military resistance 10j7: time

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Military Resistance: [email protected] 10.14.12 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

Military Resistance 10J7

TIMEFrom: Dennis SerdelTo: Military Resistance NewsletterSent: October 11, 2012Subject: TIME

Written by Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11thBrigade; United Auto Workers GM Retiree

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TIME

THERE IS NO HAPPY ENDINGJUST LIKE A TREEWITH ITS LOWER LIMBCUT OFF & IT NEVER GROWSBACK SO THE TREE
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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SPENDS ITS LIFELOOKING ODD & SHAMEFULJUST LIKE ANOTHER TREETHAT HAS AN UPPER LIMBCUT OFF & IT NEVER GROWS

BACK TO BE NORMAL& THE TREE CANT DANCEIN THE SUNLIGHTLIKE IT DID BEFORE& THE YOUNG ENCHANTINGWOMEN MAKE EXCUSES& SHY AWAY WITH THEIRFACES HALF SMILINGLOOKING DOWN IN ANAWKWARD SITUATIONAS THE TREE SHEDS

ITS CLOTHES & THE BARETREES LOOK SO UGLYIN THE WINTER &THE SOLDIER DID NOTUNDERSTAND BECAUSEIN THE MOVIESAT THE END, THE GOOD GUYALWAYS GETS THE GIRLBUT AFTER MORE DEFEATSIN THE FRUSTRATING WARTHE SOLDIER WITHDRAWSHE THINKS IF ONLY HE HADBEEN MARRIED BEFOREHE WENT TO WAR BUTHE HADNT HEARD OF THEDIVORCES OVERDRUGS & ALCOHOLNOW IM 31 YEARS OLD &I CAN ONLY USE ONE ARM TOWASH MYSELF IN THE SHOWERTHERE IS NO HAPPY ENDING& THE X-SOLDIER STILLWONDERS WHY HE CANTFIND ONE WOMEN TO LOVENOW IM 43 YEARS OLD &ALL I CAN DO IS HOP TOTHE CHAIR FROM MY BEDTO ATTACH MY PROSTHETIC LEGSO I CAN WALK BUT WITHOUTA WOMAN TO LOVE WHO


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WANTS A WHOLE MAN &THERE IS NO HAPPY ENDING& NOW THE X-SOLDIERIS 53 YEARS OLD WHENHE WAKES UP IN

THE MORNING & LIFTSHIMSELF UP FROM BEDWITH HIS ONCE STRONG ARMS& PLACES HIS BODYWITH NO LEGS IN THEWHEELCHAIR IN HIS URINESMELLING CHEAP APARTMENTAS WOMEN TURN THEIR HEADSOR HOLD A DOOR OPENFOR HIM & SMILE POLITELYBUT THATS ALL AS HE GAINS

WEIGHT & THERE IS NO HAPPYENDING TO THIS NONENTITY MOVIELIFE AS ALL THE WELCOMINGPEOPLE PATTED HIM ON THEBACK WHEN THE SOLDIERFIRST CAME HOME & SAIDYOUR GOING TO MAKE IT ALRIGHTBUT NOW IM 63YEARS OLD THE PATS ONTHE BACK FROM LONG AGOARE JUST PUFFS OF DUSTNOW & HE HAS NO WIFE ORCHILDREN &NOW IM 71 YEARS OLD &THE X-SOLDIER IS AQUADRIPLEGIC & THESILVER STAR & PURPLE HEARTARE JUST LIES NOWBECAUSE HIS LIFE HAS BEENLIKE A MONSTER LIVING INA GODLESSHELL.

SHOCK POETRY BY DENNIS SERDEL FOR MILITARY RESISTANCE

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS


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Insurgent Attack On MarufIntelligence Office Kills Foreign

Servicemember, Occupation WorkerAnd Four Afghan IntelligenceOfficers:

Nationality Of Foreign ServicememberNot Announced

October 13 By Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan At least eight people were killed Saturday in attacks in southernAfghanistan, including one incident where a bomber on a motorbike blew himself up at alocal intelligence office, officials said.

Six people four Afghan intelligence officers, a coalition service member and a civilianemployee working for the coalition died in the attack in the Maruf district of Kandaharprovince.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, with spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadisaying in a text message to reporters that the group was targeting international forcesoperating in Afghanistan.

Kandahar provincial spokesman Ahmad Jawed Faisal said the blast occurred in themorning at an entry point to the intelligence office.

He said three other Afghan intelligence officers were wounded, including two who werein critical condition.

The wounded were evacuated to coalition medical facilities.

Maine Soldier Dies From Afghanistan

Blast:Army Sgt. 1st Class Aaron

Henderson, Of Houlton, WasWounded On Sept. 30 And Died


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Monday At The Hospital At BagramAir Field

Army Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Henderson: U.S. Department of Defense photo

October 3 The Associated Press

HOULTON A Special Forces soldier from Maine has died from injuries he sustained

in a blast in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Henderson was wounded Sunday and died Monday at thehospital at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, according to members of Mainescongressional delegation.

Henderson was born in Houlton and has family members there.

Henderson, who served in the 2nd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group out of FortCampbell, Ky., had both of his legs amputated after he was injured by an improvisedexplosive device, according to a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud.

Michaud said this heartbreaking news serves as a reminder of the dangerousconditions so many deployed Americans continue to operate under overseas.

Henderson graduated from Hodgdon High School in Aroostook County in 1997, saidMarty Bouchard, who was a teacher and coach at the school at the time and is nowprincipal of Houlton High School.


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Henderson was a lover of sports and the outdoors and played soccer, basketball andbaseball in high school, Bouchard said. He was a four-year starter on the baseball teamand played a key role on the basketball team when it won a state championship in 1996.

Aaron was the captain of his baseball and basketball teams, Bouchard said. He hadan infectious smile and warm personality that was cherished by his teachers and

friends.

Maysville Native Killed In Afghanistan

Jeremy Hardison of Maysville was among three N.C. National Guard soldiers killed in

Afghanistan on Monday. Facebook

October 2, 2012 By DAILY NEWS STAFF

A White Oak High School graduate was one of three N.C. National Guard soldiers killedin Afghanistan Monday.

The bodies of Sgt. Jeremy F. Hardison, 23, of Maysville, along with Sgt. ThomasJefferson Butler IV, of Wilmington, and Sgt. Donna R. Johnson, of Raeford, werescheduled be returned to the U.S. via Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday night, accordingto a press release from Dover Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operation.

Officials with the N.C. National Guard public affairs said details of how the soldiers diedcould not be released until later Tuesday evening.

But Hardison is believed to have been killed when a Taliban suicide bomber rammed amotorcycle packed with explosives into a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol on Monday, killing 14people including the three Americans.

Reports indicate three other soldiers were injured and an Afghan interpreter was killed.


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The bomber struck the mixed police and military patrol shortly after they got out of theirvehicles to walk through a market area in the eastern city of Khost.

Hardison attended White Oak High School and North Carolina State University,according to a Facebook page in his name. Friends took to his Facebook page to paytheir respects Tuesday.

10 Missiles Hit Nangahar Airbase InE. Afghanistan:

Damages And Casualties As A Result OfThe Incident Not Announced

Oct 13 By Sadaf Shinwari, Khaama Press

According to local authorities in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, severalmissiles were fired on Nangarahr airbase on Friday night.

Provincial security chief spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqi confirming the report saidat least 16 missiles were fired from Lalmai area in Behsud district.

Mr. Mashqiri further added at least 10 missiles landed inside the airport while 6 otherslanded on the closer proximities of the airport.

He did not disclose further information regarding the damages and casualties as a resultof the incident.

POLITICIANS REFUSE TO HALT THEBLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THEWAR

Two Foreign Occupation WorkersCaptured In Wardak

13 October 2012 TOLOnews


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Two foreigners, a Canadian and a US citizen, were reported missing on Friday by aprovincial reconstruction team in Afghanistans Wardak province, west of Kabul.

The missing foreigners were in contact until they reached the Kampany area on Kabulsoutskirts. After that they lost contact, the provincial police spokesman Abdul Wali toldTOLOnews Saturday.

We have information they may have been kidnapped, he added.

Reuters reported late Friday that a US embassy spokesman in Kabul said there was noinformation on a missing American. But the report noted that diplomatic officials areoften reluctant to talk about kidnappings.

Wardak is one of the less secure provinces with insurgents having kidnapped Afghansalong the highways in the past.

Resistance ActionOctober 13 By Associated Press

An attack killed two Afghan policemen and left three others wounded in Qalat, the capitalof Zabul province, provincial spokesman Shariullah Nasari said.

After a police vehicle ran over a roadside mine, he said, a second blast struck policewho had rushed to aid their colleagues.

Protestors Marched Through Parts OfSharan, The Provincial Capital, ChantingSlogans Against ISAF And US Troops

Oct 10, 2012 by Ali Mohammad Nazarion, PAN

SHARAN (PAN): Hundreds of residents of southeastern Paktika province on Wednesdaystaged a protest against nighttime raids by the International Security Assistance Force(ISAF).

The protestors marched through parts of Sharan, the provincial capital, chanting slogansagainst ISAF and US troops and asking them not to bother ordinary people in the raids.

One of the organisers, Mullah Masoom, said ISAF troops raided his house a few daysago and detained two of his two family members. The foreign soldiers also arrested amoneychanger along with two sons in a similar operation, he claimed.


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A tribal elder, Momin Khan Mukhlis, condemned the operation and asked the NATO-ledforces to stop conducting operations in their areas, because the security of the city hadalready transitioned to Afghan personnel.

Provincial police chief, Dawlat Khan Zadran, confirmed the protest and said they had notbeen informed in advance.

IF YOU DONT LIKE THE RESISTANCEEND THE OCCUPATION

MILITARY NEWS

Rebel Fighters Capture 250 SyrianSoldiers At Al-Zainiyeh:

In Aleppo, A Large Explosion StruckNear The Air Force Intelligence Branch In

The Neighbourhood Of Jamiah Al-Zahraa

13 Oct 2012 Al Jazeera

Syrian opposition fighters have said they have captured more than 250 members of thegovernments armed forces in the province of Idlib.

The announcement on Saturday was accompanied by amateur video showing what therebels said are 256 captured Syrian soldiers who were displayed before the cameras.

All we know is that these prisoners are from al-Zainiyeh, Al Jazeeras Anita McNaughtreported from Antakya in neighbouring Turkey.

Al-Zainiyeh was where the Syrian army forces had withdrawn after opposition fightershad driven them out of the villages in that part of Idlib.

The rebels took al-Zainiyeh three days ago and the prisoners may have beencaptured during that fighting.

Also on Saturday, strong explosions were reported in the Syrian capital and the city ofAleppo, according to a Syrian opposition group.


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The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC) in Syria told Al Jazeera a largeexplosion struck near the Air Force Intelligence branch in the neighbourhood ofJamiah al-Zahraa in Aleppo on Saturday morning. Heavy gunfire and armedclashes were also reported in the area.

The LCC also reported a large explosion in Damascus.

MORE:

Syria Rebels Capture Assad Regime AirBase In Al-Tana


Syrian rebels have captured an air defence base east of Aleppo as government forcesbattled fighters on several fronts across the country, activists say.

The air defence base seized by the rebels was located in al-Tana village by the Korismilitary airport on the road east from Aleppo to al-Raqqa, the Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said on Friday.

Clashes were also taking place at a military barracks close to Maarat al-Nuaman, a townon the main highway to the northwestern city of Aleppo, which was seized by rebelforces earlier this week, the Observatory said.

The pro-opposition Observatory said rebels had gone on the offensive killingmore than 100 soldiers in two days.

Fourteen soldiers died in an attack on an army post in the southern province ofDaraa on Friday, it said, a day after the army suffered 92 losses, the highest dailytotal for the military of the 19-month conflict.

MORE:

Syrian Rebels Have Shot Down AFighter Jet In The Northern Province

Of Aleppo:People Celebrate When Planes Are ShotDown Because They Are Used To

Bombard Civilian Areas



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Syrian rebels have shot down a fighter jet in the northern province of Aleppo, amonitoring group and a military defector said.

The rebels shot down the fighter jet in the west of Aleppo province, where fierce battlesare taking place, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman

told AFP news agency.

The jet was bombarding the village of Khan al-Asal.

A defected military officer in the province confirmed the reports, adding that theMiG jet was shot down some 10km west of Aleppo, scene of fierce battles sinceJuly 20.

Amateur video shot by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed groups ofpeople gathering around a pile of embers, and smoke rising from the scene, as menfired their weapons into the air in celebration.

It also showed the tail of a fixed-wing aircraft, blackened by fire and broken off from thebody of the plane.

People celebrate when planes are shot down because they are used to bombardcivilian areas, said Abdel Rahman.

MORE:

Syrian Rebels Have Blocked ArmyReinforcements Advancing Towards The

Town Of Maaret Al-Numan13 Oct 2012 Al Jazeera

Syrian rebels have blocked army reinforcements advancing towards the town of Maaretal-Numan which has been under rebel control for nearly a week, according to AFP newsagency.

In its bid to retake the town, strategically located in the northwest on the road fromTurkey to the embattled city of Aleppo, the army used warplanes to bombard Maaret al-Numan, killing two civilians and destroying three homes.

Some 40 military vehicles, including 10 tanks, four-wheel-drive vehicles with mountedmachineguns and buses full of troops were waiting some 10km south of the town, rebelfighters told AFP.

The rebel Free Syrian Army seized control of Maaret al-Numan on Tuesday,pushing the army out into two military bases on its outskirts, and blocking thearrival of new reinforcements to Aleppo.


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The rebels tried again to storm the Wadi Deif army base (on Saturday)... when theywere bombarded by a MiG fighter jet, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rightsdirector Rami Abdel Rahman.

Rebels have also seized part of the road running through the town, which has slowedthe armys attempt to advance.

The rebels took al-Zainiyeh three days ago.

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THEMILITARY?

U.S. soldier in Beijia village Iraq, Feb. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the email address if youwish and well send it regularly with your best wishes. Whether inAfghanistan or at a base in the USA, this is extra important for your servicefriend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growingresistance to the war, inside the armed services and at home. Send emailrequests to address up top or write to: Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657.

The single largest failure of the anti-war movement atthis point is the lack of outreach to the troops.Tim Goodrich, Iraq Veterans Against The War


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FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh hadI the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream ofbiting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom theyoppose.

Frederick Douglass, 1852

Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder and it is theworking class who fights all the battles, the working class who makes thesupreme sacrifices, the working class who freely sheds their blood and furnishestheir corpses, and it is they who have never yet had a voice - in either declaringwar or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alonedeclare war.

They are continually talking about patriotic duty. It is not their patriotic duty butyour patriotic duty that they are concerned about. Their patriotic duty never takesthem to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches.-- Eugene V. Debs


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Army Replaces Defective Radios WithCarrier Pigeons, Smoke Signals

October 9, 2012 by SGT B, The Duffle Blog. About The Author: SGT B is an Army MPwhos never written a ticket but still enjoys doughnuts and coffee.

FORT BLISS, TX-

Following the failure of a planned communications system that would help all militarymembers communicate more effectively, the Army is now conducting research anddevelopment on a new system which leaders say will take military communications intothe future.

The Joint Tactical Radio System, or JTRS, a program designed to allow all fourbranches to communicate seamlessly, was cancelled late last year by the House ofRepresentatives Committee on Armed Services. Costing $15 billion over 15 years, theJTRS was seen by many in Congress as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Despite the setback, the Department of the Army has used the opportunity to explorebetter options for efficient communications on the battlefield.

Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno recently spoke with the Duffel Blog concerningthe Armys new direction.

We basically blew the entire communications budget for the next twenty years on theJTRS. Now we have troops with no effective means of communication. I tasked the best


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and brightest in the Army to come up with a solution to this commo quagmire and theresults are nothing less than stellar.

The new system, dubbed KITDFOHS (Kinetic Internal Directly Functional OperationalHoming Science), involves the use of revolutionary direct message deliverers, alsoknown as hand and arm signals, carrier pigeons, yelling, and smoke signals.

Chief Information Officer of the Army Lieutenant General Susan Lawrence informed theDuffel Blog that each of these systems have their pros and cons.

Smoke signals are great for the troops to contact each other in the field. Its much betterthan some stupid old radio and only limited by how far the troops can see.

Carrier pigeons have replaced all forms of e-mail for the Army as well as becoming thego to solution for long distance communication, she added. This is due in part to GENOdierno tasking me with cutting any unnecessary spending on communications to avoidfurther problems like those caused by the JTRS.

Sergeant Major Kevin McCrary, the enlisted adviser to LTG Lawrence, praisedLawrences innovation in the field of communication. Shes truly a visionary. Withoutradios it seemed hopeless for the boots on the ground. With her quick thinking she wasable to invent several new forms of communication.

McCrary added, I would have never thought that yelling and hand and arm signalswould be so useful. Now, instead of having a radio in an MRAP, the troops just have thelowest ranking stand on top and relay messages to other trucks using hand and armsignals.

Soldiers in Afghanistan have found implementing these new methods somewhattroublesome.

Staff Sergeant Chad Moreno, an infantry squad leader, explained the troubles faced bythe soldiers on the basic level.

Hand and arm signals, OK. Yelling, OK. But fuck, carrier pigeons and smoke signals?Now on patrol one of my guys has to carry a cage on his back with pigeons in it.Another troop is stuck carrying kindling and flint everywhere we go. Have you ever triedto build a fire while taking fire? It aint easy.

He continued, These pigeons are the nastiest creatures Ive ever seen. Not to mentionanytime we go through a market all the Afghans ask how much, how much? Sheesh, Ihave a hard enough time doing anything with this bullshit ROE, now I have to deal with

this shit?

Despite reservations, SSG Moreno did stress some of the benefits of the new system.

While its pretty tough to have to carry this stuff, it makes for a good punishmenttechnique. Whoever pisses me off is getting pigeon shit all over their gear by the end ofthe patrol.


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ANNIVERSARIES

14 Oct 1917:The Army Joins The Revolution;All Other Major Political Groups Lost

Credibility Because Of Their AssociationWith The Government And Their

Insistence On Patient Sacrifice In The

Interests Of The War Effort

Revolutionary Army: (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

September 28, 2007 By PAUL DAMATO, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

RUSSIA WAS the first and only country to achieve a socialist revolution--that is, asociety in which ordinary people had their hands on the levers of power.


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For that reason alone, the capitalist rulers of the world cannot allow it to stand on its ownmerits. The later degeneration of the revolution into bureaucratic, one-party totalitarianrule must be read back into the past to prove that the revolution was doomed to fail.

This is the purpose of the hundreds of studies published by Russia experts that portrayLenin and the Bolshevik Party as ruthless, nasty and authoritarian. The revolution, in

most accounts, did not involve the masses in determining their own destiny, but was thework of individuals bent on exploiting mass discontent for their own purposes.

This framework serves two purposes: to elevate the role of individuals in the making ofhistory, and simultaneously to denigrate the role of ordinary workers, who are seen asnave dupes.

Lenin is portrayed as a superhuman madman, bent on one-man dictatorship--andpossessing an irresistible will to power. Historian Robert Payne, for example, writesabsurdly of Lenin, His fanatical will was like a lever which attempted to throw the wholeglobe into an orbit more to his liking; and because he pressed so hard on the lever, theearth still shudders.

The reality is that the Bolshevik Party became a mass party in the course of therevolution, winning the allegiance of the most militant workers. Far from being Leninscats paw, the Bolsheviks were a party alive with debate and disagreement, with differentfactions fighting over the revolutions course.

Lenin was certainly the most respected leader in the party, but it was a respect earnedby his role as a theoretician and practical leader, not by hypnosis or fiat. Indeed, Leninoften found himself in the minority and had to fight hard for his positions. Moreover, in anumber of cases, Lenins views, particularly on tactical questions, were wrong, and wererejected or adjusted by the party.

When Lenin returned to Russia in April, his views--transfer all power to the Soviets--wereconsidered by other Bolsheviks to be completely out of touch and even anarchist. It tookhim some weeks of hard argument to win over the party.

Lenin also had to fight tooth and nail to convince the party of the necessity of preparingfor an insurrection once the Bolsheviks had won over a majority in the Moscow andPetrograd soviets.

On the other hand, Lenin proved to be wrong after the July Days when he argued thatthe soviets were now bankrupt institutions. The party, though it officially voted toabandon the slogan All power to the soviets, never really abandoned it at the local leveland soon restored it.

Lenin was also wrong in his views that the insurrection might begin in Moscow--Petrograd was clearly the leading revolutionary citadel in Russia--and in his insistencethat the insurrection should be organized through the Bolshevik Party, independently ofthe soviets. Other leaders, such as Leon Trotsky, were able to set a better course onthese questions.

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THE ARGUMENT that the Bolsheviks hijacked the revolution fails to take into accountthat the Bolsheviks were only one political party among many competing for the supportof the Russian people.

The fact that the Bolsheviks were able to win mass support away from the SocialRevolutionaries and Mensheviks flowed not from their superior persuasive powers or

ability to command blind obedience, but because of their program.

They were the only party that demanded land to the peasants, factories to theworkers, all power to the soviets [elected workers councils] and an end to thewar.

All other major political groups, writes historian Alexander Rabinowitch, lostcredibility because of their association with the government and their insistenceon patient sacrifice in the interests of the war effort.

In short, whereas the other parties acted as a brake on the revolution, the Bolshevikswanted to see it through to the end.

At the same time, the party was not for some kind of minority putsch against theProvisional Government led by Kerensky. Lenin and other party leaders worked torestrain the movement when they felt that a premature revolt threatened the movementas a whole with defeat.

It must be remembered that Lenins position was that the party must patiently explaintheir demands and win over the majority of the working class before it could movetoward decisive action against the Provisional Government.

Lenins bold and determined leadership, as well as the Bolsheviks relative unity anddiscipline compared to other political parties, were key factors in the revolutions

success.

But this unity and discipline was not bureaucratic--it was organic and political. The partydebated and voted on all key questions, and local organizations of the party possesseda great deal of leeway to carry on their own independent initiatives.

Rabinowitch attributes much of the Bolsheviks success in transforming themselves froma party of 25,000 on the eve of the February Revolution into a mass party capable ofleading a successful struggle for power with a membership of a quarter million to thepartys internally relatively democratic, tolerant and decentralized structure and methodof operation, as well as its essentially open and mass character.

The conspiratorial, clandestine forms of organization of the Bolsheviks that preceded therevolutionary period were imposed by necessity on all illegal parties as a result of therepressive conditions of Tsarism. The Bolsheviks were always prepared, whenconditions changed, to move toward open, democratic methods of organization.

This little fact is practically ignored by most historians.

The dreaded democratic centralism of the Bolshevik Party was exactly what the termimplies: the fullest and freest debate, combined with strict adherence to decisions once


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made. This is what gave the party its ability to read what was happening in thedisparate sectors of struggle, generalize from that experience and offer guidance to it.

Democracy without centralism is a talk shop. Centralism without democracy createsbureaucratism and isolates the leaders from the ranks.

As Trotsky later wrote:

How could a genuinely revolutionary organization, setting itself the task of overthrowingthe world and uniting under its banner the most audacious iconoclasts, fighters andinsurgents, live and develop without intellectual conflicts, without groups and temporaryfaction formations?...

The Central Committee relied upon this seething democratic support. From this, itderived the audacity to make decision and give orders. The obvious correctness of theleadership at all critical stages gave it that high authority which is the priceless capital ofcentralism.

Rabinowitch, in his book The Bolsheviks Come to Power, is able to demonstrate in richdetail that within the Bolshevik Petrograd organization at all levels in 1917, there wascontinuing free and lively discussion and debate over the most basic theoretical andtactical issues, and that the party had shifting left, center and moderate tendencieswithin it, right through the revolutionary period.

Leaders who differed with the majority were at liberty to fight for their views, and notinfrequently, Lenin was the loser in those struggles.

*******************************************

SURPRISING THOUGH these insights are to most bourgeois or anarchist

commentators, the Bolsheviks open and democratic character flowed from itscommitment to workers self-emancipation.

Lenins insistence on the need to build a disciplined party of revolutionaries is usuallypresented as a product of his distrust of the working classs revolutionary potential--when, in fact, Lenins entire political career was based on the proposition, established inthe early years of the Russian Marxist movement, that, (t)he revolutionary movement inRussia can triumph only as the revolutionary movement of the workers.

Nikolai Sukhanov, by no means a Bolshevik supporter in 1917, but who witnessed theparty at close quarters in the days leading up to the October Revolution, observed theinterconnectedness between the party and the working class:

The Bolsheviks were working stubbornly and without letup. They were among themasses, at the factory benches, every day without a pause. Tens of speakers, big andlittle, were speaking in Petersburg, at the factories and in the barracks, every blessedday.

For the masses, they had become their own people, because they were always there,taking the lead in details as well as in the most important affairs of the factory or


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barracks. They had become the sole hope...The mass lived and breathed together withthe Bolsheviks.

What Sukhanov seemed not to understand is that the Bolsheviks themselves wereworkers--leaders on the ground in the day-to-day struggle.

They did not parachute in from somewhere else; they were already there.

As early as June, for example, Bolshevik delegates dominated the conferences of thefactory committees. The Bolshevik vanguard was not an isolated elite, but organizedworking-class militants tempered by shared experience and shared politics, developedthrough interaction with their fellow workers.

One lesson of the Russian Revolution is that workers can take over the running ofsociety; revolutions can win. Of course, the lesson of many failed workers revolutions(1905 in Russia or 1919-23 in Germany, for example) is that such victories are by nomeans guaranteed.

Another, equally important lesson is that such a revolution can only win, as it did inRussia, if the working class organizes its own revolutionary party to guide its path topower.

October 14, 1943:Heroic Uprising Against Nazis At The

Sobibor Death Camp

A group portrait of some of the participants in the uprising at the Sobibor extermination

camp. Poland, August 1944.

Carl Bunin Peace history October 8-14

US Holocaust Memorial Museum:

Sobered by both the sense that killing operations in the facility were windingdown and information that Belzec had been dismantled and all surviving prisoners


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liquidated, prisoners at Sobibor organized a resistance group in the late spring of1943.

After considering several options for escape and augmented in numbers and militarytraining skills by the arrival of a number of former Soviet-Jewish prisoners of war fromthe Minsk ghetto in late September, the prisoners opted for an uprising, following the

liquidation of key German camp officials.

On October 14, 1943, with approximately 600 prisoners left in the camp, those whoknew the plan for the uprising initiated the operation.

The prisoners succeeded in killing nearly a dozen German personnel and Trawniki-trained guards.

Around 300 prisoners succeeded in breaking out of the killing center that day; around100 were caught in the dragnet that following and more than half of the remainingsurvivors did not live to see the end of the war.

After the revolt, the Germans and the Trawniki-trained guards dismantled the killingcenter and shot the Jewish prisoners who had not escaped during the uprising.

Pursuant to discussions in the SS hierarchy in the summer of 1943, the Germans hadintended to transform the facility first into a holding pen for women and children deportedwest from occupied Belarus after their fathers and husbands had been murdered in so-called anti-partisan operations, and later, into an ammunition supply depot.

Although there is no information that new prisoners ever arrived in Sobibor after themurder of remaining Jewish prisoners in November 1943, a small Trawniki-trained guarddetachment remained at the former killing center through at least the end of March 1944.

Though Sobibors six gas chambers could exterminate 1200 people at a time, it was thesmallest of the death camps.

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

To Palestinians, Olive Trees Are

A Lifeline, A Symbol Of Their LoveFor The Land And A Source Of

Pride


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They Are Their Achilles Heel Too,And Israels Settlers Know It

These Settlers Are Determined To BreakThe Palestinian Spirit By Striking At The

Heart Of What They Hold Dear

Olive tree in Maale Adumim, Occupied Palestine. Photo; K. Jeanne Person

October 8, 2012 BY Joharah Baker, Uruknet

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the PalestinianInitiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can becontacted at [email protected].

***********************************************************************************

When my grandfather was alive, he had two things he cherished most in this world: hisfamily and his olive trees.

He tended to those trees as if they were babies, tenderly pruning them, caring for thesaplings like newborn infants and offering a respect and reverence to the aged trees fortheir endless giving, for the years of rich, oily wealth they bestowed upon him and his

loved ones.

When he passed, his beloved olive trees remained strong and proud, just like mygrandfather had been in life.

His sons were sure to protect his legacy, caring for the trees which continued to offertheir bounty for all the years since.


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To Palestinians, olive trees are a lifeline, a symbol of their love for the land and a sourceof pride; they are their Achilles heel too, and Israels settlers know it.

The olive harvest is upon us.

Some Palestinians with olive groves close to Israeli settlements have already

begun picking the fruit in the hopes that they may, at least this year, escape thesettlers. But of course, this is too much to hope for.

The havoc has already begun; settlers from Nahlael attacked residents of Beit Illu,a village northwest of Ramallah, attacking the olive pickers and burning downdozens of trees.

Palestinian sources say around 300 olive trees have been cut down in Beit Illualone in the past month.

This is by far not the only incident.

Around the year, settlers cut down, steal and burn Palestinian olive trees in the WestBank.

According to the International Solidarity Movement, over half a million olive and fruittrees have been destroyed by Israeli settlers and the army since 2000.

Thousands of olive trees are cut down, burned or stolen each year by Jewish settlerswho steal the fruit and the trees or burn them down with the long-term goal of usurpingthe land.

What is so disturbing is that the Israeli army almost always arrives on the scene but itdoes not deter the settlers.

Palestinians, who both depend on olive trees for their livelihood and are bound to themspiritually, are crushed when they are destroyed. Not only are the olive trees cut down,burned, bulldozed and sometimes sold or stolen to be replanted in illegal Israelisettlements, but the land on which they were planted is suddenly inaccessible to itsowners.

The land is either taken over by settlers or it is gradually fenced off and annexed tonearby settlements by way of a military order.

Without delving into the legal (or illegal) ramifications of this olive tree theft, oreven the larger unjust premise of the Israeli occupation which allows and even

urges on such vigilante behavior, it is the sheer cruelty of the act that must not gounnoticed.

Palestinians are inherently connected to their land and to their olive trees in particular.

We all understand that settlers attack the trees and the owners while they pick the fruit tointimidate the Palestinians in the hopes of driving them off of their own land.

And the best way to do that is to hit them where it hurts the most.


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For a farmer who has tended these precious trees for years and whose fathersand forefathers have done the same, this is the heart of the struggle.

This is also why Palestinians fight back so hard when their trees are attacked.

It is a main source of income, true, but olive trees are also part of their identityand their legacy.

Apart from their children, these trees and the land are what they love.

International solidarity groups and Palestinians from all over Palestine have for years,joined farmers during the olive harvest to pick their fruit and protect them from settlerattacks.

It does not always work, but the sign of solidarity is heartwarming.

We do not expect the Israeli government to halt it vigilante settlers because if it were not

for this governments acquiescence with these criminals, the problem would not exist.

Besides, the Israeli government has no qualms over maintaining the military occupationof someone elses land, planting illegal Israeli settlers and extremist settlers to boot tokeep the colonialist project alive and well.

In addition, these settlers are determined to break the Palestinian spirit by strikingat the heart of what they hold dear.

In Palestine, the death of their children and the destruction of their olive treesmake grown men cry.

While I am grateful that my grandfather did not have to experience either before hepassed, it pains me to watch others endure this rape of their land.

The question is not whether Palestinians can endure more of this same abuse theyhave proven that they can but how long the world will continue to allow it to happen.

[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commandedby foreign terrorists, go to: www.rafahtoday.org The occupied nation is Palestine.The foreign terrorists call themselves Israeli.]

Troops Invited:Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service menand women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or [email protected]: Name, I.D., withheld unless yourequest publication. Same address to unsubscribe.
http://www.rafahtoday.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.rafahtoday.org/


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DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

CLASS WAR REPORTS

At Least Two Killed And Forty OthersArrested After Striking South African

Mine Workers Fight With Police

[Thanks to Alan Stolzer, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]


At least two people have been killed in South Africa after a protest by mineworkersstriking for better pay turned violent, police said.

Police said on Thursday a man was burned to death and a second man died from gunshot wounds at the informal settlement in Photsaneng near Rustenburg and a minibustaxi was torched.


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Meanwhile, police fired rubber bullets at striking Anglo American Platinum (Amplats)miners near Rustenburg.

Gaddafi Mdoda, a strike leader, said that a brief confrontation occurred between policeand some of the 12,000 striking miners who were fired by Amplats last week.

Police apparently were responding to the miners attempt to stop operations at AmplatsBathopele mine, according to the SAPA, which reported that two taxis transportingpeople to work and other places were set on fire.

We extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of thedeceased. We appeal for calm in Rustenburg and urge all our employees to refrain fromengaging in acts of violence, Chris Griffith, Anglo American Platinums CEO, said in astatement.

In a violent confrontation not seen since the end of apartheid in 1994, police shot andkilled 34 striking miners and wounded scores more.

Analysts say the Marikana strike, which ended with a hefty pay raise for the strikingworkers, inspired a wave of copy-cat strikes that have since spread to gold and iron oremines as well as the trucking industry.

Most of the strikes remain unresolved.

MORE:

Angry South African Workers Strike

Wave Confronts Local CapitalistsAnd Their Government:

Anglo American Fires 12,000 EmployeesAt A Mine Northwest Of Johannesburg

For Failing To Appear At A DisciplinaryHearing

October 9, 2012 By PATRICK MCGROARTY And DEVON MAYLIE, Wall Street Journal[Excerpts]

JOHANNESBURGThe South African government, amid continuing labor turmoil, haspreferred to let companies and unions hash out their differences.

But as the strife drags on, the governments image and the countrys currency are takinga beating.


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The rand plummeted to three-year lows this week, capping a slide that has sapped morethan 6% of its value against the dollar in the past two weeks. The currency, which wastrading at around 8.75 to the dollar on Tuesday, remains vulnerable to signs ofintensifying labor turmoil.

Tensions could escalate after another global mining company dismissedrenegade strikers on Tuesday.

More than 2,000 workers were fired Tuesday from a platinum mine run jointly byAtlatsa Resources Corp. and Anglo American Platinum Ltd.

That followed Anglo Americans firing on Friday of 12,000 employees at a minenorthwest of Johannesburg for failing to appear at a disciplinary hearingstemming from a strike they had launched.

Also Tuesday, South Africas three top gold-mining companies met with unions to try toresolve strikes that have crippled their operations. Negotiating for Gold Fields Ltd.,

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., and Harmony Gold Mining Co., South Africas Chamber ofMines offered a package of raises to miners represented by COSATU, the countryslargest union group and a political ally of President Jacob Zumas ruling African NationalCongress. The union said it would take until Thursday to consider the offer.

Labor Minister Mildred Oliphant said last week that there is only so much thegovernment can do to quell the unrest.

The governments stance has frustrated parties on both sides of the divide.

Unions accuse officials of taking the side of employers over employees, whileindustry executives worry the government is allowing the investment climate to

deteriorate.

The government isnt doing enough to stop these strikes, Solly Phetoe, aprovincial leader for COSATU, said this week.

Grant Stuart, head of investor relations at Gold One International Ltd., which firedmore than 1,400 workers on Tuesday a week after they went on strike, called for amore active role from the government.

Weve got to get government to the table to help resolve these issues, he said.

Last week, Moodys Investors Service said official foot-dragging as labor turmoil spread

was an important factor in its decision to cut South Africas debt rating to Baa1 from A3.

Some top officials have been accused of being missing in action as the continentslargest economy hits the skids.

On the night that police shot and killed 34 protesters at the Marikana platinummine owned by Lonmin PLC, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu was ata dinner celebrating women in the industry, including a runway fashion showcaseof jewelry made from South African metals.


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Low Income Elementary Schoolers

Drugged Up On Speed Against TheirWill:Weve Decided As A Society That Its

Too Expensive To Modify The KidsEnvironment. So We Have To Modify

The Kid

October 9, 2012 By Katie J.M. Baker, AlterNet [Excerpts]

Doctors are prescribing prescription pills like Adderall to low-income kids even if theydont need drugs to function because its often the only realistic way to help them dowell in school.

I dont have a whole lot of choice, one doctor who treats poor families outside ofAtlanta, Georgia, told the New York Times. Weve decided as a society that its tooexpensive to modify the kids environment. So we have to modify the kid.

Its easy for those of us without kids struggling to succeed in inadequate schools to acthorrified about the way A.D.H.D. diagnosis rates are rising as school funding drops

because it is horrifying to imagine a bunch of elementary schoolers hopped up on speedthats doing god knows what to their little brains (well, we know that some reported sideeffects include growth suppression, increased blood pressure and psychotic episodes;well get to that in a second) but it all depends on how you measure success.

Is the end goal a perfectly clear blood stream or good grades against the odds?

Some parents (and doctors) would choose the latter.

We as a society have been unwilling to invest in very effectivenonpharmaceutical interventions for these children and their families, Dr.Ramesh Raghavan, a child mental-health services researcher at Washington

University in St. Louis and an expert in prescription drug use among low-incomechildren, told the Times.

We are effectively forcing local community psychiatrists to use the only tool at theirdisposal, which is psychotropic medications.

The negative effects on the kids in this story, both emotionally and physically, areheartbreaking.


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My kids dont want to take it, but I told them, These are your grades when youretaking it, this is when you dont, and they understood, said one parent whoadded that Medicaid covers almost all of her prescription costs.

(Too bad they dont cover tutors or therapy instead...)

And then theres this terrible anecdote about 11-year-old Quintin, one of five childrenwho take more types of pills (Adderall, Risperdal, Clonidine) than the women in Valley ofthe Dolls:

When pubertys chemical maelstrom began at about 10, though, Quintin got into fightsat school because, he said, other children were insulting his mother. The problem was,they were not; Quintin was seeing people and hearing voices that were not there, a rarebut recognized side effect of Adderall. After Quintin admitted to being suicidal, Dr.Anderson prescribed a week in a local psychiatric hospital, and a switch to Risperdal.

After that, Quinns parents flushed all of their pharmaceuticals down the toilet and vowednever to give their kids prescription speed ever again.

Just kidding!

They actually kept giving their 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son Adderall, to helptheir grades and because their daughter was a little blah. Her dad acknowledged thatthis was a cosmetic fix (Ill say; Ive heard better justifications from cokeheads), butsaid, If theyre feeling positive, happy, socializing more, and its helping them, whywouldnt you? Why not?

Thats exactly how I felt about taking Adderall in college. Id pop one every few monthsor so, usually during finals if I had a long paper to write because Adderall made theprocess so much easier and so much more enjoyable.

But at least I was a 20-year-old adult at the time able to make my own decisions, not alittle kid with a developing brain.


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