In the article, Enrique Acevedo is quoted relating his experience in the squad of the "Descamisados" (shirtless ones) in Che's column. The term requires some explanation. Militant readers may get the impression that Che created a squad of Rebel soldiers who were forced to go shirtless as punishment. In fact, Che would have found such a procedure repellent. He always insisted that human beings had to be treated with dignity, regardless of whether they were his own troops or enemy prisoners.
As Acevedo writes in his memoirs appropriately titled Descamisado, the squad "was named after the followers of Perón" in Argentina. Juan Perón was Argentina's dictator, overthrown in 1955, who attempted to portray himself as an opponent of the country's oligarchy. To highlight his populist image Perón termed his plebeian supporters as "descamisados," who the country's landowners and capitalists detested and feared.
When Che was given command of the new Rebel column in July 1957, he adopted this term used in his native country, but he did so in a humorous vein. It was an educational tool to instill discipline, and combatants who committed minor infractions were sent there. Use of this term also served to educate the raw recruits - many of them in their teens - in international politics.
Mike Taber
Brooklyn, New York
Opposition to Israeli gov't
Occasionally another side of the reality of the Israel-
Palestine conflict creeps into the local media. A front-page
article in the September 10 Atlanta Constitution is entitled
"Israel's harsh policies breed bombers, grieving mom says."
Thirteen-year-old Smadar Elhanan was one of the victims in a
suicide bombing in Jerusalem in early September. When asked
for a comment by Israeli journalists, Smadar's mother, Nurit
Peled-Elhanan, is quoted as saying: "The government breeds
the terrorists. They start them, they fertilize them .. [by]
invading their property, starving them, humiliating them,
oppressing them."
Smadar's father, a graphic artist, designed posters for Israeli peace groups urging withdrawal from the occupied territories. Her grandfather, Gen. Mattitiyahu Peled, resigned from the Israeli armed forces because of the Israeli government's unceasing hostility toward the Palestinians.
A representative of Yasser Arafat's Palestine National Authority spoke at Smadar's funeral, as did an Israeli Arab who worked for the family.
The comments of Smadar's mother and the history of her family reveal, for once, the opposition of many Israeli Jews to the brutal, racist policies of the Israeli government and army. It's a stance more Americans should emulate and oppose the pro-Israel policies of the U.S. government.
Bob Braxton
Atlanta, Georgia
Scottish independence?
In the article on the Scottish devolution debate in the
last issue of the Militant (September 22), I was surprised to
see that after correctly calling for a vote for a Scottish
Parliament, Marcella Fitzgerald stated that the Communist
League is "in full support of Scotland's fight for
independence." From the standpoint of support for the right
of self-determination this has no real meaning as it is clear
that Scottish separatism today is a minority tendency. It
appears that instead Fitzgerald is herself "advocating"
independence, a sharp break from the previous position of
Communists on this subject. It's useful to look at the debate
around Catalonia in the 1930s, which has many parallels with
the situation of Scotland.
When Maurin, a leader of the Catalan Federation, raised the banner of Catalan independence, the Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky replied: "The workers will fully and completely defend the `right' of the Catalans and Basques to organize their state life independently in the event that the majority of these nationalities express themselves for complete separation. But this does not, of course, mean that the advanced workers will push the Catalans and Basques on the road of secession. On the contrary, the economic unity of the country with `extensive autonomy of national districts,' would represent great advantages for the workers and peasants from the viewpoint of economy and culture." (The Spanish Revolution, p. 78)
Surely this offers a better framework for approaching the question of Scottish nationalism today, to support the fullest possible regional autonomy, e.g. a Scottish parliament, to support the decision of the majority of the Scottish people should they decide for independence, but to continually warn against the illusions of Scottish nationalism.
Pete Evans
London, England
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