[Peace] Fwd: [marxmail] Will Putin voluntarily withdraw? A reply to Ron Jacobs

[C. G. Estabrook]

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: "Ron Jacobs" <ronj1955 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [marxmail] Will Putin voluntarily withdraw? A reply to Ron Jacobs
> Date: May 4, 2022 at 1:55:20 PM CDT
> To: marxmail at groups.io
> Reply-To: marxmail at groups.io
> 
> A couple things.  Calling for peace is not selfish.  My opening line, which you quote, does not assume any particular order to the events after a ceasefire is in place.  There is no magic involved.  If one looks to history, they will clearly see that most wars end with a negotiated settlement.  This is especially true for those provoked and carried out by the United States since 1944.  In 1965, when the US movement against the US war on the Vietnamese took a giant step forward, it called for negotiations.  The prowar crowd in the government, media, military and corporate America said we the movement was dreaming.  So did the cynics in the media and population.  Nonetheless, the antiwar organizers of all persuasions carried on with their organizing and saw the movement grow bigger and bigger.  In 1973, a peace agreement was signed between the US and the Vietnamese liberation armies.  This was the result of the conflict on the ground, the determination of the Vietnamese people and the international.antiwar Movement that existed.  Of course, Washington couldn't actually accept the terms of the negotiations and continued to fund their disintegrating proxy army based out of what was then called Saigon.  The Pentagon also continued bombing raids, covert ops and other support until April 30, 1975, when it left in a hurry after the proxy army gave up. 
> While the situation in Ukraine is a very far cry from the revolutionary war for independence fought by the Vietnamese--Ukraine's government is not revolutionary or socialist, for starters--my point is that the fact of a large, occasionally militant international antiwar movement was an important peace in ending that war.  That's the direct lesson.
> Given the important differences between that war and the one between Ukraine and Russia, I look for more appropriate historical periods to look at when considering the conflict in Ukraine.  Let me suggest Spring 1914.  Empires are on edge, with one seeing itself as the dominant and only empire.  That latter empire rejects compromise and prevents its allies/clients from accepting it, too.  The growing intransigence of the empires ultimately result in war.  First, among one,two, or three nations, then all hell breaks lose.  The socialist movement is at first opposed to the war their analysis tells them is coming.  Indeed, they call for an international movement against the war.  However, others calling themselves socialist fall prey to the fever, approve war funding and conscription and, after a few years of the most incredible violence perpetrated on humans by other humans, the war ends in the midst of mutinies, revolution and various crowns scurrying to keep face.  The socialist champions of that international antiwar movement which faltered and then disappeared help foment one of those revolutions in Germany and are murdered by order of the social democrats in power--many of the same people who abandoned the call for peace and jumped on the imperial war wagon.
> The analogy is not perfect, in part because 100 years have passed.  But I stick by my position.  We need an international antiwar movement, not a cheerleading squad for the arms industry.  Demanding peace is not calling for more war.
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