A critique of some anarchists or left communists who have cooperated with nationalists.
In the Kingdom of Masks
Increasingly often there appear political groups that declare themselves to be anti-Stalinist and call themselves «anarchists» or «left communists» but closely resemble the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in one respect: their phraseology is completely at variance with their real politics.
On the whole, the programmatic declarations and manifestos of these groups are consistent with what they call themselves. Their activists mouth the correct internationalist phrases. However, these groups cooperate – on a consistent basis – with open Nazis. And when you read on the internet or listen to the propaganda and polemics of activists of these groups, you see with astonishment that the correct internationalist phrases unexpectedly acquire some quite opposite meaning, just as in Orwell's Newspeak. In some miraculous fashion it suddenly turns out that real internationalism is national socialism, that the best way to resist national oppression is to fight for the even more complete domination of already dominant nations, and that a proletarian revolutionary line is fully compatible with the justification of ethnic purges and support for homophobia.
In his article "Nationalism like a drug: the «National Revolutionary» camp in modern Russia" (http://eretik-samizdat.blogspot.ru/2013/03/blog-post_6.html), V. Grayevsky gives a detailed account of these groups in the former Soviet Union. In particular, he describes the Group of Communist-Maximalists (in Russia and Ukraine) and the «Commune» group (in Ukraine). Both these groups call themselves internationalists and left communists. Whe ideologist and a member of both groups is Marlen Insarov.
Marlen Insarov is a former internationalist who has turned traitor and gone over to the bourgeoisie. His political evolution culminated in public support for the idea of an alliance with the Nazis. At a public meeting in Ukraine, he said:
«Our allies and friends are people in the nationalist and democratic milieu who have arrived or almost arrived at the struggle for a classless society, for direct democracy, for the destruction of capitalism and the State. Joint actions with these people and groups are necessary and possible».
This evolution on the part of Marlen Insarov does not surprise us. He has long maintained good personal and political relations with the Russian nationalist Magid, who has expressed sympathy for Russian nationalist pogroms against people from the Caucasus. For more on this, see here: http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2007/kondopoga
In order to win popularity for his group, Marlen Insarov is prepared to make use of populism. So support for the nationalism of «big nations» is an important part of his ideology.
At the same meeting he explained his position as follows:
«To the alliance between various Social Democrats and the forces of fascism and bourgeois nationalism and liberalism we counterpose an alliance with the plebeian wing of the nationalist movement. Examples are Rocker's FAUD, which in the early 1930s carried out joint actions with the Fighting Alliance of Revolutionary National Socialists (Otto Strasser), or Karl Paetel's Group of Social-Revolutionary Nationalists, who published a call for socialist revolution against the "black reaction" that followed the establishment of Hitler's power, or the joint actions of the Red Brigades and other Italian leftist fighters in the 1970s with "proletarian fascists" against the bourgeois forces of the Italian Republic».
Marlen Insarov ended his call for cooperation with «left-wing» Nazis with the pathetic words:
«Long live the militant alliance of revolutionary socialists and revolutionary social-nationalists!»
This «historic» speech of the «revolutionary socialist» fuhrer can be read here: http://komuna.org.ua/?p=523
Following their ideologist, the nationalists from the GCM defend primarily the ethnic culture of «big» nations. In Russia they defend the rights of ethnic Russians; in Ukraine they defend the rights of Ukrainians. We consider that there is no difference between the nationalism of «big» and «small» nations. But we draw attention to this aspect because it demonstrates the psychology of the GCM. They support the nationalism of the strong at a time when Russian nationalism in Russia and Ukrainian nationalism in Ukraine are very popular. They do this out of populist considerations, in the hope of attracting new members.
Marlen Insarov and the organizations created under his influence promote nationalist ideas not only in Russia but also in Ukraine.
For many years Marlen Insarov tried to whitewash the nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). On the nature of that organization, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army
You can also read in Wikipedia about the exploits of that army in the fight for an independent Ukrainian state: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia
To create a revolutionary image for these Nazis, he even used sponsors' money to publish this book.
The site of the «Commune» group sometimes displays openly Nazi publications. Here, for example, is an excerpt from an article entitled «Nationalism and the Left Movement»:
«In the current situation, the only allies of the revolutionary left in the "national" camp can be the autonomous nationalists. Of course, this does not mean that we should overlook their weaknesses and problems, but demonizing them as "fascists" can only result in the isolation of the left movement in its own academic sectarian ghetto and in the possible regression of the autonomous nationalists to the right, thereby closing opportunities to revolutionize the "national" milieu» (http://komuna.org.ua/?p=528).
The above facts show the context in which we must interpret the statement in the Platform of the GCM that the Communist-Maximalists advocate «the full right of working people of all ethnic groups to preserve and develop their ethnic cultures.» In its general political context, this means more than just the right to play the balalaika. It conceals a bourgeois nationalist essence.
See also how the GCM openly defends the neo-Nazi group called «Wolnica» (http://volniza.info/). The GCM has condemned the attempt to prohibit the participation of this group in the procession on November 7 (the Day of the October Revolution). See: http://www.levcom.org/?q=content/nekotorye-voprosy-taktiki-levogo-dvizheniya
Refusal to hold a joint meeting with the «Wolnica» group is called sectarianism by the GCM.
What is this «Wolnica» group that the GCM defends and with which it proposes to conduct a dialogue?
Here is what «Wolnica» writes in an article on the national question:
«We recognize the psycho-biological differences between races that have been established by Nature herself and confirmed by science» - http://volniza.info/?p=10712
In the same article, the people whom the GCM tries to protect from expulsion from a meeting in commemoration of the October Revolution write:
«We are nationalists. At the same time, the only kind of nationalism that is acceptable to us is socialist, emancipatory, and popular nationalism».
Further on in the article they say:
«Proceeding from the principle of the preservation of national and racial identity, we consider that the Russian nation ... has a right to necessary self-defense against encroachments on its uniqueness and ethnic integrity by various hostile forces – ... the champions of multiculturalism, tolerance and mixed marriages and suchlike elements, who undermine both the cultural and the biological foundations of the existence of our nation».
And one more quotation from this article:
«At present Russia occupies second place – or perhaps already first place – in the world in terms of the number of immigrants entering the country. Thanks to the policy of the Putin regime, migration in a number of regions is acquiring the character of aggressive colonization (Siberia and the Far East, Krasnodar and Stavropol Krais, etc.). As we declared in our manifesto, "Various nations can coexist peacefully in the same territory if they possess a certain level of complementarity. Otherwise, in order to avoid conflicts, the members of each nation must be able to obtain a separate territory where they can establish rules of conduct corresponding to their culture". In accordance with this principle, we consider that a nation has the right, by means of institutions of direct democracy (assemblies or a referendum), to take the decision to establish any restrictions on the residence in its territory of members of ethnic groups whose traditions, customs, value system and conduct are at variance with its own mentality, culture and interests».
The article ends with the following words:
«The racial mixing of all humanity into a single whole, accomplished by means including the imposition and propaganda of interracial marriages, destroys defensive barriers that were erected by Nature. Various nations were not created so that they should mix together, lose their identity, and be extinguished in genetic chaos».
In another article entitled «Warsaw in Flames» (http://volniza.info/?p=10820) «Wolnica» writes:
«At the invitation of our comrades – Polish and Belarusan autonomous nationalists – a delegation from "Wolnica" made a friendly visit to Warsaw and took part in the March of Independence on November 11, 2012».
«Wolnica» proceeds to explain:
«The march takes place every year to mark Poland's acquisition of independence in 1918 after the end of World War One. Representatives of all fractions of the national movement gather for the march from the whole country. In addition, this is one of the few days of the year when a truce is declared between the football fanatics of warring clubs».
The Polish «autonomous nationalists» are the same people who form part of the international Nazi network «Blood and Honor».
On the «Wolnica» website we learn that GCM member Marlen Insarov has delivered a lecture to the members of «Wolnica»: http://volniza.info/?p=9923.
On its own site the GCM publishes articles by other nationalist groups. Recently, for example, the GCM published an article from the Stormtroop Committee: http://levcom.org/?q=news/okkupay-lohotron-pobeda-nad-kidalami-na-umanskoy-35.
In this article the Stormtroopers describe how their committee carried out a joint action together with the autonomous nationalists and the trade union «Defense of Labor». This union is led by the well-known political scam artist Oleg Vernik: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers_Resistance).
It is worth noting that the leader of the Stormtroopers published quotations from the works of the fascist ideologist Julius Evola on his webpage in a social network (http://vk.com/id150418276 - this webpage has now been removed). He also published quotations from Goebbels, but was forced to stop doing this after a scandal. There is an account of this episode at the Ukrainian portal «Levoe delo»: http://livasprava.info/content/view/4630
A single brown front – from Nazis to left communists?!
The International Communist Tendency (formerly the International Bureau for a Revolutionary Party) has given publicity to nationalists by publishing the Platform of the Group of Communist-Maximalists on its site:
http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2012-11-19/a-new-grouping-in-russia-the-communist-maximalist-platform
If you read this Platform, you will find not a trace of nationalism in it. The reason is that the ICT (formerly the IBRP) changed the authentic text of this Platform.
Here is a passage from the translation on the ICT site:
«Bourgeois nationalism and patriotism, ideologies that assert common interests between the oppressors and the oppressed, are alien to our cause. We support cross-border cooperation among the oppressed of all ethnic groups against their oppressors».
In reality, the Russian text looks quite different. Here is a more accurate translation:
«Bourgeois nationalism and patriotism, as ideologies that instill in the oppressed the belief that they have common interests with their oppressors and that subordinate the oppressed to their oppressors, are our enemies. We stand for cooperation among the workers and oppressed people of the world in the struggle against their oppressors, WITH THE FULL RIGHT OF WORKING PEOPLE OF ALL ETHNIC GROUPS TO PRESERVE AND DEVELOP THEIR ETHNIC CULTURES».
In Russian the concept «ethnic culture» is not equivalent to the concept «national culture». The term «ethnic culture» directly indicates that the pseudo-communists of the GCM are willing to support the most reactionary Nazi notions of unity of blood and culture rooted in a common «soil». Therefore this statement is related to the notorious Nazi principle of «Blood and Soil». If these words do not conceal Nazi content, why do the ICT and the GCM need to deceive readers of the site and provide a distorted translation?
At first we thought that the Russian nationalists from the Group of Communist-Maximalists had deceived the ICT. We wrote the ICT a letter to tell them that they had placed a distorted text on their site and suggest that they remove it. The ICT replied that they would not remove it. They also admitted that they had deliberately distorted the text of the Platform of the GCM.
The ICT proposed that we enter into dialogue with the GCM, just as they had done. It was not enough that the ICT should have stepped into a big brown dunghill – now they wanted others to follow their example. We are in no hurry to do so, but merely ask this question. If the ICT are so keen to sink up to their ears in Nazi shit, then why do they need the GCM as intermediaries between themselves and the 100-percent Nazis? Why does the ICT not apply directly to join the «Blood and Honor» network?
Soom after receiving the reply from the ICT, we discovered that the GCM had quickly and secretly – in an underhand manner, without bothering to engage in any public self-criticism – changed its Platform to conform to the distorted text that had appeared on the site of the ICT.
But great is the potential of the internet! On February 22, using the Yandex search engine, we found a surviving copy of the old text:
This is an HTML version of the document from February 2, 2013 [05:45:28].
On the same day we found the old text of the Platform here:
http://www.left-dis.nl/r/GKM.pdf
It will be interesting to see whether the GCM try to cleanse the text on this site too. If they do, how will they explain the need for this to the webmaster of the site?
The ICT was once a good organization. However, by taking the path of cooperation with the GCM, the ICT has begun to be drawn into the same process that has already proven the undoing of some left communists – namely, a group of members of the old KAPD (Communist Workers' Party of Germany) who turned into «national-Bolsheviks.» The leaders of this group were Heinrich Laufenberg and Fritz Wolffheim. Here is a selection of internet links on the subject of «national-Bolsheviks» in the KAPD:
in English:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Laufenberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Wolffheim
http://www.marxists.org/subject/germany-1918-23/dauve-authier/appendix3.htm
http://libcom.org/history/spartakism-national-bolshevism-kpd-1918-24-solidarity
http://libcom.org/library/second-congress-kapd
http://en.internationalism.org/node/3768
in Russian:
http://rud.exdat.com/docs/index-613580.html?page=8
http://www.litmir.net/br/?b=123253&p=118 .
Unless the ICT try to extract themselves from the foul-smelling «dialogue» with ethno-Nazis into which they have entered, we can expect to witness the sad spectacle of their degeneration from the traditions of Onorato Damen to the legacy of Heinrich Laufenberg.
From http://eretik-samizdat.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-brown-masquerade.html
Attachments
The brown masquerade.pdf
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Comments
can't imagine, that the
can't imagine, that the members of the German ICT section I know will be happy about it
don't know exactly about the issue but I would be surprised if there ever was a formalized cooperation between FAUD and Otto Strasser's KGRNS, many people (like Mühsam and Rocker) took part in debates with Strasser but don't know if there was ever any joint action in a formalized way. Members of the KGRNS indeed took part e.g. in the defence of working class quarters against SA rallies along members of KPD, SPD, SAPD etc. but don't think that happened because of any institutionalized contacts or invitations. Don't know about contacts between Paetel's GSN and anarchist groups but they were a far more "left-leaning" group which e.g. at least verbally adhered to the principle of the primate of class struggle, verbally rejected anti-semitism and called for votes for the KPD, many on the left were heavily involved with them especially the KPD but also e.g. the Brandlerite KPO but they with the purpose in winning over the "sane" part of its members and to finally destroy the GSN
not the first one who tried this, the East German dissident and anarchist-leaning Magazine Telegraph published somewhere around 1993/94 an article which saw parts of the OUN/UPA as successors of the Makhnovshchina ... according to a friend of mine who is an expert on Ukrainian nationalism total crap
This Statement has just gone
This Statement has just gone up on ICT website.
Internationalist Communist Tendency (ICT) Statement
http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2014-03-04/the-problem-of-nationalism-and-the-gkm-group-of-communist-maximalists
Just came here to say pretty
Just came here to say pretty much what Entdinglichung said. I couldn't track down these "joint actions" between FAUD and Strasser's group. The only thing I could find was debates in 1930: http://radicalarchives.org/2013/04/12/mina-graur-rocker-debates-strasser/