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DW has asked me to tell the list where I disagree with the article in Socialist Action. I will deal with the two parts of the article that I find the weakest. They are at the end of the article. * * * * * * From Socialist Action https://socialistaction.org/2018/02/25/gun-control-workers-militias-how-socialists-view-the-issues/ <https://socialistaction.org/2018/02/25/gun-control-workers-militias-how-socialists-view-the-issues/> Meanwhile, liberal gun controllers continue to whine about gun violence on a small scale while refusing to demand democratic control of the huge forces of force and violence that carry out U.S. foreign policy and that can be used against us domestically at any time if the ruling class only dares. POSTSCRIPT In a Jan. 4, 1990, speech, Fidel Castro stated: “To some of the Western countries that question democracy in Cuba, we can say: There can be no democracy superior to that where the workers, the peasants, and the students have the weapons. They have the weapons. To all those from countries that question democracy in Cuba we can say: Give weapons to the workers, give weapons to the peasants, give weapons to the students, and we’ll see whether tear gas will be hurled against workers on strike, against an organization that struggles for peace, against the students…. “I believe that the supreme test of democracy is arming the people! When defense becomes the task of the entire people and weapons become the prerogative of the entire people, then they can talk about democracy. Until then, they can talk about specialized police forces and armies; to crush the people whenever the people protest against the abuses and injustices of the bourgeois system, whether in a Third World capitalist country or in a developed capitalist country.” —G.B. * * * * * * I think it is a mistake to say that those who decry school shootings “…whine about gun violence on a small scale…”. If we are to approach the young people who are going into action on this issue, we should avoid labelling them as whiners. Of course, if we think they are too reactionary to merit us approaching them, then we can call them whatever we want. Beyond calling them whiners we could also accuse them of being privileged white children out of touch with the reality that many others have to face. When we consider what is gun violence on a small scale it is worth remembering that the shootings at Kent State left four dead and at Jackson State two were killed. These shootings provoked a massive reaction across the US. Why should the shooting at Parkland provoke a lesser reaction? As for Cuba, I am ignorant of exactly how working people in Cuba have access too guns. Do they have the guns in their homes or do they access them at their places of work? One thing I am sure of is that individuals in Cuba cannot go into a retail outlet and buy an assault weapon. Further on Socialist Action. Socialist Action has an affiliate in Canada. They use the same name and they sell the same paper. In the Socialist Action newsletter that I received today they did draw attention to the current article and to another one on gun control. But, to the best of my knowledge, Socialist Action in Canada has not specifically addressed the question of gun control when it has been debated in Canada. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can correct me on this. They will have an opportunity to address this issue again as there its currently a petition campaign addressed to Mountain Equipment Co-op asking them to drop products from Vista Outdoors, a US company that manufactures semi-automatic weapons among other things. ken h _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
