In an effort to oppose flunkeyism, MIM will no longer send anniversary greetings to organizations that do not agree with our cardinal principles. Even and especially at an urgent moment in the world's concrete developments, there is no reason to sell short the cardinal principles. The imperialists have created an objective situation internationally where it becomes necessary to see through imperialist "democracy." Without seeing through the Yankee majority, the world's people will be tempted to negotiate away their own survival out of sympathy with a non-existent Euro-American proletariat. While the imperialists imprison people without charges, crackdown on immigrants and spy on millions of people, it is important to realize that they have done this with conscious support from the vast majority of the u.$. imperialist country population. Indeed, the Amerikkkan majority has made it clear that it would support racial profiling and much more extensive repressive measures. A substantial section also supports dropping nuclear weapons and rounding up all Arab or "Arab-Amerikan" people for concentration camps. It is not a case of a majority holding out against a ruling elite.
Such a situation leaves the worker-activist with a choice, to support "democracy" as it exists or stand for the absolute and non-negotiable "rights" of the international proletariat that are not subject to majority rule. Amerikkkan unions since September 11th have supported the U.$. terrorist war and the rank-and-file movement has not desired to overturn its leaders. This leaves the so-called workers' movement a choice in Amerikkka: either the activists can "represent" the "workers" and carry out their wishes and bow to the "democracy" of majority rule of Amerikkkans and support Bush's "war on terror" or the activists can point to the world's majority and say it trumps the Amerikkkan majority attempting to rule the world. MIM says fine, the war-mongering trade union leaders can represent the Amerikkkan "workers." They really do represent those "workers." We will stand for the international proletariat.
There is nothing in the U.$. Constitution that guarantees that majority rule in the rest of the world is not trumped by majority rule in the United $tates. Hence, when the "democratic socialists" in Amerikkka say there is a framework for "democracy" that needs to be used, we say we are getting off their racist-white nationalist boat. It is not consistent with socialist principles to allow a majority of exploiters to rule the exploited. Nor is it tactically smart to find concessions that win over a majority of exploiters. By definition those concessions will have to be contrary to socialist principles and against the interests of the world's majority of people.
In Hitler Germany, the task was not to find another Nazi with majority support to replace Hitler: the task was to defeat the German majority in war and force them to give up their views. That defeat was the best thing that could be done to advance the German people themselves. Nothing else was "tactically" smarter.
At the same time, MIM would like to stress the necessity to draw a sharp line of distinction between bourgeois democracy in the imperialist countries in the sense of majority rule, on the one hand, and bourgeois-democratic rights and liberties, on the other. The latter must be defended by Communists to the last iota. Today, as never before, the words of Joseph Stalin acquire a paramount significance: "Formerly, the bourgeoisie could afford to play the liberal, to uphold the bourgeois-democratic liberties, and thus gain popularity with the people. Now not a trace remains of this liberalism. The so-called "liberty of the individual" no longer exists--the rights of the individual are now extended only to those who possess capital, while all other citizens are regarded as human raw material, fit only to be exploited. The principle of equal rights for men and nations has been trampled in the mud <…> The banner of bourgeois-democratic liberties has been thrown overboard. I think that it is you, the representatives of the communist and democratic parties, who will have to raise this banner and carry it forward, if you want to gather around you the majority of the people. There is nobody else to raise it."
MIM will continue to report news and opinions defending People's Wars from the implacable point of view of the international proletariat.
Contact MIM by writing mim@mim.org