Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 21:15:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: glevy-AT-acnet.pratt.edu
Subject: Re: Bosnia and CP, Yugoslavia 


Han wrote:

  How come alle Neo Nazi groups in
> Europe are proud to have close relations with Croatian Militia's.

The Croatian government, it is true, has both reactionary and neo-fascist 
elements.  This does not mean, though, that we should deny the Croatians 
the right to national independence and self-determination.

 > How come the 
USA is supporting "Moslims" in Bosnia. 

If US policy is support for the "moslims" in Bosnia, then who needs 
friends like that?  The Clinton administration (and the Republicans) have 
stood by and watched the genocide continue and have done nothing 
meaningful to stop the "ethnic cleansing" of Bosnians.
> 

> As for me, I support those poeple in yugoslavia who want an Unified
> socialist Yugoslavia.  Yes those poeple exist.
> And for those who did not knouw, those poeple wher put into concentration
> camps by... Tito.  Becolse they where Stalinists.
> Tito was the last you can call a stalinist, it is pitty he would not ave
> done such crasy things with Yugoslavia if he would have been a Stalinist.
> 
As for me, I'd like to see a "United Socialist Federation of Europe" (and 
the world!).  Unfortunately, that's not going to happen any time soon. 
The idea of a "United Socialist Yugoslavia" is nothing more than a dream 
at this time.  We should recognize that the different nations that 
composed the former Yugoslavia should have the right to 
self-determination and, if they so choose, national independence.

Tito was anti-Stalin but I don't know that you could call him 
anti-Stalinist.  It all depends on your understanding of the term 
"Stalinism."

I, of course, agree with Lisa that the whole subject of Yugoslavia is 
depressing.  Yet, I believe that if the slaughter is going to be ended 
any time soon, then simply calling for a lifting of the arms embargo 
won't yield that result.  Unless we are willing to consign the Bosnians 
to their fate, then real military intervention is required *now*. There 
are both practical and political problems with NATO or UN military 
intervention of which I am very well aware, yet, in my judgment, a 
massive bombing campaign of Serbian military targets *in Serbia* is 
needed *now*.  Bosnian Serbs might very well take UN hostages and execute 
them, yet that is not a sufficient reason in my judgment to allow the 
carnage and the paralysis of foreign intervention to continue. 

I can't say that I feel particularly comfortable with the above 
paragraph. There are times, though, when Marxists must be flexible enough 
to agree to measures that they would ordinarily be opposed to.

Jerry 


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