[Marxism] Kosova and the right of nations to self-determination | Links

[Louis Proyect]

At 03:40 AM 3/2/2008, you wrote:
>This article will tackle the general question of the right to national
>self-determination, and why Kosova's situation fully accords with this
>right long supported by the revolutionary left. While much more will be
>said of the role of imperialism and other factors in the following parts
>­ including imperialism's role precisely in /limiting/ Kosovar
>self-determination ­ understanding this aspect is primary to developing
>an overall position.
>
>Full article at : http://links.org.au/node/296

This article is useful because it shows how the DSP's position has 
more in common with Woodrow Wilson than Lenin:

Karadjis:
"But while many leftists accept this right in theory, some claim it 
is limited to struggles by oppressed peoples against imperialism, or 
at least that it depends on whether a particular struggle for 
national self-determination strengthens or weakens imperialist interests.

"But this wasn't how Lenin viewed it at all. When he supported 
Norway's independence from Sweden it had no connection to either 
alleged condition."

But the USSR frequently put the needs of the socialist state in its 
infancy over various claims for self-determination as Trotsky 
reminded the Shachtman-Burnham faction in 1939. The faction reflected 
middle-class opinion at the time over the outrage of Stalin and 
Hitler dividing up territory during their short-lived pact of the 
same sort that was deployed on behalf of Bosnia and Kosovo.

Trotsky cut through the moralistic bullshit: "But there is 
maneuvering and maneuvering. At Brest-Litovsk the Soviet government 
sacrificed the national independence of the Ukraine in order to 
salvage the workers' state."

Get it? Sacrificed the national independence...

Trotsky continues:

"The Soviet Republic in 1921 FORCEFULLY sovietized Georgia which 
constituted an open gateway for imperialist assault in the Caucasus. 
 From the standpoint of the principles of national 
self-determination, a good deal might have been said in objection to 
such sovietization. From the standpoint of extending the arena of the 
socialist revolution, military intervention in a peasant country was 
more than a dubious act. From the standpoint of the self-defense of 
the workers' state surrounded by enemies, forceful sovietization was 
justified: THE SAFEGUARDING OF THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTION COMES BEFORE 
FORMAL DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES."

Full: http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/idom/dm/04-again.htm

On December 2, 1920 the USSR signed two treaties with Turkey. The 
first recognized Armenia as a socialist republic while the second 
treaty constituted a complete surrender to Turkish territorial 
demands, effectively turning Armenia into a rump republic. According 
to E.H. Carr, "the elimination of an independent Azerbaijan and an 
independent Armenia was a common interest of Soviet Russia and of 
Turkey, and paved the way to the much desired agreement between 
them." ("The Bolshevik Revolution 1917-1923", V. 3, p. 298) So, 
evidently, if self-determination was a "principle", it was one not 
applied universally. In other words, it was *not* a principle. The 
only principle for Lenin and Trotsky was SOCIALISM, not the right to SECEDE.