It’s important to avoid separating the history of the anti-Vietnam War movement from the concrete conditions that unfolded at that time. The Vietnamese national liberation struggle, like the Chinese, Algerian, and Cuban Revolutions, was a powerful manifestation of the anticolonial revolution that emerged in Africa, Asia, and Latin America following World War II.

Through a decade and a half the Vietnamese workers and peasants mounted a fierce resistance to Washington’s assault. Eventually they forced the withdrawal of U.S. forces, overturned the Saigon regime, and integrated north and south as one workers state, dealing a historic blow to U.S. imperialism.

These events had a big impact on the development of a movement against the war in Vietnam and more broadly on U.S. society. The demonstrations objectively weakened Washington’s war effort. Many participants consciously identified with the struggle of the Vietnamese and rooted for their victory. The protests were also intertwined with mass social movements in the United States, from the movement that overthrew Jim Crow segregation in the South to the exploding struggles for women’s liberation.  
 
Bourgeois war pressures and patriotism
There is no revolutionary upsurge in the Mideast today, nor is there a revolutionary leadership there. Also, the Vietnam War events took place during a period of capitalist expansion that began in the late 1940s and lasted through the early 1970s. By contrast, today we are well into a longterm, downward curve of capitalist development, one that marks the dynamics of the class struggle.

This means that, to a far greater extent than three or four decades ago, the world is marked by sharpening rivalry between Washington and the other imperialist powers. Forces in bougeois politics in each imperialist country appeal to working people to identify with "national" interests. Some express pacifist opposition to the war drive in the name of defending the "real" nation against those who misrepresent it. Under these conditions, slogans such as "regime change begins at home" or "money for jobs, not for war" can take on an American nationalist character, when what is needed above all is to reject the rulers’ patriotic framework and to fight for political clarity and a greater class understanding.

Meanwhile, the growing social crisis of capitalism is breeding resistance among workers and farmers. The U.S. rulers can no longer buy class peace by offering a layer of working people modest wage raises and other improvements. Instead, they hold out the prospect of layoffs, cutbacks in social benefits, and attacks on workers’ rights.

Communists get a hearing for their explanation that the "we" of the American rulers is a fraud and a trap for working people. The only "we" that workers and farmers should identify with is that of our class brothers and sisters around the world--including those in Iraq. An Iraqi victory in the coming war would strengthen working people everywhere.

A number of those who participate in protests against Washington’s war moves are open to considering a revolutionary perspective. Books like Pathfinder’s The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions show how millions of workers will revolutionize themselves as political resistance grows, and why only the working class can lead humanity out of the social crisis endemic to capitalism in its decline. Reading and studying these titles will help such fighters figure out what is behind the brutality of imperialism, and what is required to end it once and for all.

Re your account of the demonstration of October 26: It’s true that it contained reactionary elements and that its leadership was hopelessly sectarian. Nevertheless, the size and spirit of the demonstration indicates the potential for a significant mobilization against the currently impending imperialist war.

Many antiwar demonstrations during the Vietnam era also contained backward elements, such as calls for negotiations, the sporting of American flags, and pious avowals of patriotism. Nevertheless, revolutionary socialists recognized the historic value of the antiwar movement and participated energetically. Your article suggests that the current situation is not analogous; if this is your belief, please explain why.

Chuck Cairns
New Hyde Park, New York  
 
 
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