We were glad to meet you at the Feburary 15 anti-war demo in New York and to receive your leaflet. Your emphasize the need for a rebellion in the armed forces as a key element in an effective strategy to destroy the imperialist war aims. We would like to acquaint you with our view on the military and related questions in the hopes of establishing a political dialogue. (Our site is www.lrp-cofi.org But it would be helpful to have a street address or pob for your group so that we can send you some of our older materials on the military question which are not available on our website.)
Your leaflet did point out that there are differences between today’s army and the drafted army of the past. Revolutionists, of course, do not like any version of the capitalist army. We are not "for" a drafted army as opposed to a volunteer army. However, we do have a PREFERENCE for which form of armed force exists (and some form of it is inevitable under capitalism). Either a drafted or “volunteer” army in these times will generally be composed of people from working class backgrounds, certainly among the enlisted ranks. But the real and potential level of discontent and rebelliousness will be greater among the drafted elements. They are far more open to radical and revolutionary ideas about war and society, particularly if a war is unpopular and/or going badly.
The ruling class itself is well aware of this. Rumsfeld got caught recently making some offhanded remarks about enlisted men not having "value" in Vietnam. He had to beat a retreat on the matter. But he was speaking from the heart, and from his point of view he was correct. The enlisted forces were a much greater liability to the ruling class and its war aims.
The ruling class is nonetheless forced in many situations of large-scale warfare to have to rely on the draft, as in World War II, Vietnam, etc. It has been able to get by more recently with its volunteer army. But it will have to depend on the draft again since as imperialist conflicts and mass rebellions in the world deepen it will need more massive human forces. (Ironically, Rumsfeld's strategy of world domination will quicken the pace for the drafted army that he is in particular fear of).
Again, we are not "for" a draft, and would not support one. But we will not fundamentally align ourselves with a no-draft movement, as that in effect posits the idea of favoring a volunteer army, even if it doesn't openly say so. We believe this was the basic attitude of Lenin and the Bolsheviks in World War I, and that it has not lost its validity.
Of course we’d like to know your thoughts on this.
Also, your leaflet makes the point that strikes against the war are an important tactic. We agree with this. In general we think that a powerful working class movement is essential for stopping any specific war plans and that workers’ socialist revolution is necessary to stop imperialism altogether. In terms of the U.S. working class, our perspective is that a revolutionary working class party is necessary to raise consciousness in the working class about the essence of U.S. imperialism, the common enemy of workers and oppressed at home and abroad.
The generally low level of class consciousness in this country has been fostered by the treacherous union bureaucracy over many decades. We believe that a fight within the working class and its institutions is vital. The union bureaucracy is a key barrier to workers’ struggles today. And sp we emphasize the necessity of fighting to build a new revolutionary leadership as well as concrete fights to build mass actions against the attacks on workers at home, as well as abroad.
It is no accident that union leaders like President Dennis Rivera of 1199 and President Roger Toussaint of TWU Local 100 were happy to make anti-war statements. So-called progressive union leaders are content to bring token contingents to demonstrations, such as on February 15. But they avoid mobilizing the ranks -- even on basic issues related to defending their living standard and job security, much less the overall questions of the imperialist attacks. Our propaganda generally connects the attacks on workers and oppressed at home with the imperialist war drive. We expect that once workers are able to successfully engage in struggles over the direct attacks that they are suffering, that they will be gain confidence and consciousness and better able to make connections in larger numbers between the domestic and international attacks and the need to actively fight on all fronts as a class.
Again, we would like to know your thoughts on this.
A possible disagreement between us is that we do not believe that the current middle class movement, and its organizations can or will play any role in presenting this perspective to the working class or being a positive part of its actual struggles. That is a huge subject beyond the scope of this letter, but we would hope that you read our critique of the current anti-war movement. It is in the Proletarian Revolution magazine, which we believe you purchased at the demo. We would be very interested in your appraisal of any of our material.
Hoping to hear from you soon,
Dave F
For the LRP