An Assessment of 11th September Action By Cmde M; Written 18 September 2001.
Published by Alliance on 10 October, 2001.

    Nowadays all concerned and politically sensitive people are talking about the suicide action of 11th September and making statements and assessments over this event and its ramifications. As expected, during the last couple of days, following the action, dozens of assessments, analyses and statements have been made and published by progressive people and organizations regarding this historic event. Almost all of these people and organizations have said more or less the following after offering their condolences to the American people: " "American people should understand the fact that this terrible event is the product of aggressive policies of US government. On the other hand, this act of individual terror will strengthen the hand of the most aggressive and reactionary section of the imperialist bourgeoisie and undermine the struggle of progressive forces against capitalism and imperialism."     Some express opinions somewhat to the right and some to the left of this almost standard position. Here I want to summarize my assessment of the significance of the suicide action of 11th September 2001, which will be departing to a great extent from the position of the majority.

    I'm not against offering condolences to the American people and especially to those who have lost their loved ones, as long as this is done in a correct spirit and is accompanied with the exposure of the crimes of US imperialism and criticism and censure of American people. (It definitely is not our job to condemn this action. Under the present circumstances, this would place us in the same ranks with the apologists of the bourgeoisie and enemies of revolution.) Yes, American people should be criticized and censured for their silence and indifference in the face of the crimes committed against the peoples of the world by US imperialism and what is more for their passive and at times active participation in the perpetration of these crimes. Therefore, railings against the indefensibility of individual terrorism from a consistent democratic and M-L viewpoint are, definitely not relevant in this special case. Here, we are not face to face with a classical case of individual terror unrelated to the mood and psyche of the masses. On the contrary, the action of 11th September is in consonance with the mood of increasingly impoverished and disillusioned masses and especially with the mood of Arab masses, who are filled with growing hatred against Israeli Zionists, their American supporters and their own pro-American ruling elites.

    We cannot, under any circumstances condone the killing of innocent civilians and we feel genuine sorrow for their death and sufferings. The responsibility for their death and sufferings, however, belongs mainly to US imperialism itself. There is one further point: The disproportion between the level of white terror unleashed by US imperialism over the last 100 years against workers and peoples of the world, including American workers and people and the level of terror American state and civilians have been subjected to, is too great to overlook. The two, simply, are not comparable in any sense. US imperialism is directly or indirectly responsible for the massacre of literally tens of millions of people all around the globe. There is no doubt that, Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect of the 11th September event, is neither a democrat, nor an anti-imperialist, but a reactionary. This, however, has not prevented this act of suicide from playing an objectively revolutionary role in the sense that, it has destroyed the myth of invincibility of US imperialism. Of course, we cannot under any circumstances be under the illusion that, a series of such actions shall further shake US imperialism and hasten its downfall. That will never be the case. It is now up to workers and peoples of the world, including those of the US, to intensify the struggle against capitalist-imperialist world system headed by the bandits in Washington.
 
    So, it is fair to say that almost all these above mentioned progressive or so-called progressive people and organizations have missed the main thing in this event; they have failed to see and grasp its real impact and significance. To repeat, the main thing about this action and its real impact and significance is the extremely heavy blow it has dealt at the prestige, arrogance and sense of superiority of US imperialism. This action has refreshed the collective memory of the peoples of the world, who have been systematically induced to forget the glorious lessons of Vietnam and has concretely showed the working people all over the world that US imperialism is "a colossus with feet of clay" (Lenin). All along, one of the primary concerns of the bourgeois ideologists has been to strive to convince workers and toilers of the invincibility of imperialism and of the "futility" of resistance against and efforts to overthrow it. In fact, this effort itself, is a very important and organic part of the aggression of capital i st-imperial ist system against exploited and oppressed masses and aims to curb their will to fight. These masters of humankind do not really care to portray themselves as just and benign; but they are extremely intent and insistent on portraying themselves as indefeatable and invincible.

    What is the plain fact, which has demolished this myth: A handful of people with very few resources and armed only with plastic knives and paper cutters have been able to break through all measures and defenses of the formidable apparata of US security and intelligence organizations; they have been able to hijack four airplanes, navigated these planes through American airspace and managed to directethree of them at the Pentagon and twin towers of the World Trade Center. US ruling class has vacated various major government posts, including the White House and the Capitol in panic. This in itself has been a stunning slap in the face of imperialism in general and US imperialism in particular, which not unjustly boasts with being the strongest military power the world has ever seen.

    With the help of their developed class instinct, the chiefs of US imperialists and their NATO allies have immediately perceived the real significance of this historic event. After a period of total shock, they have begun to try to repair the great amount of damage done. But the level of shock, demoralization and disbelief in imperialist headquarters brought about by the action of 11th September has been so high, that due to their own propaganda targeting Osama bin Laden, imperialist chiefs have elevated him to the level of a super hero and further contributed to the impression of their own powerlessness. The US has announced itself at war against a band of Muslim fanatics and besides sought the support of its allies and lackeys in this imperialist crusade! The invocation of the 5th article of NATO convention for the first time in the history of this aggressive military pact, has been another supreme example of this folly. If a person, called Osama and his handful of supporters were able to evade all checks and defenses and strike at the financial and military symbols of imperial power with devastating effect, one could imagine the height of revolutionary successes to be achieved by the working classes led by genuine Communist Parties. If they are the real culprits, notwithstanding their reactionary religious and anti-communist motives and ideology and their past association with the CIA etc, Osama bin Laden and his companions have shown what really committed and determined people can do. For this, we may thank them.

    There is the possibility that the event of 11th September is a provocation of US intelligence services which has got out of control and resulted in much greater destruction than intended, as Ted Grant and Alan Woods have suggested. This is the gist of their argument:
 

    That may well be so. (Indeed, Osama bin Laden's people might have been manipulated, though not very successfully by a more aggressive and more pro-Israeli section of US imperialist bourgeoisie to broaden the initiative of Israel vis-a-vis Palestinian people and to follow a more reactionary and aggressive line internal and foreign policy.) To deduct, however, from this alternative version of the train of events that, the suicide action of 11th September has strengthened, rather than weakened the position of US imperialists or the more aggressive section of this class, is totally incorrect. It is sufficient to look objectively at the concrete effects of the suicide action over the general position of Washington bandits, to be able to see the extremely heavy blow it has dealt on their arrogance and self-confidence and on the effects of this action over the exploited and oppressed masses in the dependent countries in general and the masses in Islamic countries in particular.

    Now, US imperialists are forced to react violently to this action. Their class interests and their assumed role as the top bully of the world dictates them to act in this manner and leaves them no other option. They will act like a wounded bull, attack at Afghanistan, Iraq and other places, shed the blood of tens of thousands of people all around the world and promote an even more intense atmosphere of white terror and reaction both inside the US and abroad, threaten their own allies and lackeys and in the meantime intensify their psychological war and conduct a barrage of black propaganda. But in acting in this manner, they will only aggravate the contradictions of the system, expose their strategic weakness and attract the growing hostility of the workers and peoples of the world, who cannot and will not be threatened into submission. We can be sure that all the efforts of US imperialists will come to nothing, provided that the workers and peoples of the world and especially their vanguard parties dare to stand up and fight against US imperialism: the foremost terrorist force on earth.

18 September 2001