Contribution to the 8th International Communist Seminar, Brussels, 2-4 May 1999
www.icsbrussels.org , ics[at]icsbrussels.org
Peace will be achieved
with the Establishment of the Revolutionary Power of the Peoples
DHKC, Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front, Turkey
‘Peace’ is a beautiful word. But as in other countries, as well as in Turkey, the very first evaluation of the peace movement should be to ask the questions: peace with whom? And what kind of peace? The answers to these questions can be found in the social and political structure of our country. We are the revolutionary movement of a neo-colonial country. Our country is governed by fascism. The ruling classes are the collaborators of imperialism. All of the economical and political institutions of the state are established in accordance with the interests of imperialism and its collaborators. Their duty is also protect these interests. This situation is not only valid in our country. These are the general characteristics of neo- colonial countries. Therefore, the source of both the fascist regime of oppression and terror and the system of capitalist exploitation is imperialism.
So, we face a very basic and clear fact: without fighting against imperialism and abolishing the hegemony and presence of imperialism in our country, it is not possible to gain independence and freedom. Without this it is not possible to achieve peace. Therefore, the peace movement in our country should bear an anti-imperialist character. Do we want peace? If so, we have to fight for it. In fact, the peace movement in Turkey means to fight against the oligarchy and imperialism. No one can expect peace from imperialism and fascism. Without destroying imperialism and fascism peace cannot be achieved. This clarity is valid not just for our people, but for all the peoples of the world .
The New World Order and the Imperialist Peace
After the collapse of the socialist system, US imperialism, which sees itself as the main power and wishes to rule the world, forced its ‘New World Order’ and imperialist peace upon the people of the world. When the liberation movements in the different regions of the world were put under pressure to submit, those who had a lack of self-confidence surrendered. They accepted the ‘New World Order’ of imperialism and decommissioned their arms. Objectively, these organizations betrayed their own people and the cause of socialism and peace. This trend is still effective but is losing its initial momentum. The meaning of self- confidence is the ability to organise, to make the people participate in war and to wipe out imperialism and its collaborators in your country. Their excuses varied. Some said "our country is small, we cannot stand against imperialism", others invented new theories , whilst others were happy with gaining traces of certain rights and liberties. But in the end, when the surrendering began, it spread all over these organizations and it decommissioned them. This is how the current conjuncture of the world arrived. This counter-revolutionary wave in the world also influenced many organizations in our country. Since they had a lack of self-confidence, those which at one time adopted the armed struggle, are in a crisis whereby they no longer believe in their ideology. This happened under heavy oppression and eventually they rapidly turned into reformist movements. Today most of them have become the legal parties of the regime.
By rejecting illegality and becoming legal parties, these organizations have already accepted peace with imperialism and its collaborationist monopolies. Also in our country, like in other neo- colonies, the parliament is only a part of the ‘democracy game’. The rulers of our country are the collaborationist monopolies and the General Staff of the fascist regime is the National Security Council. Even the people on the streets have realised the situation, and in a period when people are cutting their bonds with the regime, the former ‘radical parties’, which are now parties within the regime, are trying to show people that the parliament of fascism is hope.
They think they can solve problems by winning elections to the parliament of the regime. They compete with each other and beg for votes like the other bourgeois parties by giving false promises. ‘Peace’ or ‘a political solution’ was continuously put on the agenda by ,mainly, the Kurdish nationalist movement, the PKK, the majority of the left in our country, the reformists, petty bourgeois parties and even some sections of the ruling classes. Those who expect solutions from imperialism on such matters as democracy, the Kurdish question and human rights, are the reformists and the Kurdish nationalist movement. There are numerous appeals to imperialism by these people and they demand the application of the imperialist solutions. In order to justify their attitudes, which have nothing to do with the general and particular facts about imperialism, they come out with the excuses of ‘necessity’, ‘imperialism is changing’, ‘no one can be outside of globalisation’. What all this means is that they do not understand fascism and imperialism. There is only one ideology which will lead the people to freedom. It is Marxism- Leninism. They are trying to replace Marxism- Leninism with the bourgeois ideology of nationalism or parliamentary democracy, openly in the case of the PKK, though it is embarrassing for others who define themselves as left to admit this. The results are obvious.
Today, imperialism has neither become the guardian of peace or the future of humanity, nor has fascism been democratised. On the contrary, their aggression is in a stage where laws and borders have no effect. NATO and the European Union are expanding their borders especially in the former socialist countries. The UN has become a puppet of imperialism. This is not enough for imperialism, particularly the USA. They wish to move around freely. NATO is developing a new strategy and trying to legitimise its acts without having the affirmation of the UN. It is obvious that this means a more aggressive NATO. By using the UN, imperialism sent its troops to Bosnia and changed the participants of the force in such a way that the UN force consisted only of NATO troops. ‘Multinational military forces’ were formed for the Balkans and Africa. Whoever stands up to the intimidation of imperialism is denounced as a terrorist. All of the attacks, embargoes and threats are legitimised this way. This period will continue to deepen and will create its own opposition. Since there is no change in the nature of imperialism, the real change is in those who have expectations in imperialism. They think that imperialism will pressurise the oligarchy in Turkey and democratisation will take place. This is clearly what the PKK hopes and also some other left groups. Those who expect solutions from imperialism on human rights, democracy and the national question end up creating ‘new’ theories about this. The concept of imperialism as the highest level of exploitation is either forgotten or they try to make everyone else forget it. The approach of imperialism to the Kurdish question within the boundaries of its policies on the Middle East, and its criticism of the oligarchy are taken as principals and therefore they expect solutions from imperialism. This is nationalism. The message from the leadership of PKK is "whatever happens in southern Kurdistan, the same should happen in northern Kurdistan". The situation in southern Kurdistan is that of a collaborationist regime under the wing of imperialist intervention. Furthermore, the PKK demands liberation similar to that of a province in Germany. It sometimes uses the examples of the PLO, or the IRA. Such a way of thinking will consider the PLO, which accepted the control of the CIA, or the IRA or FMLN, who declared peace by accepting very limited rights and liberties which in no way altered the essence of the regime of exploitation, as a success. To change the regime is no longer the aim. The aim becomes a solution under the affirmation of imperialism, within the regime and without threatening the fascist state. It is important for the development of the liberation movement in our country to learn the lessons from these developments. This is also valid for the liberation movements in other countries. Under these circumstances this idea of ‘peace’ is peace with the oligarchy. That is to say, the regime and rule of the oligarchy is recognised as legitimate. When the idea is accepted that "capitalism will continue to survive", being anti-imperialist and socialist is out of question. As a result, this is acceptance of the new world order.
The Position of the Left in our Country with regard to the Anti-Imperialist Struggle
Even though the indifference and terrorist character of the imperialist attack is clearly identified, the anti-imperialist attitude throughout of the world is on a lower level that it needs to be. Especially since the coup in September 12, 1980 there has been a retreat and erosion in the anti- imperialist struggle within the left in our country excluding Devrimci Sol and now the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front). This was both political and ideological. For other left groups the aim was not the conquest of power and revolution. In fact the essence of revolution is both anti-imperialist and anti-oligarchic. The retreat of anti-imperialism is the result of petty-bourgeois deviations by those who lack self-confidence and mistrust the people. Since the end of '80's the fastest retreat in the anti- imperialist struggle has occurred in the petty-bourgeois nationalist movements and among governments of countries with the same characteristics. The main factor responsible for this deviation was the counter-revolution in the Soviet Union and the deviations in the other socialist countries. In general the retreat of socialism within the petty-bourgeois movements produced two different results. Socialist rhetoric was rapidly replaced by nationalism and the movements which were waging armed struggle could not resist the physical and ideological pressure of imperialism and joined the queue to give up their arms.
Since the end of '80's we have witnessed a variety of attitudes against imperialism. Because of the mentality of copying other parties which had succeeded in bringing about their own revolutions, their anti- imperialist attitudes were based upon the pragmatism of the socialist countries they copied. They either ignored the attacks of imperialism or they directly or indirectly supported them. Therefore the period after 1989 is a very good educator. History witnessed the attacks of imperialism against the socialist countries, the efforts to destroy the revisionist rule by plots and coups.
History also witnessed their evaluations of the counter-revolutions as people's uprisings. Because ‘revisionism was being destroyed’ for example in Romania they applauded the imperialist attacks. Whether they supported a particular imperialist attack or not depended on who was being targeted. For instance in the case of Albania their attitude changed. These policies and attitudes have nothing to do with Marxism-Leninism. The Gulf War in '91 is a very good indicator. The imperialist invasion of the Middle East and the massacre of thousands of Iraqis were watched without any reaction by the reformists, the Kurdish nationalists or the opportunists. Their approach was "both imperialism and Saddam are wrong". The situation was 50\50 and therefore they could not take sides! As a result of the months long campaign of our movement, using armed and unarmed methods of struggle, we were able to make some people react against the imperialist war. Even the SHP (Social Democrat Populist Party) pretended to oppose the war, and finally some of the left organizations were forced to take a position against the imperialist war. The PKK, on the other hand, continued its neutrality, hoping thereby to gain advantage from the imperialist invasion. As a result, the left in general were spectators to the imperialist brutality. While the rest of the world watched the war on CNN, the left did the same thing. Many years later, there is no doubt what was the aim of imperialism. Two small scale Gulf Wars were witnessed in 1997 and 1998. The position of the Kurdish nationalists has not changed. The weak and embarrassing opportunist anti-US rhetoric was heard. It is obvious that without standing against imperialism the liberation struggle cannot be won. Those who oppose this have either no idea about imperialism or lack of the courage to attack it. If, by chance, such organizations conquered power, their regimes would rapidly affiliate with imperialism.
Turkey is the Police Station of Imperialism in the Middle East
Being shaped and directed by imperialism, the oligarchy in Turkey is situated on the side of imperialism and is against any kind of national or revolutionary movement developing against imperialism and its local collaborators. It has as its basis to protect and reinforce the status if imperialism in the Middle East. Therefore, it has became enemy of almost all Arab and Persian peoples.
From the 1970s on, faced with the development of the revolutionary struggle in our country, the Turkish oligarchy organized all institutions of the state accordingly and became more and more unstable in every respect as time wore on. Despite all the repression, the revolutionary struggle developed and developed to a point where it couldnot be prevented. Under these conditions, which made the policies of 'colloboration with imperialism' useless, the weakening Turkish oligarchy signed military agreements with the greatest enemy of the Arab nations, namely occupationist Israel, which constitutes an obvious declaration of animosity to the peoples of the Middle East.
The USA, which could not make a number of Arab states surrender in every respect, made use of the weakness of the Turkish oligarchy, and forced them to make an agreement with Israel against the Arab peoples, and succeeded in this. As a part of the New World Order demagogy, while playing the role of world gendarme, the USA is also giving Israel and Turkey a role to play in the Middle East. The targets are peoples and states which show resistance and do not behave in accordance with the interests of the USA and the New World Order. The USA's policy of 'divide and rule' on the basis of nationalities and religions, of fragmentation and inciting peoples to fight one another in order to ensure control of the market isnot producing results.
The peoples who are on the receiving end realize that such a struggle does not lead to salvation. As the rising revolutionary struggle leads US policies into an impasse, the USA does not hesitate to provoke regional wars in order to protect the interests of its colloborators and also to prevent the revolutionary struggle. It is in the interests ofimperialism to have divided, fragmented, weakened peoples who have been turned into each other's enemies. The more that peoples react to imperialism, the more that hatred and wars between the peoples are provoked.
The oligarchy's claims about the PKK and its threats against Syria are propaganda ploys to win the support of imperialism and its colloborators. With this propaganda the oligarchy sought justification for its aggression before the peoples of the world. The hidden aims are to make the Arab states in the Middle East surrender or destroy them, ensure the security of Israel, and establish the hegemony of the USA in the region, and to impede the revolutionary movement in the country itself. The USA, Israel, Turkey, various imperialists, and some colloborator Arab states have started an operation aimed at achieving a Syrian government which has surrendered and is in accordance with the policies of imperialism. Turkey's war threat against Syria is the practical start of that operation.
This action will continue. But it is impossible for imperialism to establish stability as far as the fascist regime in Turkey is concerned. The most important factor of the instability of the regime is the people's lack of hope in the regime and the fact that they are looking for other solutions. The last parliamentary elections in our country are the clearest proof in this regard. The desire for justice is its highest level. No part of the ruling class wants to reduce the level of exploitation and to give people the chance to breathe. Moreover, the main reason for the instability is that the people no longer have any hope that anything might come from the regime. It cannot succeed because it does not even have the power to deliver anything. The oligarchy are deeply frightened. Their fear is concretised in the phrase "They are going to come from the shanty towns around the cities and cut our throats". Under these conditions they do not have any other choice but to use the same old method which they have been applying for years: More terror. More terror creates more demands for justice, and consequently they feed back on each other. Turkey will continue to be a centre of instability in the Middle East and in the world.
Imperialism is Provoking National and Religious Differences
The results of the attack on Iraq are obvious. Iraq has been divided up into fragments. Making use of the Kurdish people, they created a region tied to imperialism in every respect, and which they can manipulate like a puppet. Imperialism seeks to destroy the rule of the governments which have not capitulated, divide up countries, create regions under its control, weaken the governments, and establish its hegemony. This is the basic policy of the oligarchy. Today, the borders of many countries have been drawn by the imperialists, especially after the wars. According to changing conditions and new situations, they create new borders and smallcountries which they control, in order to provide the trusts with new regions for exploitation.
After the big conspiracy which destroyed the socialist system, the countries which were buried beneath the ruins of this destruction are dependent on Russia in many respects. Imperialist trusts have still not been able to establish an absolute hegemony in this region. To weaken and thereby to force these countries which faced the violence of capitalism to surrender, the national and religious differences in this region are being provoked and the divide-weaken-rule policy is being applied. Imperialists applied these policies in the Balkans and the Caucasus: creating nationalist feelings through the help of its agents and collaborators, they turned the peoples into enemies and destroyed their unity. For their own interests, the imperialists of Europe attacked Yugoslavia together with the imperialists of USA beneath the mask of NATO. Another contradiction is to end the hegemony of Russia in a region where it is still effective.
In addition to these, USA imperialism wants to convince Russia, the European imperialists, and all the oppressed peoples that it is the only hegemonic power in the world. NATO's whole reason for existence, both yesterday and today, is to protect and enlarge the regions of imperialist exploitation.
Therefore, NATO, of which Turkey is a member, has always been a strike force against movements for national liberation. Today NATO is maintained with the purpose of protecting the rule of imperialism and its collaborators and preventing the development of revolutionary national liberation wars. The reasons for the collaboration of the Turkish oligarchy with the USA are its common interests with USA, and its fear of the developing people's liberation war and the revolution.
Even though it is the imperialists who have destroyed human rights and the rights of nations to self-determination, today they appear as if they are defending these rights, and under this false impression they incite hatred between peoples, organizing massacres and creating artificial borders. Where these are not necessary, they are attacking again and trying to bring about surrender. This is exactly this what is being done to Iraq and Yugoslavia.
Let's Unite and Fight Against Imperialism
Our attitude towards imperialist attacks is a matter of insisting on our revolutionary line, putting aside the international solidarity of peoples. Why is this so? The need to oppose imperialist attacks is quite often explained by the solidarity of peoples or internationalism. For sure, this is also correct, but today it is not enough. It is necessary to go further and ask: what is internationalism, 'against who' is the solidarity of nations directed, and so on. Otherwise, for very different reasons, very different groups may oppose imperialist violence in one way or another.
For instance, an imperialist group may oppose the violence due to the contradictions between the imperialists. Or those who perceive the problem from the point of view of 'human rights' may oppose the attacks as well. The necessity of opposing imperialist violence should be viewed not only as solidarity with the attacked nations or as internationalism. The problem of anti-imperialism is one of the main points for the liberation of nations. In other words, this attitude is an obligatory one directly for the future of our peoples. Because the bombs dropped by imperialists on Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, or other places in fact threaten our land and future as well. Therefore, the problem of anti-imperialism is not a 'secondary' matter. It is always present and strategically important. It is directly related to the characteristics of the revolution. The perspective of power is shaped according to the strength or weakness of the anti-imperialist stance. All the peoples of the world, all revolutionary and patriotic organisations should unite like a fist against imperialism. Today, when we think on a world scale, it is not possible to talk about an anti-imperialist block or front. This does not, of course, justify delaying the anti-imperialist struggle or declaring the weakness of the world left compared to imperialism.
The anger of the world's peoples against imperialism is great. The number of organisations and the masses which may act against imperialism must not be underestimated. What is lacking are political determination and clarity against imperialism. The development of anti-imperialist opposition to such attacks, and anti-imperialist struggle with a perspective of revolution and power in individual countries will, first of all, help the emergence of that front. Even today, imperialism is afraid of the peoples, of the anger of the peoples, and of the anti- imperialist attitude and actions of the existing revolutionary, patriotic organisations and countries.
Big or small, every anti- imperialist action will increase the fear of imperialism and, simultaneously the peoples' front against imperialism. While raising the flag of the unity of the world's peoples against imperialism, and step by step trying to establish the unity of revolutionary and patriotic organisations fighting against imperialism, we should not forget that our primary duty is to achieve our own anti-imperialist, anti-oligarchic revolution. This is the basic way of carrying out our internationalist duty to the peoples of the world and delivering the greatest blow to imperialism. There is no other way of achieving peace. Neither in our country, nor in the world.
Contribution to the 8th International Communist Seminar, Brussels, 2-4 May 1999
Theme: Imperialism means War