The mighty power of revolution has
been demonstrated with the resignation of Mubarak. It has shown that the
staunchest, most vicious and stubborn of despots can be overthrown when
the masses enter the arena of struggle and their resolve becomes
absolute. But the most unique feature of this movement is that even
after the tyrant has gone it refuses to relent.
The mighty power of revolution has
been demonstrated with the resignation of Mubarak. It has shown that the
staunchest, most vicious and stubborn of despots can be overthrown when
the masses enter the arena of struggle and their resolve becomes
absolute. But the most unique feature of this movement is that even
after the tyrant has gone it refuses to relent.
January 25. Photo: 3arabawyWhat
began as an uprising to overthrow the despotic regime of Mubarak has
entered a new phase with clear socio-economic demands that challenge the
existing relations of property and the exploitative system of
capitalism. And yet there are many who had long abandoned any
perspective of class struggle and social revolution and now refuse to
recognize the revolution unfolding on the streets of Tunis and Cairo,
and spreading to Amman, Tehran, Aden and many other cities across the
Middle East. There are none so blind as those who will not see. But this
whole generation of sceptics and cynics dominating the media and the
intelligentsia is doomed by history. Leon Trotsky in his epic work ‘The
History of the Russian Revolution’ defined revolution in the following
terms:
“The most indubitable feature of a revolution is the direct
interference of the masses in historical events. In ordinary times the
state, be it monarchical or democratic, elevates itself above the
nation, and history is made by specialists in that line of business –
kings, ministers, bureaucrats, parliamentarians, journalists. But at
those crucial moments when the old order becomes no longer endurable to
the masses, they break over the barriers excluding them from the
political arena, (…). The history of a revolution is for us first of
all a history of the forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of
rulership over their own destiny.”
Revolution is not a one-act drama .To say that a revolution has begun
is not to say that it has been completed, or even that victory is
assured. It is a struggle of living forces. The masses learn from
experience. In a revolution this process acquires lightning speed. The
youth and workers of Egypt have learnt more in a matter of three weeks
than in thirty years of ‘normal’ life. On the streets and in the
factories they have come to realize their power in modern society. The
attacks of the counter revolutionary forces have been smashed with the
steeled will and determination of the people.
However, the Egyptian revolution has not finished. In order to solve
the problems of the society, it is necessary to break with capitalism,
expropriate the economy, industry, banks, finance capital and the
imperialist assets and stop their plunder. These measures will enable
the workers to carry out a socialist transformation of society. This is
both necessary and possible.
As the revolution advances after the end of its beginning without a
Leninist party and a Marxist leadership, the revolutionary process will
become more and more protracted. There will be battles encompassing
victories and defeats. There will be lulls in the movement, periods of
despair, apathy, indifference and inactivity – which will be followed by
bursts of feverish activity and social explosions. But one thing is
assured Egypt will never be the same again. The revolution unleashed on
January is not going to die down. It is unstoppable. It will keep on
reverberating time and again until a victory is achieved by overthrowing
the present system that is the root cause of all the burning problems
of the Egyptian society.
The imperialists are terrified. Hilary Clinton’s remarks during the
initial upsurge graphically illustrated the imperialist fears. She said,
“In too many places, in too many ways, the region’s foundations are
sinking in sand”. The greatest economic and military power on earth, the
USA, is powerless to intervene in spite of the fact that they have a
lot at stake. It could not even control the actions of Mubarak. The
sending of US warships to Suez was in reality an empty gesture. The
imperialists have already burned their fingers in Iraq. They are facing a
defeat in Afghanistan. It is in no position to launch another military
adventure in the Middle East, and least of all against the Egyptian
revolution. After the departure of Mubarak from the scene the
imperialists don’t really have a clue of how to resolve the situation to
maintain the status quo.
The US state has had close relations with the Egyptian military for
decades. But the cohesion and the chain of command of the army is very
fragile to say the least. The relentless upsurge of the masses will
never tolerate another military regime having just got rid of a despot.
Another thrust of the masses and the military will break along class
lines.
At the present time the imperialists are trying to manoeuvre in
fabricating some sort of a ‘democratic’ façade. However that would be
very vulnerable. Newsweek of 31 January wrote, “By definition,
revolutions are unpredictable, but should democracy take hold in Egypt,
the American administration will have to deal with a much more messy and
turbulent situation.” The CIA’s experienced operative Bruce Riedel had
this to say, “The challenge Obama has now, is managing the whirlwind.”
Any imperialist imposed democratic set up will be for the continuation
of the exploitation and plunder. Jawar Lal Nehru, who although he
capitulated to the lure of imperialist negotiated power later due to his
ideological confusion, wrote the following in 1935, “democracy for an
eastern country seems to mean only one thing: to carry out the behests
of the imperialist ruling power.”
The Islamic fundamentalists were left far behind by the revolution.
But where the spontaneous nature of the movement was its strength it was
also its principle weakness. Now the media are trying to prop up the
Muslim Brotherhood. But the leaders of the Ikhwan are overwhelmed by the
secular nature of the movement. When Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei even
talked of an “Islamic awakening” the Brotherhood replied that the
revolt was the “Egyptian people’s revolution.” Although they are
offering their services to the west a regime including the Islamists
would not be stable and would not last very long.
The main problem for the imperialists and the custodians of
capitalism is the resilience of the movement on the one hand and the
rising socio-economic demands that this decaying system can never fulfil
on the other. Ultimately only a socialist transformation can guarantee
the victory of this revolution.
