Open Letter to the Socialist Party of Serbia

Dear Comrade of the Socialist Party of Serbia:

We thank you for your gracious letter and apologize 
for not spelling out earlier our difficulties in 
relating to the Socialist Party of Serbia. We have 
studied http://www.sps.org.yu/eng/index-n.htm and 
hope it is a fair representation of the Socialist 
Party of Serbia line, because of course, we cannot 
rely on our own media to cover ex-Yugoslavia and 
NATO aggression and the current imprisonment of 
your leader Slobodan Milosevic, who was recently 
sold to the Hague in exchange for imperialist aid. 

It is our understanding that there are a few 
historical points separating MIM from the 
Socialist Party of Serbia. Above all, it seems 
impossible to fight for socialism without 
acknowledging the damage the bourgeoisie in the 
party did to the fight for socialism. If we cannot 
recognize that Tito, Khruschev, Brezhnev, Alia 
etc. were bourgeoisie in the party, just as Mao 
Zedong said, we cannot claim to be moving history 
forward. In particular, we have criticized Tito 
for his "decentralized socialism," in which people 
exercising "local control" develop classes simply 
from geographic differences in access to 
resources. "Local control" of resources resulted 
in a provincial frame of mind ill-suited to peace 
and proletarian cooperation. 

The material conditions for the blood-letting 
today arose under Tito, and his departure 
from the road of Lenin and 
Stalin. The farther that Yugoslavia goes away from 
the influence of Stalin, the more bloody the 
fighting in ex-Yugoslavia has become. Tito only 
appeared to manage the ship of Yugoslavia better 
than what we see today because of the influence of 
Stalin's line in World War II -- all signs of 
which are being lost today. 

Currently, MIM finds 
itself in a difficult position. On the one hand, 
we have written to condemn NATO aggression. Those 
of a primarily geo-political frame of mind will 
think that merely opposing one side is sufficient. 
However, we consider that the interests of the 
international proletariat -- not typical bourgeois 
geopolitical calculation -- must come first. 

It pains MIM greatly to see the proletariat of ex-
Yugoslavia and ex-USSR fight itself in bourgeois 
nationalist wars which only line the pockets of 
the imperialist militarists and spill proletarian 
blood. What good can result from the spilling of 
blood by proletarians in oppressed nations? It is 
of utmost importance to see a Serbian and Albanian 
alliance form to oppose militarism. Even such an 
alliance will find it difficult to navigate 
without imperialist influence. Without such an 
alliance, it would appear inevitable that the 
imperialists benefit from intra-proletarian 
fighting. The arms dealers and manufacturers make 
the profits while the proletariat does the dying. 

Those former Yugoslavian and ex-Soviet people who 
find the source of their problems in each other as 
peoples cannot be truly anti- imperialist. As in 
Lenin's day, all fire must be concentrated on 
imperialism. Let us all be clear today that Serbs, 
Albanians, Croats, Armenians, Azerbaijanis--indeed 
all the peoples of Eastern Europe and Central Asia 
are not imperialists. Russians, Germans, Italians, 
Swedes and above all--the United $tates should be 
suspected for their imperialist designs and that 
should be the first priority of all politics 
taking up the interests of the international 
proletariat in ex-Yugoslavia. 

In this struggle 
that the Serbian and Albanian and other peoples 
face, MIM has little geo-political power to offer. 
We can only offer ideological support. The blood 
of the Albanian and Serbian proletariat is on the 
hands of the imperialists and their lackeys. This 
is what proletarians and their leaders must 
remember. 

International Minister 
Maoist Internationalist Movement 
July 10 2001

Here is the original letter that the International 
Minister was responding to:

Hello, I am interesting in joining your study 
group. I am member of Socialist Party of Serbia, 
and member of leadership of SPS (IO GO SPS). Here 
in Yugoslavia we have 3-4 organization of anti-
imperialist. But we are interesting in joining 
INTERNATIONAL organizations against imperialist. 
So I decided to contact you, for more information. 
Do you want to cooperate with me, and Socialist 
Party of Serbia (president of our party is 
currently arrested, his name is Slobodan 
Milosevic, and he is ex president of Serbia and 
Yugoslavia. We belive that he is arrested by 
Hague, because he is anti-imperialist and he BEAT 
the NATO, in NATO War against Yugoslavia, when 
Milosevic was president) If you are interested in 
cooperation please send me more information about 
your program, and theory. We will be glad to help 
you to organize ORGANIZATION or RAIL in Serbia.