CPGB-ML and Red Youth comrades participated in some of the May Day celebrations which were held around the country during the May bank holiday. In Chesterfield comrades distributed copies of We Want Freedom and Who Stole our Future and spoke to many working people about the role played by the Labour Party in retarding our fight back against the savage programme of cuts and austerity which are being inflicted upon the workers by the Tory and LibDem millionaires.
In Manchester comrades made the same points to Labour Party supporters and those misguided comrades from the revisionist club. Opening the eyes of those in the labour movement to the stark reality of the role played by social democracy is much harder than explaining the same thing to the masses. Comrades from the RCG were on hand to help hammer home the message and a more revolutionary May Day atmosphere prevailed!
Communists, anti-imperialists and Palestinian activists today called for a cultural boycott of Israeli artists in Birmingham.
The call was made by local activists as they demonstrated outside Birmingham Town Hall against the performance by the Jerusalem String Quartet, a musical troupe reportedly affiliated to the Israeli Defence Force. The group performs for settler communities and is a cultural stormtrooper for Israeli Zionism. Red Youth gives a red salute to those cpgb-ml and Red Youth members who turned out to demonstrate against this rascist bunch, and we direct readers to the inspring articles produced by one of our 9-year old comrades of Palestinian decent in the Midlands http://www.gazafocus.com/?m=201112
CPGB-ML comrades assembled in Clerkenwell to take part in this years May Day celebrations.
On this day, millions across the world have taken to the streets ever since 1889, when the first congress of the Second International declared 1 May as International Workers’ Day. This day was initially chosen to honour the American workers’ triumphant strike for the eight-hour day on 1 May 1886 and as a homage to those gunned down by the Chicago police as well as their leaders – Albert Parsons, August Spiers, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden and Louis Lingg – who were condemned to death for their leadership of the strike and declared “guilty of murder” (policemen also died when they attacked the assembled protesters in Haymarket Square). One hundred and twenty years later, the echo of Spiers’ words from the gallows must continue to remind us of our strength: “There will be a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.”
The strength and power of the working-class movement has been demonstrated all over the globe ever since. May Day has become an occasion when we celebrate our achievements, express international solidarity and reaffirm that socialism is the way forward for humanity. With the establishment of socialism in the USSR and its historic victory over Nazi fascism, millions of toiling people have been inspired to fight for a better life.
From the storming of the Winter Palace in 1917 to the victorious end of the anti-fascist war, when the red flag was raised on the Reichstag in Berlin in 1945, the flying of the red flag with its hammer and sickle has been indelibly linked to the achievements of our movement and is a symbol of progressive humanity. Whereas internationally, from east to west, from Asia to South America, red flags have dominated May Day, in the imperialist heartlands, far fewer are seen, as our historic day has been hijacked as a ‘spring holiday’ and drained of all revolutionary fervour by the dominance of the social-democratic leadership. It is time that socialists in Britain reclaimed the day, increased our symbolic use of the hammer and sickle, proudly declared our communist ideals and explained that communism is still the only way forward for humanity.
Red Youth was very pleased to hear today the good news that the comrades Juanjo Serrano, Albert Camarasa and Xavier Aure have been acquitted of all charges brought against them by the state. The Spanish communists can be well pleased with the tremendous and determined fight that was put up by the PCPE and CJC and has finally brought victory! The following is the statement of the PCPE:
STATEMENT FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMUNITEE OF THE PCPE
ACQUITTAL OF OUR MILITANTS IN FACE OF THE POLICE SET-UP
On April 19th the PCPE received the sentence of the trial against our three comrades Juanjo Serrano, Albert Camarasa and Xavier Auré, which declared the full acquittal of all charges against them.
In face of this trial, the Executive Committee of the PCPE makes the following STATEMENT:
1.Almost five years after the process began, years in which our militants have been threatened with a prison sentence of three years and ten months, the denounce of the PCPE about the police set-up has been proved. The sentence acknowledges, without any space for doubts, that the police did not have any objective basis in which founding their accusations against our members. The Prosecutor has also shared this incriminating position.
2. This action of the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalonian police) is really founded on the existence of the police files that are being made in our country in order to keep surveillance on the communist militants. This is proved by the fact that the police knew about the political membership of our militants without having identified them. We denounce the practice, conducted by the Ministry of Interior, of having political files of the members of the PCPE, with the aim of criminalizing the normal action of our Party.
3.The effective work of the legal team of the PCPE, together with the important actions of solidarity held worldwide by many different organizations and individuals – and the international communist movement – has prevented the sentence against our militants in a case based on false accusations. The PCPE would like to openly express the gratitude to all these people and organizations.
4.The EC of the PCPE also highlights the strength of our three militants, who have assumed the threat of prison with revolutionary responsibility.
5.Nowadays, the initiatives adopted by the new government of the oligarchy in order to change some parts of the Criminal Code, aim at repressing the struggle of the working class and are an expression of the bankruptcy of the present system of domination. With the sharpening of the structural crisis of the capitalist system, the dominant classes are unable to keep their dominance through mechanisms of social consensus. This situation highlights the situation of exhaustion of Spanish capitalism, which has only one way to keep its position: the direct exercise of the dictatorship of capital and the violent repression of the peoples’ struggles.
6.The PCPE will not give up, no matter the threat, the struggle for the socialist revolution and communism, making the mass struggle the key tool in the necessary process of accumulation of forces. The dominant classes of this country will not be able to stop this process, no matter how much violence they exert against the people. The EC of the PCPE calls for struggle for the political goals of the working class emancipation, for socialism and communism anywhere and anyhow.
STRUGGLE IS UNTIL VICTORY!
LONG LIVE PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM
FOR SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM
Chimurenga is the Shona word for liberation struggle. There are three distinct periods of anti-colonial struggle to which the word and the concept refers.
The first Chinmurenga dates from the initial anti-colonial struggle of 1896-97 against Cecil Rhodes’ British South African Company.
The second Chimurenga refers to the successful anti-apartheid, anti-colonial struggle fought by ZANU and ZAPU from 1960 – 1980, ending in the lancaster house negotiations and agreements and the overwhelming political electoral victory of ZANU, led by Robert Mugabe.
The third Chimurenga refers to the final settlement of the land question – the revolutionary steps taken to re-distribute land seized by the settler colonialists and re-distribute it to the masses which has led to the anger, vitriolic anti-zimbabe, anti-zanu and anti-mugabe propaganda that floods our media, and the cresecendo of diplomatic military and economic actions of imperialism against Zimbabwe and its chosen political leadership.
It is precisely the popular nature of both the second and third Chimurenga struggles led by ZANU and their leader, President Robert Mugabe, that have maintained them in power and enabled them to withstand every imperialist intrigue and assault leveled against them (including the apartheid colonial forces re-branding themselves as the ‘MDC’ and finding themselves a new ‘black Smith’ in the person of one Morgan Tsvangirai).
Both Britain and the USA have pumped millions of dollars and enforced harsh punitive economic sanctions (a real modern-day weapon of mass destruction) against the Zimbabwean people. So far the Zimbabweans have passed every test, and proudly maintain their hard-won independence and freedom – for which fully 30,000 Zimbabwean’s laid down their lives during the second Chimurenga – and we salute their steadfastness.
Let us not forget that Britain pledged to compensate the so called ‘white farmers’ (colonial settlers) and re-distribute the land they had taken by force. Having failed to do so, the people of Zimbabwe were well within their rights to reclaim it – by any means necessary!
It is important to realize that his is only a ‘racial’ struggle in that it is undoing the former economic superiority created and enforced by the pro-white racist apartheid settler regime. This is a democratic struggle as it is redistributing wealth from a minority to the majority of formerly landless and land-hungry peasants. It is a program that resonates throughout southern Africa, and in particular in South Africa today. Here, also, lie imperialist fears. They guard nothing so jealously as their ill-gotten gains.
Godfrey Cremer, founder member and central committee member of the CPGB-ML, was an active participant in the Zimbabwe Solidarity Campaign and the Zimbabwe Solidarity Front. The poem he recites here, at a meeting held in Southall in January 2012, was written during the Second Chimurenga, at a time when Zimbabwe’s armed liberation struggle still raged. Our support fro the Zimbabwean people was not born yesterday.
Godfrey and others in the CPGB-ML have held a consistently anti-imperialist line and defended Zimbabwe from all imperialist attack at every juncture. He was a true friend of the Zimbabwean people, and is sorely missed by his comrades, who take the struggle forward. Join us.
“Imperialists and traitors – fear us!” was one slogan made at a demonstration by members of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) as thousands rallied to oppose the preparations being made by imperialism for war on Syria. On the road to Hatay in southern Turkey, protesters were stopped and arrested in Adana by police and state forces who were desperate to prevent the voice of the workers and oppressed from being heard. Members of the TKP unrolled a banner bearing the words “Hands off Syria!” and proceeded with an impromptu demonstration.
It is absolutely imperative that we in Britain step up our efforts to avoid the same horrendous fate befalling Syria as that which was inflicted on Libya. The workers parties and anti-war activists need to clear their heads of all the muddled thinking and get straight one single truth – “imperialism strives for domination, not democracy!”
A group of comrades from Birmingham including a few Red Youth members attempted to explain to supporters of Amnesty International the reactionary position adopted by that organisation towards Syria on Thursday evening. Failing to comprehend the motivations and involvement of imperialist interference in the region, despite all efforts, the Amnesty group pressed ahead and attempted to peddle a pro-interventionist ‘Support defiance’ warmongering position – even arranging for the BBC to attend and cover their performance. Such blatant (and at the demo) vocal support for the overthrow of Assad makes a mockery and thoroughly exposes the dishonesty of Amnesty’s written position:
“Amnesty International does not take sides in conflicts and has no opinion on borders. Our work in situations of armed conflict concentrates on documenting and campaigning against human rights abuses and violations of IHL, no matter who commits them”
Amnesty's "impartiality"
A group of anti-imperialists in Birmingham opposed Amnesty’s dirty work for imperialism with a vocal contingent which, despite the best attempts and connivance of the BBC did not go unheard. Our statement can be read online here.
In response to the irresponsible, hypocritical and reactionary behaviour of the Birmingham Amnesty International group and their plans to push war propaganda on the streets of Birmingham, local comrades from Red Youth, CPGB-ML, AIWAA, IWA(GB) and others prepare a counter-demonstration on 12 April in Birmingham. It is the firm conviction of these comrades and other anti-imperialists that we cannot allow what happened in Libya to be repeated in Syria. It is also their firm conviction that if Stop the War Coalition is incapable of opposing this warmongering then it is up to communists and revolutionaries to get on with the task alone.
The following statement is communicated to the Amnesty dupes:
We have no doubt that Amnesty International contains a number of well-meaning supporters, people with genuine compassion. It is from this belief that we are outraged by the continual stream of lies, hypocrisy and war propaganda that emanates from Amnesty International, hood-winking its members, volunteers and the general public alike into supporting acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing and regime change.
It was precisely the above which was the outcome, indirectly and not so indirectly, of the position adopted by Amnesty International in relation to the war against Libya. Amnesty always seems quick to make claims of rights abuses when it serves the interests of imperialism, echo-ing the lies and misinformation of the corporate western media machine. But it is strangely slow to learn the awful lessons that echoing such lies enables real atrocities to be committed by imperialist forces – and on an incomparably larger scale than the often non-existent ‘abuses’ they claim to be ‘reporting’ in the first place.
Having made a host of inflammatory and ultimately false statements in the French media alleging the use by Colo-nel Gaddafi of ‘mercenaries’ during last year’s predatory war of aggression by Nato, Amnesty International Presi-dent Genevieve Garrigos was forced to admit five months later that there had been no evidence to support any of her claims.
An investigation by Donatella Rivera exposed Garrigos who had peddled inaccurate information and lies. Garri-gos eventually admitted in an interview: “Donatella was right to verify if we actually found mercenaries. And we didn’t.”
As a result of the spurious information, lies and falsifica-tions she and her team put out, Garrigos helped stoke the fires of war. She helped to cause the unnecessary suffering and death of tens of thousands of Libyans, including untold numbers of black Libyans. It is now widely known and reported by the UN Human Rights Council and by Human Rights Watch that the Libyan ‘rebels’ whom Amnesty was so quick to champion were in fact the ones committing ethnic cleansing of black Libyans in Tawergha and beyond.
It is therefore out of a genuine concern for those honest supporters and champions of human rights who may reside inside Amnesty that we protest against the ongoing use of slander, innuendo, half-truths, untruths, rumour and damned falsification presented to the world as fact.
It is therefore out of a genuine concern for the many honest supporters and champions of human rights who undoubtedly reside within Amnesty that we protest against the campaign’s persistent use of slander, innuendo, half-truths, untruths, rumour and damned falsification – all presented to the world as fact.
It is with this knowledge, and with a real love for freedom, democracy and liberty, that we call on Amnesty’s anti-Assad protesters to correct their position on the question of Syria and oppose the dirty war propaganda that emanates from the Birmingham group of Amnesty.
Amnesty calls for ‘defiance’
A leaflet advertising a demonstration in Birmingham on 12 April 2012, and seemingly produced by Amnesty International’s Birmingham group, calls for people to “Stand for Syria, in solidarity – in defiance”. This piece of war propaganda claims that there have been five decades of human-rights abuses in Syria, that there has been a 14-month ‘brutal crackdown’, and that hundreds have been mistreated and tortured. The intention of the leaflet is to create the impression that there exists in Syria a most despotic and cruel regime; a regime that tortures, punishes and imprisons hundreds, nay thousands, of its own citizens, including children.
Whilst Amnesty claims that there have been five decades of repression in Syria, the truth is rather different. The Syrian people enjoy a standard of living envied by many in the Middle East. The country’s long-standing commitment to secularism has ensured a relatively peaceful and prosperous half-century for its people, who come from many different nationalities, cultures and religions. Which other country in the Middle East provided safety and refuge to millions of families who fled Iraq during the last Iraq war? What other country has done so much to assist the Palestinian struggle for national liberation?
Since the outbreak of the imperialist supported violence last year, regular demonstrations have been held across Syria, with tens of thousands of people from all sections of this diverse society showing their support for the president and government, and not for the anti-government militias.
It is with this in mind that we must ask ourselves what role Amnesty is playing in calling demonstrations that imply tacit support for the gang of terrorist mercenaries calling themselves the ‘Free Syrian Amy’. Not least as the FSA are assembled, supplied, supported and sheltered by such standard-bearers of freedom and democracy as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, the United States and Turkey.
Once again, Amnesty International is doing the dirty work of imperialism. It is providing whatever pretext can be found for the overthrow of a legitimate government, a legitimate president, and the murder, torture and butchery of soldiers who comprise the regular standing army of the Syrian republic.
But who the hell are the directors of Amnesty to interfere, in complete violation of international law, with the internal business of a sovereign state?
Whilst Israel pushes ahead with its policy of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, Amnesty turns a blind eye and (in Birmingham at least) organises no protest. Whilst Israel is gripped by the heroic struggle of Palestinian hunger strikers and freedom fighters, Amnesty has chosen this moment to talk about Syrian prisoners.
Whilst Saudi troops commit acts of ferocious barbarity in Bahrain, Amnesty Birmingham wants us to “push for an end to the bloodshed in Syria”!
Whilst black Libyans are butchered every day by racist, terroristic ‘rebels’ as a direct result of the horrendous and catastrophic war, allegedly waged for ‘humanitarian assistance’ and delivered by the F16s, stealth bombers and tomahawk missiles of the imperialist armies, Amnesty International wants to provide a pretext for further carnage in Syria!
The truth about Syria is that it is a thorn in the side of imperialism in the Middle East. Its long-standing commitment to independence and national sovereignty has incurred the wrath of the United States, who long ago marked the country out as a part of the ‘axis of evil’.
Learn the lessons of history
In campaigning for a return to the Russian presidency, outgoing prime minister Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would not allow a replay of the events in Libya: “Learning from that bitter experience, we are against any UN Security Council resolutions that could be interpreted as a signal for military interference in domestic processes in Syria.”
In seeking to overthrow the patriotic and progressive government in Damascus, imperialism also seeks to deliver a knockout blow to Hizbollah, thereby strengthening Israel. Above all, in seeking to destroy its most significant regional military ally, the attack on Syria is a vital step-ping stone to yet another war of aggression, this time against Iran, beyond which lies the global conflagration that confrontation with China and Russia would entail.
We must not fall for the war propaganda used to ‘justify’ imperialist aggression, and certainly should take no part in spreading these lies and falsifications.
In a very real sense, Syria today stands in the same place, as did the Spanish Republic in 1936. British work-ers and progressive people need to stand in their place, demanding: Hands off Syria! Victory to Assad!
Henry Friedrich Carl Metelmann, was born on 25 December 1922, the son of a socialist railway worker in Hamburg, Germany. As a lively and active boy, he joined the scouts, and later his group was merged with the Hitler youth. With Hitler’s rise he was seduced by the fascist movement, and the experiences and privileges it bestowed
He fought with Von Paulus’ Nazi 6th army at Stalingrad. Through experience he came to reject fascism and capitalist imperialism. He settled in Britain, becoming a communist, a railway worker, groundsman, writer and peace activist. He died on 24 July 2011.
Henry Metelmann was keen to talk about his experiences, especially to the young, and equated the invasion of the Soviet Union by an oil-hungry Nazi Germany with the Anglo-American assault on oil-rich Iraq in 2003. He remained a member of the Communist party of Great Britain until its break-up in 1991.
He delivered a powerful lecture to the Stalin Society in London, in 2004, which sadly was not filmed, but shortly afterwards Harpal Brar, now chairman of the CPGB-ML, conducted this interview with Henry at his home in Godalming.
This interview remains as moving, compelling and relevant as the day it was conducted. For it helps us to understand German (Nazi) Imperialism. Not merely as something exceptional, uniquely evil, incomprehensible and never to be repeated; but as the standard behaviour of imperialism. That is of expansionist monopoly capitalism.
What conclusions does he draw from his long, full active and historically rich life? He tells us that there can be no peace, while capitalism still exists. We must overthrow it, or perish.
