ALB
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Here’s a shorter limk if anyone wants to tweet it ot whatever:
I believe they all derive from the original Chartist slogan “peace to the cottages, war on the palaces” or a version of it
Some of the Chartists may well have used it but it goes back further than that, to the French Revolution as “War to the Chateaux, Peace to the Cottages”
I think it’s final form is/was: “No War between Nations. No Peace between classes”, which is alright.
In fact, hanging on the wall at our Head Office is one which says: No War Between Peoples. No Peace between Classes. Here it is (if this works).
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/16253171/689434050286117983
Alan, slogans like “the only good war is the class war”, “no war but the class war”, and “peace between people, war upon our rulers” don’t really express our position clearly. In fact they can be highly misleading. This is because there are two different senses of “war”. The literal (war = armed conflict) and the metaphorical (war = opposition to or struggle against, as in “War on Want”).
In the present Ukraine situation “war” means “armed conflict”. Translated into this sense the rhetorical slogans become:
“The only good armed conflict, is the armed conflict between the classes”.
“No armed conflict but the armed conflict between classes.”
“Peace between people, armed conflict against our rulers.”
Which is definitely not our position.
On the other hand, translated into the metaphorical sense as in War on Want, the slogans become:
“The only good struggle is the class struggle.”
“No struggle but the class struggle.”
“Peace between people, struggle against our rulers.”
That does express our position more clearly, in fact rather well. But they are valid even when there is no armed conflict between states going on and so is not so powerful an expression of our opposition to wars.
A better slogan when there is a war would be: “No To War. Yes to Class struggle”.
That would distinguish our position from the pacifists who say simply “No to War”, and from the armed insurrectionists who say “No to War but Yes to Armed Conflict against the Ruling Class”.
It also explains why we can’t unite to oppose a particular war with those who by “No War but the Class War” mean “No War but Armed Conflict against the Ruling Class”.
Best to cut the rhetoric and think up a slogan to express our unique position. For instance: No to all wars between states. Yes to the class struggle for World Socialism.
Russia’s peace terms:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60785754.amp
Unlike some western politicians who seem to want the war with the suffering, deaths and destruction to continue, John Simpson suggests that the demands are not that unreasonable.
Let’s hope he’s right and that the war stops as soon as possible — sooner in fact, tomorrow unconditionally. That’s the working class interest.
Those football protestors weren’t about Ukraine but were from a breakaway from Extinction Rebellion. That they were planning a big campaign in March was mentioned on the thread on them. It seems this is it or part of it (go to the last page).
Some Ukrainian nationalists have advocated that the language should be written in the Roman rather than the Cyrillic alphabet:
Ukraine should shift from Cyrillic to Latin script, former Verkhovna Rada deputy says
Why has Yan Taksyur been arrested? I see he is not the only one:
Ukrainian Communist youth leaders arrested by government, reportedly targeted for death
I hadn’t realised that the “Communist” Party had been banned in Ukraine. Obviously we hold no brief for them but even so. The more that comes out about the present Ukrainian regime the more like the Russian regime it seems.
Head Office has received the following email from the Marxist-Humanist Initiatve:
March 16, 2022
Hello Friend,Putin’s horrific war against Ukraine is analyzed in our new editorial, Ukraine Fights for National Self-Determination Against Russian Imperialism. It delves into
• the Marxist-Humanist principle of national self-determination;
• our slogan: “the opposite of war is not peace, but social revolution”;
• the forces opposing Putin within Russia – mass protests;
• why the whataboutism of blaming the war on the US and NATO is wrong;
• why imposing “neutrality” or partition is wrong;
• the dangers of Putinism and Trumpism boosting autocracy.We are exactingly critical of that part of the so-called left that attributes the cause of the war to anyone-but-Putin and fails to acknowledge his naked imperialism. Putin is trying to re-establish the Russian Empire and Stalin’s reach. He strives to weaken the US and to establish multi-polarity, for the sole purpose of strengthening his domination over part if the world.
Without a drastic reorganization of soft-on-Putin left thought that passes for revolutionsim, it may be that Marxism, reason, and civilization have no chance of flourishing.
We just published a special edition of our podcast, Radio Free Humanity, that discusses our position. Radio Free Humanity comes out every two weeks and can be heard on many platforms.
We would like to know your thoughts on these ideas. We also refer you to “Unite the Left to Defend Ukraine,” an appeal by the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, whose campaign your organization can join.
Report of oppression of the Greek minority in Mariupol by the Ukrainian ultra-nationalist Azov Battalion which is based in that city. It might be pro-Russia propaganda but the evidence is presented by refugees from the area who are now in Greece.
Biden has just denounced Putin as a “war criminal” so, as the US doesn’t like the ICC, where does he propose he should be tried?
The decision wasn’t even taken on legal grounds (even though wrapped up in legal
language) but was patently political:“The court ruled by 13 votes to two for a provisional order that “the Russian Federation shall immediately suspend military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine”. Only the Russian and Chinese judges on the court voted against the order.”
The so-called “International Court of Justice” have just ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine. What a joke but good because it will show how powerless legal rulings are to stop wars. Russia will take no notice of it whatsoever, and nobody else expects it to make the slightest difference, confirming that in relations between capitalist states might is right, not what a bunch of petty-fogging logic-choppers might order. Cushy job with good pay, though.
