The Croatian military offensive against Serb forces in Krajina has nothing to do with resolving the crisis in the Balkans. It foreshadows more gang warfare in the region, between the competing Stalinist leaders in Croatia and Serbia, and a wider war that will victimize working people.
Sensing disarray among Bosnian Serb forces and with the open backing of Washington and Bonn, the regime in Zagreb is flexing its military muscle with an eye toward the oil-rich region of eastern Slavonia captured by Serb forces in 1991 as the former Yugoslavia disintegrated.
Both regimes in Zagreb and Belgrade aim to grab as much territory as they are militarily strong enough to take at the expense of the majority of workers and farmers throughout what was once Yugoslavia. As their war intensifies, both mafia-like gangs trample on the rights of the Bosnian people.
None of the actions by these warring factions, nor imperialist intervention will bring peace. It will only bring more deaths, massive waves of refugees, and deeper divisions among those who until recently lived together without major conflict. Working people have no stake in the bloody strife between Tudjman's forces and those backed by Belgrade.
The imperialists in Washington and Bonn back the Tudjman regime in Croatia against its Serb rivals in an attempt to carve out influence with the forces they hope will come out on top in the conflict. They are seeking to advance their interests in the region at the expense of their capitalist rivals in France and Britain.
Washington has no concern for the welfare of the Bosnians. The U.S. government claims that Zagreb's assault on the Serbs in Krajina was "helping Bosnia, a neighbor and ally, defend itself," while they look favorably on plans to partition the republic. A Clinton administration official told the Financial Times that "partition" may be the answer, since "it is the only thing all the parties can agree on."
Working people in Bosnia have faced the most prolonged and bloodiest battles. Under relentless bombardment, they have been driven from the towns and villages they had lived in for generations. Workers and farmers in Bosnia, whether they are Muslims, or of Croatian or Serbian origin, all have been victims of "ethnic cleansing." Working people around the world should support the fight of the Bosnian people for self-determination and their right to live in peace.
The Yugoslav revolution, forged during World War II, was a social upheaval by millions. Workers and peasants of every nationality united to make the revolution, which brought an end to a period in which capitalist regimes carried out massacres of various ethnic groups. The workers and farmers of Yugoslavia succeeded in narrowing some of the regional disparities in industrial development, agricultural productivity, and living standards that existed in the country.
This is the direction working people in the Balkans need to take up again, by supporting the fight of the Bosnian people for self-determination and organizing to sweep away the parasitic gangs that led them to the horrendous situation they are in today.