Organize Soldiers Internationally here ♦ A Veteran’s Story here ♦ Armed Struggle for Communism Will Liberate Palestinian Masses here ♦
International Struggle to Organize Soldiers for Communist Revolution
August 19— Any serious revolutionary movement needs to organize soldiers within the capitalist rulers’ armed forces.
Comrades of the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) made significant steps today as the party launched its first international military forum. The leadership of a veteran of the US war on Iraq was a key factor in guaranteeing its seriousness.
At the “Cancel RIMPAC” event in San Diego (USA) in June, a party collective formed to bring the struggle over organizing soldiers in the imperialist armies and navies to the movement against US imperialism.
“The rank and file understand the need to strengthen political relationships between workers and soldiers,” said a comrade. “So it looks like we need our own forum to discuss the importance of recruiting soldiers into the party.”
The two-hour Zoom forum was truly international. It included comrades in the US, South Africa, and El Salvador. It was led by Army veteran soldiers who joined the military purposely to organize soldiers.
The meeting started with a brief but powerful slideshow of historical images, accompanied by a chorus singing “Bandera Roja.” It depicted soldiers and workers, from enslaved Haitian workers and veterans fighting the French army to guerrilla soldiers in El Salvador and Guatemala.
Next came a report on current military conflicts. “Currently, there are over 120 armed conflicts around the world,” explained a comrade. The last time this happened was during World War II.”
Another presenter sparked a lively discussion about racism being the decisive tool used by capitalists to fuel war. Participants agreed that the brass uses racism and sexism to divide workers and soldiers so soldiers would carry out massacres of workers during military conflicts.
“Yes,” agreed a veteran. “There was always the need to paint Middle Eastern workers as the enemy so US soldiers would go to Iraq to wage war against Iraqi workers.” He shared how he was able to make a connection with Iraqi workers who were hired to service the sewage system of the military base. He pointed out how Iraqi workers were exploited much like workers are exploited around the world.
Personal Narratives: Heart of the Forum
It was inspiring to hear our veteran soldier comrades tell about how they organized soldiers. For example, a comrade military veteran from El Salvador gave a moving story of how soldiers refused to follow orders to attack striking teachers. And how they defended a communist worker from a brutal assault.
A major highlight was the commitments made by comrades in the US and one in South Africa to contribute more to the military work.
Many workers have family members in the South African military, so we can reach out to those soldiers,” said the South African comrade, “I plan to talk to my sister who is a nurse in the military.”
A US comrade, a Navy veteran, agreed to be part of the military collective. “It was in the Navy that I was able to learn about imperialism,” she said. Her experience as a woman in the Navy is invaluable to our movement. It demonstrates that male and female soldiers and sailors can work together even in such an environment plagued with a sexist culture.
“We need to consider high school work as pre-military work,” said a teacher comrade. He was reflecting the consensus of the Los Angeles teachers’ Party club. “I was recruited to the Party while I was in high school and went into the military to organize soldiers,” he added.
He asked another teacher comrade what he thought about this. “I’m a relatively new teacher,” the comrade responded, “and I intend to dedicate my life to doing this work.”
A major accomplishment of the forum was the establishment of an international military collective. The results of this will be seen in the work of Party clubs around the world.
A comrade in El Salvador emphasized that we must all reach out to soldiers and their families, students and workers who will be going into the military. We must recruit them to fight for a communist world. Every comrade and every collective has a key role in this work.
As another comrade pointed out, “If we build a base and recruit communist troops, we will win.”
Communist Work in the US Army: A Veteran’s Story
There is a difference between spreading propaganda against the military in general and aiming to recruit rank-and-file troops.
Before I enlisted in the army during the Vietnam war, I attended many small meetings about organizing for insurrection. We distributed a ton of what we considered to be communist literature for about six months. We recruited two more soldiers to make up a multi-racial collective of Black, Latin, and white GIs.
This club spent most of our free time developing communist relationships with other soldiers. Slowly we were able to facilitate rebellions against racism and genocide in squads, larger companies, battalions, brigades, and divisions.
Eventually, the collective was able to marshal enough forces to stand against tanks at the Ft. Lewis gate during Armed ‘Farces’ Day with the help of veterans and civilians. An NCO was furious. He threated to shoot a communist leader who was sitting on the barracks steps with Fabout twenty troops, mostly Black, who recently transferred out of Vietnam. They immediately jumped up to surround this communist worker and began to advance on the sergeant. The NCO fled for his life.
The point here is that if we build a base and recruit communist troops we will win.
— Comrade US Army Veteran
Armed Struggle for Communism, Not Diplomacy, Will Liberate Palestinian Masses
August 21— Gaza hospitals report 50 killed and 124 injured by Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours. The Zionists bombed a UNWRA school sheltering hundreds. They ordered the evacuation of Deir al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians were living. Then they fired on the crowds.
This is not “war.” It is genocide.
US rulers are desperately trying to negotiate a ceasefire. Not because they’ve suddenly developed a conscience! They want to avoid all-out war with Iran. And the Democratic Party wants to win back young people outraged by its complicity in genocide.
Biden and Harris claim to “care about the Palestinians” but refuse to halt arms shipments to Israel!
Secretary of State Blinken came back empty-handed from his urgent Middle East mission. He claimed that Israel had accepted a “bridging framework” that Egypt, Qatar, and the US have been peddling.
That supposedly includes Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. But Israeli media quote Prime Minister Netanyahu as saying that “Israel won’t leave the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor [inside Gaza] regardless of the pressure to do so.”
Details of this “framework” are not public, but it apparently contains new demands on Hamas that are likely unacceptable to them too.
The main contradiction in the Middle East – and the world – is between the imperialists. Behind Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis stand the Iranian rulers. Behind Iran stand the Russian and Chinese capitalist-imperialists.
Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyah, Hamas’ lead negotiator, in Tehran on July 31. For now, the Iranian rulers are refraining from retaliating. But, as Blinken admitted, resolution of the Gaza crisis is key to avoiding all-out war.
No negotiations among the capitalists and imperialists will liberate the Palestinian masses – or workers anywhere. Pro-Palestinian protesters chant “the only solution is intifada, revolution.” The revolution that will break the chains for good is communist revolution.
Read our Pamphlet:
“Soldiers, Sailors and Marines: Crucial for Communist Workers’ Revolution” here