Speech of the 1 May 1993 , by Ludo Martens, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Belgium
Today, the former inmates of the gulag rule Russia
Germany and local nationalism spill blood in Yougoslavia
Tito had broken away from socialism
The land as private property
'Self-management'
Trotskyism
Bourgeois sub-nationalism
Economic liberalism
Croatia and Slovenia: exploited?
Great Germany sets fire to the Balkans
Germany makes Yugoslavia explode
Yugoslavia, victim of the great powers intervention
Germany: 'A moral duty to intervene in the Balkans'
The aggressive NATO-alliance is spreading its wings
NATO - An aggressive pact
A Crisis that is impossible to solve under capitalism
No end to the tunnel
This internationalization of the markets that is killing us
The white 'invaders'
Fortunately there are still genuine communists!
You all know the Gulags, those prison-camps in Siberia during the days of Stalin. All of
you have learned that these camps were hell on earth. Today, luck has changed sides; the
seniors of the very same prison camps are in power now. Everyone in Belgium was happy
about that, except the PTB (Belgium Labor Party).
You can tell the tree from its fruits. The actions of those who are in power now give us a
precise idea about who were the victims of 'Stalinist terror.'
In 1992, in the Baltic States, the GNP fell by 25 to 30%; in Armenia, by 40%, in
Azerbaïdjan and in Georgia by 30%, in Ukraine by 16% and in Russia by 20%. In that
country, the decrease of the GNP was 32,5% in 1991 and 1992.
In 1992, they have caused an inflation of 1,050% in Estonia, of 1200% in Lithuania, of
1350% in Azerbaïdjan, of 1450% in Russia and of 1600% in Ukraine(1). And the movement
accelerates itself: in Russia, inflation increased by 5,569% in february, counted on an
annual basis (2).
So, the victims of the Gulag have organised the destruction of production, they stole the
savings of the workers and their salaries through hyperinflation. Who benefited from this
looting?
Two thirds of the 24 billion$ of aid promised in 1992 to Russia are fictitious, according
to the American economist Jeffrey Sachs. 'Those were loans given to western corporations,
mostly cereals exporters. It only increases the foreign debt-85 billion $.'(3)
The destruction of the national production benefited western exporters and the Russian
maffia. Alexandre Routskoï, the vice-president of Elstin and his personal ennemy,
declares: 'Criminal commercial networks are making thousands of million rubles. This
maffia controls about 45% of the GNP'. The maffia organises the capital flight. 'According
to Western experts, capital flight runs over 8 billion $, which is more than the Western
aid given to Russia last year'(4).
Igor, a chief of the Moscow maffia, says that the city is divided into 20 gangs and that
they take 25% of the profits of all shops, hotels, brothels and other trades. He declares:
'If Elstin stays, all will go well. He lets us do business.'(5)
The retired people, the workers are plunged into an unbelievable misery. 'Eight out of ten
Russians became poorer these last two years. Their average buying power is 42% of what it
was in 1990'(4). Half of the Russian population has an income below the average wage of
12$ a month. Eight million people have a monthly income of 2$.(6)
This 'mob' capitalism is the very cause of the physical destruction of hundreds of
thousands of children, of old people, of men and women. Galina Serdiuokovskaia, director
of the research institute on health care and child deseases claims 'that 12 to 15% of the
children who leave kindergarten suffer already from chronic diseases. Only 4% of Russian
children are in perfect health. Lack of food has devastating consequences'. (7)
'In Russia, many specialists say they are ready to implant organs (among others, kidneys)
like in the Third World, and this leads, via the selling of parts of the human body, to a
new kind of slavery.'(8)
You all remember that in Rumania, when the counter-revolution assassinated Ceauscescu, our
TV showed miserable children; this abuse of humanitarian feelings had to justify a
shameful murder. This was called the first minute of liberty. Even for the children.
Today, we read the following: 'Sixty Belgian francs for a thirteen year old Rumanian
girl... Child prostitution is causing tragedies at Bucharest. The causes are misery, drugs
and organised crime.'(9)
In the former Soviet Union, old nazis and tsarists are in power, those that were mainly
populating the gulag. The Cosacks were the elite troops of the Tzar, those commiting the
worst crimes. Today, cosack organisations take back the motto: 'Faithful to God, to the
Tsar, to the empire'. The cosack colonel Naumov declares 'Caucasus is ready to explode; if
a war breaks out, there will be a lot of voluntary fighters.'(10)
In Latvia, 19 monuments have been erected in commemoration of the SS. Hundreds of former
SS meet every wednesday in the War Museum in Riga; they constitute two units of the
Zemesargi militia, the Latvian army. The fascist militia Aizsargi has been reestablished.
Its motto 'Latvia to Latvians'. The inhabitants of Russian origin have lost their
citizen's rights. The Latvian president, Gorbunov, declares 'Latvia uses South Africa as a
model to solve ethnic questions.'(11)
Reactionary nationalism throws entire populations into civil wars. In Karabakh and in
Azerbaïdjan, Armenian nationalists wage a religious and racial war against the Azeris,
and they practise ethnic cleansing; 10,000 casualties have already occured. But 'the
Western allies have a link of solidarity with Christian Armenia'... (12). The civil war in
Tadjikistan, with its 5 million inhabitants, already costed the life to 25,000 people. A
Russian officer estimates that this figure should be multiplied by a factor of two or
three. Moreover,there are hundreds of thousands of refugees.(13)
All the social-democrats and the greens were very happy when what remained of socialism in
the East was liquidated. Today, the reality of capitalism in Russia, where the power is
shared by maffia, nazis and tsarists, shows us that capitalism is a inhumane, criminal and
murderous system.
[ Contents ]
During the antifascist war, the Yugoslav Communist Party gathered all the authentic communists, coming from all the parts of the country. But it showed already strong opportunist tendencies.
On August 12, 1944, when he met Tito, Churchill warned him against the
collectivization of agriculture. Tito answers: 'We have no intention to set up here such a
system'. At the same time, Tito promises his support to a possible landing of the allies
in Yugoslavia. This project aimed essentially to stop the Soviet and communist
influence.(14) The struggle between communists and opportunists in the leadership of the
party is settled in 1948. Then, 240,000 members of the party, out of 400,000, are expelled
because of their faithfulness to marxism-leninism and to the Soviet experience.(15)
Starting from a bourgeois point of view, Tito fears more the socialist Soviet Union than
the imperialist Great Britain. He rejects proletarian internationalism; the latter demands
that a communist considers global relationships of strength between capitalism and
socialism in Europe and starts from the interests of all in order to define personal
interests. As a bourgeois nationalist, Tito tries to swallow Albania and to create a
Balkanic federation under his leadership and moving away from the Soviet Union. During the
years 1946-1949, Greek partisans and communists led a bitter struggle against British
occupation. But, on July 10, 1949, Tito closes his borders to the partisans, while
allowing the pro-british Greek troops to enter and to attack the partisans in the back.
(16) On December 1, 1950, in the UN, Tito votes in favour of an embargo against China and
North Corea, thus supporting directly American aggression.(16) In 1951, the US and
Yugoslavia sign a military agreement.
Still in 1951, Tito compares the Yugoslav communists that remained faithful to
marxism-leninism to the Hitlerian fifth column: 'The attacks of the fascist aggressors
have shown that a great attention is given to a new element: the fifth column. This is a
political and military element that enters into action when the aggression is prepared.
Today, one tries to do something similar in our country, under different disguises, in
particular the cominform countries.'(17)
After the war, land was distributed to the peasants, but Tito did nothing to prepare them
to a future collectivization. Under the pressure of Soviet criticisms, he sets up some
peasant cooperatives. But already in 1951, the team of Tito says that 'the (Soviet)
kolkhozes reflect state capitalism, which, mixed with many leftovers from feudalism, is
the social system of the USSR'. Developping the ideas of Bukharin, the titists replace
planning by free market: 'Nobody, outside the cooperative, decides the norms and what must
be produced'. they organise 'the transition to a system leaving more freedom to the
objective economic laws. The socialist sector of our economy is able to triumph over
capitalist tendencies by purely economic means.'(18) Already in 1953, Tito allows to sell
and buy land and to hire agricultural workers.
[ Contents ]
In 1952, Tito introduces a system of 'self-management' in which autonomous enterprises
take independent decisions and are linked by market mechanisms; it is the abolition of
socialist planning and the restauration of the capitalist market(19). The liquidation of
central socialist planning is also linked with the emergence of bourgeois nationalist
forces in the six republics that were already demanding their 'autonomy'. Tito had to use
bourgeois nationalism to oppose the Soviet Union and its socialist experience. He created
a kind of 'Yugoslavian unity' between all the forces that were opposed to the Soviet
Union. But since all the past nationalist traditions wee mostly Serbian, Croatian,
Slovenic, etc..., it is at the level of the republics that the new bureaucratic
bourgeoisies gathered their strength.
In the beginning of the fifties, Yugoslavia still being a mostly feudal country, the
Titists attack the principle according to which the socialist state must maintain the
dictatorship of the proletariat. In 1950, the Yugoslavian revisionists launch a discussion
on 'the withering away of the state and specially of the role of the state in the
economy'. Djilas calls the Soviet state 'a monstruous capitalist state' that 'oppresses
and exploits the proletariat'. According to Djilas, Stalin wants 'to enlarge his empire of
state capitalism and, inside, to strengthen the bureaucracy'. 'The Iron Curtain, the
hegemony on Eastern Europe and an aggressive policy have become necessary to him'. Djilas
speaks of 'the misery of the working class which works for the 'superior' imperialist
interests and for the privileges of the bureaucracy'. 'The USSR is objectively today the
most reactionary great power'. Stalin is 'practising state capitalism and he is the
spiritual and political leader of the bureaucratic dictatorship'. Djilas, as a true agent
of US imperialism, repeats all the themes of anticommunist propaganda: 'We find, among the
Hitlerians, theories that, by their content as well as by the social practice that they
suppose, look completely like those of Stalin' (20). All those weapons of the American
Cold War, are wrapped by Djilas in fifty pages of pseudo-marxist talk. The Communist Party
of the Soviet Union was right to claim that the Titists were only repeating the Trotskyist
slanders: Djilas refers to Trotsky who did not carry far enough 'his criticism of the
Stalinist system'!(21)
[ Contents ]
So, from the fifties on, Yugoslavia is led by a bureaucratic bourgeoisie of
social-democratic type, linked with the US and using a pseudo-communist language in order
to mislead the masses and to influence the other socialist countries. Thus, already in the
fifties, Serbian and Croatian nationalisms develops themselves through the introduction of
'self-management', while the Titist leadership fights against it.
In 1964, the Eigth Party Congress gives up the idea of 'Yugoslavism' and the Party builds
itself from a balanced representation between the regions and the nationalities (22). An
important struggle is waged against Serbian nationalism, led by the number two of the
regime, Rankovic, fired in 1966 (23).
The 1974 Constitution, which gives a virtual independence to the different republics,
strengthens the tendency to set up, in each republic, 'national economies': basic
industries are built(24). 'The structure of the production is excessively divided.
Republics and provinces have tried to set up all possible kinds of productions and it is
significant that the industrial concentrations have been created in that environment (...)
The internal market is fragmented into regional markets' (25). The Yugoslavian bourgeoisie
is, itself, fragmented into regional bourgeoisies. ...
During the eighties, Yougoslavia became an essentially liberal country, from an economic
point of view. It starts in 1987, with a reduction of salaries under the control of the
IMF. In 1988-89, the economic legislation is radically changed: self-managment is
dismantled, enterprises are set up under the Western model, firing becomes legal. Those
reforms are decided with the support of the northern republics as well as with the support
of Belgrade. Hundreds of thousands of workers are fired; 376,000 are jobless by the end of
89, and 476,000 a year later. Private capitalism is largely dominating, in Serbia as well
as in Croatia and Slovenia. In 1991, the private sector represented 76.8% of enterprises
in Serbia-Montenegro, 80.4% in Croatia and 84.2% in Slovenia.
'The doors of Yugoslavia were wide open to foreign investors. The January 8th law is quite
clear about that: abolition of a maximal participation to the capital of a company,
possibility to export profits, but also the invested capital after dissolving the company.
Foreigners invested in all the republics of the former federation, mostly in Serbia and in
Montenegro.' (26)
In 1990, 188 foreign companies are in Serbia and in Montenegro, 77 in Slovenia, and 70 in
Croatia. Next year, they are 375 in Serbia-Montenegro. Next year, in the same republics,
the number of mixed companies goes from 547 to 1271. 42% of the positive trade balance of
Slovenia comes from its trade with underdevelopped republics.(27)
[ Contents ]
If we believe the lies spread by fascists, Slovenia and Croatia would have been exploited
by Serbia and the poorer republics. At the time of liberation, there was a big difference
of development between North and South and an effort was needed to achieve some
harmonisation. However, the efforts asked from the richer provinces were very weak: the
public sector gave between 1.56% and 1.97% of their social product to a developement fund
for bakward regions. The federal budget gave from 0.53% to 0.85% of the national income to
the social sector of the less developped regions (28). So, the total of income that was
redistributed did not surpass 2 to 3% of the social product of Slovenia and Croatia. But
this was returned through the basic products, energy and minerals, mainly produced by the
poor republics, because the prices of those were kept very low by the central government.
Since 1945, it was Slovenia and Croatia that were the beneficiaries of the Yugoslavian
system. 'Areas like Slovenia and Croatia were less damaged during the war, they had a
better trained workforce and a more diversified economy. The enterprises from these
regions were more efficient, and, with the developement of market relations, they became
richer, they could receive more funds for their economies and receive more from the
banking system. They profited from their position inside the federation and grew rapidly.'
(30)
Under the pressure of imperialism and under the direction of the new bourgeoisie born
inside the socialist structures, capitalism was restaured in the Soviet Union and in
Eastern Europe. All the reactionaries were happy about this development that was supposed
to be the beginning of a New World Order made of peace, freedom and democracy.
This New Order showed quickly its new face: by its barbaric attack against Irak, the
imperialist coalition led by the US has shown that the world order that it wants to
install will be based on neocolonial terror, on an interventionist policy and on a total
control over the formerly sovereign countries of the Third World.
But very quickly a second aspect of the New Order appeared. In the name of
'self-determination of the Germans', the Federal Republic of Germany has annexed an
independent state. Great Germany, created through this revengist move, immediately started
to conquer the territories controlled by the Third Reich. The first target was Yugoslavia.
[ Contents ]
Long before the collapse of socialism in the East, Germany had prepared this aspect of the
New European Order. Since the 70's, the Slovenic and Croatian bourgeoisie were solidly
linked to the German big business, often through Austrian surrogates. It was 'new' Germany
that bought up the Croatian and Slovenian bourgeoisie, and rejuvenated the independentist
and pro-nazi tendencies of 1940-45. Germany incited the Croatian and Slovenian
bourgeoisies, already privileged and largely autonomous, to demand a complete
independance. This would lead to welfare and abundance...
The French General Pierre Gallois noted: 'Since 1991, and probabaly before, Germany has
been providing arms for Croatia through Italy, Hungary and Tchechoslovakia: so, more than
a thousand vehicles carried light weapons but also antiaircraft and antitank equipments,
ammunitions and repairing equipment' (31). And professor Gervasi writes: 'As pointed out
by former US ambassador to Yugoslavia, W. Zimmerman: 'We discovered later that Genscher,
German foreign minister, was in dayly contact with the Croatian foreign minister. He
encouraged Croatia to leave the federation and to declare independence' (32).
The firm decision of making Yugoslavia explode has been taken in Bonn. A long term policy,
aiming to push Slovenia and Croatia towards secession has been set up by the German
bourgeoisie. If it wasn't for this strong German desire, there would not be have been a
break-up of Yugoslavia. This criminal decision shows that German dominance over the
European continent is no longer a phantom, but has become reality. Germany takes, all on
its own, strategic decisions that upset the entire European situation. All alone, Germany
has decided the record-time annexation of East Germany, against the will of Great Britain
and France. All alone, against the policy of the United States, Great Britain and France,
Germany began shattering Yugoslavia into little pieces and putting fire to the already
explosive Balkans. General Pierre Galois explains: 'London, Paris, Washington, being
opposed to the break-up of Yugoslavia, Bonn decided that Germany would do it alone.
Everybody in the West bowed to the German decision' (33).
The growing imperialism in Europe, Germany, is using the 'people's right to
self-determination'. This sibboleth is very fashionable in Belgium, among the fascists of
the Vlaams Blok, but one finds supporters among all the bourgeois parties. Who uses that
slogan, and with what purpose?
If so many people are misled by demagogic slogans, it is for a simple reason: intimidated
by anticommunist campaign, they do not any more dare to think in marxist terms. Marxism
teaches us to observe and to distinguish between the different social classes and their
contradictory interests, it shows that imperialism is the world-wide extension of
exploitation and oppression organised by the big capital. Marxism raises the question:
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie or dictatotrship of the workers, defense of capitalism or
world fight for socialism?
We observe contradictory and apparently ununderstandable phenomena. Big capital is more
and more internationalised: American, German and Japanese imperialism operate in the
entire world. But at the same time, they encourage division, balkanisation of the big
countries that they want to control. However, internationalism of the big capital and
localism of the mini-nationalities are two faces of the same reality: the dictatorship of
the big bourgeoisie. The latter organises the break-up of the countries on which they want
to impose an open dictatorship.
Great Germany, the new rising imperialism in Europe uses the 'right of peoples to
self-determination' to cut into pieces its adversaries, namely the countries opposed to
its plans of domination. Through this 'right of peoples to self-determination', Germany
claims that countries are not sovereign any more, that they do not control their internal
affairs. The most voracious imperialism may now invoque 'right of peoples to
self-determination' to excite ethnic, national or religious conflicts, support some forces
against others, interfere with their internal affairs and make countries explode, in order
to better control them.
Today, marxists and the oppressed masses use the slogan of self-determination only in the
struggle against imperialism. People must self-determine against their main ennemy,
imperialism; and in the anti-imperialist and the anticapitalist struggles, the peoples
must raise the flag of unity and solidarity. This is opposing proletarian internationalism
to the internationalism of the bourgeoisie.
[ Contents ]
Why did German imperialism want at all costs the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia? This
Yugoslavia was no longer communist, not even anti-imperialist: it was following a liberal
policy and the German mark dominated everywhere, including in Serbia.
During the First and the Second World Wars, the German bourgeoisie waged big operations in
the Balkans, in order to create a corridor from Hambourg to Bagbad. Twice, Serbia was an
obstacle. Serbia lost 25% of its population during WW1, Yugoslavia lost 1,700,000 men in
WW2. A united Yugoslavia will always have a strong anti-German core and would promote a
balkanic policy opposed to German expansionism. A capitalist Yugoslavia will tend to unite
itself with the US (as it did between 1950 and 1990) or with France (as in 1918-1940).
This is why it was German interest to make Yugoslavia explode into weak parts.
But why could Germany bring the US and France into this bloody adventure, against their
interests? For the entire big bourgeoisie, during these last 45 years, the priority was
given to the anti-communist and the anti-soviet fight. The anti-communist ideology, with a
fascist twist, was virulent under Reagan and Bush. It was fashionable to support fascist
organisations claiming to represent 'enslaved peoples behind the iron curtain'. The
'self-determination' of peoples enslaved by communism was a very popular slogan. The
break-up of the Soviet Union seemed to be the highest point of the victory in the cold
war. German imperialism could use this fervor for 'anticommunist self-determination' to
realise the break-up of Yugoslavia... and the destabilisation of all the Balkans.
To succeed in this 'right to self-determination', the Germans first have to lead these
people into blindness and ethnic and religious fundamentalism. Thanks to ideas dating from
the Middle Ages, imperialism has forced the working classes to follow the reactionary
bourgeoisie of their 'own' nation or their 'own' religion, believing that mixing with
another nation or religion, that the fusion of different languages, cultures and nations
is something ugly. The capital, that only thinks and acts on an international scale,
forces the peoples to think in terms of ideas based on local dialects or traditions.
The European Community has validated this essentially German conception of the world. On
November 21, 1990, thirty-four heads of state or of government signed the Paris Charter.
According to the latter, 'the era of confrontation and division in Europe is over',
relations will be based 'on respect and cooperation'. 'We claim that ethnic, cultural,
linguistic and religious identity will be protected and that people belonging to these
minorities have a right to express and develop this identity without any discrimination'.
'(One must) create favorable conditions to promote this identity.'
This program shows how much imperialism is an arbitrary system that invents and
manipulates 'principles'. In their own countries, imperialists squarely forbid to the
migrant workers any expression of 'ethnic, cultural or linguistic identity', since they
view it as contrary to their 'will to integrate themselves'! They deny to their
'minorities' political rights, which makes them permanent hostages.
Afterwards, the same imperialists can call on 'identities that are ethnically and
religiously endangered' to start their 'help to the weaker', using heavy military
material. In their quest for economic and strategic interests, the big powers endanger the
sovereignty of States and international agreements, stir up feelings of hatred and cause
secessions (34).
[ Contents ]
The preparation of independence of Croatia and of Slovenia and the arming of the
secessionists by Germany has been carried both openly and secretly. But the European
Community followed step by step. To make the Croatian and Slovenian secessionnists succeed
in their plans, the European Community has exercised economic and financial blackmail on
the Yugoslavian government: this exemplifies 'democracy' and 'freedom'. A leading American
newspaper writes: 'Near the end of 1991, the Twelves threatened to recognise Slovenia and
Croatia. German diplomats presented this position as a strategy to convince the central
authorities of Yugoslavia that the use of force would not benefit them.'(35) But, in the
'Documentation Française', one reads that: 'By deciding, in October 1991, to cancel the
agreement on trade and cooperation of 1980, the EC decided to strangle Serbia and
Montenegro, since their exchanges with the EC represent 60 to 70% of all their foreign
trade'. (36)
Later, threatening with the recognition of the secessions, the EC prevented the
Yugoslavian army to defend the constitution and to guarantee the national unity: that
tells a lot about the so-called 'lawful state' that the bourgeoisie pretends to erect in
the East.
Professor Gervasi writes: 'When Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence on June
25, 1991, the EC intervened again openly to encourage separatism. Three days after that
the Yugoslavian army had moved units into the republics, the EC threatened to 'cancel the
aid of one billion$, unless Yugoslavia accepts the intervention of the EC' (37)
The Slovenian and Croatian secession, caused by Germany and the European Community,
already was an act of extreme danger. But Germany only continued the aggression, that
became openly anti-Yugoslavian and anti-Serbian. Moreover, Germany and the EC kept up
their offensive by urging for the secession of both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. But
the creation of these mini-states, or more precisely fake-states without any historical or
popular legitimacy or viability could only lead to neverending civil wars in the Balkans.
It was a criminal policy.
In the name of the sacred principles of the 'right of the minorities' and the
'self-determination of the peoples', German imperialism organised and encouraged the
secession of Croatia from Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was, they said, an 'unnatural state'.
Once this fascist principle was accepted, how could one prevent the Serbs to invoque the
same principle? The Croatian Serbs have invoked the 'right of minorities' and of
'self-determination' to justify their secesion from Croatia. If the Croats have the right
to secede from Yugoslavia, why couldnt the Serbs quit Croatia? This creates a permanent
situation of war.
The imperialist European maffia led by Germany declared that 19.6% of Croats had the right
to separate themselves from Yugoslavia, under the pretext that 36.2% of Serbs were playing
the central role in Yugoslavia. This same maffia organised the 'independence' of
Bosnia-Herzegovinia' and they want to maintain its 'sovereingty'. Now, they judge as
'criminal' that 31.4% of Serbs want to separate themselves from a Bosnia where 43.7% of
Muslims play a leading role. Where is the logic? Neither the Serbs in Bosnia, nor the
Croatians in Bosnia wanted to live inside a Bosnian 'state' with a majority of muslims.
And here is a second cause of civil war.
German imperialism has destroyed a state which was perfectly viable, independent and
sovereign since 45 years, the GDR, in the name of the principle of 'self-determination of
the Germans'. All the Serbs live since 1918 in a state, Yugoslavia. Germany destroys the
borders of Yugoslavia. Exactly like the Germans, the Serbian bourgeois nationalists demand
now 'self-determination for the Serbs' and they want to create a single state for the
Serbs.
German imperialism has preached the unity of the Germans in a single state and he
organised Croatian separatism. In the name of which principle will the EC forbid to the
bourgeois Albanian nationalists to secede from Serbia and Macedonia and to extend the war
to the Balkans. French General Pierre Gallois says rightfully: 'It is the policy of Bonn
that is responsible for igniting the Balkans, for the thousands of dead and 2.5 million
refugees who are looking for asylum'(38).
[ Contents ]
Croatia has been created as an act of revenge by those forces that had lost WW2: Great
Germany and the Croatian right. The latter is nationalist with strong fascist trends. It
supports ethnic cleansing under the motto' The Croatians masters in Croatia'. 'New'
Croatia is constructed on a policy of discrimination against the 12.2% of Serbs who have
been living there for ages. According to the constitution, Croatia is a state for
'Croatians'. All the state employees of Serbian origin have been fired, unless they sign
an oath of faithfulness. (39) Ivan-Zvinimir, a former right-wing dissident, claims that
there remains 70,000 Serbs on the Craotian territory controlled by Zagreb. 'More than a
thousand houses belonging to Serbs have been blown up since the end of the war. Almost
nobody was arrested for these actions. The goal is to intimidate the Serbs so that they
leave. Ethnic cleansing...'(40).
In former Yugoslavia, Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian and 'Muslim' nationalism are equally
reactionary, opposed to the unity of the workers and socialism. Behind Croatia, one finds
Great Germany.
In the memory of all Serbs, the horrors of the Croatian fascist state are still alive.
Hundreds of thousands of Serbs were converted by force to catholicism; two hundred
thousands who refused were slaughtered in the camp of Jasenovac.
The Serbs are convinced that, for the time being, fascism is not open in Croatia, but only
because the entire West works for the new Oustachis by attacking the Serbs. The Croatian
fascists save their forces for the day when the Serbs of Coatia will be seriously
weakened. Meanwhile, the rehabilitation of the fascist state of Ante Pavelic is
generalised.
The Croatian flag represents the former Croatian kingdom that Ante Pavelic had chosen on
his fascist flag.(41) Zagreb wants to name 'a street after Mile Budak, a Croatian
politician guilty of war crimes and executed by the communists in 1945. The Jewish
community of Zagreb holds him responsible for the violent death of 31,000 Jews' (42)
The Vatican has started a secret process aiming at the beatification of cardinal Stepinac
(43). Stepinac, member of the Oustachi parlement, promoter of the forced conversions
played a crucial role in the fascist regime. He was condemned, as a war criminal, to
sixteen years of jail.(44)
All the European neo-nazis, in particular the German ones, have set up cooperation links
with the Croatian state. The monthly 'Raids' published in february 1992 an article on
'foreign volunteers', about a hundred extreme-right wing people, from Europe and the US,
who fight in Croatia, most of them in the paramilitary fascist troops of Paraga. They were
recruited through ads like the following one, published in the Italian newspaper
Portaportese, asking for volunteers for 'endangered Croatia, victim of the brutal assault
of the Serrbs and the Yugoslavian communists.'(45)
In January 1992, the neo-nazi journal 'l'Assaut' published an article where one could
read: 'Many Croatians are clearly on the side of White Europe and of a new nationalist
order on this continent..It is time to suport their fight for freedom'. The text was
referring to the nazi leader Ante Pavelic and to the Croatian Party of Law of the fascist
Paraga (46).
Since the Western press never stops denouncing the Serbian aggressor, Croatia can keep on
strengthening itselves with the help of Germany. In 1990-91, Christian militia in Lebanon,
of fascist tendency, gave tons of ammunition and thousands of weapons to the Slovenian and
Croatian armies, through South Africa and Germany (47). Karl-Heinz Schultz, arm dealer,
admits 'to have satisfied concrete requests of weapons, from the Croatian side, through
the German intelligence services of the BND' (48). 'The Croatian army is obviously
stronger than fifteen months ago. The equipment includes tanks, heavy artilery and even a
few Mig 21's, coming from the former GDR' (49).
In Bosnia, the Croatian fascists have the same objectives as the Serbs. They want to
create 'Big Croatia' at the expense of Bosnia. Like the Serbs, the Croatians are also
widening their 'ethnic territory' by taking it from the Muslims.
A German newspaper wrote: 'Zagreb may try to set up soon a Great Croatia without hurting
its image, which is the secret dream of president Tudjman, and which openly claimed by the
right wing extremist Dobroslav Paraga. This Great Croatia covers the Croatian territory
itself and the three provinces of Bosnia claimed by the Croats.'(50) The rotten press
focuses the attention of the people on the Serbian attacks against the Muslims, although
the Croats are enlarging their 'ethnic territory' at the expense of the Muslims. The war
between Croatians and Muslims is raging around several mixed cities, Vitez, Travnik,
Zenica and Busovaca
- proof of the criminal logic of 'ethnic territories'. A British officer saw Croatian
forces throw grenades inside the homes of Muslims and wait for the inhabitants to come
out, to shoot them. In six days, in mid-april, 'ferocious fights between Croats and
Muslims' in central Bosnia caused 250 deaths.(51) On 14 april 1993, Croatian forces
wearing zwastikas on their helmets attacked a UN convoy. The Times wrote: 'the Security
Council does not put forward the same demands or the same threats as it does when the
Serbs do the same things.'(52)
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In the name of 'self-determination', the Croatian Serbs want secession and their
integration in a Great Serbian state. In the name of Croatian nationalism, Croats claim
that they will wage war until all Croatian territories are again under their control.
Tudjman says: 'We want to liberate our territory from ennemies'. 'The occupied territories
in Croatia have never been Serb'. 'In any case, Croatia will take steps to protect its
territory in its entirety' (53). Domljan, a collaborator of Tudjman, claims: 'If the West
does not intervene militarily or does not do so that Croatia can administer all its
territory, we'll fight until we recover the last centimeter of it. My people is opposed to
the Yugoslavian state since its creation in 1918' (54). this is the program of an endless
war between Croats and Serbs.
But the nationalism-fascism in Croatia is also directed against the Muslims. During a
press conference, Tudjman rings the bell against the 'danger of Muslim fundamentalism'
(55) A leading German newspaper writes: 'Croatia tends to become more and more an
'ethnically pure' state. The way Muslims refugees from Bosnia are treated leads one to
think that the 'purification' is done with the consent of the government' (56)
The Croatian nationalism-fascism gathers its strength for future struggles against Serbs
and Muslims, using the fact that all the West holds the Great-Serbian policy alone
responsible for today's conflicts.
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Serbs are right in denouncing Great Germany as the new superpower of Eastern and
South-East Europe, which is following a policy of revenge of which the blow-up of
Yugoslavia are the first signs. But they had two opposite possibilities: the one of unity
and socialism in the Balkans, or the one of Serbian reactionary nationalism. Only the
struggle for the reestablishment of the dictatorship of the workers could destroy the
economic basis of those new bourgeoisies that produce the nationalism-fascism. Only
socialism can follow a policy of equality and internationalism between different nations,
regions and religions. But in Serbia also, the restauration of the bourgeoisie was
complete and the marxist-leninist forces rather weak. To fight German expansionism, the
Serbian leaders have preferred reactionary nationalism which had already been victorious
during WW1, at the time of the alliance with the Russian tsar...
In 1987-89, while the full effect of the bourgeois restauration was felt in Yugoslavia,
important workers struggles started. To destroy the possibility of a class struggle for
socialism, Milosevic chose consciously a tchetnik type of nationalism, that is, a
semi-fascist one. 'The wage freeze caused, in May 1987, an enormous movement of strikes in
the Croatian industrial centers. Quickly, it spread through the country, forcing the
Milosevic government to step bakwards and to use the threat of violence to restaure order.
This confrontation between government and workers continued: 1,623 strikes, 365,000
strikers in 1987 (174 strikes, 11,000 strikers in 1982) and 1,360 strikes during the first
nine months of 1988. It is the necessity to stop this movement that led the bureaucrats of
the periphery to use nationalism'(57)
Dobrica Cosic, President of the new Federation of Serbia-Montenegro, and former dissident
explained in January 1991 the lign of reactionary Serbian nationalism: 'the Serbs have no
reason, no national or democratic right to prevent the Croats and the Slovenians from
creating their proper autonomous states. But, they can only do so if they stay inside
their ethnic territory. If they annex Serbian ethnic territory, they will be invaders and
warmongers. The Serbian people has today all the reasons, all the historical national and
democratic rights to live in a single state. Will it be federal and democratic Yugoslavia?
It is to the peoples who want to live in such a Yugoslavia to decide. If the other peoples
do not want such a Yugoslavia, the Serbian people will be forced to live free in its own
state, and to settle that vital question after two centuries of struggle'(58).
One must notice that this declaration contains two elements that are found in the fascist
ideology of the Vlaams Blok: the theory of the 'ethnic territory' (on which another
'ethnic group' or language is considered like dirt) and the creation of states based on
nationality.
The similarity between the statements of the Vlaams Blok and of Karadzic, the leader of
the Serbs of Bosnia is striking: 'We want the right of self-determination for the Serbian
people of Bosnia. It is the right of all peoples, and we'll use it when the time will be
right, but the international community wants to create a new nation based on a mixture of
Serbians, Croatians and Muslims. (59)
Starting from this reactionary nationalist conception, the Serbian leaders use the
Oustachi crimes of WW2 to lead the fight against all Croats. In the same way they warn of
the danger of a Muslim invasion in Christian Europe. The newspaper Politika Ekspress,
published in Belgrade, claims that Germany 'promised to pay 10 billion marks so that most
Muslims living in Germany could resettle in Bosnia' (60).
Having chosen a nationalist reactionary orientation, Milosevic sees openly fascist
tendencies develop themselves among the Serbs. In December 1992, the radical party of
Vojslav Seselj, fascist like, obtained one million votes and 30% of the seats in the
Serbian parliament. As a former leader of the Communist Youth in Bosnia, he was condemned,
as an opponent, to 7 years of jail during the 80's. In the parlement, he declared: 'We
have to expel all Croatian and Slovenian population from Serbia.'(61)
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The Muslim of Bosnia were accused by Tudjman to have tried to save the Yugoslavian unity.
Indeed, it was in Unified Yugoslavia that the Islamic minority had found recognition and
equality.
But the explosion of ethnic and religious hatred caused the expansion of a reactionary
conception of Islam. Izetbegovic is moving towards the conception of a religious state:
'The Islamic order is defined by the unity of the faith and the law, of the spiritual
community and the state.' He is supported by the US and by the pro-American compradore
bourgeoisie from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Pakistan. He wishes the 'creation of a large
Islamic federation, from Morocco to Indonesia.'(62)
To maintain the fiction of a Bosniac state, Izetbegovic has created Muslim milicias and
seeks military support from the Islamic countries. 'The minister of Foreign Affairs (of
Bosnia), Mr Haris Siladzich declared on August 10 to the United Arab Emirate dayly 'Al
Khaleef': 'There is no political solution. The liberation of our country will only be
achieved through weapons.'(63)
The absurd civil war between 'ethnic groups' and 'religions' gives rise, on all sides, to
semi-fascist milicias. 'The commnander-in-second of the Bosniac army, Jovan Divjak,
admitted in an interview to 'Die Zeit' that one of the major problems of Sarajevo was the
presence of armed gangs inside and around the city. Divjak nevertheless added that 'It is
thanks to those criminal gangs that the city could be defended during the first weeks of
the siege.'(64)
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The Muslim forces have set up several murderous provocations to attract the pity of the
Islamic world. 'UN officials and Western officers believe that some of the worse massacre
in Sarajevo, including the massacre of 16 people waiting in line in front of a bakery, was
commited by the defenders of the city, mostly Muslims, and not by the Serbian aggressors.
A propaganda trick to get the sympathy of the world and to provoke a military
intervention.' Television showed cruel images of people ripped open by bombs. This
provocation on behalf of the Muslims was done just before a meeting of the European
Community that had to decide about sanctions against Serbia.(65) 'The Italian plane that
was carrying blankets towards Sarajevo, was destroyed, according to all credible evidence,
by Bosniac forces. The regular UN convoy from Belgrade to Sarajevo was attacked too, last
week, by Bosniac forces, according to UN sources'(66).
In Croatia, Serbia and among the Muslims, nationalist milicia fight for capitalism and
according to a reactionary nationalist orientation. Criminals and out-laws lead these
militia. These militia get their money by means of stealing and expropriating, and become
the 'owners', the rulers of the new capitalist society... The nationalist ideology is used
as a pretext for criminal activities and for maffia-like activities.
'Among the general misery, one starts to distinguish those who have accumulated capital
during the first year of the war. From now on, they invest their money legally, or they
provide badly needed goods. If they are not part of the self-proclaimed local powers, they
are not far from them. In fact, it is thanks to their money that those authorities can
function' (67).
Workers' Party of Belgium (WPB)
171 Boulevard Lemonnier
B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: + 32 2 513 77 60
Fax: + 32 2 513 98 31
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