Capitalism breeds militarism: Amerikan imperialism attacks Yugoslavia by MIM, printed in MIM Notes 184 15 April, 1999 On March 24th the United $tates and its military alliance called NATO started bombing Yugoslavia. Six B-52 bombers, four American ships, two American subs, a British sub and 2 Stealth B-2 bombers took part in the attacks. According to the Serbs of Yugoslavia, the NATO attacks hit targets in at least nine different geographic locations in Kosovo. One military officer estimated bombing would go on for a month. President Clinton has said he will not send troops, so as with Iraq the stated objective is to weaken the military forces of the Serbs.(1) Internal conflicts President Clinton acted in the name of preventing further massacres of Albanians in Kosovo by the Serbs. Nine of 10 people in Kosovo are Albanian, but Serbs consider it a birthplace of their nation.(1) Kosovo borders Albania and Macedonia. A multinational Yugoslavia managed to live in peace when it joined under Tito's leadership to oust Nazi invaders in World War II. Tito implemented what he called socialism but was in fact a localized version of capitalism. The many advocates of "local control" by workers should look at the history of Yugoslavia. It ended up being a capitalist precursor to the late Soviet Union, China and Vietnam today-- with their emphases on free markets. There is no way to implement socialism without a strong internationalist central authority. For reasons of resource inequalities alone, it is not proletarian to support "local control." We also see that the Yugoslavian economy failed to unite its people. It was Stalin who set the tone in Eastern Europe and managed to provide stability amongst many nationalities through harsh centralized measures. We still believe such a strong central authority will be necessary as an interim stage while communist economic cooperation is prepared. The alternative includes a never-ending civil war and pogroms as we see today. During World War II, however, Yugoslavia was the one country in Eastern Europe where Stalin and English leader Winston Churchill agreed that the two sides would have 50-50 influence. In actual fact, Tito liberated Yugoslavia from the Nazis and then proceeded to obtain Western investments. The Croatian Tito commanded the respect of the people at least relative to the divided leadership of former Yugoslavia today. When he died in 1980, a collective leadership managed to hold Yugoslavia together for a few years until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Influenced by the opening of borders throughout Eastern Europe with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia finally exploded into barbaric ethnic conflict continued right out of World War I. The most important thing we have to say about the ethnic conflicts in the Balkans and former Soviet countries is that all the peoples involved are oppressed and exploited people. The only war possibly worth having is for socialist revolution. The wars as they have occurred under Western tutelage have been wars of proletarians and other oppressed peoples against proletarians and other oppressed peoples. It's not often that MIM will agree with the reactionary rock band "Guns N' Roses," but we "don't need your civil war. It feeds the rich and it buries the poor." Specifically these wars enrich the arms merchants and do nothing to move the Balkans forward. Geopolitical overtones It would be wrong to say the United $tates is "taking advantage" of internal conflicts in Yugoslavia; although its military manufacturers certainly are. The United $tates is the main prop in the system that produces Yugoslavian types of conflicts--capitalism. The imperialists occasionally try to blame the communist movement for the national conflicts arising in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union. However, what we are seeing in the former Yugoslavia was happening before there was a Soviet Union. Specifically, World War I arose out of the tensions in the capitalist Balkan countries and it was World War I which produced the Soviet Union as the first socialist country. Hence, the cause of the conflicts amongst exploited peoples must be sought in capitalism, not socialism. When President Clinton says he is bombing the Serbs to keep Albania, Macedonia and others from entering a war in Yugoslavia, we have to admit that such a widespread war is a possibility. It's like when the drug kingpin says that without him there'd only be much smaller ones fighting it out over their turf. That's why we revolutionaries shoot to destroy the whole underlying system and we don't just oppose one bombing or put faith in single-issue movements. The Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan is jealous that NATO led the attack and not the United Nations. The attacks on Iraq utilized the UN for a fig-leaf, but the UN was not useful to U.$. imperialism in Kosovo, because Russia and China would have opposed the bombing in the UN Security Council. Annan justified the use of force and blamed the Serbs(2)--perhaps with the hope that the Serbs would come running to him. As the attack went on, the Russians and Chinese governments condemned the attacks. NATO claimed to have hit 40 targets in 24 hours, but there was also swift action by Russia. 1) When Premier Yevgeny Primakov found out that bombings would happen during his scheduled trip to the United $tates, he turned his jet plane around in the Atlantic Ocean and headed back to Russia, thus canceling his planned visit. 2) According to CNN, Yeltsin said that he had special measures in reserve that he does not use, because of Russian moral superiority to NATO. 3) China added the twist of blaming the situation on "terrorist Albanians" who provoked the situation. Historically, before there was communism and during World War II, Russia allied itself with Serbs. Even more significant than the above action by Russia and China which would have happened as a matter of course is that Russia hardened its stance against NATO which had been looking toward future Russian participation. The people of Russia were calling into a TV talk-show to volunteer to help Yugoslavia fight NATO.(2) With that kind of popular pressure it is not surprising that Yeltsin also recalled his envoy to NATO and suspended cooperation in NATO military exercises. Also in the background is discussion of moving Russian nuclear weapons into Belarus with which it still has a federation. Doing such would be an obvious threat to NATO. Although it does not share a border with Russia, Yugoslavia through its Serb political leaders has also talked about joining a federation with Belarus and Russia. As NATO scoops up countries moving right up to Russia's borders, Yugoslavia ends up being one of Russia's few allies. Poland, Hungary and Czechoslavakia joined NATO on March 12 just before the bombings in Yugoslavia. Capitalist system breeds militarism Even though the Cold War is over, we see that capitalism just cannot provide peace. Multi-billion dollar weapons manufacturers are one obvious reason why. Socialism will put an end to arms trade for profit. Ethnic conflict too is ultimately rooted in conflict over resources. Socialism will make a dent in that and prepare the ground for an internationalist communist economic cooperation of all peoples. Notes: 1. New York Times 25Mar99, p.1, a12. 2. New York Times 25Mar99, p. a13.