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| This month marks the 50th
Anniversary of the signing of the Warsaw Pact, the political and
military alliance of the socalled 'socialist' countries in Eastern Europe. Signed on 14 May 1955 it bound together in a 'defensive alliance' Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and Albania. East Germany joined in 1956, while Albania started distancing itself from 1962 onward and withdrew altogether in 1968. The Russian government claimed that the Warsaw Pact was established as a response to the incorporation of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1955. In practice, however, it acted as a facade for maintaining political and military control over East European countries 'liberated' from German occupation and a cloak for intervention in the affairs of its 'allies' (in effect its satellites), as occurred in Hungary and Poland in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Norman Lowe points out that for many writing during the 'Cold War' era, NATO was "the West's self-defence against communist aggression" (Mastering British History, p.529). But while there was great tension and antagonism after the war the notion that Russia was waiting for the opportunity to invade Western Europe, an action that would have achieved nothing short of total self-annihilation, must be viewed with scepticism. President Eisenhower, for example, consistently held the view that the Russia posed no military threat to Western Europe. Instead, he saw NATO's primary role as to 'harden' European people in their opposition to 'communism' and "to corral its allies and to head off neutralism, as well as deter the Russians" (Frank Costigliola, Kennedy's Quest for Victory,p. 244). In 1999, the Guardian reviewed newly declassified British government documents including a 1968 Foreign Office joint intelligence committee analysis. Its summary of the analysis states: "Russia had no intention of launching a military attack on the West at the height of the Cold War and in stark contrast to what Western politicians and military leaders were saying in public about the 'Soviet threat'" (1 January 1999). But if the Russian military threat didn't really exist what was the basis of the 'Cold War?' An important pre-condition for the perpetuation of capitalist class dominance is the unconditional 'obedience' of ordinary working people. In a non authoritarian society perhaps the most effective way of sustaining obedience is by inducing fear of a perceived external threat that intimidates ordinary people into giving unquestioning support to their governments in return for protection from the apparent threat. Western governments conceived the 'International Communist Conspiracy' and the 'Cold War' as elaborate fairy tales, grossly exaggerating the threat of Russian military intentions to instil fear and intimidate Western public opinion. These fairy tales have their origins in the Russian Revolution of 1917 when the Bolsheviks seized power and established state capitalism masquerading as 'socialism.' This event made conflict between Russia and western capitalism inevitable and within months of this seizure of power fifteen countries invaded Russia in what was hailed as a heroic mission inspired by a desire to secure self-determination for the Russian people. But on examination the motive behind this invasion had little to do with altruism, being instead driven by pure self-interest epitomised in three principal concerns. Firstly, the revolution had rendered a vast area - in excess of 15 percent of the world's landmass - 'offlimits' to Western capitalist expansion. Second, the new Russian State represented a dangerous example of an alternative to free market capitalism that threatened to inspire people to engage in struggles to establish 'communism' in other countries. Thirdly, the new Russian regime practising state capitalism would inevitably challenge free market capitalism in future spheres of influence. Page 9 >>> |
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