War in Iraq: What Do We Marxists Defend?

The following is a translation of the previous article, submitted by comrade Lupe Matova.


As marxists, what should be our position on the war in Iraq?

It is without a doubt that it is a difficult to understand the complex situation which developed. This deserves a profound examination of which the agents of inventions are. Do not be misled by the distorted information given to us by the media owned by large capitalist monopolies.

This media is utilized for the United States and their allies for presenting the Iraqi insurgency like a group of fanatical of the Islamist fundamentalists. It is the same divisions in the various factions, principly the Sunnies and the Shiites who go about terrorizing and indiscriminately kill the civilian population.

This permits the occupation army to show the war like its a "war against terrorism" and presents themselves like the " saviours of democracy", defenders of the population who are incapable of taking their destiny into their own hands. Using the media, they convince public opinion that it is urgent necessity to maintain themselves in the territory of Iraq and thus control (They[US] Love them...) the energy resources of the region.

In reality, these fundamentalist groups constitute a small part of the resistance movements, represent only 10% of all attacks against the occupational army, lies that they are the authors of all the attacks on the civilian populations, like the car bombs in the markets, the suicide attacks in the mosques, etc. These actions favour imperialism and go against the truth of the resistance. Hence the measure of that pass the time, they will intensify, probably for the position to accomplish the occupational army

(We will not forget that the Islamist extremism that has existed for 4 decades, caused by the United States Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, when the United States created and financed it before the rise to power of Nasser in Egypt and many other Islamist Populists of the Left in the middle east and Islamic countries when they represented a threat for the interests of the Imperialists in the relation of petroleum.)

The real resistance is to the occupation and with the support of 80% of the Iraqi population, is carrying out a guerrilla war, centralizing its objective on the military mostly the occupational army and the collaborationists: The national guard and the Iraqi Police, military services created by the occupier to protect itself from the resistances. Its being used right now in counter insurgent operations. In one interview the CEOSI(national campaign against the occupation and by the sovereignty of Iraq) did on Abu Yusef, member of the resistance and former member of the dissolved former armed forces explained that the " The direction of the resistance is formed principly of former members of the Armed forces as well as members of the Ba'ath Party, now both are dissolved. A political organization has been created to integrate members of the old armed forces into the Resistances, the Official Free Movement(FOM or OFM I don't know how the name is in English) taking the name of the organization for official nasserists, hardened by the revolution of 1958 and that overthrew the monarchy. Also the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance and the Union of the People, a group that split from the collaborationist Communist Party of Iraqi. Together with more groups, they are discussing the creation of a National Liberation Front."

Abu Yusef, also explained that the "Iraqi resistance rejects terrorism, the kidnappings, the extortion, the assaults on residences and the attacks against temples.They protect the academic and Public Institutions because they are collective property of the Iraqi People. The Iraqi resistances have objectives for the expulsion of the occupiers and the preservation of the unity of the territory of Iraq and the Iraqi people."

Its clear that like all national liberation movements its formed by mixed groups of different tendencies that are with contradictions, some progressive, and others reactionary like of the Islamist fundamentalists, all with a point in common thats the fight against the United States. Something similar happened in Europe during the German occupations when the resistance had in its ranks, reactionaries with monarchist elements as well as communists. This fact in no way put the progressive character of the national liberation movement an issue.

The Marxists have to support the Iraqi liberation movement, in the same manner that the Iraqi Marxists participate in it, but not only disintegrating themselves in together of the movements, without surrendering their ideological and organizational independence. Exposing clearly that the fight by the national liberation can only triumph like a fight for a social liberation Denouncing the reactionary character of islamic extremism and the opportunism of the leaders, showing them like the other face of the same coin of Imperialism. Proposing within the movement a basic common program for the socialist transformation of society and the means to carry it out. A political program that attacks the Imperialist occupation, the fundamentals of feudalism and capitalism. Make a call out to iraqi youth and workers so that they make return to their revolutionary and anti-imperialist traditions that they have showed greatly on many on many occasions and to convince that this movements can only be founded on the bases of the working class, that they are the only class able to unite with different religious groups,ethnicities, nationalities and social stratums with the common objective of social transformation. And defend what is the only way out, the only way to defeat imperialism, is a unified revolutionary fight against the occupation , oppression and sectarianism.