From hero to villain: Robert Mugabe

He was a hero of the black people. A revolutionary fighter who fought against the white racist government in Rhodesia. After he became president, the world had high hopes. But after 18 years in power, Robert Mugabe degenerated into a paranoid madman. By 2013, the economy of the Republic of Zimbabwe lies in ruins. 80% are unemployed, the national currency has been replaced by the US dollar and other currencies. The once proud food-grain producer of Africa is now totally bankrupt, thanks to Robert Mugabe and his autocracy! 

Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on February 21 1924. He lived south of Salisbury ( now Harare ) in the British colony of Rhodesia. Mugabe was raised as a Roman Catholic and remains one to this day. Unlike other children, the young Mugabe was a loner. He did not have much friends and rather loved his own company of others. According to his brother, Mugabe's only real friends were books! 

From 1951 till 1960 he studied in many cities and earned bachelors of education, science, administration and arts. After nine years he joined the National Democratic Party, but that party was banned by the white racist government in Rhodesia. The NDP reformed as the Zimbabwe African People's Union. But Mugabe left this party to join the rival; Zimbabwe African National Union. ZAPU was the party that was more in line with the Soviet-Union, they wanted a urban workers revolution. Yet ZANU was more peasant based and in line with the People's Republic of China! 

Like many African liberation movements, ZANU and ZAPU called themselves ''Marxist Leninist''. This was needed in order to gain support from both the Soviet-Union and the People's Republic of China. Yet between ZANU and ZAPU were bitter rivalries. This was partly because of the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960's. Robert Mugabe was arrested by the white Rhodesian regime in November 1965. For more then 10 years he would remain in jail. This may have led to his hatred of whites and a beginning of his paranoid personality.

In 1974, his son died. The white government refused him to participate in the funeral. In April 1975 he and other black nationalist leaders were realised, after a ten year prison sentence. In the same year, Mugabe got control over the ZANU party. He started to use terrorist means of fighting against the white regime. These attacks on the Rhodesian government made him a hero in the eye's of poor blacks, who saw that the whites were afraid for the first time!

After four years the Rhodesian government wanted to talk with Mugabe. During these talks Mugabe made a few compromises. He would reserve 20 seats in the new parliament for white people and he would stop with his terrorist attacks. So the white racist government of Rhodesia allowed ZANU to participate in the first none-racist elections in Rhodesian-Zimbabwean history!

But the elections were far from fair. Both ZANU and the Rhodesian Front used intimidations and fear against each other. Robert Mugabe said that he would resume fighting if he was not elected leader of Rhodesia-Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe African National Union won 57 out of 80 seats, 20 seats went to the Rhodesian Front. Robert Mugabe was elected prime minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe on April 18 1980! 

This was the first time that a black man was elected president in a former white racist nation. Many western nations had great hopes for peace and tolerance between whites and blacks in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe seemed to be a man of his word. But soon the Republic of Zimbabwe would degenerated into a one man autocracy. It all started with the killing of 20.000 ZAPU supporters in 1982! 

The relations with the Zimbabwe African People's Union were not very good. ZAPU was the pro-Soviet party, while ZANU was pro-Chinese. Beside ZAPU was critical of Mugabe unlike his ZANU who were completely loyal. In 1982, the government of Mugabe claimed that ZAPU supporters from the Matabeleland and Midlands, wanted to start an uprising with Soviet weapons. The army killed between 10.000 and 20.000 innocent people!

In 1987 the remains of ZAPU were forced to fuse with ZANU. Mugabe became leader of the new fusion party called; Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front. Opposition parties to ZANU-PF were not banned, but though intimidation and voter fraud, ZANU-PF won every election with ease. Mugabe dissolved the office of prime minister and created the office of President of the Republic of Zimbabwe! 

His economic politics were based on a bureaucratic planned economy. The state owned the means of production, but did not gave political power to the working class. Like all nations who copied Soviet economics, the most economical power was giving to the elite of the ruling party. ZANU-PF leaders were giving control over state-enterprises and had a good life style, like the Soviet bureaucrats! 

Also the state was spending far to much money then it receive. This led to a sharp fall in GDP between 1980 and 1984. Robert Mugabe wanted to build ''African socialism in one nation'' like many Stalinist and ''African-Socialist'' states tried. But they were confronted with the same problems. Problems like low economy grow and bureaucratic inefficiency. These problems also arouse because all these states were nationalist in character and not internationalist. All wanted to build ''socialism'' for themselves, they were also huge protectionists. Like ZANU-PF in Zimbawe, to FREMILO in Mozambique and MLPA in Angola! 

By 1990, stalinism ( and African socialism ) collapsed. Robert Mugabe and many African nations started with market reforms. But the workers did not know how to behave in a market based economy. Many of them were not familiar with the idea that they had to compete, suddenly the market was God, competition was King. 

In the 90's the economy of Zimbawe collapsed. The transaction from a planned economy to a market one, was bad for workers and poor peasants. At the same Robert Mugabe became jealous of white farmers. His jealousy came from his hatred of whites in general. White farmers knew how to work the land. During the times of Rhodesia, those farmers made the nation wealthy. Yet black farmers were not able to manage the newly state farms. The state owned food grain farms were inefficiently and poorly managed. All this had to do with the fact that Mugabe wanted all control and management in the hands of his ZANU-PF friends. The peasants had no control at all, they were forced to obey! 

Soon Mugabe started with forced expropriation of white farmers land. Black ZANU-PF leaders were giving those lands to own, yet again they had no idea how to run it. Farm land soon became worthless, as grain production went down each year. The former food grain producer of Africa was by 1998, forced to import grain from other African nations!

Robert Mugabe also intervened in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This civil war stared in 1998 after Mobutu was removed from power. The former Republic of Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet political chaos soon erupted between different groups. Mugabe supported the government of Congo and ordered his air force and soldiers to aid the government. This intervention was costly as the economy of Zimbabwe was too weak for a military operation! 

Yet Zimbabwe fought for five years in Congo. The war was costly and the Zimbabwean GDP fell to -20% in 2003. It took seven years before the economy would grow again. Between 2002 and 2010 the economy was very weak with no economic grow. 80% of all workers are unemployed in today's Zimbabwe. Those who have a good job, are mostly members of ZANU-PF. The elderly Robert Mugabe has lost all connections to his people. After the death of his first wife he married a woman who was born in 1965. Grace Mugabe is 48 years old, while Robert Mugabe is 88 years old. There is 40 years of age difference between the two. 

While many workers in Zimbabwe suffer from poverty and hunger. Grace Mugabe loves to shop in the western world. In 2003 she spend over 115.000 US dollars while on a short shopping spree in Paris. Meanwhile the economy of Zimbabwe was collapsed and many workers lived in poverty. Yet Grace Mugabe was shopping in Paris, spending 115.000 US dollars. In 2004 she removed 4 million British pounds ( 6 million dollars ) from the National Bank of Zimbabwe for her personal use! 

In 2008, Robert Mugabe was faced with a great danger. His party lost the election for the first time. Even with voter fraud, ZANU-PF lost to the Movement for Democratic Changes. The original MCD was led by Morgan Richard Tsvangirai who was in opposition to Mugabe. During the presidential elections, ZANU-PF supporters attacked and intimidated MDC leaders. But even that could not stop the downfall. Robert Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai during the first round. Yet the paranoid dictator refused to give up power. He ordered a second round. After massive intimidations by police and militia groups, Robert Mugabe won 85%, Tsvangirai got 9,5%. This while Mugabe won 43,2% during the first round and Tsvangirai 47,8%. By all accounts, Tsvangirai should have become president of Zimbabwe! 

Because ZANU-PF was using intimidation and fiscal attacks on MDC supporters, Tsvangirai decided to make a compromise with Mugabe. The old dictator remained president, Tsvangirai became prime minister. Yet some MDC members did not wanted to make a compromise. Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara founded his own Movement for Democratic Changes and so Zimbabwe has two parties with the name MDC!

New elections are to be held this year. But Zimbabwe is not ready for a fair election. ZANU-PF groups will use intimidations again and again, until the majority of people vote for ZANU-PF. Robert Mugabe is still the leader of Zimbabwe. But he is far form the hero he was in 1980. He is paranoid, a black supremacist and anti-Semitic. But unlike North Korea, there is no son to succeed him. The death of Robert Mugabe could bring genuine change to Zimbabwe. Unfortunate the MDC will not do that. Morgan Richard Tsvangirai is a supporter of capitalism and will turn Zimbabwe into another capitalist hell on earth! 

There is only one revolutionary socialist group active in Zimbabwe; the Internationalist Socialist Organisation. The ISO is part of the International Socialist Tendency led by the British; Socialist Workers Party. Like all opposition forces to Robert Mugabe, the ISO has been targeted by the Zimbabwean police and ''justice''. Arrest and torture of ISO members is not uncommon. The dictatorial government justify the arrests as an ''attempt to stop an uprising against Mugabe''.

Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe have now ruled for four years together. But Zimbabwe remains depended on foreign aid. Its economy remains weak and 2/3 of all workers don't have work. The market reforms have led to more poverty and inequality. It is time for workers to rise up and destroy the Mugabe dictatorial regime! 

Workers of Zimbabwe Unite!

Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe

No New Start for Obama

President Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration (20-21 January) did not inspire the mass enthusiasm aroused by his first inauguration in 2009. There is widespread disillusionment with Obama, who helped save big business after the 2007 slump but has failed to deliver improvements for working people.

An article by 

Around 600,000 turned out for the ceremony on 21 January, less than half the 2009 turnout. The first time round, Obama rejected business finance for the inauguration, but this time he appealed to big business to cover the $30-50 million cost of the celebrations. His appeal “attracted some industry giants with multi-million dollar federal contracts and other business opportunities tied to the US government”. (USA Today, 10 January) Six corporations, including Microsoft and the telecoms giant, AT&T, contributed.

Obama gained a second term mainly on a wave of fear of the attacks that would be launched under a Mitt Romney presidency and complete Republican control of Congress. Romney and his allies, drawn from the right wing of the Republican Party, could hardly have been more blatant in their support for reactionary social policies (especially regarding abortion) and economic measures favouring the super-rich.

Since August 2011, Republicans had been using obstructive tactics to block fiscal measures proposed by Obama. Had a deal not been put through Congress by the time the Bush tax cuts expired on 31 December, US capitalism would have been pushed over the edge of the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’. Failure to agree would have meant tax increases for the majority of the population, and automatically triggered massive, across-the-board spending cuts of around $110 billion. This would probably have tipped the US into a new downswing, with dire repercussions for the global economy.

In the event, the Republicans, after many rounds of bitter wrangling, agreed a deal. These shenanigans are symptomatic of the dysfunctional character of the US government from a capitalist point of view. Economic policy consists of a series of short-term fixes, the postponement of key issues, and general uncertainty of future measures.

Obama and his supporters claimed the pact was a victory, mainly because it included tax increases for the super-rich, when right-wing Republicans and the Tea-Party caucus had previously said they would reject any tax increases whatsoever. Moreover, the pact did not include major spending cuts (which will undoubtedly come later). To conclude the deal, however, Obama had to make major concessions to the Republicans (and their big-business backers).

George W Bush’s tax cuts will continue for individuals with an annual income of less than $400,000 and households with $450,000. But Obama’s threshold, which he had hammered in the last stages of his election campaign, was $200,000 and $250,000. Through these increases, Obama will only get about $600 billion of revenue increases compared to the $1.6 trillion he initially proposed. He also made concessions on tax breaks for super-rich individuals and corporations, and on the inheritance tax.

Obama has extended some provisions which particularly benefit workers. The earned income tax credit, child tax credit and extended unemployment insurance have all been extended for a year (though, in contrast, most of the tax measures are permanent).

At the same time, however, Obama adopted a payroll tax measure that will hit all workers. (The payroll tax finances Social Security, the US federal state pension system.) The deal will allow Bush’s 2% cut in payroll tax to expire. “That will reduce the purchasing power of workers by $115 billion, or roughly $1,000 per working household”. (The Economist, 5 January) The Tax Policy Centre estimates that, as a result of this measure, 77% of Americans are likely to pay more to the federal government this year.

The package will act as a drag on the economy. “Combined with higher taxes on the rich and previously agreed federal spending cuts, federal fiscal tightening will… amount to 1-1.5% of GDP in 2013, with most of that contraction felt in the first half of the year”. (The Economist) “The market likes the fiscal-cliff tax deal”, reported Business Week (2 January). Yet, in the House of Representatives, a majority of Republicans voted against the pact (151 to 85).

On the other side, Obama came “under withering criticism from some in his liberal base who accused him of caving in to Republicans by not taxing the rich more”. (New York Times, 1 January) A New York Times editorial (31 December 2012) noted that, “as this deal shows, [Obama] often compromises at the last minute”. Bill Clinton’s former labour secretary, Robert Reich, commented that Obama is “still the same president Obama who wants a deal above all else and seems willing to compromise on even the most basic principles”. (New York Times, 1 January)

The fiscal pact is yet another stopgap measure. The ‘sequester’ (automatic spending cuts if no budget deal is concluded) and the US debt limit are still outstanding. Republicans have recently indicated that, contrary to their previous threats, they will not automatically oppose raising the debt limit in the next couple of months. But they will undoubtedly be demanding massive spending cuts as the basis for any agreement.

The majority of Republicans have a simple agenda (shared by some Democratic leaders). They want to roll back federal spending, providing scope for massive tax cuts for corporations and the super-rich. They also want the privatisation of Social Security (the pensions system) and Medicare (the health system for pensioners).

The forces behind the drive to slash social spending and cut taxes are shown by Fix the Debt, a group of business executives and former legislators (both Republican and Democrat) “who have become Washington’s most visible and best finance advocates for reining in the federal deficit”. (Nicholas Confessore, Public Goals Private Interests, New York Times, 9 January) Fix the Debt has launched another national advertising campaign and set up grassroots groups around the country. Yet the organisation is financed by big-business interests, and most of the Fix the Debt leaders are also highly paid “lobbyists, board members or executives for corporations”. For instance, Jim McCrery, a former Louisiana congressman (Republican), is also a lobbyist for General Electric. Sam Nunn, a former Democratic senator, is paid over $300,000 as a General Electric board member.

Commenting on the way Fix the Debt operates, Kevin Connor (Public Accountability Initiative), says: “It’s easier to get face time in Washington as a deficit hawk than as a corporate hack. They are spending millions, but they are protecting billions in defence contracts and tax giveaways that would otherwise be on the chopping block”.

The fiscal pact agreed at the start of the year will not resolve the conflict over spending and taxation. Despite his mandate, his clear win in the elections, Obama will face intransigent opposition from Republicans in Congress. Workers, however, cannot rely on the Democrats, a second, if marginally more liberal party of big business, to protect their vital interests. Obama claims his second term will be “a new start”. But disillusionment will spread and deepen, and more and more people will be drawn to the idea of a new party of the left, independent of big business, which will fight for working people!

Many US workers stand up against poverty!

World Imperialism 1945-2013

World imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. Since 1945 imperialism is changing, conquest through arms is no longer the driving motivation for imperialist nations. The world market is now the conquest grounds, the economies are the lands they want to conquer. Economic imperialism is the main force of imperialism in the 21st century. Especially the last 23 years have been a boost in imperialist politics around the world. The former stalinist; People's Republic of China, is now a major imperialist power, with a lot of economic imperialist agenda's. The fall of the Soviet-Union has left the anti-imperialist camp win out a role model. Only Cuba and North Korea remain the last nations were global imperialism has little or no influence.      

After 1945, the world was divided between two super powers. The pro-imperialist USA and the anti-imperialist USSR. The Soviets build anti-imperialist stalinist states in eastern Europe, while the USA was building pro-imperialist nations in western Europe. In the first twenty years, the imperialist world was fighting a colonial war with left-wing nationalist liberation armies. Like the Viet Minh in Indochina, the National Liberation Front in Algeria and the Mozambique Liberation Front. 

After twenty years of struggle, most African colonies of Great Britain got their independence. US imperialism knew that if they held on to classic colonialism, left-wing revolutionaries could take over. A pro-imperialist independent Africa was a far better ally, then an colonialist Africa. So the Americans started to bring pro-American governments into power. In November 1965, the CIA helped Mobutu into power. This Mobutu was a Congo army soldier and took part in the power struggle, that erupted after the independence of Congo in 1960! 

The CIA saw in Mobutu what they needed. He was anticommunist, corrupt and power hungry. Mobutu called his opposition ''communists'' and with a paranoid USA to support him, Mobutu became leader of Congo. Soon all Soviet advisers were told to leave, left-wing groups were banned and Mobutu became one of the few anticommunist African leaders! 

In Asia, left-wing nationalists movements fought a anti-colonial battle against British and French imperialism. In Indochina the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh fought the French until 1954. The British fought with the Malaya Races Liberation Army in Malaya. In 1948, the anti-colonialist; MRLA launched a ''people's war'' against the pro-imperialist Federation of Malaya. British imperialist forces fought twelve years against the revolutionaries and were able to defeat them. This victory of imperialism had several reasons.

- The MRLA was a small army, the revolutionaries only had 8.000 soldiers.
- The Malaya nationalists supported the British, because they were promised a independent Malaya
- Malaya was not bordered with an anti-imperialist nation, China and the USSR were far away.
- The British fought different then the Americans and French, they knew how to use anticommunism against the largely Islamic Malaya population.  

By 1960, the MRLA was defeated. British imperialism was able to save their wealth in Malaya. In Thailand the Communist Party of Thailand, also fought a ''people's war'' according to maoist guide lines. Just like in Malaya, the Thai communists were dominated by ethic Chinese. Because the majority in the Communist Party of Thailand were Chinese, most Thai did not support the party. Many Thai had little sympathy for the Chinese people. Also the anticommunist monarchist government of Thailand, was brutal and cruel. Anticommunist lies were spread and children at schools were told to hate those ''communist terrorists''. Although many fought bravely against the monarchist Thai government, they were not able to defeat it. Thailand remains a authoritarian capitalist monarchy to this day! 

The USA saw the danger that left-wing forces posed in Asia. They feared that a ''communist'' victory would weaken world imperialism. So in 1963, American forces entered South Vietnam to aid the corrupt militarist regime that ruled the nation. The CIA and the military of South Vietnam, had killed the civilian president in a coup and now the military ruled supreme. 3.500 American soldiers were the first to go. By 1973, more then 500.000 US soldiers were stationed in South Vietnam! 

This was not the first Asian nation the USA ''helped''. In 1950 the USA rallied the anticommunist western world to fight in the Korean civil war. This war started when 250.000 soldiers of the ''Democratic People's Republic'' of Korea attacked the Republic of Korea. The nation of Korea was liberated in 1945 and divided between a stalinist north and a capitalist south. In North Korea, Kim Il Sung was supreme ruler. In the south, the autocrat; Syngman Rhee was dictator! 

South Korea was weaker then North Korea, its army had less then 90.000 men. They were armed with outdated weapons and even the western made ones were old, compared to the new Soviet guns North Korea owned. In June 1950, North Korea attacked the south. Kim Il Sung hoped for a united Korea under the banner of stalinism. But the imperialist world came to the aid of dictator; Syngman Rhee. American, British, Canadian, Dutch and Turkish forces drove the army of North Korea back to the north and further. Soon it was Syngman Rhee who was dreaming about a united anticommunist Korea, under his banner! 

Yet the People's Republic of China would not tolerate a united anticommunist Korea. Mao Zedong ordered 700.000 ''volunteers'' to fight against the anticommunist alliance. The massive Chinese Army drove the anticommunists back to South Korea. After another two years, both sides agreed to a cease fire. The Korean War never ended. North Korea and South Korea still remain enemies and hate each other. In the north this hate has led to paranoia and North Korean children are told to hate the imperialist enemies. South Korea has become a democracy, but still has a lot to learn when it comes to freedom of speech. Left-wing activists who speak out against the state and capitalism, can be jailed because of the dictatorial  National Security Act!  

World imperialism suffered a major defeat in April 1975. The South Vietnamese army was losing the Vietnam War. Northern forces started their final offensive in December 1974. Soon South Vietnam was liberated by the anti-imperialist northern forces. On April 30, the capital of South Vietnam fell. With the capitulation of South Vietnam, world imperialism was in a shock. Their puppets were defeated by a peasant army with inferior weapons. 

Soon the Communist Party of Vietnam created the ''Socialist'' Republic of Vietnam. But world imperialism would not let this new republic enjoy the fruits of victory. The US government started a trade embargo, which prevented western nations to do business with Vietnam. Because of this trade embargo, Vietnam was isolated and economically weak. That is why in 1986, they started to re-allow capitalism in. Happy by this change, the US government lifted the embargo in 1994!  

In Africa, world imperialism had only a few allies. The Republic of Zaire was one of its closest friends. Dictator; Mobutu was a kleptomaniac, he took al the wealth of Congo for himself.  Mobutu was brutal and killed 180.000 people between 1965 and 1997. He forced his people to dance for him, every time he visited a village or town. Millions of dollars he got from western nations, that made Mobutu the richest man in Africa. He was hated by the anti-imperialist nations, but thanks to the CIA he had no fears! 

Another ally of world imperialism were; Rhodesia and South Africa. The Republic of Rhodesia was founded in 1970, but the nation declared independence in 1965. Unlike other African nations, the western world did not recognised the white regime. Great Britain refused to accept the independence of Rhodesia. This isolated the white government for 14 years from the western world. Meanwhile, black liberation movements fought the white government. One revolutionary leader was; Robert Mugabe. He led the Zimbabwean African People's Union. Mugabe was a hero for the anti-imperialist movement and in 1980, he was the first black president of Zimbabwe. Unfortunate his lust for power degenerated him into a madman. By 2013, Robert Mugabe has become an iron dictator, he still rules Zimbabwe as an old paranoid man!

US imperialism had great allies in Latin America. Nations like; Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia supported US imperialism. Corrupt dictators were put and removed from power, all under the close eyes of the CIA. In 1967, the Bolivian army was able to capture Ernsto Che Guevara. This Argentinian/Cuban revolutionary became famous for his struggle against imperialism. He was captured by the Bolivian Army and killed on October 9 1967. His death made him a martyr for anti-imperialists. Today the capitalists abuse his image and sell his face. Few young people know the true Che Guevara, but in Cuba he remains the hero he is! 

In Colombia, the USA supports the corrupt capitalist government in their struggle against the FARC. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia were founded as a marxist revolutionary army. Anti-imperialism and marxism leninism were the ruling ideals of the FARC. In 1985, the FARC set up a political party called the Patriotic Union. Together with other leftists and socialists, the UP was the biggest left-wing opposition to the main liberal and conservative parties. Yet right-wing government forces killed thousands of UP members and leaders in the 1980's. This led the FARC to abandon the UP. Soon the rebel movement degenerated  They started to kidnap people, selling drugs and behaved more like a criminal gang. Little remains of their genuine revolutionary ideals today. The FARC is still fighting against the corrupt Colombian government, but their support among the population is limited! 

Between November 1989 and December 1991, world imperialism saw the fall of stalinism with great joy. They did everything in their power to spread anticommunist lies. Socialism was portrayed as a failure and capitalism was praised as the only alternative. Some right-wing leaders called it the end of time, as the Soviet Union collapsed. Anti-imperialism was hit very hard by that collapse. Many communists and revolutionary socialists felt defeated. Communist parties and socialist parties changed completely. Some remained dogmatic loyal to marxism leninism, others accepted capitalism and became social democratic. The reformist workers parties all turned to the right-wing and left the working class base. Today, the social democratic political parties are just as capitalist as liberals and conservatives!

The US government wasted no time. When Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait, US forces attacked the Iraqi forces. Did US imperialism brought democracy to Kuwait? No, they only wanted oil. American forces did not brought freedom and liberty to the people of Kuwait. The Iraqis were crushed and Kuwait remains a small dictatorial capitalist monarchy. The same can be said about US relations with the medieval; Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia. This kingdom is very rich, yet also very backward. A second Iran, Saudi-Arabia is. But US imperialism does not care about the oppressive dictatorship. They only want oil from the Saudi king! 

9/11, US imperialism is under attack. 3.000 people get killed in the heart of New York. The World Trade Centres at Ground Zero gets destroyed by Islamic fundamentalists. The Americans want revenge and their government fuels it. Nationalist propaganda flows through the news as Fox News and CNN call for action against Islamic terrorism. Soon US forces attack Afghanistan. This nation has been a play ground for imperialism and anti-imperialism! 

In 1978, the pro-stalinist military took power in Afghanistan. They wanted to transform the nation into a secular people's republic. But the conservative Afghan population had little love, for secularism and rights for woman. Also the harsh dictatorial rule of the stalinist government led to the formation of the mudjahedien. The Soviet-Union feared that the Afghan government would not survive the Islamic uprising, so they send troops into Afghanistan. For the Soviets, Afghanistan became a Vietnam. After ten years, the USSR left the nation. Soon the Islamic fighters grew as Americans supplied them with modern weapons. The stalinist regime reformed after 1987, removing all socialist and secular references. Yet the Islamic forces refused to give the armed struggle. In 1992 with the USSR gone, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan also collapsed! 

With stalinism death, the Islamic groups started to fight themselves. The conflict was fought between the moderate Islamic forces and the radical Taliban. Fighting started as soon as the former leader of stalinist Afghanistan was executed in Kabul. Taliban forces wanted a pure Islamic nation, a theocracy were the Koran is supreme law. This view was shared by many conservative Muslims who had enough of western ideals like secularism, socialism and woman rights. The Taliban were able to conquer 2/3 of Afghanistan and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996. Moderate Islamic forces kept the northern provinces free from Taliban control! 

US imperialism needed allies in their fight against Islamic terrorism after 9/11. The United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, was ready to aid imperialism against the Taliban. US troops attacked the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and drove the Taliban underground. American forces put the leader of the moderate Islamic forces in power. Afghanistan was renamed again into the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Yet unlike the the Islamic Republic of Iran, this Islamic republic was pro-imperialist and supported the USA against the Taliban. Soon many Muslims had enough of the puppet Afghan government led by Hamid Karzai, but with the help of US imperialism and election manipulation, Hamid Karzai remains president of Afghanistan! 

Now imperialism had a puppet government in power and this government was ready to allow capitalists to take the wealth of Afghanistan. Unfortunate for capitalism, the Taliban was growing and this prevented western businesses from ''investing'' in Afghanistan. So America was looking for another nation they could bind to their will! 

Since the first Gold War in 1991, Iraq had been a enemy of America. Between 1980 and 1988, the Americans had supported Saddam Hussein against Iran. Now Saddam was an old enemy that needed to be removed. Iraqi oil was the price and Hussein was just in the way of that price. In March 2003, US imperialism attacked the weakly armed, Republic of Iraq. The Iraqi War lasted eight years, with 110.000 people in total killed. Saddam Hussein was removed from power and executed. But violence and attacks on US soldiers did not stop with his capture. 4.800 young men and woman died, they died for democracy the imperialist media claims. Yet Iraq is not a free nation, corruption and abuse of power are common! 

After Afghanistan and Iraq, world imperialism kept a low profile. But in December 2010, the fire of revolution started again. This time in the middle east, were pro-imperialist dictators were ruling with the blessing of western nations. Dictators like; Mubarak in Egypt, Ben Ali in Tunisia, Gaddafi in Libya and Al-Assad in Syria. All them were supported by western nations. Even Gaddafi, who was once a anti-imperialist leader, had changed sides and made good friends with western leaders! 

The first pro-imperialist president that fled was Ben Ali. After 22 years in power, the dictator and his wife fled the anger of the Tunisian people. Next dictator was Mubarak of Egypt. He ruled Egypt since 1981 and was a good ally of America. Mubarak was removed from power by his own generals. Egypt became a military junta for a few months. In Libya things were different. Here the dictator fought back and western imperialism feared his victory over his own people!

Gaddafi brutally murdered his own people and western nations wanted to intervene. Not because they cared about human rights, but because they needed Libyan oil. A Gaddafi victory would be bad for business, since almost all western nations had show solidarity with the Libyan rebels. That is why in March 2011, the air forces of France, Britain and Italy attacked Libyan air force bases and destroyed the air force of the Gaddafi regime. Then they attacked his tanks and ground armour. With no air force and armour support, the Libyan civil war became a bloody conflict that lasted until October, when Gaddafi was captured and executed!

Many anti-imperialists choose to side with the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, ignoring the fact that Gaddafi was very friendly with imperialism since 2003. The fall of Saddam Hussein must have scared the Libyan dictator. So he made peace with world imperialism. In 2007 he opened a capitalist stock market and by 2010, Libya was opening to capitalist business. Many anti-imperialists who supported Gaddafi have no idea, how cruel that dictator was to his own people! 

In 2013, world imperialism stands strong. They have send troops to fight in Mali against Islamic fundamentalists. French forces are leading the fight against Islamic forces, many Europeans have no idea that the imperialist intervention will not bring safety. The Islamic groups will use the intervention as proof that the world is against Islam. This can only lead to more attacks and deaths. But world imperialism does not care about human lives. For them the markets are Gods, competitions are Kings. Mali is a nation that has oil and that is why French troops are fighting. Nations like Sudan don't have oil, yet there people get killed by Islamic fundamentalists too. No, world imperialism only cares about it self. They are the elite, the rich, the one who own the means of production. 

That is why we must oppose imperialism. World imperialism must be destroyed by international socialism  We can destroy it, we must only understand it and unite! 

Workers of the world, unite!  

World imperialism 1870-1945

Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism, Vladimir Lenin said. With that he meant that capitalists will use the military of their nation, to conquer foreign lands for personal profits. Today they conquer with money and little with arms. Between 1870 and 1945, most nations of the world were controlled by the major colonialist powers. The United States of America played a major role in the imperialist age. American imperialist forces conquered all of middle America between 1788 and 1860, killing many native Americans!

The first imperialist power that collapsed was the Spanish Empire. In 1898 only Spain, South Morocco and the Philippines remained under Spanish imperialist control. Its colonies in Latin America all declared independence around 1833. After a bloody war between anti-colonial forces led by Simon Bolivar and the Spanish monarchy, the imperialists were kicked out of Latin America!

In 1898 the Philippines rebelled against the Spanish imperialists. The USA aided the republican Philippines, but never wanted a independent; Republic of the Philippines. Why? Because they bought the nation from Spain. Yes, the USA paid 20 million US dollars for the Philippines. This was the first time the US imperialists used money to buy a nation. The Philippine republicans opposed the idea that their nation would become US property. This led to a three year war between American imperialists and Philippine republicans. In the end, the USA conquered the Philippines. It would remain its ruler until 1946.

Two major imperialist powers after 1900 were Great Britain and France. British imperialism ruled over huge parts of the world. They controlled large era's of Africa, Asia and northern America ( Canada ). A major player in British imperialism was queen Victoria. This queen led the British Empire from 1818 till 1901. She build an empire not seen since the day's of the Roman Empire. The British ruling class loved her thirst for power and control, the wealth Britain obtained because of her was enormous.

While the British ruling class became rich, the native population of conquered nations were treated very brutally. Racism was a driving force, the white British imperialists saw themselves are superior to the black and yellow people of their empire. This led to the creation of apartheid in British African nations like, Rhodesia and South Africa. Opposition to imperialism was reason enough to be arrested and executed. The imperialist British army made sure that any rebellion against queen Victoria, was crushed with brutal force!

One European nation that was very brutal towards native people in their colony, was the small Kingdom of Belgium. This tiny Dutch/French speaking nation, became independent of The Netherlands in 1830. A round 1883, king Leopold 2 bought the African land of Congo. He had great plans of turning this nation into his private business empire. With the wealth of Congo he would make Belgium rich. With rich we mean, that he wanted to make himself and his capitalist rich. The Congo Free State was his private property from 1883 till 1908.

7 million Congolese people were murdered by the criminal Leopold 2. Arms and legs were removed if people could not work hard enough. Children were murdered in front of their parents. This mass murder of black slave workers was a holocaust, but unfortunate few western people know about it. In 1908 the Belgian state had enough of the killings. They nationalized the Congo Free State and renamed it; Belgian Congo. For 52 years the Belgians maintained their rule, but the mass killings under Leopold 2 will never be forgotten. A terrible crime of western imperialism against innocent black workers and their families!

Dutch imperialism ruled over the nations, Suriname, Indonesia and the Dutch Antilles. The Netherlands was not a huge imperialist nation like France and Great Britain, but their colonies produced rubber and that made them a important player in the world market. Indonesia was called Dutch East India. In 1800 this colony was founded, as the Dutch state nationalized the United East Indian Company. The VOC was a capitalist company, the first major business empire in the world. Until 1800 it had a monopoly on trade within the Dutch Empire. But the rise of competition from others, marked the end of the VOC. In 1800 the company went bankrupt and the Dutch state nationalized its property in Indonesia!

The Dutch were less brutal then the British, but that didn't mean they were tolerant of anti-colonialists. A major war between Dutch imperialists and anti-colonial fighters in 1830, let to the death of 200.000 Indonesians. Racism was also a tool used by the ruling classes to ship slaves to Dutch colonies. Slavery was abolish in 1863 in The Netherlands. But before that time, many black slaves were shipped from Africa to Suriname to do slave work. The British ended slavery in 1830, it took 30 years before the Dutch followed them.

But the end of slavery was not the end of exploitation, capitalist exploration remained. The imperialists knew that slavery was bad propaganda, so they abolished it. But even the free slaves were not free from exploitation. Because capitalism remained and paid very low wages to black workers. So racism did not die with the end of slavery. Even in the 1950's, there was an apartheid culture in the United States of America. Black people were separated from the whites and were paid lower wages. Racial apartheid in the USA ended after massive protests led by left-wing and human rights groups. But even today there are white supremacist groups active, who praise the white race and call black people inferior!

Imperialist European nations came into conflict in 1914. The seeds for a world war were planted years ago when Germany was founded. Before 1871, there were many German states. All those kingdoms were united under the Prussian banner in 1871. The German Empire started to compete with Great Britain and France. Around 1914 they allied with the Astro-Hungarian Empire and formed the Central Powers!

Soon Germany attacked western Europe by invading Belgium, Luxembourg and France. World War 1 was a war of imperialism. But unlike the western version of history, the blame lies not only with Germany. The imperialistic competition between the European powers exploded in 1914 into full-scale war. But this time it was a new type of war. A war with air-planes and machine guns, bombs and gas!

There was little conquest of land. On the western front, Germany's attack soon was halted only 30 kilometres from Paris. German forces had more luck on the eastern front against Imperial Russia. The Russian Imperial Army was outdated and lacked the German combat morality. Although Russia was able to invade eastern Prussia, they were soon forced to retreat back to Polish-Russia!

Germany also fought a naval battle against the mighty British Navy. Britain owned 160 naval ships, including 28 battleships and 9 battle cruisers. Germany's navy was weaker and owned 99 ships, including 16 battleships and 5 battle cruisers. The battle of Jutland was a huge fight between the two navy. Britain lost 3 battle cruisers and 113.000 tons were sunk. Germany ended up with a lose of 62.300 tons sunk. Although Great Britain lost more tons, they were able to keep Germany from controlling the north sea. This allowed the western allies to start a naval blockade!

On land the trench war started. From 1915 till 1918 millions died for only a few kilometres of land, again and again. Germany started to use gas against allied soldiers. But the gas weapon proved to be unreliable, since the wind could flow the gas back to German lines. In the skies, the air planes of Germany and Great Britain fought harsh. The first fighter aces were born in the skies over France and Belgium. Like Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the Red Baron. He shot down 80 enemy aircraft and was a hero in Imperial Germany. Von Richthofen was killed when his fighter was shot down in 1918!

The Russian Empire was losing the eastern front in 1916. Russian peasant soldiers were inferior to the stronger German storm troopers. In the winter of 1916, the Russian czar was losing support from his people. There was hunger in the major Russian cities and the weak bourgeoisie could no longer support the imperial family. In February 1917, czar Nicolas 3 was forced to abdicate. A provisional Russian government was formed under Alexander Kerensky. But at the same time, workers councils called soviets were formed around the nation. These workers councils were in direct competition with the provisional government!

British imperialism needed Russian support for the world war. So they talked with Alexander Kerensky and he told him that Russia must remain in the war. But outside the government, Russian workers had enough. In the soviets, a revolutionary party got the majority of support. The Bolshevik Party led by Vladimir Lenin soon controlled the soviets and called for a workers revolution against the provisional government!

In November 1917, the soviets called for a workers revolution. Red soldiers arrested the ministers of the provisional government and ended Russia's participation in the world war. The soviets elected Vladimir Lenin to be the head of the state, the new Russian government became a workers government. The Russian Republic was renamed into the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic!

Great Britain and France were hostile to the socialist government of Lenin. They ordered 200.000 troops to be send to Russia to aid the opponents of Bolshevism. Soviet leader; Leon Trotsky was asked to form a Workers and Peasants Red Army. This Red Army was founded in February 1918. Soon the anti-socialist; White Armies formed themselves also, they were supported by British and American forces!

The United States of America entered the war on in April 1917. America was neutral for three years, but after the sinking of the RMS Lusitania that killed many US citizens, the Americans choose to aid Britain against Germany and Astro-Hungary. 4.000.000 Americans fought in the first world war and 117.000 were killed!

Germany fought on till November 1918. At that moment the Social-democratic Party of Germany knew that Germany was losing the war. So with help from liberals, they told emperor; Wilhelm that his days were over. The emperor fled to The Netherlands and Germany signed an armistice. Like in Russia, the new republican government was in competition with workers councils. Radical socialists wanted a soviet style democracy  but the social democrats and liberals wanted keep German capitalism alive. The right-wing Freikorps were used to crush revolutionary socialists and their workers councils. Between 1918 and 1921, more then 21.000 reds were killed by the white terror of the counter-revolution in Germany!

After world war 1, the biggest threat to world imperialism was communism. Soviet Russia had to be destroyed. So Britain, France, America and Japan send their troops to fight with the anticommunist Russians. Between 1917 and 1919 the Russian Civil War went good for the anticommunists. But the Red Army started to grow in strength and by mid 1920, they were able to turn the tide. Major fighting ended in 1922 as imperialist forces were defeated. The last Japanese troops left eastern Russia in October 1922!

The imperialist forces tried to destroy Bolshevism but they failed. Already in 1920 did the western nations feel that the reds were growing. Fearful of a socialist revolution in Britain and France, the imperialist armies went home to crush any leftist uprising. The White Armies fought on till 1922, but not before killing a lot of Jews and communists. More then 200.000 have been killed by the White Terror. The Bolsheviks also killed a great number of innocent people. Some say that they too killed 200.000 people, what is called the Red Terror!

Soviet Russia formed the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics in 1922. Unfortunate because of the civil war and massive destruction, the Russian Communist Party replaced the soviets as ruler of the new USSR. Party bureaucrats led by Joseph Stalin took power after Lenin got sick. With his death in January 1924, the Soviet-Union became a degenerated workers state. Stalin would use the degeneration of the revolution to kill anyone who opposed him!

World imperialism was happy with the degeneration of the soviet revolution. But they remained fearful of the communists who were anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist. The stock market crash of 1929 turned imperialism upside down. For the first time, the rich themselves were face with poverty and lose of money and luxury. The capitalist governments decides to blame the workers and steal money from them. They lowered salaries and started massive cuts. This led to poverty and mass unemployment.

In Germany this unemployment gave rise to the National Socialist German Workers Party. The NSDAP was no left-wing party, but a racist nationalist one. Led by Adolf Hitler, the nazi's wanted to rebuild the German Empire and eliminate all Jews and communists. Hitler was elected leader of Germany in 1933. Soon he banned all opposition parties. Socialists and communists were jailed first. Later liberals and conservatives joined them!

The Nazi's started the second world war in September 1939 by invading Poland. Nazi Germany wanted to expand its borders again. Imperialist Britain and France saw a danger in Germany and declared again war. The second world war was another imperialist war, but this time it was also a war of annihilation. Nazi Germany started to arrest Jews much like the anticommunist Russians did in 1917. The SS of Hilter build special camps of destruction. They wanted to kill all European Jews!

Hitler's invasion of Poland was a joint venture with Stalinist Russia. Hitler and Stalin divided Poland between them. East Poland became part of the USSR. More then 20.000 Polish soldiers were killed by the cruel NKVD under Beria. Stalin trusted Hitler and was not prepared for the 1941 invasion. When Hitler came, he conquered Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic nations. Some Baltic people were happy with the Nazi occupation because they had lived for three years under Stalinist totalitarianism!

Anticommunism was very high because of Stalin's killings. Many people in Ukraine remembered the famine of 1932 and the harsh punishments. They hated all what was related to communism, so it is naturally that some joined the Waffen SS to fight Stalin. The Ukrainians also hated the Jewish people. They believed that the Stalinists were Jews because Karl Marx was Jewish. Already in 1917 did anti-Semitic Ukrainian nationalists, murdered thousands of Jewish workers and peasants. Now in 1941, Ukrainian Jews were again targeted by anti-Semitic Ukrainians! 

In the east, Imperial Japan joined the Axis, an alliance made up of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Imperial Japan was already fighting in China since 1937. Japanese imperialism was underestimated by western imperialism and so they conquered Dutch Indonesia and British Singapore in 1942. The Europeans in their colonies were rounded up and jailed in special camps. Japanese guards behaved very cruel to them and many died because of forced labour and sickness.

The USA entered the war in December 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbour, the US imperialist machine was again building up for war. Americans forces came into action in the Desert War and destroyed the German Africa Corps with British support. By 1943 they invaded Italy and destroyed the fascist empire of Mussolini. The US Air Force bombed German cities into rubble. With their B-17 bombers the Americans spread fear and panicked, each day!

The Russians were able to defeat the 6th German Army at Stalingrad. 91.000 German soldiers surrendered to the Russians. Now the Red Army was able to stand against Hitler. By 1943, they had complete material superiority over the Germans. Belarus and Ukraine were liberated in 1944, collaborators were executed and Stalinist rule was re-established. In the Baltic nations, some anticommunist partisan continued to fight untill 1956. Stalin's revenge was great, he deported many families and their children to Siberian camps. Ethic Russians were called in to live and work in the Baltic nations. Even today 1/3 of the Baltic republics is ethnic Russian.

D-Day on the western front was in June 1944. British, Canadian and American forces attacked German occupied France. By December 1944 they were in Belgium and close to the German border. From January till May 1945 they marched into Germany, ending the 12 year regime of Adolf Hitler. The Russians assault on Berlin was the final great battle in world war 2. Adolf Hitler killed himself on April 30 1945, his generals surrendered to the Russians on May 8.

The end of the second world war, was also the end of classic imperialism. Many western nations did not realised it, but the Soviet-Union would be a beacon for many revolutionaries, who wanted to fight imperialism and colonialism. The great European powers were no longer supreme in the eyes of the oppressed people. They had realised that British, French and Dutch imperialism was no longer almighty!

World Imperialism in 1914

Scandinavian social capitalism

The Scandinavian nations in northern Europe have been called ''socialist'' by many bourgeois and right-wing news papers and television programs. Many Americans believe that North Europa is socialist and left-wing. Right-wing groups such as Fox News claim that Denmark, Norway and Sweden have ''socialist'' governments. In this socialist report we talk about Scandinavian social democracy and how capitalism was never destroyed in North Europe! 

When it comes to Europe, the Americans believe that all Europeans were leftists, either liberal or socialist. But Europe is also conservative and right-wing. True, the northern nations are more progressive then the southern, but that means nothing. What ruled in north Europe was social democracy, a social market economy based on strong state regulation of the free market. Today we only see remnants of social democracy. New-liberalism called neoliberalism has taken over and transformed the social democratic nations into capitalist dictatorships. All major political parties, from social democrats to reformist socialists support huge social cuts and lowering taxes, in order to help the capitalists and the financial markets.  

After 1945, the social democrats became the ruling parties in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The Norwegian Labour Party won 87 seats out of 120 seats in 1947. It took until 1965 before the Labour Party lost their majority in the Norwegian parliament. The Scandinavian social democrats were supported by reformist socialists and christian democrats. The Danish; Socialist People's Party was a key supporter of the social democratic governments. In Sweden the communist party played a major role in helping the Social Democratic Party minority governments, this prevented right-wing forces from taking power for many years!

A social market economy means that the state is regulating the economy. While capitalism remains in power, the capitalists were forced to pay high income taxes, fair wages and were bounded by many rules. Unfortunate this also led to the rise of a huge government. Even today many people complain about the inefficiency of the government and all its rules. This is partly what led to the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980's. 

The era of the social market economy was born out of a compromise between capitalists and workers parties ( social democrats ). The capitalists kept their property and all the wealth, but they were forced to pay their workers a fair wage. Because of higher salaries, the workers could buy more stuff. Soon the capitalists started to realise that a social market economy was also good for business! 

But that changed around 1983. The high costs of doing business in Scandinavia led many capitalist companies to search for cheaper nations. China proofed to be a very good place were they could do business. Chinese leader; Deng Xiaoping opened China up to foreign capitalists in special economical zones. In the 90's many western companies left Europa to hire cheap Chinese workers to do their work. Because of this exodus of capitalists, the social democrats panicked. With the fall of stalinism and the USSR, social democracy and neoliberalism started to work together to attract capitalists back. Workers were told that they had to accept privatisations and deregulations.  

Not only social democrats became pro-capitalist, the communists ( stalinists ) were affected also. The Communist Party of Sweden abandoned communism and became a reformist socialist party called; the Left Party. In Denmark, the right-wing of the Socialist People's Party became the party's new leadership. Finally the collapse of stalinism, started a major capitalist propaganda campaign. Capitalists groups and parties called the end of the Soviet-Union, to be the end of class struggle. Many leftists agreed with them and abandoned socialism. In reformist socialist parties, capitalist social democrats took leadership positions, like in the Norwegian; Socialist Left Party!

In Norway the Socialist Left Party was founded as a union between the Communist Party of Norway, the Socialist People's Party ( Norway ) and independent socialists. But soon the communists ( stalinists ) left the union as they opposed the ideal of dissolving their party. The Socialist Left Party became more or less a continuation of the reformist; Socialist People's Party. 

With reformist socialism we mean, socialists who praise parlementarism and compromises with the pro-capitalist social democrats. The Norwegian; Socialist Left Party, the Swedish;  Left Party and the Danish; Socialist People's Party have both betrayed socialism by working in a capitalist government. In 2001 the Socialist Left Party won 11% of the votes, but reformist leaders told the media that they would not support a revolutionary socialist program!  

As the Norwegian social democratic government became unpopular, so became the Socialist Left Party. The party was divided between the right-wing leadership and its left-wing base. At the elections of 2005 the party lost 3% of the votes, ending with 9% in total. Even the lose of many voters did not keep the leaders of the party from turning more right-wing. The Socialist Left Party joined a coalition of social democrats and agrarian democrats. This Red Green Coalition formed a capitalist government in 2005. 

Left-wing voters felt betrayed by the Socialist Left Party. So they did not vote for them in 2009. The party fell to 6.2% a lose of another 3%. In only eight years the Socialist Left Party lost 6% of its voters. For the 2013 elections, the party will likely lose more votes. The polls give them around 4,5%. Losing so many voters just because they wanted to govern under capitalism!

The Danish; Socialist People's Party won a huge victory in 2007, at the elections they got 13%. Unfortunate just before the 2011 elections, the party said they wanted to govern under capitalism. The social democrats were supportive, but the social liberals were very sceptical. The left-wing voters were not happy about the idea that a socialist party would govern under capitalism. So the Socialist People's Party lost 4% of its 2007 voters. But it did not stop the reformist leaders from taking part in the Danish social democratic government of Helle Thorning-Schmidt! 

There were many sighs that the Socialist People's Party was moving to the right-wing. In 2008 they voted in favour of the national budget. This was the first time the party had accepted a capitalist budget, that was not leftist and based on social cuts. USP-RSM believes that the Socialist People's Party did this because the Danish media accused them of not being "economically responsible". 

In response to the turning of the reformist socialists to the capitalist camp, revolutionary socialists founded new movement in Scandinavia. The Danish; Red-Green Movement was founded in 1989 as a left-wing alternative to both the social democrats and the reformist socialists. The Red-Green Movement is not win out its limits. They seem to become more reformist as they grow. In 2011 they won 6,7% and got more then 3000 new members in just three years! 

But the growth also led to debates about the party's course. Reformist socialists in the Red-Green Alliance want to follow the same disastrous line of the Socialist People's Party. Meaning accepting capitalist budgets and joined a ''left-wing'' government with social democrats and reformist socialists. The left-wing is opposed to making compromises with the ruling parties. In 2013 the Red-Green Alliance moved to the right-wing as they supported a capitalist national budget, that would rob 40.000 unemployed people of their social benefits. 

The Norwegian; Red Party seem for many revolutionary socialists to be a alternative to the capitalist; Labour Party and the reformist; Socialist Left Party. The Red Party was founded in 2007 as a fusion between the Red Electoral Alliance and the Workers Communist Party. The Red Electoral Alliance was formed in 1973 as a front for the radical Norwegian maoists. In 1991 they abandoned marxism leninism, but remained revolutionary socialist. 

The maoists of the Workers Communist Party were radicals and supported the rule of Mao Zedong in China and Pol Pot in Cambodia. Their party was very secretive and its leaders had absolute control, not only over the party but also over its members private lives. In 2003 two former leaders apologized for the totalitarian culture of the Workers Communists Party! 

The Communist Party of Sweden abandoned communism after the collapse of stalinism and became the Left Party, a reformist socialist party. In 1996 they added feminism to its reformist ideology. Two years later the party won 12% of the votes but degenerated soon after. The Left Party was win out a clear socialist program and supported the Swedish Social Democratic Party. This led to a lose of voters in 2002, 2006 and 2010. The Left Party is now down to 5,6% and lost about 6,4% of voters in twelve years. All because they support capitalist governments!

Right-wing capitalist politics became more common. Both the main capitalists parties and the social democrats were privatizing many state owned enterprises. The markets and capitalists were very happy, yet ordinary people felt the burden. Prices went up as markets were giving more and more control over the economy. Meanwhile the blame for the rise in prices and the destruction of the welfare state was giving to foreigners. Muslims became the scapegoat for the failure of the capitalist government to improve the living standards!  

The radical right-wing; Danish People's Party was able to win the vote of many workers who felt betrayed by the social democrats and reformist socialists. Those workers who vote for the radical; Danish People's Party feel that the social democrats are too much pro-muslim, they think that Muslims have more rights then Danish citizens. They are poisoned by the capitalist media, who wants to set up workers against themselves. A conflict between the ''blond'' Danish worker and the ''dark'' muslim worker means no united front against capitalism! 

Scandinavian social capitalism is almost death. Sure you will not rot in the street if you lose your job. But there is little happiness for workers in Scandinavia. Social democrats, with the help of reformist socialists and right-wing forces are attacking the living standards. They have destroyed large parts of the welfare state in the name of ''improving the economy''. Many feel betrayed, not only by the social democrats but also by the reformist socialists, who were once champions of workers and poor people. That is why a socialist alternative is needed. Scandinavia was never socialist, never in its history have workers genuinely controlled the means of production. The nature of the Scandinavian societies have always been capitalist!

The social democrats claim to support the social market economy. But in the last 23 years they have destroyed large parts of their own creation. Why? Because they have capitulated to capitalism. For them the market is God, competition is King. The right-wing is waiting in the shadows for the day that they will have a majority again. Then they can destroy the last remnants of the social capitalist system and introduce the absolute rule of markets and greed in Scandinavia! 

Swedish; Red-Greens. A parliamentary coalition
between the Swedish Social Democratic Party, 
the Green Party and the Left Party! 
They will not challenge Swedish capitalism! 

Struggle, Solidarity, Socialism

Struggle, Solidarity, Socialism