Contribution to the 8th International Communist Seminar, Brussels, 2-4 May 1999
www.icsbrussels.org , ics[at]icsbrussels.org
Bar the road to the imperialist aggressions
Conceicao Cassano, Movimento Revolucionário 8 de Outubro (MR8), Brasil
The subject of this seminar "Imperialism is war" reveals by itself all its relevance and topicality in view of the military aggression currently faced by Yugoslavia. We have only to remember the invasion of Panama (1989), the military aggression against Iraq (1991) and the successive bombings of Sudan's capital (1998), which, under the most various pretexts, have been the target of the aggressive and degenerate nature of the north-American imperialism. We have to add to these episodes the bombings in Libya (1986) and the invasion of Grenada (1983). To these direct acts of military aggression one must also add the bellicose character of its policy with respect to Cuba and North Korea, in the surroundings of which it maintains a conventional and nuclear arsenal ready to attack these countries. Of the same nature are the nuclear and conventional military forces, that the US maintain in Europe as in Japan and which serve their aggressive adventures, like the ones which happened in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya. They have as accomplices the military forces of the imperialist European countries but they can also probably become occupation forces to limit the pretensions of the imperialist powers of these regions as well as to intimidate the revolutionary struggle of the European and Asian peoples.
The imperialism made use of war and military aggression to survive faced with the political, economic and moral crisis, in which it is buried. The degenerate concentration of economic power in the hands of a few giant trusts, which has been more intense in the past few years with all the mergers and reorganisations, and the predominance of the financial speculation instead of productive activity, show the impossibility for capitalism to offer any prospect to the peoples of the world, either in the central countries, or in the dependent countries. Today, more than ever, imperialism is not only an obstacle to the development of the world productive forces, to the material and spiritual progress of humanity but above all is a system of destruction and death. It represents the barbarity: from one side, tens of billions of dollars are invested in financial speculation and run away from the production, as the devil runs away from the cross. This increases the world economic stagnation to levels never reached before. From the other side, it drives billions of workers, men and women, to unemployment, to famine and misery, without an income, without a home, without the necessary conditions to offer a worthy future to their children.
This terminal crisis of the capitalist system has become a burning question. As never before, the world socialist revolution is the way to overcome the current relations of production and to replace them by others, superior and based on solidarity, where the masses possess the means of production and prepare a new, more harmonious, stage of human development.
In fact, this new stage of human development was opened with the great October revolution in 1917, which happened when capitalism was beginning its imperialist period. As a consequence of its structural crisis, caused by the predominance of the trusts and of the financial capital, imperialism has driven the human society to two bloody world wars. This degeneration of capitalism has caused an inevitable progress of the world revolution. The first socialist experience of the human history yielded profit, was deeply rooted and opened the way to a tremendous and till now misjudged human progress. Then the revolution of national liberation in the dependent countries, integral part of the world socialist revolution, as was indicated by the beloved comrade Stalin, made new national states appear. These states were and are looking for an independent way of economic progress to break with the imperialist domination and build the bases for the socialist construction.
The temporary retreat, witnessed in particular in the Soviet Union and in part of the so-called socialist bloc, due to intimidation and to a progressive adhesion to counter-revolutionary thesis from the 50s, created the delusion in the imperialist circles that they could suppress all the political, economic and social conquests obtained during this century. And that it is possible to subjugate again the peoples and their nations and to put them again under the domination of the financial circles and their decrepit trusts, to extort their wealth, to control their markets and asphyxiate their aspirations to social progress.
Although these circles, helped by internal allies, have imposed retreats to the working class, to the peoples and to their nations, the remarkable fact is the resistance capacity of the world proletariat, which doesn't accept this dictatorship. It therefore has to face barbarous and cowardly military interventions, for which the aggressors invariably mobilise a disproportionately superior quantity of war material. It is in that respect that we understand the heroic resistance of Iraq, Libya and Yugoslavia, as well as Somalia, Grenada and Panama. Likewise was also extraordinary the resistance of Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, which opened the way to the revolution in extremely difficult circumstances.
If one adds to these peoples the Popular Republic of China, which, under the rule of the Communist Party, astonishes the world by its impressive economic and social progress, as well as the forces of the revolutionary proletariat, who are acting in Africa, Europe, Asia, America and the Caribbean, one realises that the strength and reserves of the world revolution are huge.
Imperialism in trying to stamp out the rising revolutions and to subjugate the peoples and the nations, who have opinions contrary to theirs, has kept on with the same strategy of military aggression, which consists in: 1) the displacement of forces and war material in always superior quantity to those of the aggressed country and 2) an intensive use of air bombings. The first of these elements carries out what is called "the display effect", where one tries to win the battle without a single gunshot. The second will damage the enemy and make a large number of casualties (even if the imperialism doesn't confess it), which forces the adversary to retreat with a small number of casualties on the imperialism's side. We have to pay attention to the fact that, during the Gulf War, when the imperialism's forces launched the ground assault with their armoured tanks, at the first sign that the battle of Basra could be difficult, the imperialist forces cancelled their plan to go to Baghdad and asked immediately for a cease-fire and then left the Iraqi territory. Since then, it never showed any mood to start battles on the ground. This is due, as we know, to the political constraints of its military action: the peoples of the central countries are not willing to give the blood of a single of their sons for the hysterical wars of the rotten financial capital.
North American imperialism carries on investing in the sector of war and supplying its troops with the most modern land, air and sea means, inside its country (the US) as well as outside. It also carries on its hostile and aggressive policy against countries where a revolution is going on and is campaigning in order to eliminate the national defence forces in the countries of Latin America. Under the pretext of fighting against drugs traffic, through various meetings with the military chiefs of Latin America, the US try to involve more and more the national armed forces in the fight against the drugs dealers. The national forces will not be anymore concerned by the defence of the territory and will only play the role of police. How can we understand this campaign and how is it inserted in the North American military strategy?
The attempt to involve once more the armed forces of Latin America in missions other than the defence of the territory and of national sovereignty intends to try neutralising the patriotic feeling which exists in the military circles, because of the bigger and bigger difficulty to disguise the antinational and destructive character of the North American policy and interests in the region.
Certainly one of the most significant example of that patriotic feeling happened in Venezuela, as well during the military rebellions of 1992 as in the recent victory of Colonel Hugo Chavez to the presidency of the country. That feeling has been present in the military forces; it has been inherited from the liberation armies of the colonial period or has been inspired by the fights for independence of the peoples.
In Brazil, since the beginning of this century, the patriotic fractions have exerted a basic role in the armed forces; in the 20s, they were at the head of the main military revolts against the oligarchy subject to the english imperialism and they were the main support for the revolution led by Getulio Vargas. Through that revolution, the country broke with its colonial legacy of an export-based agriculture, it became industrialised, built a strong state sector of the economy, which was an important brake to the action of the foreign trusts, it nationalised the strategic sectors (steel, oil, electricity and basic industry) and promoted a large development of its infrastructure (harbours, roads and railroads). All the rights of the workers and the social security, conquered by the Brazilian workers, were set up by the revolution of 1930, which made stronger the participation of the masses to the political life.
After the Second World War, and, above all, during the 50s, the North American imperialism attempted to increase its domination on Latin America and to make possible the unlimited exploitation of the raw materials and of the numerous and cheap labour in all the regions. It is sure that this intervention was obstructed by the patriotic feelings and the wishes of independence in Latin America and the Caribbean. To fight these feelings and neutralise the armed forces and make them busy with the repression of the national liberation struggles, the imperialism waved the scarecrow of communism, the result of which was the successive military coups, which happened in the region during the 60s and 70s. According to the general Andrada Serpa, former Chief of Staff of the Brazilian army, this involvement of the armed forces in the repression of the popular struggles, served to "hold the cow while they were taking the milk". It served to reinforce the domination of the imperialist trusts on the country and suck its wealth.
Since the 80s, when the exploitation of Latin America intensified by means of neo-liberal policies, it became more difficult for the North American imperialism to hide its true rotten nature and the fact that it was a threat to the integrity and sovereignty of the nations. Some events contributed to make it clearer.
From one side, given the agreements Carter-Torrijos, which impose the closure of the North American bases in the Panama Canal for the 31st of December of this year, the North American imperialism attempted to intensify the creation of a network of support bases in Latin America. Either under the pretext to assist Latin American armies in their fight against the guerrillas, either for their so-called fight against drug traffic, the North Americans soldiers intensified their presence in the centre of the amazon region, first in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Guyana, where they are establishing air bases, radars and support bases. The interest of the imperialist circles for the Amazonian region, the main part of which is in the Brazilian territory, became noticeable during the international conference on ecology of Rio in 1992, when the main heads of states of the central countries defended openly its transformation into a "patrimony of humanity" under the control of an international institution, which would deprive Brazil of its sovereignty on three quarters of its national territory.
On the other side, since the 80s, the north american imperialism created big obstacles to the armament of the Brazilian armed forces with advanced technology. Still under the military regime, there were well-known pressures to prevent Brasil to have access to the technology of nuclear propulsion for the submarines of the Navy, as well as to the technology of missiles for the Brazilian spatial program developed by the Air Force. These pressures consisted in formal declarations, press campaigns and sabotage actions. Neither the adhesion to the "Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty", which was undertaken by the puppet government of Henrique Cardoso, under the direct pressure of the American Department of State, nor the adhesion to the "Regime of Control of Missiles Technology", have eliminated the restrictions that the North American imperialism had imposed to the access of the Brazilian armed forces to more advanced war technologies.
Moreover, everyone can see that, in agreement with the policy of the North American imperialism to dismantle the national states and to open the countries to its monopolies, the current Brazilian government carries out a policy of disorganisation of the armed forces, by reducing the budget from one side, which consequently reduces the operational capabilities of the army, especially the modernisation of the equipment and weapons with national technology, and limits the use of the equipment because of the lack of fuel and spare parts, and from the other side by decreasing the salaries of the officers and of the troops. Because of all this, the attempt by the North American imperialism to give 'new roles' to the armed forces is received with much mistrust, especially by the military circles.
In short, the military strategy of imperialism consisted in two tactics: on one side, it intensified its military presence in the world, modernised all its conventional and nuclear arsenal, as well inside the US as in the regions where it has support bases and attempted to settle in new regions, like, for example, Latin America. On the other side, it attempted to weaken the national states by the destruction of their armed forces when it fights national governments, which defend their sovereignty and the progress of their people or by the neutralisation of these armed forces, when it can rely on the support of subjugated governments, which propose themselves to weaken the instruments of the defence of the national sovereignty and make possible the submission of the country to the imperialist interests.
As for Latin America, the policy of destruction of the armed forces and their transformation in a mere police force intends to prevent the development of nationalistic and patriotic feelings inside the army and to prevent it to join the national and popular forces against the policies of submission to imperialism, which dominate in the region. It is not surprising that it happens.
The recent election of Colonel Hugo Chavez at the presidency of Venezuela has showed how this process is already taking place. Chavez led two military rebellions, where young Venezuelan officers have tried to depose the government to oppose the use of the armed forces and themselves as tormentor of the people. There were true reasons for that. The last one was the repression during the "Caracazo" of 1989, ordered by the bloody Carlos Andres Perez, who was at that time president of the country, and which left thousands of dead. After having accomplished his jail penalty, Chavez decided to lead a movement which would put an end to the existing disorders and which could conquer by political means, on the basis of a large popular mobilisation, what the military revolution had not been able to conquer. Chavez not only conquered the presidency of the republic. With the people and through a large popular mobilisation, he is starting a revolution in Venezuela.
The crisis, in which the world capitalist economy is plunged and the predominance of the most degenerate parasitism of the international financial circles, puts in the agenda, on one hand the socialist revolution in the central countries, and on the other hand the revolution of national liberation in dependent countries. The neo-liberal policies imposed to the dependent countries by the imperialist circles have raised to a never seen level the process of spoliation of these nations. They asphyxiate the national economic development, they destroy their industries, they devastate agriculture, they force millions of workers to unemployment, steal the state companies, denationalise the economy and, if it was not yet enough, they suck, through the financial speculation and through the internal and external public debts, fabulous resources, which would be indispensable to promote the progress and the well-being of the people.
The contradiction imperialism versus nation is present today in our countries as never before. In Brazil, the extortion of resources, which are sent outside the country, looks like the conditions imposed to Germany by the Versailles Treaty. To make strong the role of the popular forces in the current national and democratic revolution is the priority task of communists and revolutionaries.
Finally, the imperialism and its followers wanted the people to believe that the end of the Soviet Union meant the end of the Cold War and that a new world of peace and prosperity was opened for everyone. In a very short period this lie was unmasked. In the past, when the country of the Soviets had temporarily declined, we wrote the following headline in our periodical "Hora de Povo":"the cold war is over, the hot war begins". In fact, the very existence of the Soviet Union was an obstacle to the destructive and aggressive nature of imperialism. Only the socialist revolution will be able to put an end to the warlike, aggressive and inhuman nature of imperialism. Only a deep collective consciousness will guarantee a new era of peace and prosperity for all the peoples of the world.
May 1999
MR8 Movimento Revolucionário 8 de Outubro
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Contribution to the 8th International Communist Seminar, Brussels, 2-4 May 1999
Theme: Imperialism means War