HOW TO BECOME A MARXIST: 18 – Soldiers and Socialists

I was at art gallery event the other night and I came across some works that were meant to instill “appreciation” for “our soldiers.” the pieces were paintings that looked as if they had been derived from photos taken by the soldier while deployed in Afghanistan.

The majority of the works centered around the hum-drum day-to-day dealings of military occupation. Only two works actually featured anything disturbing. One was an image of a vehicle that appeared to have been demolished by an explosive. The other image was of a US soldier searching an Afghan male for weapons at a check point of some sort. Worse yet, the picture of the Afghan male described him as wearing a “man dress” rather than calling his clothing by it’s proper name (which the soldier presumably should have learned in some sort of cultural training before heading out to Afghanistan), which is a THOBE.

The works in general lamented that more people felt a disconnect with the soldiers and the wonderful duties that they are doing on our behalf. Of course, if harassing innocent people and making fun of their style of dress is supposed to be helping me as an American, I would prefer to cease and desist any further “assistance.”

But regardless, the presence of the works raised some important issues, particularly around how socialists should relate to soldiers.

There are four main things to keep in mind regarding soldiers in general:
1) The military itself is a microcosm of the society that produces it, with all of the contradictions and violence of that society magnified tenfold (i.e racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, physical brutality, class stratification, wage stratification, absence of democracy).
2) Just as civilian capitalist society is divided between capitalists, the middle class, and workers; so the military is divided by the generals, the officers, and the soldiers.
3) Soldiers are ultimately “workers in uniform.” Meaning two things: a) most soldiers sign up for the military for the same reason anyone signs up for any line of work (they need money), and b) just as workers are capable of rising up in rebellion against the capitalists, soldiers are capable of rising up in rebellion against the generals.
4) The defining moment in any revolution depends on whether or not the revolutionary movement is able to politically win 51% or more of the military to the side of the revolution. Although the military is the ultimate weapon of the bourgeoisie, the soldiers themselves are living, breathing human beings that are capable of seeing the contradictions within both the military and society at large and therefore capable of turning their guns on the generals rather than their working class brothers and sisters.

As with any political discussion, it is important to be frank about the issues at hand. As socialists, we adamantly oppose any and all use of the military in any sort of domestic or foreign intervention. The military is an arm of the bourgeois state, which only deploys the military in the interests of the bourgeoisie. 

No matter how “humanitarian” the bourgeois media and politicians may make the intervention out to be, the reality is that the military only serves the purpose of killing for the interests of the capitalists. This reality might sometimes be tempered with promises of medical or nutritional aid, or with promises that the intervention is for “freedom and democracy,” but the reality is that the military only travels to ensure profits and corollary exploitation.

But the point is that, just like capitalist society in general, the military is an entirely undemocratic organization that deliberately lies to its soldiers to get them to carry out their duties just as our politicians constantly lie to us to get us to accept racism, sexism, homophobia, and austerity measures. The soldiers have no say on how, when, or why they have to execute certain missions. All they know is that they have to follow orders or else risk being physically brutalized and/or legally punished. Case in point: Bradley Manning.

So it is important for both socialists and soldiers to be aware that there is a distinction between opposing the military and military intervention in general, and being opposed to soldiers in particular. And it is important to cut through the patriotic propaganda that the bourgeois media and politicians try to shove down our collective throats. Patriotism hurts workers by turning “native” workers against “foreign” workers (which is all the more absurd in the nation of immigrants: the USA). Patriotism is used by the powers-that-be to send soldiers off to murder and be turned into cannon fodder. 

This also raises the question of who really “supports our troops?” as has been explicitly stated by countless politicians: THERE IS NO ACTUAL IDEA ABOUT WHEN THE “WAR ON TERROR” WILL END. John McCain famously predicted it might be another hundred years. There is talk now of some troop reductions, but not of an actual end of war. Moreover, in Obama’s recent speech about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, he practically assured that not only would the war continue, but that it would likely expand into new arenas.

My point is this: the bourgeoisie and their state have no intention of stopping the meat grinder of war. If they had it their way, soldiers would continue murdering and dying well into the foreseeable future. In contrast, socialists want “troops out now.” No fake timetables, no fake “troop reductions,” no focusing on one theatre of war over another. ALL TROOPS OUT NOW. 

Instead of spending billions of dollars to send young men and women off to kill and be killed, let’s use that money to bring them home, provide them with jobs to rebuild the US infrastructure around renewable energy and creating nation-wide high speed rail systems, as well as providing free health care and higher education for all?

Here is another thing to consider: if the bourgeoisie and their politicians really care so much about soldiers, why are soldier’s rates of PTSD, suicide, and homelessness so astronomical compared to the statistics of civilians?

Are there assholes in the military? Absolutely, just as there are assholes within the civilian world as well. But just like the civilian working class we need to reach out and debate with soldiers and offer a socialist perspective on what is wrong with capitalist society, why are workers exploited by capitalists, why are soldiers exploited by generals, and draw the connections between the common needs of soldiers and workers (i.e. right to free education, right to free housing, right to free physical and mental health care, right to a living wage, right to democracy in the work place, right to organize in the workplace, etc.).

Just like in any number of revolutions (and near-revolutions) that have occurred since 1917, the central question is: are the masses of workers able to relate to, and win over, major sections of the military to the side of the revolution? If this can be effectively done, it basically disarms the bourgeoisie without ever firing a shot. The bourgeoisie knows this and they fear it. That is why there is a massive campaign against Julian Assange for leaking the reality that wars are not fought for freedom, but for profit. 

This is why the military is trying to make an example out of whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Because if he, as a soldier, sees the contradictions of the stated aims of the military and the reality of what is actually happening, then there is the risk that other soldiers will follow that example and refuse to fight illegal wars.

In Egypt, the masses of protesters rightly approached the soldiers that were deployed on their own soil and embraced them. They rightly looked to win them over to the demand of overthrowing Mubarak, rather than launching into street fights with them.

But this is also why it is important to distinguish between soldiers and generals. The protesters might have won over the soldiers on the ground, but the generals in the ivory towers still have their interests tied with the bourgeoisie, so Egypt remains in struggle.

The military is always treated as a glorified organization, full of honor, respect, and prestige. The reality is that human beings are not meant to engage in war and soldiers are therefore dehumanized, brutalized, and trained in treating their targets as subhuman before being sent into combat. Racism, rape, homophobia, and murder are what the military trains soldiers to follow because that is the only way to get people to survive in a situation where the job will be to invade, occupy, and terrorize civilian populations in foreign countries.

The military must be resisted when it goes recruiting in working class communities, especially as they always recruit the heaviest in communities of color. The effects of the brutal military training and experiences of war inevitably spill over into violent behavior that is then brought back home. This is why socialists need to organize with, and recruit from soldiers and help build and connect the broader anti-war movement with existing and potential war resisters.

Only by building a massive anti-war movement that explicitly sides with the people of the invaded nations, that explicitly calls out the military as a machine of imperialism, and explicitly calls on soldiers to resist and refuse to fight and instead join the antiwar movement will the wars ever stop and the revolutions be won.

Tanks and planes need soldiers to control them. If the soldiers won’t use them, then the wars can’t be fought. More importantly, if they turn the tanks and jets on the ruling class, then the revolution can’t be stopped.

I bring up these topics because it is important to say that there are two very incorrect lines. One is to say that we should thank the soldiers for serving our country. This is fundamentally wrong as murdering people that have been invaded does not serve the working class one bit. The other incorrect line is to shun or attack soldiers as “baby-killers.” Most people do not join the military hoping to commit atrocities. The fact is that what we need is to create a base that can encourage, embolden, and support soldiers to oppose war.

In the US, it is important to engage soldiers in political discussion, to introduce them to the Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW), and to provide screenings of the important documentary of soldier resistance: SIR! NO SIR! It is important to invite them to antiwar meetings and encourage them to organize with their fellow soldiers and to ultimately to convince them to take stand up against the imperialist war machine and provide them with the political and financial support they will need to succeed in resisting.

Troops out now!