In 2007-2008 I, in vain,
attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American
presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed
election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the
event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious,
in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who
really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the
Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world
politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially
the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois
commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things
to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies,
the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for
a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some
of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on if you like
************A Model Anti-Warrior
I recently received a comment
from someone whom I took earnestly to be perplexed by a section of a commentary
that I had written where I stated that the minimum necessary for any anti-war
politician was to vote against the Iraq war budget in a principled manner. Not
the way former Democratic presidential candidate Massachusetts Senator John
Kerry’s (and others) dipsy-doodled votes for and against various war budgetary
requests in 2004. And certainly not the other variations on this theme
performed recently by aspiring Democratic presidential candidates Senators
Obama and Clinton in the lead-up to 2008. Nor, for that matter, the way of
those who oppose the Iraq war budget but have no problems if those funds were
diverted to wars in Afghanistan, Iran , North Korea, China or their favorite
‘evil state’ of the month. What really drew the commenter up short was that I
stated this was only the beginning political wisdom and then proceeded to
explain that even that would not be enough to render the politician political
support if his or her other politics were weak.
The commenter then plaintively begged me to describe what politician
would qualify for such support. Although I have noted elsewhere that some
politicians, Democratic Congressman James McGovern of Massachusetts and
presidential candidate Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich stand out from
the pack, the real anti-war hero on principle we should look at is long
dead-Karl Liebknecht, the German Social-Democratic leader from World War I.
Wherever anyone fights against unjust wars Liebknecht’s spirit hovers over
those efforts.
Below is a commentary
(edited) written last year that relates to this same subject and does not
do nearly enough justice to the figure of Karl Liebknecht.
Hold Their Feet to the Fire
The election cycle of
2006-2008 has started, a time for all militants to run for cover. It will not
be pretty and certainly is not for the faint-hearted. The Democrats smell blood
in the water. The Greens smell that the Democrats smell blood. Various
parliamentary leftists and some ostensible socialists smell that the Greens
smell blood. You get the drift. Before we go to ground let me make a point.
The central issue in the 2006
elections is the Iraq quagmire. As we enter the fourth year in the bloody war
in Iraq many liberals, and some not so liberal, in Congress and elsewhere are
looking to rehabilitate their sorry records on Iraq and are having a cheap
field day. As militants we know that the only serious call is- Immediate,
Unconditional Withdrawal of all U.S. and Allied Forces. Many politicians have
supported a pale imitation of this slogan-now that it safe to do so. These
courageous positions range from immediate withdrawal in six months, one year,
six years, etc. My personal favorite is withdrawal when the situation in Iraq
stabilizes. Compared to that position, Mr. Bush’s statement in May, 2003 that
the mission in Iraq was accomplished seems the height of political realism.
Hold on though.
After the last slogan has
faded from the last mass anti-war demonstration, after the last e-mail has been
sent to the last unresponsive Congressman, after the last petition signed on
behalf of the fellowship of humankind has been signed where do we stand in
2006. When the vast majority of Americans (and the world) are against the Iraq
war and it still goes on and yet the “masses” are not ready for more drastic
action we need some immediate leverage.
The only material way to end
the war on the parliamentary level is opposition to the continued funding for
the occupation. For that, however, you need votes in Congress. Here is my
proposal. Make a N0 vote on the war budget a condition for your vote. When the
Democrats, Republicans, Greens, or whoever, come to your door, your mailbox ,
your computer or calls you on the telephone or cell phone ask this simple question-
YES or NO on the war budget.
Now, lest I be accused of
being an ultra-left let me make this clear. I am talking about the
supplementary budget for Iraq. Heaven forbid that I mean the real war budget,
you know, the 400 billion plus one. No, we are reasonable people and until we
get universal health care we do not want these “leaders” to suffer heart
attacks. And being reasonable people we can be proper parliamentarians when the
occasion requires it. If the answer is YES, then we ask YES or NO on the appropriations
for bombs in the war budget. And if the answer is still YES, then we ask YES or
NO on the appropriations for gold-plated kitchen sinks in the war budget. If to
your utter surprise any politician says NO here’s your comeback- Since you have
approximated the beginning of wisdom, get the hell out of the party you
represent. You are in the wrong place. Come down here in the mud and fight for
a party working people can call their own. Then, maybe, just maybe, I can
support you.
I do not believe we are
lacking in physical courage. What has declined is political courage, and this
seems in irreversible decline on the part of parliamentary politicians. That
said, I want to finish up with a woefully inadequate political appreciation of
Karl Liebknecht, member of the German Social Democratic faction in the
Reichstag in the early 1900’s. Karl was also a son of Wilhelm Liebknecht,
friend of Karl Marx and founder of the German Social Democratic Party in the
1860’s. On August 4, 1914, at the start of World War I the German Social
Democratic Party voted YES on the war budget of the Kaiser against all its
previous historic positions on German militarism. This vote was rightly seen as
a betrayal of socialist principles. Due to a policy of parliamentary solidarity
Karl Liebknecht also voted for this budget, or at least felt he had to go along
with his faction. Shortly thereafter, he broke ranks and voted NO against the
war appropriations. As pointed out below Karl Liebknecht did much more than
that to oppose the German side in the First World War. THAT , MY FRIENDS, IS
THE KIND OF POLITICAN I CAN SUPPORT. AS FOR THE REST- HOLD THEIR FEET TO THE
FIRE.
One of the problems with
being the son of a famous politician is that as founder of the early German
Social Democratic Party Wilhelm Liebknecht's son much was expected of Karl,
especially on the question of leading the German working class against German
militarism. Wilhelm had done a prison term (with August Bebel) for opposition
to the Franco-Prussian War. As for Karl I have always admired that famous
picture of him walking across the Potsdam Plaza in uniform, subject to
imprisonment after lost of his parliamentary immunity, with briefcase under arm
ready to go in and do battle with the parliamentary cretins of the Social
Democratic Party over support for the war budget. That is the kind of
leadership cadre we desperately need now. REMEMBER HIS FAMOUS SLOGANS- ‘THE
MAIN ENEMY IS AT HOME’-‘NOT ONE PENNY, NOT ONE PERSON (updated by writer to reflect
the changed status of increasing numbers of women in the military) FOR THE
WAR’. Wilhelm would have been proud.
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