From: "Dave Coull" <d.y.coull-AT-dundee.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 15:07:28 GMT
Subject: Re: anarchism and the international system


Roger wrote

>when asked about historical examples of state military action 
>that, from at least a superficial perspective, actually improved 
>the situation locally (such as the vietnamese invasion of cambodia 
>or the allied liberation of the concentration camps in wwII) 
>Dave has, i believe, not responded. 

I admit that those are difficult ones. I would argue that
it was capitalism (not just German capitalism, but including 
British capitalism etc.) that was responsible for the rise
of the Nazis, but that rise was not inevitable, it could
have been stopped long before we reached the stage 
of concentration camps or WW2. Had Franco been 
defeated in Spain, had a Spanish libertarian socialist 
revolution been spread to other countries, this would
undoubtedly have found an echo in Germany. The Nazis
regime was shaky, and I say it could have been shook. 
But yes, once things had reached that later stage, 
the allied action had some good effects such 
as the "liberation" of the concentration camps. 

I don't want to spend too much time arguing about
this. I could write a thesis, or a whole book, on 
the subject, but I have more pressing things 
to do. So I will just acknowledge that Roger
has given some difficult examples, but I personally
don't think they invalidate the principle "no war 
but the class war". 

In any case, even if we accept that just occasionally 
a state's warlike actions might have some good
effects, that still isn't any kind of justification
for what NATO is doing in the Balkans. 
Even if we accept that it might theoretically
be possible for a state's actions to be positive, 
the actual actions of NATO appear to be having
entirely negative effects.


Dave