ALLIANCE  33: June 1999
DEMARCATION LINE:
THE KOSOVA CRISIS 

    TABLE CONTENTS ALLIANCE 33    Recently a tremendous sorting out has taken place, between those who simply call themselves Marxist-Leninist and those who are Marxist-Leninists. This concerns the stands taken by a number of organizations upon the imperialist machinations in the Balkans currently.
    The position of Alliance Marxist Leninist, on the break up of the revisionist state of Yugoslavia has been made totally clear.    These positions are to be found on the web page for Alliance, and are incorporated in a statement issued by many organisations of the "International Struggle Marxist-Leninist" grouping. See: http://www22.brinkster.com/harikumar/ISML/ISMLOnNATO99.htm     These articles – in toto and often by themselves – show that the Kosovan peoples were suppressed under Tito and were even further suppressed under Milosovic; and that a war of national liberation was not only inevitable – but that it should be supported by Marxist-Leninist.
    Many histories of the Kosova crisis-situation are available, that clearly delineates a long pre-history. Even though many sources who claim either to be Marxist-Leninist; or who pose as Liberal deny the existence of this pre-history – it certainly exists.
    THIS PRE-HISTORY BOILS DOWN TO CERTAIN KEY FACTS:     Since these above articles were written, a major war has taken place. This war has made the situation for the Kosovars even worse than it was. "The Economist"; ran an editorial titled "Making the best of a bungled war": "So far, the West's war against Serbia has been a shambles. The humanitarian catastrophe it was designed to avert has merely been intensified. Nearly a million people, over half of Kosovo's population, have been driven from their homes; thousands are missing, perhaps dead, Serbia's military machine looks defiantly intact; barely a score of its 1,300-odd tanks have been destroyed. Dazzled by technology and obsessed with avoiding casualties, the allies seem to be unable to hurt, let alone destroy, Serbia's army."
May 8th; 1999; London.
    What was the war about? There is a general and widespread confusion around this war. In all the rhetoric, many Marxist-Leninists have often simply provided cover for the Milosovic led Serbian fascists. In the process they objectively assisted the world imperialist powers in achieving their ends in the Balkans. Of course many people have been confused, as imperialism even when displaying naked aggression as in the Balkans, uses many camouflages hiding its real intent.
    Thus the dilemma of the world’s bourgeois liberals lies in weighing the appalling records and actions of Milosovic against the patently disgusting NATO bombing. This divides them into pro and anti NATO camps. But, Marxist-Leninists do not expect that liberals could see that the Milosovic regime has been itself an instrument of the war games of the USA. Such an example is provided by the "Democratic Socialists of America" (DSA); whose Steering Committee call issued on the April 21 1999, simply notes that: "There can be little doubt that Serbian nationalism and a series of orchestrated "crises" by the Milosevic government are primarily responsible for the present tragedy."
    But the DSA can only call for:
"The withdrawal of all Serbian military and paramilitary forces from Kosovo and the subsequent disarmament of the KLA." And "The introduction of an international force including significant non-NATO elements in Kosovo to protect all residents of Kosovo and ensure the autonomy of a democratically elected provincial government;" and "The return of all refugees to Kosovo."; and the DSA sees that: "The situation in Kosovo demonstrates the need for a truly international peacekeeping force, under United Nations auspices". http://www.dsausa.org/news/kosovo.html
    The dilemma of the various Trotskyite groupings is very similar. Reflecting their Troskyite viewpoint of "Socialism Now!" – most of the world’s Trotskyites do not support the KLA. The most active including the SWP and the Workers World have actively condemned the Kosovars. There are some exceptions, such as the "Green-Left" section in Australia. Consistent with their tentative breaking away from main stream Trotskyism – they endorse the validity of the KLA liberation struggle. Their move away from Trotskyism should be supported by non-sectarian Marxist-Leninists. The Green Left section in Brisbane (glbrisbane@peg.apc.org) issued this call on 27 April :     Finally there are those that call themselves Marxist-Leninist. Marxist-Leninists claim to be scientific Marxists, whose actions are based on concrete analysis of events. We charge that many calling themselves "Marxist-Leninist" have failed to fulfill this claim. Most self-labeled Marxist-Leninist groupings that we are aware of have indeed called for the immediate cessation of bombing of both Serbia and Kosova. But most refuse to support the KLA – and condemn actively those who do. This article aims to examine the reasons offered by which they justify NOT extending support to the Kosova Liberation Army.
    We will here argue that the current Kosova crisis and war – is yet another manifestation of the USA imperialist maneuvers in the Balkans. Further that this crisis is an extension of the Dayton strategy of imperialism. Finally that NOT supporting the KLA is anti-Marxist-Leninist, and in the long run pointless. Just as the war has perplexed and divided the liberals, the Trotskyites – it has also not led to clear "fault-lines" in the Marxist-Leninist left. Thus although the main pro-Maoist groupings such as the Brussels formation of the PTB do not even mention the Kosovar nation let alone support it – not all Maoists have fallen into this line. Thus the Workers Party New Zealand offer a very principled line, to be found at <http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/wpnz/kosovo%20serbia%20nato.htm>.

    The USA NATO-led bombing is a logical extension of the imperialist aims at the Dayton Agreement, which is aimed at a division of the Balkans allowing the USA a permanent foot-hold on the ground of the Balkans. It is for that reason that the war was fostered and deliberately provoked by the USA imperialists. It is for that reason that the KLA was never clearly armed and supported by USA imperialism. It is for that reason that the KLA must clearly distinguish its own goals – national liberation for Kosova and the rights of self-determination.

    For  a brief outline of the chronology of recent events in the Kosova crisis-Go To Part One of Alliance 26 cited above; at:
http://www.allianceML.com/Albania/ALLIANCE26_albanianpyramids.html



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