From: "Karl Carlile" <dagda-AT-eircom.net>
Subject: AUT: Islamic fundamentalism
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 17:28:14 +0100


Over the last twenty or more years Islamic fundamentalism has emerged as a
considerable political force culminating in its taking power in Iran and
other
countries.

This resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism is a product of the failure of a
revolutionary communist leadership to develop. It is also a product of the
role played by the reactionary leaderships of the working class such as
Stalinism and reformism etc.

Islamic fundamentalism is a reactionary politics designed to contain the
masses. It has tended to emerge when the masses are mounting a
spontaneous offensive against imperialism as in Iran. Iran is the classical
example for understanding the role played by Islamic fundamentalism.

The masses mounted a spontaneous insurrection against the Shah who was an
imperialist  satrap. In the course of the insurrection Islamic
fundamentalism
with the help of Stalinism was able to step into the leadership of the
rising and
hijack the upsurge. It was able to do this partly because of its
belligerently
demagogic anti-imperialism. The reason it was able to do this is because the
masses had become increasingly disillusioned by Stalinism and reformism
because
of their failure to provide solutions.

They consequently saw it as constituting a form of collaboration with
imperialism by the betrayals of the masses that it had perpetrated. The
false lesson
that the masses drew from this was that there must be an abandonment of all
western ideologies and politics because they all collaborated with
imperialism
ultimately. The problem was changed from one of simple anti-imperialism to
one
of anti-westernism. Imperialism was viewed as much more expansive to include
all
things related to western society. In this way Islamic fundamentalism was
able to keep
the masses away from genuinely subversive western ideas and politics by
promoting the insulation of the masses from the west. By promoting
anti-westernism in the guise of
being anti-imperialist Islamic fundamentalism had devised a useful strategy
for reinforcing
its leadership and reducing the threat from revolutionary politics that had
their roots in the
West. This seriously contained the thinking, politics and culture of the
Iranian masses
and guaranteed their support for fundamentalism.

Had fundamentalism merely confined its attack to imperialism itself the
masses would have been prepared to examine other forms of western culture
which
would have weakened the hold of fundamentalism on them since they might have
been influenced by these ideas.

As a result of this the Iranian regime supported the development of native
capitalism to the exclusion of foreign imperialist capital. As a result of
this the
country sank progressively into backwardness. The constraining of capitalism
to its
indigenous form led to the further creation of the objective economic
conditions that
corresponded with its anti-westernism and the politics of fundamentalism.

The Iranian bourgeoisie reluctantly supported Muslim fundamentalism because
it was an acute albeit distorted expression of its existence as an
indigenous class.
The bourgeoisie had were threatened by the revolutionary condition of the
insurrection of the Iranian masses. The only way in which it could be
contained was by
Islamic fundamentalism. Consequently it reluctantly supported it. Sections
of this
class were unhappy with the fact that their class interests were being
undermined by
imperialist economic penetration and felt an Islamic state would better
serve its
interests. The fact that the bourgeois revolution in Iran took the peculiar
form of the
establishment of an Islamic state is evidence of the weakness of the native
bourgeoisie
and its inability to promote its interests politically in a more direct way.
Its
weakness in the face of the masses and of foreign monopoly capital made this
the only
way forward --a very reactionary way. In this way the Iranian bourgeoisie
played
a very reactionary role in keeping down the masses. The existence of large
oil
supplies in Iran assisted the bourgeoisie in its ability to proceed down the
road of
quasi-autarchy. Without the existence an Islamic bourgeois regime would have
been unthinkable.

The Islamic state suited the class interests of the Iranian bourgeoisie fine
since it was a very oppressive regime. Using religion it was able to
effectively
implement the savagely oppressive measures to contain the masses. It
suppressed
all left opposition in the name of Allah. It introduced all kinds of
oppressive
measure to restrict the freedom of workers and peasants --particularly
female workers
and peasants. By suppressing all non Islamic thought and all dissenting
politics or culture
it was able to snuff any last remains of rebelliousness amongst the masses.
By
encouraging rabid anti-Americanism and anti-westernism it was able to
distract attention
away from the enemy at home and cause this revolutionary energy to exhaust
itself in
anti-western stuff while making the masses think it was being subversive.

Now that the Islamic regime has effectively done its job at defeating the
masses the Iranian bourgeoisie wants to get rid of this regime. The masses
are no longer a threat. The reform
movement is an expression of the abandonment by the  bourgeoisie of the
regime.
Also it the reform movement is the bourgeoisie's way of containing in a new
form the
rising disillusionment and discontent among the masses with the Islamic
regime. Now
the Iranian bourgeoisie want to form an alliance with imperialism to keep
the masses
in its place and develop itself economically. The Iranian economy is in a
bad way
which is not so good for its bourgeoisie.

The Iranian bourgeoisie are abandoning the Islamic fundamentalist for
several reasons:
The economy is in a mess. The masses had been defeated. To pre-empt any
future rising
against the Islamic regime by the masses and against the bourgeoisie.

Regards
Karl Carlile

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