Letter: Anti-War Meeting (1990)

Letters to the Editors from the November 1990 issue of the Socialist Standard


Anti-War Meeting

Dear Editors

I attended the meeting at Conway Hall on Tuesday 11th September when the subject discussed was 'the Gulf Crisis’. The speakers put the Socialist case very powerfully which clearly illustrated the true and fundamental nature of the crisis—oil; and the one who had lived in Kuwait gave valuable information on the history of the State and the existing circumstances of the people.

I had to leave early and it maybe that the debate with the audience livened up and took a more serious turn after I had gone, but I left feeling disappointed and with a general impression that the sound arguments of the Socialist Party had been delivered in a manner inclined to beget antagonism from the general public. I felt that a degree of recognition of the dilemma of the Western Powers and the act of aggression by Saddam Hussein would not have been out of place. No thinking person will disagree with the diagnosis of the Party and their assertion that international war is inherent in the capitalist system, but given the circumstances of our obscene capitalist world what other outcome could we expect?

Would you not agree that some glimmer of hope arises from the fact that the United Nations, whatever their motives, have shown unification in their condemnation of aggression by a militarily powerful State over a small and militarily weak one? This surely cannot be a bad thing! It is a move, however inadequate we may regard it, towards a semblance of co-operation, which I would have thought would give some encouragement to Socialists, who by the nature of their philosophy advocate co-operation and not competition. Who knows—the co-operation idea could catch on and develop in other spheres! Similarly, I think Socialists can be encouraged by the Green Party which, though not fully understanding the nature of commodity production, has come to understand that in order to solve the ecological problems facing us we must take a serious look at the mode and manner of the production process.

Like members of the Socialist Party I want the Socialist case to become widely known and to be properly understood. This is no easy task for the Socialist Party—our rotten system is deeply ingrained into the minds and manners of men and it is going to take a lot to remove it. Maybe sometimes a softer approach rather than a bullheaded all-out condemnation of the efforts of those who try to bring about some improvement within existing conditions is required. I put it to you.

George Pearson

London SW20

Reply:
You are quite mistaken about the United Nations. Like the old League of Nations this is a "league of bandits" bringing together the political representatives of all the ruling classes in the world. It can only act with the agreement and acquiescence of the dominant capitalist States— America, Russia, Britain, France and China—and is being used on this occasion as a flag of convenience under which the Western powers are mustering to prepare any military action that might be necessary to protect the security of their oil supplies. We see nothing hopeful in such military co-operation to defend the commercial interests of the capitalists of the West.

We can and do recognise hopeful developments within capitalism but this does not extend to preparations for war.

Editors.

Blogger's Note:

The Left Communist organisation, the International Communist Current, also had a letter on this meeting in the November 1990 issue of the Socialist Standard.

There is an audio recording of the September 11th, 1990 meeting at Conway Hall on the SPGB's website:

THE GULF CRISIS – ANOTHER WAR FOR OIL 

Venue: Conway Hall, London

Date: 11th September 1990

Panel – Steve Coleman, Richard Headicar, Kerima Mohideen