A Belated Response to 'Are we Standing by...'

We cannot afford to fight against each imperialist aggression in detail. We must instead take a broader approach against imperialism, one that will move the consciousness of the masses forward. Imperialism relies upon the unchallenged assumptions of national chauvinist ideology among the US and European masses to maintain its political base. Attacking this base of ideological support will weaken imperialism everywhere. Why is this the best approach?

1. Our political reach and resources are limited. We do not have the resources to directly support every freedom struggle around the world; we must be more focused in our work. Being socialists and communists in the United States, our main enemy is not US imperialism in Ukraine or Turkey, but US imperialism in the US. Our main task, therefore, is to attack imperialism's base of support among the broad masses in the United States. We do this by connecting in general terms the vast wealth squandered on imperialist interference, both military and non-military, to the crises affecting working people in the US.

2. . To a greater or lesser degree, all sections of the US working class find themselves under the thrall of national chauvinism; we cannot underestimate how deeply ingrained the ideas of national and cultural supremacy are in the minds of the broad masses in the US. Under such conditions, any appeal to internationalism can easily be twisted to serve a 'humanitarian' imperialist narrative. Witness the success of the Trotskyites in doing just that in the US and UK time and again. Instead, building up support for national self-determination and sovereignty will meet the masses where they are and begin moving their thinking forward.

3. In the context of the deeply held national chauvinism of the masses in the world's most powerful imperialist country, the demand that the state respect national self-determination and sovereignty becomes a radical demand, one that can profoundly affect the fortunes of progressive humanity around the world.

4. We should avoid being drawn into a multitude of debates over the precise character of this or that movement or government and whether the aforesaid deserve our support and solidarity. The subtext of such debates is that foreign peoples who do not organize themselves in 'correct', Western leftist-approved ways do not deserve solidarity and should be left to imperialism's mercy. The principled approach is to oppose all imperialist intervention, regardless of what we think of its target.

5. Does this mean that exposing the individual crimes of imperialism is unimportant? It does not. Rather, it means that 'Respect national sovereignty!' is an appropriate mass slogan given current objective conditions in the US, while 'Victory to the enemies of imperialism!' is not. By adopting the former position, we have the greatest chance of weakening imperialism in the US and moving the US working class toward true internationalism.

6. Does this position pander to the 'privilege and ignorance' of the US working class? It does not. It acknowledges the relative backwardness of the US working class and seeks to begin addressing it in a systematic way. One cannot begin with differential calculus when teaching mathematics; if our aim is to educate, we must understand our student's strengths and weaknesses first.