi party, as it became known, is born.

Modeling his party on Mussolini’s fascists (in fact, at this time Hitler wrote a fan letter to Mussolini asking for an autographed picture, the Duce never replied – Hitler would later remind Mussolini of this), the newly formed Nazi Party acquired a potent symbol in the ancient Hindu/Buddhist swastika (in the eyes of some racist theorists, the “Aryan” or white race originated in northern India), an ideology that combined Italian-style fascism with virulent racism and anti-Semitism and built up a private paramilitary militia.  This brown shirt wearing paramilitary force, the “Storm Troopers,” (SA) would be Hitler’s instrument in bullying his political opponents and engaging in street fights with the communists.  Rising to the position of SA Chief of Staff would be one of Hitler’s first political followers, the battle-scarred ex-army captain Ernst Röhm.

NSDAP Banner

SA Men on Parade

SA Chief Ernst Röhm

After the debacle of the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler is sentenced to five years imprisonment.  The court was lenient on him, and it’s worth remarking that Hitler was only sentenced to five years for treason and, actually, only served eight months of that sentence before being pardoned and released.  During his confinement, Hitler is encouraged by his personal secretary, Rudolf Hess, to put his ideas down on paper.  As a result, Hitler writes Mein Kampf (My Struggle), the action plan of the Nazi movement.  In Mein Kampf, Hitler outlines his philosophy of extreme nationalism, anti-Semitism, and his plans for a new German Empire to be had in the East.  Today, historians debate exactly how much Hitler’s later actions can be traced to Mein Kampf, but the fact remains that much of it is there – from the invasion of Russia to statement that German would have been better off if a “hundred thousand Jews had been gassed at the beginning of World War I.”

Hitler also used his enforced leisure time to do some thinking about the future of his movement.  He concludes that attempts at a violent seizure of power, such as the Beer Hall Putsch, were wrong-headed.  Instead, he now insists that the Nazis must come to power constitutionally, by gaining the support of the two most important groups in German society: the industrialists and the military.  However, after his release, he finds it almost impossible to reign in the rowdy, street-brawling SA.  More and more, Hitler finds that he cannot trust the SA to moderate their actions, and he more and more he finds them an embarrassment and an impediment to winning the support of the German elite.  Thus, Hitler creates a new, disciplined, paramilitary force to serve as his personal army.  Personally loyal to him and only him, this new force from the beginning thought of itself as an elite, imperial guard – in contrast to the beer drinking, back alley fighting SA.  Sporting an all black uniform, this new force would be known as the “Schutzstaffl” (“honor guard”), the SS.  Although at first constituted as only a part of the much larger SA, the SS, and its new leader Heinrich Himmler would play a major role in Hitler’s later regime.

Hitler’s Secretary, Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess

Mein Kampf

Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler

After coming out of prison, Hitler rebuilds his movement and actively courts the army and big business.  Followers such as war hero Hermann Göring, and the intellectual – and master propagandist – Paul Josef Göbbels are instrumental in getting Hitler the support of influential German circles.  The Nazi Party grows in size and strength, but it will take the crisis of the Great Depression to propel Hitler into power.

A Banker and Generals: Hitler and his Supporters, SA Chief Röhm Second from the Right

Hitler’s War Hero: Ex-Fighter Pilot Hermann Göring

 

Hitler’s Intellectual: Propagandist Paul Josef Göbbels

Hitler’s Old Image: In SA Uniform

 

Hitler’s New Image: In Respectable Double-Breasted Business Suit

Hitler Comes to Power in Germany

The poverty, despair and labor militancy sparked by the Great Depression were the factors that led to Hitler’s coming to power.  Nazi strength had grown throughout the late 1920s.  However, many of the people whose support Hitler wanted still kept aloof from “the vulgar little Austrian corporal,” and disdained his band of uniformed ruffians.  The Depression would win them over to Hitler’s camp.  The daily scenes of unemployment and homelessness and the increased militancy of the Communist Party (KPD) caused many members of the German elite to fear that the events of 1919 were about to be repeated.

Hitler’s Enemy: German Communist Party (KPD) Leader, Ernst Thaelmann

By the end of 1932, just as the Nazi Party’s electoral strength was declining, a group of conservative businessmen and politicians, led by the Conservative Catholic Party (Zentrum) leader, Franz von Papen, pressured President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor (Prime Minister).  According to the Weimar constitution, the German Presidency was a largely ceremonial office; but the President did have one critical power, he appointed the Chancellor, the official who effectively ran the government.  President Hindenburg was seen by many Germans of all political stripes as a bulwark of no-nonsense, traditional German values – besides, he was publicly known to detest Hitler and the Nazis.  But Papen and the politicians were persuasive; they convinced Hindenburg that Hitler was the perfect foil to use against the rising popularity of communism.  Once Hitler and his thugs had gotten rid of the KPD, Papen argued, then the Conservatives would no longer need him, and Hitler would be shunted aside.

Thus, on January 30, 1933, President Hindenburg named Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany.  Within two months the Nazis would establish their dictatorship.

Hitler’s Sponsor – and Dupe – Conservative Catholic Politician Franz von Papen

German President Paul von Hindenburg

Stepping Into Power with the Aid of Big Business: Hitler and Bank President Hjalmar Schacht

The Nazi State

In the early morning hours of February 27, 1933, the city of Berlin was shocked to discover that the German parliament (Reichstag) was on fire.  Blaming the Reichstag fire on the communists, Hitler asked for, and was granted, sweeping powers in order to deal with the “emergency.”  The very next day, the constitution was canceled, the right of habeus corpus was suspended and the KPD and SPD outlawed.  Hitler was given dictatorial power almost overnight.  A reign of terror was unleashed as the Nazis rounded up and suppressed communists, socialists, trade unionists and liberals.

The press was silenced; and the first concentration camp, Dachau, outside of Munich, was opened to receive the incoming tidal wave of political prisoners.  Although several communists were arrested and tried for setting the Reichstag fire – including a Bulgarian Communist living in Berlin, Georgi Dimitrov, who managed to refute the charges and later became head of the Comintern – it was soon evident that it was the Nazis themselves who set the fire.  In short, a false crisis was created to justify Hitler’s dictatorship.  In order to expedite the increasing repression, Göring formed a new police organization, the Geheime Staatspolizei (“Secret State Police”).  Eventually becoming part of Himmler’s SS-empire, the Geheime Staatspolizei became the main instrument of Hitler’s terror.  It fell upon some unknown clerk in the Berlin post office to devise a postal mark for the new police agency, and unable to fit “Geheime Staatspolizei “ on to a stamp, decided to abbreviate.  In this way, one of the most fearsome words of the 20th century came into existence: “Gestapo.”

The Reichstag in Flames (February 27, 1933)

Reichstag Fire Defendant and Later Comintern Head, Georgi Dimitrov

‘Life’ in Dachau Concentration Camp

Death in Dachau Concentration Camp

Over the next year, Hitler ‘Nazified’ German institutions.  In a process known as Gleichschaltung (“getting into line”), the German government bureaucracy, military, and civil society – even leading elements of the Catholic and Lutheran Churches – were brought into line with Nazi policy.

Gleichschaltung in Action: The Church Nazified. Propaganda Minister Göbbels is at Right

By the beginning of 1934, most of Germany had been brought to heel.  Only one institution remained in opposition to Hitler: ironically, this was to be his own organization, the SA.  As the Nazi regime extended its hold on German society; the SA felt more and more disenchanted.  Spouting a “share the wealth” attitude, the SA had hoped that a “national revolution” would have reaped benefits. It became more and more evident that this was not going to happen.

Seeing their Fuhrer rubbing shoulders with the elite and wearing white tie and tails as he attend the opera in the company of millionaires infuriated the rough and rowdy Storm Troopers.  The SA Chief of Staff, Ernst Röhm, one of Hitler’s oldest confidantes, started making ominous speeches stating that “Adolf sold us out,” calling for a “second revolution,” and demanding that the SA should become a new German “Peoples’ Army.”  This was definitely not what Hitler’s military and industrial sponsors wanted to hear.  They had cast their lot in with the Fuhrer to prevent just such radical talk.  Moreover, the conservative German military bristled at the thought that an open homosexual such as Röhm, and his gang of thugs, would dare to displace them.  Hitler stands to lose the support he worked so hard to get.  Internal faction-fighting within the Nazi leadership also played a part, as Göring coveted Röhm’s “number two position,” and Himmler’s SS would never get anywhere so long as it continued to be merely a segment of the SA.

Hitler decides to act.  On the night of June 30, 1934, while the SA leadership was on vacation at a small German resort, Hitler strikes.  SS troops surround the hotel where the SA leaders are staying.  The SA men are dragged from their beds, taken into the hotel courtyard and summarily shot.  Many, having no clue what is happening to them, go to their deaths shouting “Heil Hitler!”  Röhm is placed under arrest, taken to Stadelheim prison outside of Munich, and invited to commit suicide.  When he refuses, he’s cut down by the SS.  The bloodbath, known as the Night of the Long Knives, continues until July 2, as the SA leadership is decimated.  There will be no “second revolution” in Hitler’s Germany.

David Lowe cartoon satirizing the Night of the Long Knives: Hitler holds smoking gun as the Storm Troopers surrender to their fate. Behind him, monkey-like is Göbbels; at Hitler’s side stands Göring, dressed as a figure out of German opera. The original caption read: “Now They Salute with Both Hands.”

Territorial Expansion

Three consequences stemmed from the Night of the Long Knives:   The SS becomes a state-within-the-state as Himmler’s black uniformed band assumes all police and security duties (the disciplined SS will become more of a threat to the conservative German officer corps than Röhm’s SA hooligans could ever be); Hitler’s power is now absolute. President Hindenburg’s death later that year gave Hitler the opportunity to abolish the office of President and concentrate all power in himself as “Chancellor and Fuhrer.”  Hitler is now free to pursue his territorial ambitions.  The events leading up to World War II soon will follow.

Hitler Victorious

After World War II was over, an American officer asked Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller, an opponent of Hitler recently liberated from a concentration camp, how all this could have happened.  “How could this have happened, in Germany of all places?  Germany, one of the most cultured and civilized nations in Europe, the land of Mozart and Beethoven, the land of science and philosophy.  How could this have happened in Germany?” the officer asked.  Niemoller’s reply has become legendary.  The Pastor said:

“First they came for the Communists; and I didn’t speak up – because I wasn’t a Communist.

“Then they came for the Jews; and I didn’t speak up – because I wasn’t a Jew.

“Then they came for the trade unionists; and I didn’t speak up — because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

“Then they came for the Catholics; and I didn’t speak up – because I was a Protestant.

“Then they came for me – and by that time, no one was left to speak up.”

Caught between the Swastika and the Cross: Pastor Niemoller

Pastor Niemoller’s Reply

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On the 1997 Albanian Rebellion

23 Jan

In light of the recent unrest in Albania, we release this analysis of the events in Albania in 1997 and the forces leading up to that revolution for the reader’s benefit.

For the recent events, click here for an article from Al-Jazeera English. Video below.

After the death of Enver Hoxha and the rise of Ramiz Alia, and later Sali Berisha, the Albanian Party of Labor and the socialist society that once existed within the borders of Albania began to break down. However, this did not bring positive change, as some elements of Albanian society had hoped. Consequently, the Albanian economy had come to a standstill, two-thirds of Albanian workers had lost their retirement, and eighty percent of schools in the rural areas of the tiny Balkan country were closed. The blood feud, which had been institutionalized through the Code of Leke, forced as many as 1,600 families to retreat into hiding. With today’s rampant anti-communism as portrayed in the mainstream world media, we will examine exactly what happened in Albania and why, and who was behind said measures. 1992 marked the official end of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. The economy was liberalized, based on a series of “get rich quick” Ponzi schemes and fraudulent pyramid investment. The total loss of funds amounted to 1.2 billion dollars, leaving working people and their families with their entire life savings wiped out completely, overnight.

“The pyramid scheme phenomenon in Albania is important because its scale relative to the size of the economy was unprecedented, and because the political and social consequences of the collapse of the pyramid schemes were profound. At their peak, the nominal value of the pyramid schemes’ liabilities amounted to almost half of the country’s GDP. Many Albanians—about two-thirds of the population—invested in them. When the schemes collapsed, there was uncontained rioting, the government fell, and the country descended into anarchy and a near civil war in which some 2,000 people were killed” (1).

The new capitalist bourgeoisie class in Albania that had found its way into the government was able to take such predatory advantage of the Albanian people with ease, since “the vast majority of [formerly socialist Albania’s] population was unfamiliar with market institutions and practices” (1).

By March 13, all major population centers were engulfed in demonstrations, and foreign countries began to evacuate their citizens from Albania. May 26, 1996 was a major spark in the upsurge of popular discontent, following rigged elections, involving both the Democratic Party, and the reformed “Socialist” party. As a result, police and government buildings were fire bombed. “In the three months of protests, the Albanian economy suffered a heavy blow as unemployment and inflation sharply rose, while the gross domestic product and the value of the currency fell” (2). On January 24, 1997, thousands of Albanians took to the streets in the southern city of Lushnje. Protestors stole over 500,000 rifles and other arms from government depots. Foreign Minister Shehu was attacked by protesters.

On January 26, thousands of protesters gathered in Tirana and once again clashed with the riot police. By this time, protests and riots have spread throughout the entire country, with government buildings and police departments continuously being attacked and set on fire. On March 1st, Prime Minster Aleksander Meksi resigned. President and candidate of the capitalist Democratic Party, Sali Berisha replied to the violence by declaring a state of emergency and placing the whole country under the control of the army, the police and the secret service (SHIK). However, he did not get the guns back that were now in the hands of working people. It is estimated that 10,000 Albanians had fled their country, taking refuge in Italy. While widespread protests and demonstrations take place in the North of Albania, the South becomes a central place of organizing for the Communist Party of Albania (PKSH). According to an article appearing in the Turkish publication, Emek, on April 1st, 1997:

“Within the Rebellion Committee in Vlora the influence of the people and that of the Communist Party of Albania is very great. In meetings that take place twice daily, thousand of people discuss further ways of proceeding. On one thing they appear to be adamant: ‘We will not lay down our weapons.’”

Revolutionary Democracy reports that, “In Vlora, control remained firmly in the hands of the Rebellion Committee. There was neither chaos nor looting nor arbitrary shooting” (3).

Rebellion Committees were established all over the south of Albania, organized and built from the ground up. Officials who partook in the administration of these Committees were chosen directly by the people and anyone who wished to take part in the administration could offer to do so. The people reserved the right of recall to anyone who did not fulfill their obligations.

According the previously-mentioned edition of Emek, a member of the Central Committee of the PKSH said that, “The resistance of the Albanian people against fascism in 1944 was declared to have been a civil war in which allegedly much blood was spilled between brothers.” To the outrage of the PKSH and the Albanian people, the liberation of the Albanian people from German and Italian fascism, which cost the lives of 28,000 partisans, was no longer a national commemoration. The newly-installed capitalist government had taken extraordinary measures to convince the world that Albania’s population would be more than happy to erase all acknowledgment of socialism and Enver Hoxha from its history.

On April 10, 1997, The Communist Party of Germany’s publication, Roter Morgen, issued a statement warning that detailed talks between Albania’s Prime Minister and his Italian colleagues could lead up to a foreign military intervention in the name of restoring order throughout the country. As a response, the Communist Party of Albania issued the statement “Hands off Albania!” which was then immediately endorsed by many communist parties. A NATO joint operation and military intervention in Albania, dubbed “Operation Alba,” was authorized by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1101 under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. This was done at the request of the besieged President Sali Berisha. The troop count was as follows: Italy 2,500, France 1,000, Greece 700, Turkey 500, Spain 500, and Romania 400.

“According to an article in the New Worker dated the July 4, 1997, upon the replacement of Sali Berisha by Fatos Nano he, ‘reassured the European Union that he will continue to support the market economy and the restoration of capitalism in Albania.’ In the same issue of New Worker, the writers added, ‘The Albanian Communist Party which led the revolt, remains loyal to Albania’s revolutionary traditions.’ And as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Albania puts it: “This uprising will bring our people numerous experiences and self-assurance. A people that lived for decades under socialism and places great importance on independence will not put up with everything” (3).

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha

Members of the Communist Party of Albania were spreading the word internationally of what was going on and how events escalated into the collapse of the people’s power in Albania. In an interview with Laver Stroka, conducted on September 8, 2001, he describes to the interviewer the role of Ramiz Alia in the earlier counter-revolution:

“In 1985, after the death of Enver Hoxha, Ramiz Alia was chosen as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour with just a one vote majority. With great difficulty, after this time, to sweeten the alternatives to the communists and to the people he began a process which in time was to have bad consequences. At first he began to speak every day of Enver Hoxha — not to promote the life and work of Enver Hoxha (because the people knew what Enver Hoxha stood for) — but to firmly associate himself with Enver in order to create support for his future actions. During this time, he erected many statues of Enver Hoxha, in Korca, Tirana, and other cities and also named various organisations, places and enterprises after him. After this, he began to undertake certain actions. Every weekend there was a requirement to do ‘voluntary’ work and yet during the week there was little work to do because of the liberalising of the organisation of work. Despite this, voluntary work still had to be done all day on Sunday. So, Ramiz Alia became unpopular and had little authority. In 1990, he wrote a book and began to give interviews to People’s Voice where he said, ‘I have begun this process and taken it step by step in order not to create contradictions and clashes between the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces’. I tell this story to illustrate clearly that Ramiz Alia has been an enemy of the Party of Labour, and was not a follower of Enver Hoxha, but rather the enemy of both the Party and of Enver Hoxha.” “Ramiz Alia is viewed by the people as a revisionist. During the gatherings where the people rose up against the vandalism of the counter-revolutionary forces in Tirana — when the statue of Enver Hoxha was pulled down — thousands and thousands of people thought that Ramiz Alia had betrayed them. This was the perspective of the people as far as Ramiz Alia was concerned.” (4).

It becomes clear that the counter-revolution in Albania was not exactly taken lightly by a good amount of the population. As has been shown above, many workers decided to take action and arm themselves in order to fight for the re-establishment of socialism in Albania. Even today, the communists in Albania work to defend the legacy of Enver Hoxha, as well as the progress and social gains that had been accomplished during his time as General Secretary of the Albanian Party of Labor.

References, Further Reading:

1) http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/03/jarvis.htm

2) http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/albania.htm

3) http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv4n1/albania.htm

4) http://ml-review.ca/aml/AllianceIssues/ALLIANCE48InterviewsCPA(UNITED).html

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American Left-Wing Music

13 Dec

Left-wing music has been a cornerstone of the American socialist movement throughout its entire history. Stemming from the early 1900s to the present day, a good number of musicians and bands have expounded socialism through their lyrics and song content. Whether it is in support of Marxism-Leninism or other various forms of leftism, music has always been there to get the idea across to the broad masses. Many of said artists have themselves been victimized by capitalist society and the capitalist mode of production, influencing them to spread the word on the injustice inherit in the profit motive and the damage it wreaks on workers, the environment, and the family unit.

While not American, what is likely the most widely recognizable socialist songs is, of course, the Internationale. The original French words were written in June 1871 by Eugène Pottier (1816–1887), previously a member of the Paris Commune. It was first publicly performed in July 1888. Since then, The Internationale has been translated in nearly every language and was even adopted as the Soviet Union’s original national anthem. It has also become a popular rallying song sung by students and workers.

Written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915, Solidarity Forever is a pro-union song originally created for use within the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), although other unions and some political parties have been known to sing it during rallies or demonstrations. Chaplin began writing the song in 1914 as he was covering the Kanawha coal miners’ strike in West Virginia, in which miners and their families were forcibly evicted from company houses by mine guards. The Preamble of the song makes a brilliant and simple class analysis of American society with, “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common,” stating quite plainly that the contradictions inherent between the laboring and capitalist classes will continue until the workers take control of society and expropriate the exploiting classes. Throughout the years, stanzas have been added and/or modified to the original lyrics. For example in the 1970s, women members added their take on their involvement in the IWW’s affairs:

“We’re the women of the union and we sure know how to fight.

We’ll fight for women’s issues and we’ll fight for women’s rights.

A woman’s work is never done from morning until night.

Women make the union strong!

(Chorus)

It is we who wash dishes, scrub the floors and clean the dirt,

Feed the kids and send them off to school – and then we go to work,

Where we work for half men’s wages for a boss who likes to flirt.

But the union makes us strong!

(Chorus)”

Although Ralph Chaplin was an anarchist and opposed “state” socialism, we commemorate his work and his dedication to the class struggle and for taking the time to produce this work that would remain in the hearts of millions of toilers.

A lesser known left-leaning song, The Battle Hymn of Cooperation, was written by a baker (Elizabeth Mead) and a busboy (Carl Ferguson), who won a five-dollar prize for composing “the best song on cooperation.” The song was sung at the annual meetings of the Consumers Cooperative Association of Missouri, several thousand strong. It is the official song of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA). It is notably sung also to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Bandiera Rossa became one of the most popular songs of the Italian labor movement. The lyrics were written by Carlo Tuzzi in 1908, obtaining the melody from two Lombardian folk songs. The last two lines “Evviva il comunismo e la libertà,” or in English “Long live communism and liberty,” were put in the text after the rise of Benito Mussolini’s fascist government in Italy. Since the song was first written and published, there have been many remakes of the song, especially by South American socialists and communists.

With the escalation of the wars in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, a new generation of anti-imperialist culture was born, leading to one what was quite possibly the most lively and active periods in American history. Marching, protests songs, and sit-ins were commonplace and became well practiced methods of civil disobedience. To compliment this, new forms of anti-imperialist music gripped the American left. In 1969, Country Joe and the Fish performed their I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag at Woodstock to many peace-loving youth’s ears. The song’s lyrics are satirical, yet they contain a strong anti-war message.

“Well, come on all of you, big strong men,

Uncle Sam needs your help again.

He’s got himself in a terrible jam

Way down yonder in Vietnam

So put down your books and pick up a gun,

We’re gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it’s one, two, three,

What are we fighting for ?

Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,

Next stop is Vietnam;

And it’s five, six, seven,

Open up the pearly gates,

Well there ain’t no time to wonder why,

Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.

Come on Wall Street, don’t be slow,

Why man, this is war au-go-go

There’s plenty good money to be made

By supplying the Army with the tools of its trade,

But just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,

They drop it on the Viet Cong.

[second stanza repeats]

Well, come on generals, let’s move fast;

Your big chance has come at last.

Now you can go out and get those reds

‘Cause the only good commie is the one that’s dead

And you know that peace can only be won

When we’ve blown ‘em all to kingdom come.

[second stanza repeats]

Come on mothers throughout the land,

Pack your boys off to Vietnam.

Come on fathers, and don’t hesitate

To send your sons off before it’s too late.

And you can be the first ones in your block

To have your boy come home in a box.

[second stanza repeats]”

This is an obvious strike towards all the warmongerers in the Vietnam War-era U.S. government, as well an attack on all those taken in by nationalism who volunteer to die fighting for the wrong side.

In 1972, David Crosby and Graham Nash released their single, Immigration Man, inspired by an incident that occurred between Nash and an immigration official as he was making his way into the United States for a concert. A U.S. Customs official had held him up, and although Nash was allowed to go through after people started coming up to him for his autograph, he was indignant. The song speaks of getting stopped by the “immigration man.” The song then describes Nash’s trouble producing documents and filling out a form “as big as a blanket.” “Come on and let me in, immigration man. Can I cross the line and pray I can stay another day.” Towards the end of the song, he gives a warning to would-be global travelers, “So go where you will, as long as you think you can. You better watch out, watch out for the man, anywhere you’re going.”
In his discussion of his motivations for writing the song with Crosby, Nash stated, “I’m not against local colour, but why should you fight me just because you speak differently than I do?” Nash also expressed his reasoning as to why he chose a picture of the earth from space for the cover of the sheet music for their song. “When you look at a photograph of the earth you don’t see any borders. That realization is where our hope as a planet lies.”

Tom Paxton, a progressive-minded folk song writer, has written numerous songs that take a forward-thinking stand on such issues as racial injustice, fascism and finance capital. An anti-aggression song was written by him, titled Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation, in which he mocks LBJ’s promises of withdrawal from Vietnam, only to lead to further troop deployment and the increase in foreign aggression the small, former colonial country. The second stanza is as follows: “Lyndon Johnson told the nation have no fear of escalation. I am trying everyone to please. Although this isn’t really a war, we’re sending fifty-thousand more, to help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese.” Interestingly enough, one could substitute these lines for nearly any international conflict, and the core presentation still holds solid. From Grenada and Nicaragua to Afghanistan and Iraq, our politicians have always used the same excuses to justify their class based interests in other countries.

Revolutionary leftist music was carried over to the 80s, 90s, and 00s and given a hip-hop and hard rock makeover. Both working within the boundaries of and superceding a market dominated by gangster rap, a noticeable number of pro-revolution bands have gained prominence among the public.

To give an example, Immortal Technique has published numerous songs and albums portraying life in the third world, as well as life in the first world ghetto. His songs and views generally portray the socialist point view on issues such as class hierarchy, racism, colonialism, poverty and government. In his music, he expresses the fact that record companies, and not artists themselves, are the ones who gain the most out of producing music. His song, The Third World speaks of colonialism of Africa by the United States of America and Europe with the support of the Catholic Church. He speaks against the funding of pro-capitalist militias and the traditional economic subordination of the majority of African workers and farmers at the expense of United States backed regimes and semi-colonial relations. His lyrics are hard-hitting towards reactionary elements in America.

“Just death following the forth right disaster, a legacy of bastards

With plastic explosives your futures been eroded

Cause you forgot that when your free it’s multiplied indefinitely

By the struggle that be the struggle I see

To socialistically united the third world countries

Expose hypocrisy in Americas democracy

Sloppily obsessed with stopping me cause I speak prophecy

Trample and dismantle your capitalist philosophy

The same way I stomp the conquering rap monopoly”

Even more well-known is the group Rage Against the Machine. Formed in 1991 and inspired by acts such as Public Enemy and Death Squad, their music can best be described as an outspoken concoction of creative rap and heavy metal geared towards a radical audience. The band’s most notable video is perhaps their performance of Sleep Now in the Fire, which was recorded in from of the New York Stock Exchange on January 26, 2000. Upon setting up, the band’s lead singer, Zack de la Rocha proclaimed to the audience, “Brothers and Sisters, our democracy has been hijacked!” Their performance sparked both positive and negative response from both supporters of the band as well as police, respectively, causing the doors of the New York Stock Exchange to close temporarily. The director of the music video, Michael Moore, complimented that, “We decided to shoot this video in the belly of the beast.” Michael Moore himself was detained by police and threatened with arrest during the video’s production.

In 1992, a politically-minded hip-hop group was formed in Oakland, California. Many today recognize them as The Coup. Originally comprised of three emcees, Raymond “Boots” Riley, and E-Roc along with DJ Pam the Funkstress, E-Roc left the group after their second album was released. The Coup is now a duo of Boots Riley and DJ Pam. The Marxist hip-hop group has produced sometimes serious and sometimes satirical lyrics, criticizing American politics, police brutality, capitalism and pimping as a form of exploitation towards women.

“I think that people should have democratic control over the profits that they produce. It is not real democracy until you have that. And the plain and simple definition of communism is the people having democratic control over the profits that they create.” – Raymond “Boots” Riley

In the early 1990s, The Coup released Dig It. According to Robin D.G. Kelley and Betsy Esch, “The Coup refers to its members as “The Wretched of the Earth”; tells listeners to read The Communist Manifesto; and conjures up revolutionary icons such as Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Kwame Nkrumah, H. Rap Brown, Kenya’s Mau Mau movement, and Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt” (1). The group takes an internationalist viewpoint by commemorating and offering references to leftist authors, guerillas and theoreticians. Every country’s revolutionary movement is embodied in its music, and the United States is no exception.

Sources:

1) Robin D.G. Kelley and Betsy Esch, Black Like Mao: Red China & Black Revolution, Part 1.

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The Tasks Before Us

10 Dec

This year of 2008, the second half, witnessed the beginning of the activities of the American Party of Labor. At the present time, the most urgent business to be attended to is that of the practice of the APL. I say this because the theoretical side has been attended to most properly by our new Party. We have not yet allowed revisionism to sink our cadres into isolation and our line into obscurity yet, and we do not intend to do so in the future. Our ideology has been well-defined in our program. The same is not true of our practices in recruiting people to our side.

Firstly, the object of the practical activities of the APL is to lead to a revolution to overthrow capitalism – we have never said otherwise and unlike the reformist parties (such as the pro-Democrat CPUSA) we have never upheld any other course of action. We wish to make it well-known to the working masses that our goal is to promote the class struggle of the proletariat to fight against the capitalist exploiting classes of society, followed by the establishment of a socialist society. As such, we can never allow ourselves to disguise our beliefs in the socialist revolution and the final destruction of the class system. To sugarcoat our mission would be nothing less than revisionism. We must always make perfectly clear our intentions to wage a democratic revolution to fight against the bourgeois oligarchy and win political freedom through working class democracy. All of this is very well-known by our members and candidate members.

I say this is well-known because from the moment it appeared on the political scene the APL has talked of little else. We must promote ourselves as an alternative to the capitalist parties of the U.S., as a truly revolutionary party of the Marxist-Leninist movement. While many other American communist parties have hidden their intentions beneath generic messages of protest, we of the APL have not ignored our political struggle for a moment. Talking of our final goals of socialism and communism is something that we must continue to do if we hope to win the war against capitalism. This is something that must be kept in mind as we discuss the tactics of our Party.

Secondly, I must clarify what we mean by our “practical” efforts and our “tactics.” We mean spreading through our activities amongst the workers of this country the teachings of scientific socialism and the truth about communism and Marxism-Leninism. We mean spreading a socialist understanding of this class system, how it works in the favor of one class over another, how capitalism and wage labor as a system is exploitive, how it leads to sexism and racism, and how the present imperialist war and the colonialism that has resulted from it as well as the increasing poverty and financial crises are an inevitable feature of the capitalist system and not a “fluke.” We must go to places where workers gather, either at protests, meetings or the workplace itself, and speak to them about the struggle between classes, how socialism as a system is much less exploitive than capitalism, and how the revolution will solve the problems of the system. For this purpose, we must keep up our own education and study, or else why should we bother talking about things we ourselves do not understand?

The other part of our tactics is what we call agitation among the workers. This is very important, given the tumultuous and unstable political situation in the USA. To put it simply, political agitation means to get the workers riled up and to fill them with righteous anger. This righteous anger can then be connected with the struggles against the system. The organized cadres and cells of the APL must participate in all working class gatherings and struggles against the bourgeoisie, including conflicts over working conditions, wages, protests against the imperialist war and protests against the actions of the government cronies in general. It will be very easy, given the anger of the masses currently, to connect these everyday questions with the socialist revolution. We should help them understand what communism and Marxism-Leninism is, to overcome bourgeois lies about them, and to draw their attention to the most important abuses of power by the capitalists. By connecting their struggles with the system itself, we can develop among the workers class consciousness and awareness of the class interests of the American working class as a whole, an important step on the road to socialism.

These activities, in the broadest, most generalized sense, are the main ones of the American Party of Labor. Our work is to be primarily focused on the urban working class, who are most open to Marxist-Leninist ideas and most developed intellectually and politically. At the same time, we must not neglect other strata of the population who work as wage laborers. We do not intend to neglect the rural populations, but it is impractical to send cadres out to the rural areas when there is so much work to be done in the cities. In the cities themselves, the professional agitators will come into direct contact with these people, and will try to spread the class struggle to the more advanced sections of that stratum. The spreading of socialism among the urban workers will therefore inevitably cause these ideas to flow into the rural areas.

The APL is ready to support those Americans who, in practice, come to support the class struggle, but this does not in the least suggest that alliances with other groups mean the dissolution of the APL itself, nor any compromises or revisions of its political line or banner. We will still guard the Marxist-Leninist line against revisions and will combat every attempt to impose vaguer lines upon the proletariat. In addition, this does not entail collaboration with openly anti-working class elements such as fascists for the mere sake of political opportunism. What it entails is the flexibility of the socialist movement to ally itself with other organizations that it sees as progressive or potentially revolutionary. It is support given to another faction against a particular enemy.

In addition to spreading scientific socialism, we communists strive to spread an understanding of bourgeois absolutism in all its manifestations, of its class content, the necessity to overthrow the oligarchy, of the impossibility of waging a successful struggle without a revolutionary party and a revolutionary movement. We strive to agitate against police tyranny, agitate against the restriction of education, against the violation of immigrant rights, against racism, agitate against every prominent representative of the oligarchy which dares to speak directly before the workers and who clearly reveals their support of slavery.

The American Party of Labor is faced with an enormous amount of work. The awakening of the American working class, its struggle for socialism and against the exploiters has become sharper and more strikingly apparent every day. The enormous growth and subsequent crisis of capitalism and imperialism in the USA has guaranteed the communist movement will grow exponentially. We have already passed through the period where capitalism blooms and is prosperous, before the class struggle becomes more pronounced. During the bloom period, business booms, the factories are at full operating capacity, new enterprises emerge every day, stock companies soar with new investments, railways and airlines function ceaselessly. We have now arrived at the inevitable and sharp crash that is to follow prosperity. The crash will ruin thousands of small owners, will throw millions of workers into unemployment, and will thrust our collective faces into the matter of socialism and democracy that have long haunted every bourgeois dictatorship. American communists must see to it that when this period of misery becomes unbearable, the American proletariat is more class conscious, more united, more organized, more able to understand the revolution and capable of putting up resistance to the capitalist class, which is even now reaping huge profits and is burdening the workers with the losses of this crisis. Only a Marxist-Leninist party is capable of leading the American proletariat against the bourgeois police autocracy.

And so, to work, comrades! Let us not lose our precious time!

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