First Published: People’s Tribune, Vol. 5, No. 6, July 1973.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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Leonid Brezhnev, arch traitor to the Soviet Union, renegade from the world Communist movement, had his moments of glory. On June 24, 1973 he spoke to the various classes and peoples of the USNA on television.
Just as Nixon, admittedly, would not dare to say to the peoples of the USNA the things he said to the Soviet people during his visit to the USSR, Brezhnev would not dare say to the Soviet peoples the things he said here. We cannot go deeply into the history of betrayal by the Khruschev-Brezhnev gang, but we can refute a few of the lies and restate the reasons for those lies.
First of all, Brezhnev mentioned the “cold war” as if that were some political policy of madmen of the past. The cold war was the continuation of USNA imperialist politics that has ruled the foreign policy of this country since the late l800’s. The “cold war” was not simply a policy; it was the logical and inevitable extension of imperialist economics. The need of such economics was to block the rise of the working class in Europe after the defeat of Germany in World War II. If Brezhnev and any of his gang were Leninists, they would be able to see that the present “detente” phase of USNA imperialism is simply the opposite side of the “cold war.” The goals are the same: first, the containment, and now the roll back of Communism in Europe, including the USSR.
Later, Brezhnev said, “We jointly won the war; today our joint efforts must help mankind with a durable peace.” We would like to remind this renegade of a few facts of history. First of all, the average G.I. did indeed feel united with the Red Army. The affection of the average G.I. for “Uncle Joe” Stalin and the Red Army was enough to stop the carefully laid plans of the military and political leaders who intended to attack the extended Red Army with combined German, English, French and American troops. But do not be misled. It is the military, industrial, and political leaders that Brezhnev is praising, not the G.I. who upset their plans with the “bring the boys home” campaign. We would like to remind Brezhnev that the former president of the USNA, Truman, as a leading senator, outlined his policy as regards the war between the fascists and the peoples of the Soviet Union. Truman said. “We should help .. . whoever is losing so as to let them bleed each other white.” As for who won the war – General MacArthur, an admitted arch reactionary, was forced to say, “The banner of civilization rests on the worthy shoulders of the Red Army.” Surely no one would equate the 342 divisions of the most savage fascist troops that Hitler could muster to hurl against the USSR with the 12 divisions that were used against the Americans in Europe. No one can deny that the Soviet Union lost more soldiers in any of a dozen battles than the USNA lost during the entire war. No, Mr. Brezhnev, the war was won by the 20,000,000 Soviet civilians, partisans, and uniformed fighting men who laid down their lives in the defense of the Soviet Union.
Brezhnev further stated, “The improvement of Soviet-American relations undoubtedly played its useful role in promoting the termination of the long drawn out war in Vietnam.” This farce of the USSR leaders pretending that the war in Vietnam is over is simply a further sell-out of the anti-imperialist struggle. That war is far from over and cannot end until the correct slogan of the patriotic forces of Vietnam has become a reality. That slogan, “Defend the North, liberate the South and unite the motherland,” is not idle political jargon, but a recognition of the basic and only possible context for ending the war.
Lenin long ago proved and history has confirmed that imperialism and the imperialist wars that attend it are not the policy of this or that financier, but the inevitable outgrowth of capitalism. Yes, the revisionist clique in the USSR leadership did play a role in extracting USNA imperialism from its historic defeat in Vietnam, That role was played over a long period of time, a period that saw the Vietnamese fighting forces becoming more and more dependent on Soviet supplies for conventional warfare – and hence, more and more dependent upon Soviet policy. That policy cannot help but be a policy of capitulation and surrender of the interests of the working class.
Brezhnev’s reference to Nixon as a man seeking peace is too much to bear. The truth is that Nixon is a thief: he stole over one million dollars from the Republican Party campaign fund to buy his estate in San Clemente. He is an extortionist as in demanding $100,000 from American Airlines as a campaign contribution, in direct opposition to the election law. He is a conspirator as in the Watergate scandal. Above all he is a murderer and warmaker. How can Brezhnev call this butcher a peaceful man? Ask the residents of Hanoi. Ask the crucified peoples of Angola and Mozambique. Ask those who have survived the torture chambers of Brazil. They can tell you the truth. The truth is that Nixon is the imperialist chieftain of the most ruthless bloodthirsty money gouging, slave driving gang of bandits that ever swaggered on the face of the earth.
Brezhnev and his gang suffer from the same disease as Kautsky and the rest of the revisionists. They are subjectivists – they declare that imperialism is a policy, and as a policy, it can be changed. This is why Brezhnev’s ugly stepchild, the CPUSA, declared, “Summit Charts Path to Firm World Peace.” What kind of peace? Peace between slaves and masters? Peace between colonies and imperialists? It is obvious what Brezhnev, Nixon and the CPUSA are all saying. “This is the best of all possible worlds, so let’s unite to preserve it.” However, class struggle – including imperialist wars are an objective law of history and it will be the people who will chart a course toward peace by uniting to overthrow the imperialists, the revisionists and the rest of the pygmies who attempt to stand in the way of the masses who are marching toward Socialism.