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On 7/12/13 7:50 AM, Ron Jacobs wrote: > > http://stillhomeron.blogspot.com/2013/07/was-that-really-antiwar-movement-look.html In my opinion, it is virtually impossible to oppose the machinery of US imperialism without an anti-imperialist understanding of the US role in the world. Any other approach limits the success and the goals of any antiwar movement. --- In response, Louis P wrote: Actually the millions of people who took part in the Moratorium protests against the war in Vietnam in 1969 had virtually no understanding of imperialism. They were tired of the killing and a typical activity consisted of walking down the main street of some small town carrying a candle. But it was the sheer force of the mass action that finally began to turn the tide against the war-makers. On the Militant newspaper website (just updated), there are several letters complaining about the lack of antiwar coverage: http://www.themilitant.com/2001/6542/654235.html Party leader Jack Willey answers them with an article that claims that the SWP's fight is against "imperialism" and not the war: http://www.themilitant.com/2001/6542/654236.html How said it is to hear these sorts of ultraleft arguments in a time of such deep crisis. Ron responds: The antiwar movement essentially rejected the anti-imperialist analysis in favor of a mass movement that was sick of Bush, but refused to see that it was the imperial system that guarantees wars will occur over and over. Perhaps if the much larger antiwar movement against the war in Vietnam had worked harder to create an understanding of imperialism instead of minimizing that part of the movement, things might have been different. My conclusion differs from Louis in that I think we must create an understanding of why the US military does what it does. That entails discussing imperialism and building a movement against it. Then our goals could be grander than the Obama-compromise we ended up with this time around. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
