According to the Red Papers:
Imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism. But the word ’imperialism’ is associated in the popular consciousness primarily with the oppression by the monopolist ruled country of other external nations and/ or peoples. In addition, in our case, the word ’imperialism’ tends to be understood as describing the oppression internally of the Black and brown peoples...
The slogan ’United Front Against Imperialism’ has the merit that, because of the popular consciousness of the word ’imperialism’, it focuses attention on that important aspect of the United Front that requires support to the revolutionary national liberation movements of the oppressed nations external to the United States and of the internal colonies. Furthermore, it expresses opposition to the ruling class policies of aggression, war budgets and militarism.[1]
Is this a merit? We don’t think so. The unfortunate fact is that the word ’imperialism’ is somewhat remote to the U.S. working people, and, true enough, external. The precise thing that has changed between the 60’s and the 70’s is that in the 70’s the white working people are coming under heavy attack and are beginning to wake up – or have the potential of waking up. It is ridiculous to think that white working people will rally to the movement in the same ways as the students and the third world people of the 60’s. It is absolutely necessary to take as our starting point, in approaching white working people, their immediate interests, and build up from there, showing how their interests are the same as those of third world people at home and abroad. Given the objective conditions of life of white working people, given the racist and reactionary propaganda they have been subjected to all their lives, this is a very difficult task – yet at the same time, the most important task facing the left today.
The chief thing wrong with the u.f.a.i. slogan is that it does not take this into account, that it appeals to white working people in a purely liberal way, calling on white working people to support third world struggles without explaining concretely the identity of interests between white working people and third world people in this country.[2] In this sense, it repeats, but in a much more sophisticated form, the mistake of the Vietcong flag wavers – it does not appeal to the U.S. working class in terms of its own interests, or in terms that it can begin to understand.
[1] RED PAPERS 2
[2] The u.f.a.i. strategy explains the identity of interests by pointing to a common enemy. But to concretely explain the identity of interests means to deal with all the common illusions to the contrary.