People's Democracy

 THINKING TOGETHER

History shows us that wars can be both positive and negative. What is the basic Marxist understanding regarding violence and wars? (Translated from Hindi)

Nirmal Navendu, Burdwan, West Bengal

YES, it is true. There are just wars and there are unjust wars. History demonstrates adequately that the ruling classes always resort to violence to suppress the oppressed when they revolt against the class rule. In order to liberate themselves from such class oppression, the oppressed people may be left, at times, with no other option but to wage war against the ruling classes. Such revolutionary violence, in the first place, is the result of the violence unleashed by the ruling classes. The oppressed take recourse to such methods only when all other efforts to overthrow the oppressive class rule fail. 

Similarly, peoples of countries who have been enslaved by others as colonies have often revolted, at times violently, for their independence and liberation. Such has been the case in India as well. Such national liberation struggles have a positive content in terms of the freedom for the country and its people. Again, it must be underlined that recourse to such methods would not have been necessary if the colonial masters had not enslaved these countries and peoples and not refused to leave the foreign soil.

The violence of the ruling classes to consolidate their exploitation of the oppressed engenders a violent response, at times, from the mass of the people. Hence violence and wars have to be seen in terms of their political objectives. The unleashing of the Second World War by Hitler was to enslave the world. The Soviet red army’s response was not only to defend the Soviet Union from the fascist attack but also to defeat fascism in order to negate its ambition of world enslavement. Likewise, the US occupation of Iraq today constitutes a naked violation of an independent country's sovereignty. Likewise also, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the constant military attacks against Palestinians constitute the worst expression of an unjust war. Naturally, such acts are met by armed resistance of the people who are enslaved, deprived and attacked.