I WAS quite shocked to find Socialist Challenge dancing to the tune of the US State Department ('Soviet troops out of Afghanistan!', 3 January):
There has been a more or less continuous build-up of Soviet troops in Afghanistan ever since the fall of the Daoud regime — recognised by all the bourgeois press, and by Socialist Challenge in its previous articles. Roughly concurrently with the latest coup, Carter & Co have started denouncing the 'massive Soviet build-up' and, after a little hesitation, the British bourgeois press has followed suit in calling this an invarin But this is by no means the produci or carter s concern for human rights or (Eric Heffer notwithstanding) for the self-determination of nations. It isa part of the US goyernment's war drive aimed at legitimising an armed intervention in the Middle East to defend the interests of US Whatever the shortcomings of' Babrak Karmal — and for that matter, of Leonid Brezhnev — if the forces backed by US imperialism win out then no way will Afghanistan get national self-determination or revolution. What it will get is feudal ,reaction and a US puppet government.
What's at stake for workers in the West is not an abstract moral question. It's more imperialist support for the Zia regime in Pakistan, and it's US workers being sent out to die for the interests of US Revolutionaries have to be quite clear which side they're on in this development. We have to fight tor:
Imperialist hands off Alghamistan!
• No aid to the Pakistani regime! No aid to the counter-revolution!
No sanctions against the USSR! Britain out of NATO!
Tariq Ali's article managed to find itself to the right not only of Socialist Worker but even of the Guardian. Let's have a line of intransigent opposition to imperialist manoeuvres - not a series of moralistic half-truths and concessions.
MIKE MACNAIR (London E9) THE article on Afghanistan by Tariq Ali (3 January) created more problems than it solved. Terms and concepts are undetined while theores are imposed onto situations that bear little relation to them.
With no working class or bourgeoisie ('only two tactories'), what would be the class nature of the 'thoroughgoing revolutionary democracy' proposed? Considering the alleged predomination of tribal land ownership, and given no industrial support, what radical socia measures could win mass support' for the 'genuine revolution"?
To understand the relationship - between the situation in Afghanistan and the international struggle for socialism we must examine it dual Cial acicl. The 'internal' dynamic of contradictions within the Afghan social formation is mediated by the 'external' dynamic of international class struggle. The national question is an international question. The internal variables are the productive relations while the external variables are imperialism and the workers' The interests of the international proletariat favour a workers' state solution, but for this a working class must exist. The expansion of the proletariat has not and cannot be accomplished through reliance on the imperialist world market. Also there is no internal dynamic towards such acako ero vaucuicIld market, agricultural surplus, industry nor capitalist agriculture; and export-led growth is unobtainable. Democracy as a form of class rule would be impractical to impose on the tribal peoples; there is little basis for 17 January 1980 democratic revolution.
The only way forward is to create a working class from above with Soviet help. Ali is incorrect to forecast failure. Social transformations need not rely on 'mass revoluțion' (although socialist transformation does). The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, isolated, faced over-whelming opposition from tribal reaction. Without Soviet intervention the result would have been a dictatorship armed and backed by imperialism, endangering the USSR on its southern border.
The Soviet bureaucracy is counter-revolutionary but its own interests, in survival, occasionally concur with those of the proletariat. This is the case in Afghanistan. Real. conflicts of interest are not solved by education, while 'radical social measures' may indeed be applied with force where such conflicts exist.
In not specifying the class nature or dynamics of 'autocratic regimes' versus revolutionary democracy', or 'genuine revolution' versus substitutionism, Ali transforms these terms, abstracted from reality, into principles. Using an idealist methodology and attempting to outflank the Soviet bureaucracy he fails to defend the workers' states and ends in joining the imperialist chorus 'Soviet troops out of Afghanistan'. PAULANDREWS (Lambeth NOT very long ago, Tariq Ali rightly condoned Vietnamese action in Kampuchea. But he has now condemned Soviet action in Afghanistan (3 January). This is inconsistent.
In the beginning of 1979 the Kampuchean revolution reached a critical stage, and might have collapsed but for the timely Vietnamese assistance for the forces of revolution in that country. wnich were thereupon able to rid • Kampuchea of the tyrannical regime of Pol Pot and counter American and other neo-colonialist and imperialist conspiracies in Indochina. The revolutionary process was at an even more critical stage in Afghanistan when the Russians intervened.
To say that a genuine revolution had not taken place in Afghanistan would be inadmissible. traditional argument about the smallness or absence of a working class as laid down in the Marxist textbook. But where did such an idealist textbook revolution ever take place? In China? In Vietnam? Indeed, in the Soviet Union itself?
In our times the criterion of a genuine revolution might be stated as being, primarily, that the revolution must have emerged from a people's own experience and be true to the gut of their being even while it is in accord with the logic of Marxist theory.
What was required of a geniune revolutionary movement after the overthrow of Daoud in April 1978 was first of all to change the country's feudal condition, and this the administration of Taraki attempted to do as soon as it came to power. Among its first reforms was the halting of the sale of girls. This was a WOULD LIKE TO WELČOME) KOY COCONMENT YOU TO THE EIGHTIE S.. a kind of living, and held out promise of fundamental human rights.
'extremely small' working class and deeply-rooted tribal structure with tribal property rights, making obvious 'the magnitude of the tasks' facing the new leaders. But is that any is not fit för revolution and social progress? Is Tariq being realistic when he complains that the regimes which took over from Daoud were the conditions of Afghanistan any measure tor democratic procedures at we know them would have made There is of course truth in his comment that 'genuine revolutions can only succeed with mass support'. need for 'a patient process of educating the masses coupled with a series of radical social measures'. But who will help in putting through such radical social measures?
The Western press and leaders have constantly gloated that Russia has been getting 'bogged down' in Afghanistan. Yet suddenly the West is moving fast to put an end to Russia's intervention, crying out in pious horror and demanding withdrawal of Soviet forces from The reason is obvious Imperialists, the Chinese leadership, and their allies and supporters, are frightened that the Russians will succeed where no one else has succeeded before. That the Afghan profound effect on that part of the world, where the minorities like the which they have been subjected for (CLEuC).
should fight every imperialist action which is directed against the Afghan revolution AHMAD SHUJA (London W14)
women media workers, are making a cinema commercial to assist the Campaign Against Corrie. The 45 There is the independent cinemas throughout Britain early in the New Year. It'sa fast, witty animation aimed at publicising the drastic consequences of the Corrie Bill if it is passed on 8 February. without payment and production costs are being met by public donation. Money is still needed to strike extra prints. Join the fight and send your donation to: CAC Clip Collective, 2 Chichele Road, London NW2, CAC CLIP COLLECTIVE SWP membership YOUR issue of 3 January contains a letter stating: 'Duncan Hallas has been quoted as admitting that the effective membership of the SWP is about 1,500...' Quoted by whom, when and where? It would be UNLESS YOU HAPPEN TO AERIACK ORRSH• OR A WOMAN. OR YONG... • significance for Afghanistan, where it gave people for the first time a right to delegates Comrade Tariq talks about the effective.
argument for saying that Afghanistan problem autocratic; does he really think that in (8 November).
This squares with his view that there is place revolution will succeed and will have a Baluchis, Pakhtuns and the Kurds are waiting to put an end to the tyranny to That is why we, as revolutionaries, Clip Corrie's wings THE CAC Clip Collective, a group of second commercial will be screened in blind.
The women involved are working applicable Certainly I have never made any OF COURSE, YOU COULD BE ALL THESE THINGE IN WHICH CASE LEE0 C®& WORLH LIYING confidential information on the state of the party given in a document for Asto 'effective' members, 1 believe that all our members are DUNCAN HALLAS (London E2) Men are part of the YOUR corespondent Tommy Cusack (13 December) séems very hostile to a politics which says that 'men are part of the problem in building socialism'. This phrase SuNTANC LICURS WaS VIZ IU make when I originally wrote to you It is those who perpetuate the oppression of their sisters and brothers who are scabs, not those who challenge them in doing so. Given that, you can't overcome the divisions in the working class created by these different sorts of oppression by pandering to them. In the case of sexism, not only must it be challenged but this must be done by women, because men always have something 'more important' to do.
Now in my view that strategic understanding of what the attitude of' socialists should be towards divisions within the working class flows from the opinion that men have a material OUL OL ACOS THECICCI OOOIeoswomen. To me this is evident from their social power over women, but it is this assertion which aroused comrade Cusack's wrath in the first I didn't intend to carve out a theory around this, and I haven't really got the time, but if anyone is interested they should have a look at Heidi Hartmann's article 'The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism' in the summer 1979 edition of Capital and Class.
But after the points comrade Cusack made i don't need to worry, because none of them dent the assertion I made. His strongest, most rational point was that to prove a material interest you have to show that there's no alternative to the sexual division of labour.
The trouble is, you don't have to prove that no-one else can do 'women's work' to show a material interest because you are dealing with oppression, not exploitation. With the relation of capital to labour, labour power is the only thing which can create value, hence the relation of exploitațion. But Marxism, as Heidi Hartmann explains, is sex and race Moreover, Marxists, as Hartmann points out, have only analysed the relation of women to capital, not the relation of women to men. The latter is the sphere of this whole debate, so I'm afraid the safe, old categories comrade Cusack is using — Engels not least of them — may just not be For example, if men controlled women s sexaa r orccrlo dass ul private property to their heirs, how did they get control of that private property? Presumably something in the sphere of early relations between women and men. See what i mean: SUE LANDAU (London NW3)
• AND THE 1 k YOUR SHOTAN MEKĄ c A ! power. The steelworkers' strike is the first major fightback of the '80s against Tory policies, which are also wreckine our health and we tare services and education opportunities.
Organise RAI benefits for the strikers in your areà; if there aren't any, do one anyway and send the donations to the 'RAR Steel Workers Strike Fund', c/o Box M, 27 Clerkenwell Close, London ECI. Ring RAR on (01) 802 8773 for bands and advice.
ROCK AGAINST RACISM PTA arrests THE Christmas issue of Socialist Challenge sent its greetings to the women in Armagh jail, Northern Ireland. At least you made a token gesture but what about the Irish prisoners in English jails at the present time?
There were no Socialist Challenge supporters or sellers to be seen on the pickets organised after 27 Irish people, several of them woren with children, were picked up on 12 December under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. There are still seven Deoole -_ tour men and three womer - in Brixton awaiting trial. It looksas if the police intend to keep them locked up for weeks before the trial.
Please will you publicise their case and ask your supporters to attend the next picket of Brixton prison, called for 26 January. Meet outside the. prison at 10am. Bring banners and placards.
DEBORAH KELLY (London SE14)
IMG attacked A SHARP attack on the International Marxist Group was made by John Strauther (13 December) in the guise of a demand for the expulsion of the Leninist Trotskyist Tendency from its ranks. According to comradt Strauther, 'This result would then have the welcome eifect of removing the chief obstacle to the formation o1 a unified revolutionary organisation.
But the effect would be the exact opposite. The political views of the LTT are absolutely within the framework of the politics of the Fourth International. If we are to bulld a mass party a much greater disparity of views will need to be incorporated in a single organisation.
The LTT in Britain, through their action here and internationally, played an important part in by defendinge the integrity orche par and the FI. These comrades have fought loyally for their views inside the IMG and the FI, implacably. opposing the splittist course of the majority of the LTT and the Bolshevik Faction.
It isideas like those defended by comrade Strauther which are the recipe for building a sect. They are not just attacks on the LTT but on the whole IMG, which has the proud record of defending the democratic rights of all minorities which operate within the framework of democratic centralism.
BRIAN GROGAN (IMG]
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Aid to create working class
Could the Russians succeed?