harpal brar Archives - Page 3 of 4

Why I'm joining Red Youth

Posted on 2nd January 2014 by Red Youth Red Youth

To get the new year off to a positive start, here’s an insightful comment from a recent applicant who applied to join Red Youth and wanted to get involved. More and more of us are starting to question all the dogma forced down our throats by the state and its running dogs the troto-revisionist fraternity; whether its about Assad, Gaddafi or the old enemy – Stalin and Mao(!), and Red Youth continues to grow and attract to its ranks the best amongst the British working class youth who want to actually do something rather than take out paper membership of a defunct Communist Party and receive the “honour” of being made “General Secretary” or “President” of some 3 member regional organisation of a party with nothing going for it but some semblance of officialdom.

If you feel the same as this comrade, if you shun paper membership or keyboard warrior status, and want to avoid the cultish excesses of those organisations run by two-man leadership committees on the pretext that its not the right time to build a “party”; do the right thing and get involved with Marxism Leninism! Red Youth is not the mover and shaker of the movement, but we set our goals high and fully intend to bring about the restoration of a revolutionary youth movement free from sickening ties to the imperialist blood soaked Labour Party and the weirdo’s and freaks of the Trotskyist grooming clubs. This comment is reproduced as it came and we’re proud to be associated with such honest observation:

“I am joining the red youth because I am sick of this rotten capitalist imperialist government that we have that is doing everything it possibly can to destroy the life’s of the working class in this country. Since they came to power they have already proven this for example in 2010 they raised the tuition fees to £9000 a year. Why they have done this well I will tell you comrades it is because they do not want the working class of this country to gave a good education or to achieve the best jobs I society instead they want these to be reserved for the rich ruling elite (not as if they already have the best chance of getting the best jobs). They want to keep the working class out of the top universities and to make these places no go areas for the poor and instead to turn them into some kind of breeding ground for the future ruling class.

They are cutting all of the welfare that is reserved for the poorest in society and to plunge them deeper into poverty meanwhile the capitalist media of this country constantly portray the poor as something for the rich to vet their anger at and are described as lazy, stupid and good for nothing scum. We are constantly told that to get up and look for jobs. Well how can we do this if they are not enough jobs to go around for example the city where I come from Glasgow there was a small Tesco that opened up as a part of a luxury flats complex along Great Western Road that had no more than 25 jobs going and 1000 applied for these. If they constantly tell us that there are enough jobs then why are things like this happening.

One more example of the Government’s attack on the poor is the rotten bedroom tax which means if you are a poor person that has only a tiny spare bedroom you will loose money that you desperately need to survive while the capitalist swine that are pushing all of these policies are all multi millionaires with large mansions, luxury cars and millions of pounds in their bank account makes me sick, and the whole time on the television and in the newspapers we are told by a bunch of over privileged greedy swine that why should pay for some poor person to be out of work for no fault of their own and cant get work and have a small bedroom because one of their children has grown up, moved out and has a life of their own. They are doing this because they want to demonize the working class and turn the rest of society against them to distract us from the crimes which they are committing.

This whole vile capitalist system that we have in place in this country is also a murdering imperils one because of all of the wars of aggression which they have waged around the world in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya destroying the countries and killing millions of people in the process. Why do they do this in the name of democracy and freedom so they say. But do not believe any of this bile the only reason why the imperialist powers invade these countries is because they want to occupy and to steal their resources and take them back and sell them to line their own pockets.

We should all take a stand and boycott these wars, the government and the army for these crimes which they are all guilty of committing. We as citizens should all take a stand and don’t support them. This can be done by not celebrating this British army or supporting armed forces day or the Royal (murdering) British Legion or the Poppy Appeal as they are nothing but lies and war propaganda to force us into supporting the war.

Now I want to talk about the rotten parasites of the British monarchy. These people are scum who do nothing but leach of the taxpayers of this country and pay no tax and live in a life of privilege and luxury that we can only ever dream of. I am sick of the media constantly pushing the pro royalist propaganda down our necks. This has been most evident over the last 2 years. In 2011 we had the royal weeding when we where supposed to celebrate two multi millionaires getting married while we paid for the whole thing and in 2012 we where supposed to celebrate 60 years of crap. These people need t get rid of and all of their riches should be taken away from them and the wealth redistributed among the workers.

I would now like to say I am joining the movement because I have been reading all of the stuff on both the red youth and the communist party of great Britain Marxist – Leninist and see the good work which they are doing and I agree with every one of the things they say.

It is good see that there are people that are standing up and making a difference and no longer putting up with this rotten capitalist class and making a real difference.

I would like to join because I want to make a difference and get up and do something instead of sitting about doing nothing about it.”

Mao to Mandela – Our history is being forged for the wealthy

Posted on 23rd December 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

Harpal Brar makes some insightful remarks while closes a meeting to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s Birth. He notes that despite the towering achievements of Mao, and the CPC and the huge advances in literacy, life expectancy, economic and cultural standing, made since the revolution by the masses of the Chinese people, the overwhelming narrative in the western imperialist world is that Mao, like Stalin, we are told, was a monster.

This is not an accurate reflection of the facts, as shown by Utsa Patnaik’s excellent work, previously reproduced in Lalkar.

http://www.lalkar.org/issues/contents/nov2012/china.html

We note that the same (now Prime Minister) David Cameron, who Lauds Nelson Mandela to the skies after his death, as a young conservative actively campaigned for the (living, political prisoner) Mandela’s death by hanging – along with all other ANC terrorists – who, he declared, unlike their masters among the ‘civilised’ apartheid regime, ‘are Butchers’.

Mandela is being rehabilitated by the bourgeoisie, to console the toiling masses of Africa and the world, but his revolutionary essence, his anti-imperialist history, his advocacy of the armed struggle against apartheid and imperialism, his communist understanding, sympathies, membership and leadership – all this is being air-brushed out of history.

This is simply because the capitalist class currently hold the purse strings, and pay the most mercenary historians handsomely for painting their despotism in pretty colours, while defaming all liberation struggles of the oppressed.

“History has been turned into a commodity, and the best paid historiography is that best falsified to serve the interests of the bourgeoisie.” History is for sale; and if you are planning the ultimate theft, robbery of the masses of humanity of their collective productive wealth, you CAN pay to have it re-written.

Down with imperialism! Serve the people! Join us!

The State and Revolution – How can Socialism be built?

Posted on 15th December 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

Harpal Brar, Chairman of the CPGB-ML, gives a presentation summarising Marx’s teachings on the state. Key quotations and ideas are drawn from Marx and Engel’s seminal work, “The Communist Manifesto”, Engels’ “Origin of the Family, private property and the state”, Marx’s “Critique of the Gotha Program”, Engels’ “Anti Duhring”, Marx’s “18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte” and “The Civil War in France”, and Lenin’s “The State and Revolution.”

It’s an excellent introduction to Marxism, and totally exposes the commonly peddled fallacy that workers can simply vote for socialism – or a social democratic party, such as Labour in Britain – in order to solve their problems.

Workers cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery (the capitalists’ parliament, army, police force, judiciary, etc.) and use it to achieve their own ends. Bourgeois rule, connections and interests run through these institutions, like the lettering in a stick of Brighton Rock.

The capitalists’ ‘democratic’ state must be smashed, and the working class must have a state of its own, to ensure society and the economy are actually organised in our own interests.

This workers’ state – the dictatorship of the proletariat – will then wither away over a historical epoch, as its functions cease to be necessary, in the transition to the higher stage of communism, when the economic formula “from each according to their ability; to each according to their need” will be applied to production and distribution of goods, well-being and culture.

A better world is possible! Join us!

British delegation promotes strong anti-imperialist line on "Europe Day" at Quito festival

Posted on 9th December 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

Comrades from Red Youth and RCG, who make up the socialist contingent on the British delegation to Quito, distribute tonnes of literature and speak to hundreds of revolutionaries from across the world.

Hundreds of progressive youth came to speak with the British delegation all through “Europe day” at this years WFDY Festival. Comrades from the RCG distributed copies of their newspaper Fight Racism, Fight Imperialism and conducted interviews with foreign delegations, and also kindly assisted Red Youth with translation from Spanish.

Delegate Tatjana from the Socialist Party of Latvia

Many copies of Lalkar and Proletarian were sold and given away to comrades new and old. Friends from the Syrian Baath Party were delighted to catch up with CPGB-ML central committee members Ranjeet Brar and Paul Cannon and to meet Dan and Angela for the first time. Our support for the brave resistance of the Syrian people to the bloody war waged by imperialism has strengthened our friendship with both the Baath Party and the Syrian Communist Party (Bagdash) who also met privately with our delegation.

As the degenerates and warmongers, trotskyites and revisionists, conspire to keep brave peace-loving people like Mother Agnes from the anti-war platform, it is increasingly clear that only the Marxist-Leninists can provide clear anti-war political leadership. Only communists clearly come out in defence of the weak against the attacks of the strong; the trotskyists always end up assisting their imperialist puppet masters, and the spineless revisionists long ago abandoned the struggle in favour of the easy life.

Even the Ecuadorean police seem to be on our side!

The most cursory glance at the contemporary international situation shows that imperialism’s inherent tendency to wage wars of aggression has not in any way disappeared. If anything it has become enhanced, notably after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of central and eastern Europe, since when we have seen numerous wars of colonial reconquest, such as those against Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and, most recently, Libya and Syria.

Moreover, faced with what is emerging as the gravest economic crisis in the history of capitalism, the pace and intensity of imperialism’s inexorable drive to war is increasing yet further. The imperialist powers are presently at war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. They are also waging unofficial and proxy wars in Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen and other countries. They are abetting and bankrolling the Israeli zionists’ war against the Palestinian people.

Marxism Leninism is not a dogma but a guide to action. Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao, the great revolutionary teachers, laid out with complete clarity the attitude of the revolutionary proletariat to the struggle against imperialism and towards the national movements of the oppressed. With imperialism convulsed with crisis and hurtling towards new and ever more dangerous wars of aggression, the work of reuniting and reinvigorating the entire international communist movement on this principled and revolutionary basis is one which will brook no further delay.

It is in this spirit that many many comrades and friends purchased copies of not only our newspapers, but also our books, notably Harpal Brar and Ella Rule’s latest book Imperialism and the worst-ever crisis of overproduction. Red Youth’s slogan “Each one, teach one!” has never been more relevant.

Long live proletarian internationalism!

Comrade Paulus Mbangu from SWAPO buys HB's latest book on imperialism — Comrade Paulus Mbangu from SWAPO buys HB’s latest book on imperialism

Puerto Rican communists from the Federacion Universitaria Pro Independencia take copies for their library

Delegates from across Latin America socialising with comrades from around the world

Italian Marxist Leninists poster — Italian Marxist Leninist poster: NATO Hands off Syria! No to Imperialism!

Liverpool communists discuss Imperialism and War

Posted on 24th November 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

Members and supporters of the Communist Party gathered in Liverpool to hear a talk given by CPGB-ML Chairman Harpal Brar on the topic of Imperialism and War. Comrades from the Socialist Labour Party also joined the discussions afterwards which followed Harpal’s talk and which carried on for an hour.

All the comrades agreed that there was an urgent need for the working class to develop its own leadership of the struggles against war and austerity rather than rely on the Labour Party bigwigs and their stooges who occupy the higher echelons of the trade union movement. Comrades reaffirmed the urgent need for rank and file trade unionists to fight for the working class within the unions in the face of the mismanagement of our struggles by social democrats and class traitors. The need to build up the Communist Party and revolutionary class leadership was discussed and all the comrades felt that the meeting had made a good contribution towards this work in Liverpool.

A real step forward has been made in Liverpool with new comrades recruited to the CPGB-ML and closer friendships formed with supporters as a result of open, frank discussion and debate. Other branches of the Communist Party will be holding similar public meetings in the new year.

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Also this week Red Youth comrades, organised in the Nottingham Trent Uni Marxist and Proletariat Society, held a debate on the topic of Trotskyism or Leninism, between the CPGB-ML and anarcho-trotskyite AWL.

If any other society or group would like to arrange debates or public meetings on either of the above subjects, or other topics, you are welcome to contact info@redyouth.org to make arrangements.

Yorkshire comrades and Red Youth learn about the Bolshevik Revolution

Posted on 17th November 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

A small group of members and supporters gathered with Red Youth to learn about the Great October Socialist Revolution in Doncaster on Saturday. A party organisation was established in Doncaster earlier this year and is now meeting regularly. Weekly sales of marxist leninist literature take place in Doncaster town centre, weekly study classes are underway and comrades have organised political education classes in conjunction with the Stalin Society, thus beginning the process of building up a communist organisation in the town!

The next meeting of the Doncaster group is this coming Saturday, if you’d like to attend the talk which will focus on the role of the black civil rights movement it’s on at Doncaster Central Lending Library 2.00pm. Contact readinggrouptom@hotmail.co.uk for more information or to get involved.

Video – Great October Socialist Revolution

Posted on 13th November 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

Thursday 7th November 2013 marked the 96th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, and this little introductory video is just to give you a flavour of the celebration that was held by the CPGB-ML at a packed meeting in Saklatvala hall, Southall on Saturday 9th November 2013.

Great speeches from the representatives of Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea, as well a Katt Cremer from the Party and Angela and Dan from Red Youth.

This video explains why we celebrate, what we are trying to achieve and why we have every reason to be optimistic about the future.

Communists celebrate Bolshevik Revolution

Posted on 11th November 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

Comrades from the Communist Party and Red Youth were joined by representatives from the embassies of Venezuela, Cuba and DPR Korea to celebrate the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Our close friends from the Chinese state news agency Xinhua were also present to celebrate this joyous occasion.

In a packed Saklatvala Hall a spirited meeting heard speakers from the central committee of the CPGB-ML, the embassies of Cuba, Venezuela and Korea, Harsev Bains from the I.W.A (G.B) and two leading members of Red Youth.

Our international guests recalled the heroic struggles for national liberation, independence and socialism which were and continue to be waged as a result of the glorious October Revolution. In the speeches of comrade Dan and Angela, Red Youth speakers declared:

“We still talk about the October Revolution today because all the lessons it teaches us are still relevant, perhaps moreso now than ever before both in our country and internationally.

In the UK over a fifth of young people are unemployed, with a similar rate across Europe. In countries such as Spain and Greece the rates today reach 56% and 61% respectively. Everyone knows why we’re facing this current capitalist crisis – the irresponsibility of bankers, the greed of the corporate elite, and the complicity of these governments in the destructive imperial capitalist machine. And yet every measure directed to stave off complete financial collapse has been directed at the working classes; cuts to health, cuts to transport, taxes on spare bedrooms, measures that will only affect the very poorest. Many families are now relying on food banks, or having to make the choice whether to go to bed hungry or cold as fuel prices relentlessly increase.

This is not to mention the already existing disparity between the working classes and the elite. Whereas the 7% of pupils that can afford to attend independent schools make up 39% of the students at top universities the poorest 33% of students only make up 6%, no wonder when parliament is filled with millionaires….

The revolution and the changes that followed inspired similar events in China, Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, and many other countries. No longer in the Soviet Union and these other socialist countries was a full education the preserve of the wealthy, health care wasn’t just for those that could afford it, access to employment, housing, and food wasn’t based on whether or not you had the connections or luck to secure a job in tough economic times. And these revolutions were necessarily not just economic – they were social too, doing away with any notion of privilege related to gender or race. Every single metric relating to quality of life improved.

So we will celebrate the October Revolution every year, and we will share the lessons it has taught us and the rest of the working class, that we have a duty to form a vanguard party and to educate the working classes, to teach people that there is an alternative to slaving away for the bourgeoisie in return for cuts to public services, mass unemployment, homelessness, and starvation. Hence the motto of Red Youth: Each One, Teach One!“

More photo’s of the event will appear here shortly.

Support Palestine … Join the axis of resistance!

Posted on 3rd February 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

Leaflet issued by CPGB-ML, 26 January 2013
www.cpgb-ml.org/index.php?secName=leaflets&subName=display&leafletId=94

Imperialism in the Middle East

In order to make sense of what goes on in the Middle East, we need to understand that today’s world is dominated by a handful of superrich countries, which have become wealthy by looting resources and exploiting people all over the world.

Britain, the first country to develop capitalism was also the first to grab a modern empire.

In the 19th century, Arabia was dismissed as being a barren wasteland, but in the early 20th century, vast oil deposits were discovered under the desert — just around the time that oil was becoming the fuel of choice for many modern machines (including warships!) and industries.

Suddenly, the rush to secure plentiful and cheap supplies of ‘black gold’ became a key strategic imperative for all imperialists, leading to a cut-throat competition for control of the region.

Zionism and Palestine

Seeing their chance, the early zionists asked Britain’s rulers to let them set up a jewish state in Palestine in exchange for helping to keep the region under British domination.

With Arab nationalism on the rise, the imperialists accepted the offer, looking forward to the creation of a “loyal jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism”.

And, although British masters were later pushed aside by American ones, a ‘loyal jewish Ulster’ is exactly what Israel has remained to this day.

The zionist stooges who destroy Palestinian homes, drop bombs on Palestinian schools, plough up Palestinian crops and poison Palestinian water are bribed by US and British governments and corporations to do imperialism’s dirty work.

In return for helping corporations like BP and Texaco to carry on looting the oil and dominating the people of the whole Middle East, the zionists are given military support and hardware, financial aid, diplomatic immunity, and a campaign of lies and disinformation in the imperialist-controlled media.

Israel was established in an orgy of ethnic cleansing, and has been illegally occupying further Palestinian lands and displacing and wiping out Palestinian families ever since.

War crimes are a daily event in this, the most militarised state in the world. In fact, rather than viewing Israel as a state with a huge military, it is more helpful to realise that Israel is in fact a massive army base that also happens to have some schools. Israeli children are brought up to be Nazi-like stormtroopers, ther heads filled with supremacist hatred of all Arab peoples.

The imperialists made one serious miscalculation, though. It was assumed that in the face of Israel’s might, Palestinians would accept underclass status or leave, but the days when colonialists could evict a people from their land and get away with it were over.

In a century of socialist revolution and national liberation, the racist dismissal of local peoples as ‘uncivilised barbarians’ or merely ‘irrelevant’ was no longer possible.

Instead of politely disappearing, the Palestinians stood their ground — refusing to submit no matter how barbarous their oppressors became. Instead of passively joining the long list of imperialist victims, the Palestinians became a beacon of resistance and an inspiration to oppressed people globally.

Gradually, the wellspring of sympathy that Israel shamelessly exploited following the Nazis’ mass extermination of jews in WW2 has run dry. As every agreement and concession on the part of Palestinians is greeted with fresh Israeli crimes, it has become clear to all that it is the zionists, and not the Palestinians, who stand in the way of peace.

So brazen has its war machine become that, today, Israel is the number one creator of anti-jewish feeling in the world.

Solidarity and resistance

So what has all this got to do with workers in Britain?

We need to recognise that the same ruling class that is waging war on our living standards (trying to force us to pay the price of the economic crisis of capitalism) gains much of its power from looting the world. Since oil is such a vital resource, the British state is still one of Israel’s main backers.

If Israel was defeated, British and US imperialism’s ability to grab the region’s oil would be fatally undermined — and with that wealth would go some of the ruling class’s ability to keep us in our ‘place’.

So it’s in our interest to support the Palestinians against imperialism and zionism. But if we want to give effective solidarity to their struggle, we need to learn from past experience.

A consumer boycott is certainly causing embarrassment to Israel, but no such boycott has ever brought down a state that had such powerful military, financial and diplomatic backers as Israel does.

British workers can actually do a lot more, if we are prepared to use our collective power over the country’s economy. The ruling class might give orders, but it is we who are expected to carry them out. If we all refuse, there is not that much they can do.

Neither the capitalists themselves, nor their careerist spivs in Whitehall are about to send their own kids to work in arms factories, to drive trains, to crew cargo ships, to enlist as cannon fodder, or even to print and broadcast their pro-Israel propaganda.

A striking example of such solidarity in action is the case of the Jolly George, a ship that was supposed to be taking arms and soldiers to Russia in 1918, when the new socialist republic was facing attack by 14 capitalist powers. Dockers in east London refused to load the ship, undermining the war effort and setting an infectious example to workers elsewhere.

In 1920, pushed by the ‘Hands off Russia’ campaign, the TUC threatened a general strike if Britain persisted in its criminal warmongering. Lloyd George’s government had to pull out and the war of intervention collapsed.

The ruling class emerged weaker and the working class stronger from this confrontation.

Today, we are part of the same battle against British imperialism on whose front line the Palestinians have been fighting so heroically for 65 years.

Today, they are joined by the Syrian and Iranian anti-imperialist governments and the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbollah — all forces that have refused to reach any accommodation with Israel; have refused to accept the imperialists’ right to dictate how they should live; and have refused to allow imperialist corporations to loot their resources at will.

Recognising their common struggle, Syria and Iran have consistently supported each other, and given money, arms, refugee asylum and diplomatic support to both the Palestinian struggle and the Lebanese resistance movement. A defeat for any of these forces would give a massive boost to imperialism and its zionist stooges and would be a major set-back for the cause of freedom in the Middle East — and especially to the cause of the Palestinian people.

British workers need to join this axis of resistance and give full support to all parts of it, taking their place in the unifying and indivisible struggle against imperialism.

See also:
Victory to the intifada! Join the axis of resistance! (Leaflet, November 2012)
Defend Syria and Iran … Join the axis of resistance! (Leaflet, November 2012)
Hail the victory of the Palestinian hunger strikers! (Proletarian, June 2012)
No justice for the Gaza protestors (Proletarian, August 2010)
Gaza’s people at risk of genetic mutation (Proletarian, February 2011)
Long live the martyrs of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla! (Proletarian,June 2010)
Anti-imperialism and the PSC executive (joti2gaza, January 2012)
Zionists in Birmingham come out to defend racist Israeli state (Red Youth, November 2012)
Hackney Council censor resident from speaking against corporation complicit in war crimes in Palestine (joti2gaza, November 2012)

Watch this:
VIDEO: Jack Shapiro on the Gaza massacre (YouTube, January 2009)
VIDEO: Report from the Viva Palestina 3 convoy (YouTube, January 2010)
VIDEO: Emergency resolution on Palestine (YouTube, June 2010)
VIDEO: Water in Gaza (YouTube, June 2012)
VIDEO: Defend Syria (YouTube, October 2012)
VIDEO: US on the road to WW3 (YouTube, October 2012)
VIDEO: Lifeline to Gaza: The Return (joti2gaza, September 2010)

The Diaoyu islands belong to China

Posted on 9th January 2013 by Red Youth Red Youth

The following statement is issued by the International Department of Red Youth in connection with the recent demonstrations in China; not the demo’s promoted in Western media concerning “censorship” [censorship of anti-socialist propaganda] – BUT the really massive, militant and anti-imperialist rallies against at Japanese and US imperialism!

This past year China has seen huge demonstrations against the increasingly aggressive and bellicose behaviour of Japanese imperialism. These protests have gripped every region and major city across the country, with protestors shouting “Down with Japanese imperialism!” and “1.3 billion Chinese can smash little Japan!” At a recent protest, Chinese students surrounded the US ambassador’s motorcade in Beijing, shouting at him to answer for his country’s support for Japan.

People from all sections of Chinese society, from middle-school students to the elderly, have participated in the protests holding placards denouncing imperialism, waving red banners and the flag of the People’s Republic of China – and many proudly raising portraits of Chairman Mao.

One of the largest days of protest coincided with the 80th anniversary of the Mukden incident, which marked the beginning of Japan’s invasion of China. Many Chinese are angry that Japan still refuses to acknowledge or apologise for its slaughter of many millions of Chinese. This unrepentant attitude towards its imperial past, as well as its ongoing colonial delusions, disgusts the people of China, who know the price they paid for their freedom from colonialism.

The background to these protests begins in 1895, when Japan forced China to relinquish control over many of its island territories – the Taiwan and the Diaoyu islands to name just two. This was only three years before Britain was able to occupy all of Hong Kong. In this era, China was characterised as ‘the weak man of Asia’, and seen as an easy target by both European and Japanese imperialists. Many European countries controlled swathes of China and their colonial puppets could operate outside of Chinese law.

Even when the Chinese communist party was founded in 1921, European empires dominated Shanghai and the French colonial police attempted to break up the first congress of the CPC. The era of colonial subjugation in China didn’t truly end until the victory of the communist forces in 1949, when Jiang Jieshi’s (Chiang Kai-shek’s) surrogate regime (which was entirely dependent on US capital and weapons) was finally defeated by the People’s Liberation Army.

At the Potsdam Conference of 1945, the USA promised freedom to Japan’s colonial subjects, but, as we know from the case of Korea, the people of Japan’s former colonies in fact just swapped one master for another.

These recent China protests have also highlighted the way the alliance between Japanese and US imperialism. The USA stands with Japan against China and other nations in Asia, including the DPRK. The USA’s backing of Japan is important in its so-called ‘Asia pivot’ of international relations, as it seeks to encircle, contain and weaken an ever-stronger and more confident China. This strategy is reminiscent of the US approach in the late 1940s, when President Harry Truman talked about “containment” of communism. It is clear that the US is as determined as ever to undermine socialism in Asia.
The USA’s ‘pivot towards Asia’ shows that imperialism is preparing military aggression in Asia. The governments of Japan and Taiwan are upgrading and expanding their militaries with huge US help, and large numbers of US troops and bases are being deployed to countries such as Australia in a definite trend towards increased militarisation of the region.

The new right-wing Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said there would be no negotiation or compromise by Japan over the disputed islands and that he is prepared to send more ‘permanent staff’ to the islands. At the same time, the Japanese right wing are calling for a scrapping of a clause in the Japanese constitution which says Japan’s military can only be used in self-defence.

On 6 January this year, Japan’s prime minister ordered the military to consider deploying fighter jets to the Diaoyu islands to prevent Chinese planes flying through the island’s airspace. Meanwhile, as this article is being written, and in another act of unprovoked and unjustified aggression, Japan has boarded Chinese ships near the islands.

Progressive people everywhere must oppose the designs of Japanese and US imperialism in China and throughout Asia.

Down with Japanese imperialism! Down with US imperialism! Hands off China!

For more information on this dispute and Chinese socialism, visit:

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/754115.shtml

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/8084122.html

http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-01/09/content_16096980.htm

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/754535.shtml

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/8044425.html