The Turkish state has carried out a new massacre in the midst of its military operations going on for a long time. Kurdish villagers traditionally engaged in smuggling across the Iraqi border were bombed in Uludere Sirnak by Turkish fighter-bomber aircrafts. The attack was carried out on December 28, around 22.30 by F-16 fighter-bombers killing 36 Kurds, most of them at the age of 15-19. Still there are 17 missing.

Prime Minister Erdoğan admitted in a speech that the Turkish state has made a massacre in Dersim in 1937-8. Showing some official documents from state archives Erdoğan said that there were 13.806 persons killed, more than ten thousand deported and thousands of little girls forcibly taken and raised by army officers. He claimed that as government they were coming to terms with the past and shedding light into dark corners of history, adding that “if there is need for an apology on behalf of the state, if there is such a practice in the books, then I would apologise and I am apologising.”

The debates on “the nature of the Soviet state” served to divide the communist movement into pieces for many years. This question is still important and is not just confined to explaining a historical phenomenon. The question is about how do we conceive socialism, what kind of workers’ state do we aim and how do we attain these goals. It is self-evident that a question of this nature is fundamental to almost all aspects of political struggle. Therefore on the occasion of the anniversary of the October Revolution we think it will be useful to provide a summary composed of the work In the Light of Marxism by Elif Çağlı who provided a scientific and original answer to this question on Marxist premises.

Once again Turkish state is stepping up repression of Kurdish movement and Kurdish people. As usually it is accompanied by chauvinist frenzy stepped up after Cukurca raid by Kurdish guerrillas. As military operations go on in Kurdish provinces, especially in the border areas, there are many attacks by fascist gangs in the company of the police across the country against the Kurdish party BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) premises and Kurds. Ocalan has not been allowed to see his lawyers for more than 3 months. And media employ a strongly anti-Kurd language which is similar to 1990s.

The subject of sub-imperialism involves controversial dimensions that are offshoots of differences on how to understand imperialism or globalisation. There have been erroneous political attitudes on the part of the world left in general and Turkish left in particular because of ruling out the distinction between the colonial and imperialist stages of capitalism. One expression of such attitudes has been to brand the countries such as Brazil , Argentina and Turkey as semi-colonies or neo-colonies. While these positions prevailed for many years they have recently been refurbished and popularised in the context of the debates on globalisation. A typical example of this is to deny that globalisation under capitalism is a more developed state of imperialism and present it as a new stage of “empire”.

Although such experiences are pleasing in themselves since they carry forward the mass of the class, they are by no means enough for the working class to break the chains of wage-slavery and achieve freedom. Conditions of emancipation can develop depending on the quality and quantity of the distance taken by workers towards political consciousness and organisation. In this respect, it has a vital importance to make sure that at least the vanguard elements of the class are capable of answering the questions such as “what kind of organisation?” or “what kind of a unity?” in a way to carry forward the struggle.

The wave of popular uprisings that started in Tunisia and continued with Egypt embracing North Africa and the Middle East has reached a new phase. Though one needs to analyse the situation in Egypt in the aftermath of Mubarak’s overthrow, there is no doubt that the process of mobilisation of millions and Mubarak’s eventual step-down in itself is already a serious source of inspiration in the eyes of other Arab peoples. New upsurges of mass movement that are taking place especially in Yemen, Bahrain and Libya are a demonstration of this fact. Whatever the short term results of this mass wave of revolt it is clear that there is a new era in this region unfolding and that nothing will be the way as they were so far. The social-political struggles to take place in this region in the period ahead and the kind of regimes to be established will be the focus of attention for revolutionaries as well as bourgeois political realm.

The working class youth and those young people who are discontented with capitalist society today need Marxism more than ever. Capitalist system is escalating social maladies it created to unbearable levels, darkening the lives of the working masses day by day. The kind of life offered by capitalism to them is full of anxieties and worries which is in sharp contrast to the world it has decorated with bright lights of technological innovations. Although it is often said that future belongs to the young, there is no happy future for those millions of young people under capitalism.

When you look into the various cases of opportunist tendencies within Marxist movement you cannot but see that a common feature of all opportunist tendencies is to turn a deaf ear to revolutionary criticism. Although the opportunists sometimes seem to accept general revolutionary principles when they are squeezed, in effect they keep following their well-trodden opportunist way. Thus opportunism makes upsurges that are generally unavoidable. Giving concrete examples will surely make clear these features of opportunism that we state here very briefly. As a striking example we can take the upsurge of opportunism in the case of the IMT (International Marxist Tendency) lead by Alan Woods.

The struggle for the creation of the international organization of the working class requires intransigence in principles and flexibility in tactics. Neither opportunism pursuing short term so-called political achievements nor sectarianism unwilling to see and accept anything other than its own small organization can be of any use for this struggle. The reality we face today in the issue of building the revolutionary international organization of the proletariat puts very important responsibilities and tasks over the shoulders of the internationalist communists. Those who are self-confident will continue revolutionary efforts in every field undertaking these responsibilities and tasks. Those who are not intimidated will move forward. All big problems in history have been resolved this way.

Imperialism is a world system that links all nation-states large or small to each other through diverse (and of course unequal) economic relations. For this reason, to defend that nation-states can even be fully independent in an economic sense despite the imperialist system is not overthrown by proletarian revolutions progressing on a world scale is a distortion of Marxism. In conclusion we have to point out once again that we must understand from national liberation nothing but achieving political independence. Economic liberation is a matter of social revolution.

In conclusion, tendency to give the proletariat a national consciousness is a reactionary one. And it is has been the attitude of all petty-bourgeois revolutionary leaderships who, on the one hand, proclaim themselves as “Marxist-Leninist” and on the other hand defend “national culture” in their all ideological and political practice. Rejecting the defence of “national culture” as part of proletarian internationalism is not only the task of the communists of the oppressing nation. This task is equally up to the communists of the oppressed nation.

The importance of theoretical struggle on national question springs essentially from the need to take a correct political attitude based on Marxist foundations in the face of the liberation struggle of oppressed nations. Marxism is not an impressionist or positivist philosophy limiting itself only with interpreting the world, but an integral world view which strives to change the world and develops in an inextricably dialectical relationship with revolutionary practice.

The cause of the working class is not one of providing some free social services coupled with keeping the population under political pressure ensuring a formal equality on poverty. The aspiration of building a world without classes and exploitation, i.e. the cause of socialism, is the cause of equal sharing of not poverty but the whole wealth of the world, meeting material and moral needs and thus removing all kind of obstacles on the way of individual and social development of humanity. Therefore international communists defend that whole world needs not Chavezes, Castros etc. but Bolshevik revolutionaries.

The recent developments in Venezuela and especially Chavez’s talk of socialism which he named as “Socialism of the 21st Century” created a new wave of excitement in the vast majority of the world socialist movement. It is undoubtedly exciting and pleasing for anyone who calls himself/herself Marxist to see that working masses demonstrate openly their discontent against the system by eliminating traditional bourgeois parties, repulse - by fighting in the streets - attempts of coup d´état supported by the Venezuelan oligarchy and the US imperialism and finally create a revolutionary situation. But, the meaning of these developments changes when it is realized that the real source of this wave of excitement is not the revolutionary situation created by the initiative of the masses but the demagogical talk and populist policies of Chavez.

Turkey has been in a state of political turmoil for the last few weeks due to the process of electing a new president by the parliament. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a split from an earlier moderate Islamist party (the Virtue Party) about six years ago as one of the consequences of the military intervention in 1997, sought to elect one of its leading members as president, which is fiercely opposed by the Kemalist-nationalist establishment spearheaded by the military and the main bourgeois opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

You cannot play games with revolution. If the ones who talk about revolution and socialism want to stand by their words, they must follow a proper way to fulfil the resulting tasks on an organizational and strategic level. However some socialist groups including some would-be internationalists have already indulged themselves in the so called “left winds”. With a frivolous attitude, they follow a policy of “saving” the moment.

With all our revolutionary fervor we celebrate and greet the UID-DER, which has been founded as a product of the work carried on for many years by the Workers Self-education Groups (WSEG) among workers from various industries and layers, among both unionists and non-union workers as well as employed and unemployed workers. We believe that the UID-DER will help to raise the level of struggle by its determined and persistent work carried on with the purpose of strengthening the resolve of the working class for international solidarity, struggle and unity. In reply to their letter in which they shared their excitement and happiness with us for the launching of their association, we extend our thanks to the UID-DER on behalf of all collaborators of Marksist Tutum and readers, and wish them every success in their struggle.

Certainly, some real and qualitative alterations caused by the development tendency of the capitalist system beyond national boundaries in its operation and organization have become, especially after 1980, quite apparent. However, it is completely wrong to treat and interpret the facts expressed with the concept of globalisation as if they were brand-new events which would alter the basic laws of capitalism. Let us state an important point from the outset, in order to avoid a mental confusion. Had not the bourgeoisie used the term globalisation to name the international expansion of capitalism during the stormy period that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall and transformed the world balance of forces, it would be unnecessary to put such a term into circulation.