Ken Hiebert replies to me by citing Trotsky's letter of 1936 concerning Ethiopia. It is ironic that this letter has become one of the influential texts of Trotskyist dogma, as Trotsky didn't care that much about Ethiopia. That's why his statement about Ethiopia was published in 1936, and ever after, under the title "On dictators and the heights of Oslo", Oslo being the capital of Norway, not Ethiopia, and the letter being all about the debates in the British ILP. The talk about dictators was Trotsky's attempt to find a clever response to "the Pacifist Parliamentarians who run the [British] ILP", and the letter has nothing about the internal situation inside Ethiopia. He simply glorifies Selassie, and then never looks back, never writes again on Ethiopia, although Selassie fled Ethiopia 10 days after Trotsky's praise of him as a possible revolutionary dictator striking a powerful blow against world imperialism.
This is an astonishing example of dogmatism. What matters is supposedly what Trotsky said, not what happened in the world. To that way of reasoning, Trotsky matters, not so much the multitude of Ethiopians, Eritreans, and other Africans in the Ethiopian empire who lived and died in the period of the resistance war. Few leftists would ignore the partisan wars in Europe and Asia that took place during the Second World War. But the Ethiopian one against Italian fascist occupation is ignored. As are the Eritreans, the Oromo people, and the bad role played by national oppression inside the Ethiopian empire. As is also the desire of the Ethiopian Patriots, who were fighting Italian occupation, to see some reforms in Selassie's absolute monarchy. Theories should be based on facts. African lives and experience matter! This isn't just a historical question. "On dictators and the heights of Oslo" has been used for such things as justifying support for the Taliban and other reactionary forces as anti-imperialist. It has been cited on both sides of this debate. One would imagine that this has something to do with the fact that anti-imperialism and working-class internationalism don't really consist of choosing between two dictators. Trotsky was at least on the right side of the Italian-Ethiopian war; his theory of choosing between two dictators has, however, led many of those who applied it to some very odd choices. On 14 Nov 2020 at 7:28, Ken Hiebert wrote: > > Trotsky´s views on Ethiopia have been part of this discussion. I > am linking to an article he wrote at > the time and I have included what I think is the most relevant > passage. > ken h > > > https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/04/oslo.htm > > 1. Maxton and the others opine that the Italo-Ethiopian war is > "a conflict between two rival dictators." To these > politicians it > appears that this fact relieves the proletariat of the duty of > making a choice between two dictators. They thus define the > character of the war by the political form of the state, in > the > course of which they themselves regard this political form in > a quite superficial and purely descriptive manner, without > taking into consideration the social foundations of both > "dictatorships." A dictator can also play a very progressive > role in history; for example, Oliver Cromwell, Robespierre, > etc. On the other hand, right in the midst of the English > democracy Lloyd George exercised a highly reactionary > dictatorship during the war. Should a dictator place himself > at the head of the next uprising of the Indian people in order > to smash the British yoke - would Maxton then refuse this > dictator his support? Yes or no? If not, why does he refuse > his support to the Ethiopian "dictator" who is attempting to > cast off the Italian yoke? > If Mussolini triumphs, it means the reinforcement of > fascism, the strengthening of imperialism, and the > discouragement of the colonial peoples in Africa and > elsewhere. The victory of the Negus, however, would mean > a mighty blow not only at Italian imperialism but at > imperialism as a whole, and would lend a powerful impulsion > to the rebellious forces of the oppressed peoples. One must > really be completely blind not to see this. > > -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#3524): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/3524 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/78192048/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
