ProleWiki - User contributions [en]

Robot

2026-05-18T21:26:46Z

GrainEater: Stub

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A robot refers to a machine that possesses the ability to carry out many steps automatically. They are often programmable and are mainly used for technological advancements.

Nuclear explosion

2026-01-06T15:47:18Z

GrainEater: Stub

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A '''nuclear explosion''' is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy of nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, or a device combining both.

A nuclear explosion relies on a runaway nuclear chain reaction, either through fission (the process of splitting heavy atoms like Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239) or fusion (the process of fusing light atoms like Hydrogen isotopes to form heavier elements), converting a tiny amount of mass into immense energy within a fraction of a second.

Fusion-based (thermonuclear) weapons are capable of producing significantly higher explosive yields than pure fission weapons.

== Fission ==
A neutron strikes the nucleus, the core of an atom, of a heavy, unstable atom (like Uranium-235(235U) or Plutonium-239(239Pu)). The nucleus then absorbs the neutron, becomes unstable, and splits into smaller nuclei, releasing tremendous amounts of energy and more neutrons. The newly released neutrons strike other nearby fissile nuclei, causing them to split, releasing more energy and neutrons in a rapid, exponential chain reaction. The fissile material must then be brought together to achieve "critical mass", allowing the chain reaction to sustain itself and become uncontrolled. This then causes a nuclear explosion to take place.

== Fusion ==
A small fission bomb (as described above) detonates first.
The immense heat and pressure from the fission explosion create the necessary conditions (millions of degrees) for light nuclei (like deuterium and tritium) to fuse into heavier ones, like helium, releasing even more energy, neutrons, and heat in a much more powerful explosion.
The released neutrons can then be induced further fission in a surrounding uranium tamper, creating a fission-fusion-fission cycle for maximum explosive yield.
A reaction purely based upon nuclear fusion remains a hypothetical device.

Nuclear fission

2026-01-06T15:45:51Z

GrainEater: Stub + remove incorrect archive link

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Nuclear fission is a physical process in which the nucleus of a fissile atom (such as Uranium-235 (U-235)) absorbs a free neutron and becomes unstable. The nucleus then splits into two smaller nuclei, releasing a large amount of energy, additional neutrons, and various byproducts.
The released neutrons can go on to trigger further fission events, allowing a chain reaction to develop.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|year=1978|chapter=Nuclear Fission|chapter-url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/nuclear+fission|title=[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]] (3rd ed.)|volume=30|page=452-454|city=Moscow|pdf=https://ia804601.us.archive.org/2/items/B-001-032-507-748-ALL/БСЭ_3изд_т30_742.pdf|trans-title=Boljšaja sovjetskaja enciklopjedija|trans-lang=Russian}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Baidu Baike]]|title=核裂变|date=|url=https://baike.baidu.com/item/核裂变}}</ref>

Nuclear fission is the process used in nuclear reactors to generate electricity in a controlled manner.
It is also the physical principle behind the explosive energy release in atomic bombs, where the reaction occurs in an uncontrolled form.

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Nuclear physics]]

Nuclear fusion

2026-01-06T15:43:58Z

GrainEater: Stub

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Nuclear fusion is a physical process in which two or more light atomic nuclei combine to form a single, heavier nucleus, releasing immense amounts of energy. It requires extreme heat and pressure to overcome the eletrical repulsion between the two nuclei. The most well-documented approach for Earth-based power uses Deuterium (2H) and Tritium (3H).

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers stars and is also responsible for the energy release in the second stage of thermonuclear weapons.

Principality of Liechtenstein

2026-01-06T15:26:09Z

GrainEater: Spelling

{{Infobox country|name=Principality of Liechtenstein|native_name=Fürstentum Liechtenstein|image_flag=Flag of Liechtenstein.svg|image_coat=Staatswappen-Liechtensteins.svg|capital=Vaduz|largest_city=Schaan|mode_of_production=Imperialist Capitalism|government_type=Unitary parliamentary semi-absolute monarchy|leader_title1=Monarch|leader_name1=[[Hans-Adam II]]|leader_title2=Regent|leader_name2=[[Alois Liechtenstein|Alois]]|leader_title3=Prime Minister|leader_name3=[[Brigitte Haas]]|image_map=Liechtenstein - Location Map (2013) - LIE - UNOCHA.svg|map_width=290px|demonym=Liechtensteiner|legislature=Landtag|area_km2=160|population_estimate=41,232|population_estimate_year=2023|unemployment=1.5%|currency=Swiss Franc|currency_code=CHF|calling_code=+423|iso3166code=LI|cctld=.li}}

'''Liechtenstein''', officially the '''Principality of Liechtenstein''' ([[German language|German]]: ''Fürstentum Liechtenstein''), is a doubly landlocked microstate in central [[Europe]]. Located in the Alps, the state is sandwiched between [[Swiss Confederation|Switzerland]] and [[Republic of Austria|Austria]]. Despite its size, internationally Liechtenstein engages in [[imperialism]], particularly in banking. Officially, it maintains neutrality and is dependent on its neighbor Switzerland for most of its foreign relations, with who it shares a customs union.

Liechtenstein exists as a [[Feudalism|feudal]] remnant, controlled by a royal family that allows a [[democracy]] to exist, making Liechtenstein one of the most [[reactionary]] states in Europe. Prince [[Hans-Adam II]] is the richest [[Monarchism|monarch]] in Europe, holding more wealth than Liechtenstein's GDP, and holds the country hostage to his whims by threatening [[capital flight]]. Liechtenstein is frequently praised by [[Anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalists]] due to the Prince running the country like a business.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|author=Romaric Godin|newspaper=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|title=Liechtenstein’s Feudal Prince Has Become a Libertarian Hero|date=2025-12-02|url=https://jacobin.com/2025/12/liechtenstein-prince-hans-adam-wealth|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251209185855/https://jacobin.com/2025/12/liechtenstein-prince-hans-adam-wealth|archive-date=2025-12-12}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Middle ages ===
During the early middle ages Liechtenstein was a part of the [[Duchy of Swabia]] before being passed around throughout the centuries between various royal families within the [[Holy Roman Empire (800–1806)|Holy Roman Empire]]. An Austrian prince of the Liechtenstein family acquired the Lordship of Schellenberg in 1699 and the county of Vaduz in 1712 and in 1719 the territories were united into the Principality of Liechtenstein.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=I. Iakovlev|year=1979|title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|title-url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Liechtenstein|chapter=Liechtenstein|section=Historical survey}}</ref>

=== Principality ===
The new principality of Liechtenstein was entirely dependent on the Holy Roman Empire and remained so until the dissolution of the Empire. When [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]] created the [[Confederation of the Rhine]] as a replacement, Liechtenstein was incorporated into it in 1806. After the fall of Napoleon, Liechtenstein became a part of the new [[German Confederation]] in 1815 which it remained a part of until the Confederations dissolution in 1866.<ref name=":0" />

When the [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]] intended to sell [[State of Alaska|Alaska]] in 1867, before offering it to the [[United States of America|United States]], Tsar [[Alexander II Romanov|Alexander II]] first offered the territory to [[Johann II Liechtenstein|Johann II]], Prince of Liechtenstein. The prince refused the offer believing the territory to be useless but the family would later come to regret the decision after the discovery of gold deposits. No documents of the offer survive into the modern day, so the only evidence that this offer was made is the testimony of the Liechtenstein royal family.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Guillermo Carvajal|newspaper=Magazine cultural independiente|title=How Liechtenstein could have bought Alaska|date=2023-12-12|url=https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2023/12/how-liechtenstein-could-have-bought-alaska/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418080711/https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2023/12/how-liechtenstein-could-have-bought-alaska/|archive-date=2024-04-18}}</ref>

From 1876 to 1918 the principality was close with [[Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1867–1918)|Austria-Hungary]] sharing a common customs district with an Austrian region. In 1921 Liechtenstein in effect became a protectorate of Switzerland and joined a customs union with it in 1924, giving Switzerland control over much of the microstate, particularly in foreign affairs. After the [[Second World War]] Liechtenstein grew a modest [[Proletariat|working class]] but remained a very reactionary and [[Conservatism|conservative]] state, placing limits on the number of foreigners and refusing [[women's suffrage]] in a 1971 referendum.<ref name=":0" />

In 2003 a referendum was held to give the monarch the power of veto over all laws and the appointment of judges, which passed 64 to 36 percent, marking a further shift towards reactionarism. The following year, the Prince split his power between his sons, assigning Alois as regent, Max to manage the LGT financial group, and Constantin to manage the rest of the estate. Hans-Adam remains all powerful in Liechtenstein, blocking reforms like [[abortion]], and holding the country captive with blackmail.<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Liechtenstein| ]]
[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:European countries]]
[[Category:Global north]]
[[Category:Imperialist countries]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liechtenstein}}

Zohran Mamdani

2025-11-26T08:29:35Z

GrainEater: Fix archive.org link

{{Infobox politician|name=Zohran Mamdani|birth_date={{birth date and age|1991|10|18}}|birth_place=[[Kampala]], [[Uganda]]|political_orientation=[[Democratic socialism]]|political_party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]|image=Zohran Mamdani.jpg}}

'''Zohran Kwame Mamdani''' (born October 18, 1991) is an [[United States of America|Statesian]] politician who has served as the 36th district member of the New York State Assembly since 2021 and is the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for mayor of [[New York City]] in the 2025 election. A member of the [[Democratic Socialists of America]] (DSA), Mamdani ran on a [[Progressivism|progressive]] platform of policies such as freezing rents and affordable housing, fast, free buses, no cost childcare and city-owned grocery stores.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Monica Moorehead|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=Zohran Mamdani’s victory: What we know and don’t know|date=2025-07-01|url=https://www.workers.org/2025/07/86566/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250704163541/https://www.workers.org/2025/07/86566/|archive-date=2025-07-04}}</ref> In the short term Mamdani's policies may alleviate the conditions of the [[proletariat]] in New York, however, due to the limits of bourgeois institutions Mamdani can achieve no lasting change and his progressive policies will be undone by future administrations.

After winning the Democratic nomination, Mamdani shifted to the right in order to placate the [[bourgeoisie]] and the Democratic Party. He has made reassurences that he will not seriously challenge bourgeois interests and has gained the endorsements of right wing Democrats such as [[Kathy Hochul]], as well as supposed progressives like [[Bernie Sanders]] and [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez|AOC]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Erik Schreiber|newspaper=[[WSWS]]|title=At election rally, DSA candidate Mamdani embraces right-wing Democratic Party establishment|date=2025-10-28|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/29/ikjg-o29.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251126081828/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/29/ikjg-o29.html|archive-date=2025-11-26}}</ref> Admidst [[Donald Trump]]'s threats against [[Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela|Venezuela]], Mamdani declared [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]] and Venezeula to be [[Dictatorship|dictatorships]], assisting efforts at consent manufacturing, though he also condemned the [[United States embargo against Cuba|blockade of Cuba]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Alicia Civita, Matias Civita|newspaper=Latin Times|title=Mamdani Breaks Silence About Maduro and Cuban President Díaz-Canel: How Jorge Ramos and Daughter Paola Got Him to Open Up|date=2025-09-25|url=https://www.latintimes.com/mamdani-breaks-silence-about-maduro-cuban-president-diaz-canel-how-jorge-ramos-daughter-paola-589809|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251001133944/https://www.latintimes.com/mamdani-breaks-silence-about-maduro-cuban-president-diaz-canel-how-jorge-ramos-daughter-paola-589809|archive-date=2025-10-01|quote=I want to be clear on where I stand. I believe both Nicolas Maduro and Miguel Diaz-Canel are dictators. Their administrations have stifled free and fair elections, jailed political opponents, and suppressed the free and fair press. And yet, our federal government's long history of punitive policies toward both countries, including extrajudicial killings of Venezuelans and the continuation of a decades long blockade of Cuba, have only worsened these conditions. Democratic socialism is about dignity, justice and accountability. And above all, it's about building a democracy that works for working people, not one that preys on them.}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Zohran Kwame Mamdani was born on October 18, 1991 in Kampala, the capital and largest city of [[Republic of Uganda|Uganda]].<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|author=Mona Davids|newspaper=Little Africa News|title=Ugandan-Born Zohran Mamdani Announces Candidacy for Mayor of New York City|date=2024-10-26|url=https://www.littleafricanews.com/zohran-mamdani-announces-candidacy-for-mayor-of-new-york-city/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250627171612/https://www.littleafricanews.com/zohran-mamdani-announces-candidacy-for-mayor-of-new-york-city/|archive-date=2025-06-27}}</ref> He is the only child of Indian-Ugandan post-colonial Marxist scholar [[Mahmood Mamdani]] and progressive filmmaker Mira Nair.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|title=Mahmood Mamdani education and career path: How Mamdani's father built a legacy of revolution through ideas and exile|date=2025-06-25|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/education/news/mahmood-mamdani-education-and-career-path-how-zohran-mamdanis-father-built-a-legacy-of-revolution-through-ideas-and-exile/articleshow/122064130.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250821213210/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/education/news/mahmood-mamdani-education-and-career-path-how-zohran-mamdanis-father-built-a-legacy-of-revolution-through-ideas-and-exile/articleshow/122064130.cms|archive-date=2025-08-21}}</ref> His father gave him the middle name Kwame after [[Kwame Nkrumah]], the first [[Republic of Ghana|Ghanaian]] President, which Mamdani claims has instilled in him the values of [[Pan-Africanism]].<ref name=":1" />

== Mayoral Platform ==

* '''Housing''': He plans to freeze rents for the over 2 million people who live in rent stabilized apartments. Additionally he plans to build affordable housing, crack down on bad landlords, end deed theft and fix the property tax system.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|newspaper=Zohran for New York City|title=The Platform|url=https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250905182224/https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform|archive-date=2025-09-05}}</ref>
* '''Affordability''': He plans to open low priced, city owned grocery stores as well make buses both faster and free. Mamdani also plans on introducing a range of child welfare benefits, including free childcare and baby baskets with essential supplies for newborns.<ref name=":0" />
* '''Labor''': Mamdani says he will support workers and unions in their fight for better wages and working conditions. Specifically, he plans to raise the minimum wage to $30 by 2030 as well as regulate delivery apps and protect delivery workers.<ref name=":0" />
* '''Budget''': To fund his policy plans, Mamdani plans to tax the wealthy by introducing a 2% on those earning more then $1 million a year and increasing corporate tax from 7.25% to 11.5%.
* '''Climate''': As Mayor Mamdani plans to lead a large decarbonization and climate resilience program citywide; building renewable housing and overseeing a climate prepareness program. In additions to infrastructure, Mamdani plans to renovate 500 public schools with renewable energy and HVAC upgrades.<ref name=":0" />
* '''Minority rights''': Mamdani says he will ensure immigrants are protected and remove [[United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]] from the city. He will also make New York a LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, protect reproductive rights as well as expand and protect gender-affirming care citywide.<ref name=":0" />

== Israel ==
Mamdani has been known for being hightly critical of "[[State of Israel|Israel]]" and has condemed the [[apartheid]] system and Israeli war crimes as well as supported the [[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions]] movement.<ref name=":2">{{Web citation|author=Tom Allon|newspaper=City&State New York|title=Opinion: Weaponizing antisemitism is dirty politics|date=2025-06-30|url=https://www.cityandstateny.com/opinion/2025/06/opinion-weaponizing-antisemitism-dirty-politics/406398/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250906170003/https://www.cityandstateny.com/opinion/2025/06/opinion-weaponizing-antisemitism-dirty-politics/406398/|archive-date=2025-07-06}}</ref> Unlike most high profile politicians, Mamdani has stated he believes that Israel is committing a [[Palestinian genocide|genocide]]<ref>{{Web citation|author=Liam Stack|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|title=Mamdani Has Long Criticized Israel. His Opponents Attack Him for It.|date=2025-06-25|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/nyregion/mamdani-gaza-israel.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250904195746/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/nyregion/mamdani-gaza-israel.html|archive-date=2025-09-04}}</ref> and has said he would arrest [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] if he entered New York.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Lisa Featherstone|newspaper=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|title=All the Worst People Are Losing It Over Zohran Mamdani’s Win|date=2025-07-15|url=https://jacobin.com/2025/07/mamdani-nyc-billionaires-israel-defenders|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250827133149/https://jacobin.com/2025/07/mamdani-nyc-billionaires-israel-defenders|archive-date=2025-08-27}}</ref> For his stance he has earned the ire of [[Zionism|Zionists]] and is regularly falsely accused of being [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]], despite proving himself not to be a radical by condeming the start of [[Israel-Gaza war and genocide|Operation Flood of Al-Aqsa]] as "a horrific war crime".<ref name=":2" />

Mamdani become famous for his promise to stay in New York instead of flying off to Tel Aviv during the Democratic primary debates, he has since pivoted on his stances on "[[Israel]]" since winning the primary. In a event with CEOs, he told that he would “discourage” use of ‘intifada’ after listening to Jewish leaders,<ref>{{Web citation|author=Mark Chiusano|newspaper=[[Time Magazine|Time]]|year=2025|title= ‘A Politics of No Translation.’ Zohran Mamdani on His Unlikely Rise|quote=Few events got as much attention as the closed-door one with the CEOs, hosted by the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit business leadership group. In a conference room floating above the city and stocked with a spread of cookies, fruit, and cheese, Mamdani was not swarmed for selfies upon entry, as he usually is these days. He did a fireside chat and Q and A, during which he was grilled about his thoughts on the “globalize the intifada” brouhaha.

To the CEOs, however, Mamdani said he would discourage the use of the phrase—a small but pointed evolution in language. In our interview, Mamdani frames the shift as the consequence of listening to New Yorkers, including Jewish leaders, as well as a rabbi who said the phrase evoked memories of bus bombings in Haifa. “The job of the mayor is to deliver for New Yorkers,” he says. “And it’s also to take care of New Yorkers.”}}</ref> even though 'intifada' is merely Arabic for 'uprising' and not an [[antisemitic]] phrase, even so far as having been used in the Arabic translation of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising exhibit in the U.S. Holocaust Museum. In an [[MSNBC]] interview with Al Sharpton, Mamdani talked about the "complexities of viewpoints" when referring to the [[Gazan genocide]].<ref>{{News citation|title=WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ZOHRAN!??|date=2025-09-09|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXVffXk2DuE}}</ref>
== References ==
<references />
[[Category:1991 births]]
[[Category:Members of the Democratic Party (United States)]]
[[Category:Members of the Democratic Socialists of America]]

PayPal

2025-08-07T19:25:00Z

GrainEater: Fix citation

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{{Infobox company|name=PayPal Holdings, Inc.|image=PayPal 2024.svg|founding_date=March 2000|founder=[[Ken Howery]] [[Max Levchin]] [[Luke Nosek]] [[Yu Pan]] [[Peter Thiel]] [[Elon Musk]] [[Harris Fricker]] [[Christopher Payne]] [[Ed Ho]]|industry=Financial technology|predecessors=[[Confinity]] [[X.com]]}}'''PayPal''', officially '''PayPal Holdings, Inc.''' is a [[United States of America|Statesian]] multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system. It has been used to censor anti-war voices and other activists.<ref>{{News citation|author=[[Kevin Reed]]|newspaper=[[WSWS]]|title=PayPal shuts accounts of anti-war publications Consortium News and MintPress News|date=2022-05-04|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/05/04/uofx-m04.html}}</ref>

== Founding & Acquisition ==
PayPal was originally founded as [[Confinity]] by [[Peter Thiel]] in 1998 with PayPal being the name of its product. In early 2000, it merged with [[X.com]], founded by [[Elon Musk]] who was installed as CEO. Later on the same year, Musk was ousted as CEO and the company changed its name to PayPal.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Julie Ankenbrandt|newspaper=Forbes|title=How Was The Rivalry Between Paypal And X.com Before And After The Merger?|date=2015-10-09|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2015/10/09/how-was-the-rivalry-between-paypal-and-x-com-before-and-after-the-merger|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010083914/https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2015/10/09/how-was-the-rivalry-between-paypal-and-x-com-before-and-after-the-merger/|archive-date=2015-10-08}}</ref>

In February 2002, PayPal went public with an IPO that raised $70.2m.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=CNET|title=PayPal pulls in $70.2 million in IPO|date=2002-02-14|url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/paypal-pulls-in-70-2-million-in-ipo/}}</ref> 8 months later, they were acquired by [[eBay]], which accounted for a majority of their transactions at the time.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Joris Evers|newspaper=Computer World|title=EBay completes PayPal acquisition|date=2002-10-04|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/1339355/ebay-completes-paypal-acquisition.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240423151345/https://www.computerworld.com/article/1339355/ebay-completes-paypal-acquisition.html|archive-date=2023-04-23}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Companies based in the United States]]
[[Category:Financial technology companies]]
[[Category:Imperialist companies]]

Ansar Allah

2025-06-09T18:57:50Z

GrainEater: Clarification

{{Infobox political party|name=Ansar Allah|native_name=أنصار الل|founded=1994|leader=[[Abdul-Malik al-Houthi]]|spokesperson=[[Mohammed Abdul Salam]]|political_orientation=[[Anti-imperialism]] [[Anti-Zionism]]}}

'''Ansar Allah''', often referred to as the '''Houthis''', is an [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] [[Shia]] [[Islam|Islamic]] movement in [[Republic of Yemen|Yemen]]. After overthrowing the corrupt [[United States of America|US]]-backed regime in 2014,<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|date=2021-01-12|title=US backs al-Qaeda in Yemen while dubbing its Houthi enemies ‘terrorists’|url=https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/12/us-al-qaeda-yemen-houthis-terrorists/|newspaper=[[The Grayzone]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529013431/https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/12/us-al-qaeda-yemen-houthis-terrorists/|archive-date=2023-05-29|author=[[Ben Norton]]}}</ref> it has been fighting against the [[Kingdom of Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] invasion of Yemen since 2015 and opposes U.S. presidents [[Donald Trump]] and [[Joe Biden]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ahmed Abdulkareem|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=As Tide Turns, Houthis Reject US, Saudi “Peace” Deals for the Recycled Trash They Are|date=2021-03-27|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/tide-turns-yemen-houthis-reject-us-saudi-peace-deal/276455/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324122713/https://www.mintpressnews.com/tide-turns-yemen-houthis-reject-us-saudi-peace-deal/276455/|archive-date=2022-03-24|retrieved=2022-09-29}}</ref> Ansar Allah and its allies control territory that holds 80% of the Yemeni population.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=[[ANSWER Coalition]]|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=12 things you should know about Yemen|date=2019-01-07|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/12-things-you-should-know-about-yemen/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107231606/https://www.liberationnews.org/12-things-you-should-know-about-yemen/|archive-date=2020-11-07|retrieved=2023-04-20}}</ref>

== Anti-imperialist actions ==
On 31 October 2023, Ansar Allah began strikes against [[Zionism|Zionist]] ships in the Red Sea, including a [[Kingdom of Norway|Norwegian]] oil tanker delivering oil to the [[State of Israel|Zionist Entity]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Jane Cutter|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Who are the Houthis?|date=2023-12-23|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/who-are-the-houthis/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223183428/https://www.liberationnews.org/who-are-the-houthis/|archive-date=2023-12-23}}</ref>

== International relations ==
Although Ansar Allah is an independent group, it has political and media support from [[Islamic Republic of Iran|Iran]]. It is strongly opposed to [[Zionism]] and supports the government of [[Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela|Venezuela]], and formerly the government of the [[Syrian Arab Republic]], against [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|Western]] aggression.<ref name=":1" />

== See also ==

* [[Islamic Resistance Movement|Hamas]]
* [[Hezbollah]]

== References ==
[[Category:Anti-imperialist organizations]]

The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL

2025-05-23T13:32:40Z

GrainEater: Formatting

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The Left in the European Parliament - GUE-NGL is a faction in the [[European Parliament]]. While it is anti-capitalist and recognised the role of [[Neoliberalism]] destroying much of the European peoples' lives, it is quite [[reformist]] and seeks to change the neoliberal imperialist [[European Union]] from within.{{Infobox political party|name=The Left in the European Parliament - GUE/NGL|native_name=La sinistra al Parlamento europeo - SUE/SNV|logo=|founded=1979 (Communists and allies) 1989 (Left Unity) 1993 (United European Left) 1999 (GUE/NGL)|abbreviation=GUE/NGL|president=|leader1_title=Chairs|leader1_name=[[Manon Aubry]] and [[Martin Schirdewan]]|headquarters=|think tank=Transform Europe|womens_wing=|political_orientation=[[Socialism]] [[Reformism]] Factions: [[Reactionary]] politics [[Communism]] [[Social Democracy]]|europarl=|website=}}Its composition parties are the socialist [[Party of the European Left]] and the [[Eco-socialism|green social-democratic]] [[European Left Alliance]]. As such, the faction lacks a coherent identity on the struggle against capitalism and imperialism. On the other hand, the faction has been vocal in its support for [[Palestine]] and many of its members are opposed to [[NATO]].

== Members ==

=== Current ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Country
!Party
!Ideology
!Seats
|-
|Belgium
|[[Workers' Party of Belgium]]
|[[Socialism]][[Reformism]][[Marxism]]
|2
|-
|Cyprus
|[[Progressive Party of Working People]]
|[[Communism]][[Marxism–Leninism]]
|1
|-
|Denmark
|[[Red-Green Alliance (Denmark)]]
|[[Reformism]][[Democratic socialism]][[Eco-socialism]]
|1
|-
|Euskal Herria
(Basque Country)
|[[EH Bildu]]
|[[Socialism]][[Anti-imperialism]][[Basque]] liberation
|1
|-
|Finland
|[[Left Alliance (Finland)]]
|[[Reformism]][[Democratic socialism]]
|3
|-
|France
|[[France Unbowed]]
|[[Progressivism]][[Reformism]][[Democratic socialism]]
|
|-
|Germany
|[[The Left (Germany)]]
|[[Reformism]][[Anti-fascism]][[Democratic socialism]]
|3
|-
|Germany
|Animal Protection Party
|Animal rights
|1
|-
|Greece
|[[Syriza]]
|Modern [[Liberalism]]
[[Social democracy]]
[[Neoliberalism]]
|4
|-
|Ireland
|[[Provisional Sinn Féin|Sinn Féin]]
|[[Social democracy]]
|2
|-
|Italy
|[[Five Star Movement]]
|[[Reactionary]] politics
[[Green]] politics
[[Racism]]
|8
|-
|Italy
|Italian Left
|[[Reformism]][[Democratic socialism]]
|
|-
|Netherlands
|Party for the Animals
|Animal rights
[[Green]] politics
Soft [[Anti-capitalism]]
|1
|-
|Portugal
|Left Bloc
|[[Socialism]][[Anti-imperialism]][[Reformism]]
|1
|-
|Portugal
|[[Portuguese Communist Party]]
|[[Marxism–Leninism]][[Communism]][[Eco-socialism]]
|1
|-
|Spain
|[[Podemos]]
|Left-wing populism
[[Reactionary]] politics
|2
|-
|Spain
|Sumar
|Left-wing populism
[[Green]] politics
|1
|-
|Sweden
|[[Left Party (Sweden)]]
|[[Socialism]][[Anti-imperialism]][[Anti-fascism]][[Reformism]]
|
|}

=== Former ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Country
!Party
!Ideology
!Year joined
!Year left
!Notes
|-
|Czech Republic
|[[Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia]]
|[[Reactionary]] politics
[[Reformism]]
[[Liberal conservatism]]
|2004
|2024
|Left in protest of environmental actions.
|-
|Spain
|[[United Left]]
|Big tent [[Socialism]]
|1987
|2024
|Replaced by Sumar
|-
|Ireland
|Independents 4 Change
|[[Socialism]]Anti-[[NATO]] politics
|2019
|2024
|Lost seats
|-
|Greece
|New Left
|[[Democratic socialism]]
|2022
|2024
|Lost seats
|-
|Denmark
|People's Movement against the EU
|Euroscepticism
|2002
|2019
|Replaced by Red-Green Alliance
|-
|France
|[[French Communist Party]]
|[[Scientific socialism]][[Reformism]]
|1979
|2019
|Lost seat
|-
|Greece
|MeRA25
|[[Democratic socialism]][[Opportunism]][[Market socialism]][[Green]] politics
[[Trotskyism]] (faction)
|2014
|2019
|Lost seat
|-
|Greece
|Popular Unity
|[[Socialism]][[Socialism|Anti-capitalism]][[Socialism|Anti-neoliberalism]][[Anti-imperialism]][[Euroscepticism]]
|2014
|2019
|Lost seat
|-
|Netherlands
|Socialist Party
|[[Social democracy]][[Racism]][[Transphobia]]
|1999
|2019
|Lost seats
|-
|Latvia
|[[Latvian Socialist Party]]
|[[Communism]]Russian minority politics
|2009
|2014
|Lost seat
|-
|Ireland
|Socialist Party
|[[Trotskyism]]
|2009
|2014
|Lost seat
|-
|Greece
|[[Communist Party of Greece]]
|[[Communism]][[Marxism–Leninism]][[Reactionary]] politics
[[Opportunism]]
[[Homophobia]]
|1987
|2014
|Left in protest of SYRIZA and Die Linke's
domination of the group.
|-
|Italy
|Communist Refoundation Party
|[[Socialism]][[Reformism]]
|1999
|2009
|Lost seats
|-
|Italy
|Party of Italian Communists
|[[Communism]]
|1999
|2009
|Lost seats
|-
|Germany
|[[Party of Democratic Socialism]]
|[[Socialism]][[Anti-capitalism]][[Anti-neoliberalism]]
|1999
|2007
|Became [[Die Linke]].
|-
|Greece
|Synapsismos
|[[Eurocommunism]][[Democratic socialism]][[Reformism]]
|1989
|2007
|Became [[Syriza]].
|-
|France
|LO-LCR
|[[Trotskyism]][[Cultism]][[Conservatism]]
|1999
|2004
|Lost seats
|-
|Greece
|Democratic Social Movement
|[[Social democracy]][[Syriza]] apologism
|1999
|2004
|Lost seats
|-
|Denmark
|Socialist People's Party
|[[Social democracy]][[Green]] politics
[[Democratic socialism]]
Pro-[[European Union]]
[[Eurocommunism]] (before 1993)
Euroscepticism (before 1993)
|1979
|2004
|Left GUE/NGL for the Greens in 2004.
From 1993 onwards, the party ditched its
Eurosceptic outlook to sell out to the neoliberal EU.
|-
|Italy
|Party of the Democratic Left
|[[Social democracy]]
|1991
|1993
|Inherited the [[Italian Communist Party]]'s seats.
Left GUE/NGL to join the social-democratic
[[S&D]] bloc in line with its neoliberal goal.
|-
|Italy
|[[Italian Communist Party]]
|[[Eurocommunism]]
|1979
|1991
|Became Party of the Democratic Left.
|}

== Potential allies ==
These EU member state parties are not in GUE/NGL at the moment but hold very similar ideologies and may join the bloc should they gain seats in the next election scheduled for 2029.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Country
!Party
!Ideology
!
|-
|Greece
|Plefsi Eleftherias
|[[Anti-capitalism]][[Anti-neoliberalism]][[Revolutionary socialism]] (factions)
[[Reactionary]] politics
Pro-[[LGBT+]]
Refugees' rights
|
|-
|Estonia
|Vasakliit
|[[Democratic socialism]][[Progressivism]][[Reformism]]Russian minority politics
[[Eurocommunism]] (before 2023)
|
|-
|Poland
|[[Partia Razem]]
|[[Social democracy]][[Democratic socialism]]
|
|-
|Romania
|Demos
|[[Social democracy]][[Democratic socialism]][[Green]] politics
|
|-
|Austria
|[[Communist Party of Austria]]
|[[Communism]][[Eco-socialism]]
|
|-
|Bulgaria
|Solidary Bulgaria
|[[Social democracy]]
|
|-
|Czech Republic
|Levice
|[[Democratic socialism]]Anti-[[NATO]]
|
|-
|Luxembourg
|Dei Lenk
|[[Democratic socialism]]Anti-[[NATO]]
|
|-
|Luxembourg
|Communist Party of Luxembourg
|[[Communism]][[Marxism–Leninism]]Hard Euroscepticism
|
|-
|Slovakia
|Communist Party of Slovakia
|[[Communism]][[Marxism–Leninism]]
|
|-
|Slovenia
|Levica
|[[Democratic socialism]]Anti-[[NATO]]
|
|}

== References ==
<references />

Syrian Arab Republic (1963–2024)

2025-05-23T13:26:44Z

GrainEater: Change "in of" to "in"

{{Infobox country|name=Syrian Arab Republic|leader_name4=Najah al-Attar|year_start=1963|year_end=2024|currency=Syrian pound|population_estimate_year=2023|population_estimate=22,933,531|motto=وَحْدَةٌ ، حُرِّيَّةٌ ، اِشْتِرَاكِيَّةٌ|englishmotto="Unity, Freedom, Socialism"|image_map=Syria map.svg|map_width=260|official_languages=Arabic|leader_name5=Hammouda Sabbagh|leader_title5=Speaker of the People's Council|leader_title4=Vice President|leader_name3=Farouk al-Sharaa|native_name=ٱلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلسُّورِيَّةُ|image_flag=Flag of Syria.svg|leader_title3=Vice President|leader_name2=Hussein Arnous|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name1=[[Bashar al-Assad]]|leader_title1=Last President|largest_city=Damascus|image_coat=Syria COA.svg|capital=Damascus|area_km2=185,180}}

The '''Syrian Arab Republic''' was the [[Syria|Syrian]] state lasting from the 1963 [[Ba'athist]] coup until the fall of the legitimate Assad government to [[United States of America|U.S.]] backed terrorists in 2024.

It was a unitary republic consisting of 14 governorates (subdivisions) and was the last country that politically espoused Ba'athism, with [[Republic of Iraq|Iraq]]'s pre-[[Iraq War|intervention]] government having also been guided by the Ba'ath ideology. It was a member of one international organization other than the [[United Nations]], the [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] [[Non-Aligned Movement]].

== History ==
In 1963, a Ba'athist coup overthrew the government and established the Arab Republic.{{Citation needed}}

=== Israeli invasion of Golan Heights ===
The Syrian territory of the [[Golan Heights]] was invaded by [[State of Israel|Israel]] in 1967 and annexed in 1981. It is currently occupied by around 25,000 Israeli settlers.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=France 24|title=Israel unveils plan to double settlers in occupied Golan|date=2021-12-26|url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211226-israel-unveils-plan-to-double-settlers-in-occupied-golan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226132414/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211226-israel-unveils-plan-to-double-settlers-in-occupied-golan|archive-date=2021-12-26|retrieved=2022-05-10}}</ref>

===Syrian Civil War===
Starting in 2011 as part of the Western-supported [[Arab Spring]], Syria descended into civil war as foreign powers began supporting proxy forces to overthrow the [[Bashar al-Assad|Assad]] government.

On 21 August 2013, a chemical weapon detonated in Ghouta and was blamed on [[Bashar al-Assad]], justifying [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] air strikes on Syria. The allegations were first made by Prince [[Bandar bin Sultan]], then head of the [[Kingdom of Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabian]] Intelligence Service, who has previously been involved with both the [[Contras]] and the [[Mujahideen]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=David Usborne|newspaper=The Independent|title=Syria, the Saudi connection: The Prince with close ties to Washington at the heart of the push for war|date=2013-8-27|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-the-saudi-connection-the-prince-with-close-ties-to-washington-at-the-heart-of-the-push-for-war-8785049.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902085302/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-the-saudi-connection-the-prince-with-close-ties-to-washington-at-the-heart-of-the-push-for-war-8785049.html|archive-date=2013-08-29|retrieved=2024-02-21|quote=It was Prince Bandar’s intelligence agency that first alerted Western allies to the alleged use of sarin gas by the Syrian regime in February.}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Web citation|author=Adam Entous, Nour Malas and and Margaret Coker|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|title=A Veteran Saudi Power Player Works To Build Support to Topple Assad|date=2013-08-25|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323423804579024452583045962|retrieved=2024-02-21|quote=Some officials said they fear it carries the same risk of spinning out of control as an earlier project in which Prince Bandar was involved—the 1980s CIA program of secretly financing the Contras in Nicaragua against a leftist government.

A generation ago, Prince Bandar, in a role foreshadowing his current one on behalf of Syrian opposition, helped the CIA arm the Afghan rebels who were resisting occupation by Soviet troops.

...

As part of that, intelligence agents from Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Jordan and other allied states are working at a secret joint operations center in Jordan to train and arm handpicked Syrian rebels, according to current and former U.S. and Middle Eastern officials.

The CIA has put unspecified limits on its arming efforts. But the agency has been helping train rebels to better fight. Earlier this year it also began making salary payments to members of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, U.S. and Arab officials said. There are now more CIA personnel at the Jordan base than Saudi personnel, according to Arab diplomats.
...

The Saudis stepped up rebel support in early 2012, at first by joining forces with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to fund what was then the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council. Saudi Arabia quickly soured on the effort because the Council wasn't buying arms with the money, diplomats said, and began to push for directly arming the insurgents. It also began to work with Qatar through a command center in Turkey to buy and distribute arms.

But tensions grew over which rebels to supply. Both Saudi and American officials worried Qatar and Turkey were directing weapons to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Qatari and Turkish officials denied they favored certain rebel groups.}}</ref> Interviews with people living at the site of the detonation however revealed that Saudi Intelligence, including bin Sultan, had been responsible for providing the chemical weapons to the rebels. Later that year, the rebels explained in an interview that they were not aware they were in possession of chemical weapons and weren't taught how to use them, resulting in the detonation of the Sarin gas by the rebel and Saudi-backed forces.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh|newspaper=Mint Press News|title=EXCLUSIVE: Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack|date=2013-08-29|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/syria-ghouta-claim-saudi-supplied-rebels-chemical-attack/168135/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207212634/https://www.mintpressnews.com/syria-ghouta-claim-saudi-supplied-rebels-chemical-attack/168135/|archive-date=2020-02-07|retrieved=2024-02-21|quote=“They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,” complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ “We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”

“When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them,” she warned. She, like other Syrians, do not want to use their full names for fear of retribution.

“We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions,” ‘J’ said.}}</ref>

Saudi Arabia and Prince Bandar trained Reactionary militias and insurgents in Syria's neighbor Jordan but their initiative was swiftly supplemented by the U.S who began to make payments to the anti-Assad forces. In addition to Saudi Arabia; [[State of Qatar|Qatar]], the [[United Arab Emirates]], and [[Republic of Türkiye|Turkey]] were also responsible for training insurgents and terrorists, with there being a competition between them to establish leadership over the anti-government forces.<ref name=":1" />

The U.S. has supported Islamic jihadists in their [[Operation Timber Sycamore]], not unlike [[Operation Cyclone]] in [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]].<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on-saudi-money-to-support-syrian-rebels.html |date=2016-01-26|title=U.S. Relies Heavily on Saudi Money to Support Syrian Rebels|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208111529/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on-saudi-money-to-support-syrian-rebels.html|archive-date=2023-02-08|author=Mark Mazzetti, Matt Apuzzo}}</ref> They have also killed at least 500 Syrian civilians in airstrikes throughout the war, including 30 when a school was bombed, and used chemical weapons such as white phosphorus. In 2021, the military situation was favorable to the Syrian government, which had retaken most territory thanks to the legal assistance of the [[Russian Federation|Russian]] Air Force as well as assistance from Syria's ally, the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]].<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://the-levant.com/russian-air-force-takes-rebels-syria/ |date=2020-11-21|title=Russian air force takes on rebels in Syria|newspaper=The Levant|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018064708/https://the-levant.com/russian-air-force-takes-rebels-syria/|archive-date=2021-10-18}}</ref>

On 3 February 2022, U.S. forces killed 4 women and 6 children during a raid in Idlib province.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Martin Chulov, Julian Borger|date=2022-02-04|title=Islamic State leader killed during raid by US special forces in Syria|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/03/us-special-forces-kill-suspected-jihadists-in-north-west-syria-raid|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|retrieved=2022-03-11}}</ref>

The U.S. continues to occupy the resource-rich area of Northern Syria, to control its hydrocarbons and agricultural output<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.rokfin.com/post/53265/Biden-Caught-Lying-About-Occupying-Syria |title=Biden Caught Lying About Occupying Syria |author=Jimmy Dore |newspaper=Rokfin }}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |url=https://mate.substack.com/p/to-keep-troops-in-syria-us-leaders |title=To keep troops in Syria, US leaders are lying like in Afghanistan |author=Aaron Maté |date=September 7th 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2021/07/03/661403/US-must-stop-looting-Syria-natural-resources-fight-terrorists-instead-Lavrov |title=US must stop looting Syria's natural resources, fight terrorists instead, says Lavrov |newspaper=[[PressTV]] }}</ref> and has firebombed hundreds of acres of wheat fields. The goal of the US is to prevent the reconstruction of Syria.<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-sanctions-idUSKCN1LI06Z |title=Long reach of U.S. sanctions hits Syria reconstruction |newspaper=[[Reuters]] }}</ref> U.S. and the U.N. prop up opposition forces via the Bab al-Hawa crossing – the only U.N. approved crossing for transporting international aid into Syria. The aid have been described by [[The New York Times]] as “…a lifeline for opposition-held areas in the north.”<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Natasha Frost, Raja Abdulrahim|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|title=The only border crossing for U.N. aid from Turkey to Syria is hobbled.|date=2023-02-07|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/world/europe/turkey-syria-quake-un-aid.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209032139/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/world/europe/turkey-syria-quake-un-aid.html|archive-date=2023-02-09|retrieved=2023-02-09}}</ref>

The U.S. imperialists were using economic warfare to cripple the Syrian economy.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Mimi al-Laham |newspaper=[[PressTV]] |url=https://twitter.com/PressTV/status/1481371739204591616 }}</ref> These [[Economic sanctions|sanctions]] might be soon circumvented with Syria's admission into [[People's Republic of China|China]]'s [[Belt and Road Initiative]].<ref>{{Web citation |date=2022-01-12 |title=Syria joins China’s Belt and Road Initiative|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/01/syria-joins-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative|newspaper=Al-Monitor}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |date=2022-01-12 |title=Syria, China sign MoU in framework of Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative|url=http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=260411 }}</ref>

==== Collapse ====
On 27 November 2024, the Syrian Salvation Government started an offensive towards Damascus and captured Aleppo.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr7rkzz2gmo|title=Syrian troops withdraw from Aleppo as rebels advance|website=BBC News|quote=The latest offensive has been led by an Islamist militant group known at Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions backed by Turkey.|access-date=1 December 2024|archive-date=1 December 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201190704/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr7rkzz2gmo|url-status=live}}</ref> Three days later, Hama was captured.<ref name="hamafall">{{Web citation|title=Syrian rebels capture second major city as army withdraws from Hama|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/05/middleeast/syria-rebels-hama-government-intl/index.html|access-date=5 December 2024|publisher=CNN|date=5 December 2024}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the Turkish occupation forces as well as the Rojava Government and the US-backed Syrian Free Army also advanced, capturing territories and cities.<ref>{{Web citation|title=Following withdrawal of Iranian-backed militias and regime forces; Kurdish forces deploy in Aleppo international airport, Nubl and Al-Zahraa and take control of checkpoints|url=https://www.syriahr.com/en/350205/|website=syriahr.com|publisher=SOHR|access-date=30 November 2024}}</ref>

On 6 December, a revolt popped up south of Damascus.<ref name="AlMonitor_Syrian_rebels_advance">{{cite Q|Q131400660|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 7 December, Homs was captured.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-lebanon-news-7-december-2024-53419e23991cfc14a7857c82f49eb26f|title=Middle East latest: Syria's forces withdraw from Homs, a key link between the capital and coast|publisher=The Associated Press|date=7 December 2024|accessdate=7 December 2024}}</ref>

On the early hours of 8 December, rebel forces entered Damascus and declared the civil war and Assad's rule in [[Syria]] as over.<ref>{{Web citation|last=Iskandarani|first=Aya|date=8 December 2024|title=Rebels declare end of Assad rule in Syria|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/12/rebels-declare-end-assad-rule-syria|url-access=limited|access-date=8 December 2024|website=[[Al-Monitor]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|date=8 December 2024|title=Syrian rebels enter Damascus: everything we know so far|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/08/syrian-rebels-enter-damascus-everything-we-know|access-date=8 December 2024|work=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

By the end of the day, most of the government remnants were captured, with only few Russian air and naval bases still remaining under government control.{{Citation needed}} Sputnik News announced that Assad and his family had safely arrived in Moscow.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Sputnik News|title=Syria's Assad Arrives in Moscow With His Family – Kremlin Source|date=2024-12-08|url=https://sputnikglobe.com/20241208/syrias-assad-and-his-family-arrive-in-moscow---source-1121126068.html}}</ref> This marked the end of the Assad Presidency, and the state was swiftly handed over to the rebel coalition.

==Foreign relations==
On 29 June 2022, Syria became the second country in the world to recognize the [[Donetsk People's Republic|Donetsk]] and [[Luhansk People's Republic|Luhansk People's Republics]].<ref>{{Web citation |newspaper=[[Reuters]]|title=Syria recognizes independence, sovereignty of Donetsk, Luhansk -state news agency|date=2022-06-29|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-recognizes-independence-sovereignty-donetsk-luhansk-state-news-agency-2022-06-29/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629140520/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-recognizes-independence-sovereignty-donetsk-luhansk-state-news-agency-2022-06-29/|archive-date=2022-06-29|retrieved=2022-06-30}}</ref>

On 7 May 2023, at the meeting of the Council of the [[Arab League]] in Cairo, it was agreed to reinstate Syria's membership,<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Alarabiya|title=Arab foreign ministers agree to readmit Syria to the Arab League|date=2023-5-7|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/05/07/Arab-foreign-ministers-to-discuss-Syria-s-return-to-Arab-League-Sudan-conflict}}</ref> after being suspended on 16 November 2011 in the aftermath of the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Aljazeera|title=Arab League decides to suspend Syria|date=2011-11-13|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/11/13/arab-league-decides-to-suspend-syria}}</ref>

===Sanctions===
<blockquote>''See also: [[Economic sanctions#Syria]]''</blockquote>The Arab Republic suffered from heavy sanctions enforced by the United States and [[European Union]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=U.S. Department of the Treasury|title=Syria Sanctions|url=https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/syria-sanctions|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208015349/https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/syria-sanctions|archive-date=2023-02-08|retrieved=2023-02-13}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=EUR-Lex|url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?scope=EURLEX&text=Syria+sanctions&lang=en&type=quick|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213022058/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?text=Syria+sanctions&lang=en&type=quick&qid=1676254858199&scope=EURLEX|archive-date=2023-02-13|retrieved=2023-02-13}}</ref>

During the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, Syria was unable to receive direct aid due to sanctions imposed upon the country.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Aaron Maté|newspaper=[[Twitter]]|date=2023-02-08|url=https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1623000443335979009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208170406/https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1623000443335979009|archive-date=2023-02-08|retrieved=2023-02-09|quote=The New York Times makes it plain: “Syria is not able to receive direct aid from many countries because of sanctions.”

So — unless you’re a monstrous sadist — why not lift the sanctions?}}</ref> With the only U.N. approved entry into Syria from Turkey – generally used to provide aid to government opposition groups – being destroyed, the three other unapproved crossings remained empty of humanitarian convoys. Despite these adversities Iran was able to supply Syria with 70 tons of food, tents and medicine.<ref name=":0" />

== Ideology ==
Neo-Ba'athism (informally known as "Assadism") is a socialist ideology developed by Hafez al-Assad who along with Salah Jadid overthrew the reactionary regime that attempted to deviate Syria from its socialist goals.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ilana Kass|year=1978|title=Soviet Involvement In The Middle East|chapter=The Syrian Coup d’Etat of February 1966|chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780429306976-2/syrian-coup-etat-february-1966-ilana-kass|quote=On February 23, 1966, after a bitter internal struggle, a radically leftist faction of the Ba’th party assumed power in Syria. On March 8, 1966, Krasnaia zvezda, the press organ of the Ministry of Defense, joined Izvestiia in publishing Atasi’s statement that “Syria’s main objective is the implementation of socialism.” The Soviet press debated the significance and ramifications of the Syrian coup d’etat for another month, with the controversy ending only on the eve of the Syrian prime minister’s arrival in Moscow on April 19, 1966.|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780429306976}}</ref> However, Assad removed Jadid from power in 1970 by the "Corrective Revolution", preventing Syria from absorbing post-Stalin revisionist policies of the USSR at the time.<ref>{{Citation|author=Robert Owen Freedman|year=1991|title=Moscow and the Middle East: Soviet policy since the invasion of Afghanistan|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zk7AAAAIAAJ&q=mustafa+talas+red+book&pg=PA40|page=40|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=0521359767}}</ref>

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Ba'athist states]]
[[Category:Former Arab states]]
[[Category:History of Syria]]
[[Category:Targets of regime change operations]]

Red Party (Norway)

2025-05-23T13:24:46Z

GrainEater: Add link and emphasis

{{Message box/Stub}}{{Infobox political party|name=Red Party|native_name=Rødt Raudt|logo=Rødt logo (bokmål).svg|founded=11 March 2007|leader=[[Marie Sneve Martinussen]]|merger=[[Red Electoral Alliance]] [[Workers' Communist Party (Norway)]]|youth_wing=Red Youth|political_orientation=[[Communism]]|slogan="Fordi fellesskap fungerer" ("Because community works")}}{{Communist Parties}}
The '''Red Party''', is a [[big tent]] [[Communism|communist]] party in [[Kingdom of Norway|Norway]] with [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] and [[Maoism|Maoist]] factions among others.

It was established in 2007 as a merger of the [[Maoism|Maoist]] '''Workers' Communist Party''' (KAP) and the Orthodox Marxist '''Red Electoral Alliance''' (RVA).

The party operates in bourgeois democracy as well as workers' movements. Its manifesto explicitly calls for a communist society.

Nikos Zachariadis

2025-05-15T20:00:13Z

GrainEater: Spelling

{{Infobox politician|name=Nikos Zachariadis|native_name=Νίκος Ζαχαριάδης|birth_date=27 April 1903|birth_place=Adrianople, [[Ottoman Empire]]|death_date=1 August 1973 (aged 70)|death_place=[[Surgut]], [[RSFSR]], [[USSR]]|death_cause=Suicide|political_orientation=[[Marxism-Leninism]]|political_party=[[Communist Party of Greece]]|image=Zachariadis.jpg}}

'''Nikos Zachariadis''' (27 April 1903 – 1 August 1973) was a [[Hellenic Republic|Greek]] revolutionary who served as general secretary of the [[Communist Party of Greece]] from 1931 to 1956. He spent the duration of the [[Second World War]] in the Dachau concentration camp until May 1945. He led the [[Democratic Army of Greece]] (DSE) in the [[Greek Civil War|Greek civil war]] (1946-1949). He was exiled in [[Siberia]] by [[Nikita Khrushchev]] due to his support for [[Joseph Stalin]] and his opposition to Khrushchev's [[revisionism]]. According to KGB archives he committed suicide in 1973, at age 70. The KKE fully rehabilitated Zachariadis in 2011 after changing their stance to oppose Khrushchev.{{Citation needed}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:General secretaries of the Communist Party of Greece]]
[[Category:Greek politicians]]

James Connolly

2025-05-12T07:50:01Z

GrainEater: Add a link, fix a link

{{Infobox revolutionary
|name = James Connolly
|native_name=Séamas Ó Conghaile|image=[[File:James Connolly2.jpg]]

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1868|6|5|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Cowgate]], [[Edinburgh]], Scotland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1916|5|12|1868|6|5|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Kilmainham Gaol]], [[Dublin]], Ireland
|nationality=Irish|political_party=[[Social Democratic Federation]] {{small|(1892−1903)}} [[Irish Socialist Republican Party]] {{small|(1896–1904)}} [[Socialist Labor Party]] {{small|(1903–1907)}} [[Irish Socialist Federation]] {{small|(1904–1910)}} [[Socialist Party of America]] {{small|(1907–1910)}} [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Irish Labour Party]] {{small|(1912–1916)}}<nowiki>}}</nowiki>}}

'''James Connolly''' (5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an [[Irish Republicanism|Irish Republican]], [[Socialist]], and [[trade union]] leader. Although mainly known for his position in Irish socialist and republican politics he also took a role in [[Scottish]] and [[United States of America|Statesian politics]]. He was a member of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] and founder of the [[Irish Socialist Republican Party]] and the [[Irish Citizen Army]].

== Early Life ==
He was born on June 5, 1868 in Edinburgh to Irish immigrant parents. His uncle was an Irish revolutionary and he read Marx and Engels at an early age. At 14 he joined the British army in an attempt to escape poverty and was deployed to Ireland. He married Lillie Reynolds in 1890 and deserted the army in 1891.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|newspaper=Multitext Project in Irish History|title=James Connolly|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611014410/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/James_Connolly}}</ref>

== Political Organizing ==
He became involved in several Socialist groups in the 1890s and early 1900s including the Scottish Socialist Federation, for which he served as secretary after his brother. He was a founding member of the Irish Socialist Republican party in 1896.<ref name=":0" /> <ref>{{Web citation|author=D'Arcy, Fergus A.|newspaper=Dictionary of Irish Biography|title=Connolly, James|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/connolly-james-a1953}}</ref>

In 1903 he immigrated to the United States. There he joined the Socialist Labor Party of America and the Socialist Party of America, as well as the [[Industrial Workers of the World]], which he was a member of until his death.<ref>{{Web citation|author=CONOR MCCARTHY|newspaper=Jacobin|title=James Connolly in America|date=2016-12-5|url=https://jacobin.com/2016/05/james-connolly-easter-rising-ireland-dublin-lockout}}</ref>

He returned to Ireland in 1910 and joined the Irish Transport and General Workers Union. In 1913 he played a leading role in the Dublin Lockout. During the 6 month long strike against William Martin Murphy's corporations the Irish Citizens Army was founded by James Connolly along with fellow Irish Socialist James Larkin. The Irish Citizens army was a militant republican and Socialist group.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=History Ireland|title=The Dublin 1913 Lockout|url=https://www.historyireland.com/the-dublin-1913-lockout/}}</ref>

== Easter Rising ==
James Connolly played a leading role in the 1916 [[Easter Rising]] from April 24-29. He signed the Proclamation of the Irish Republic which declared the start of the rising and was declared vice-president of the Irish Republic. The Irish Citizens Army, which Connolly led, was one of the groups participating in the rising. On April 27 he was seriously injured while commanding a garrison.

Along with most leaders of the rising Connolly was executed in the aftermath of the Easter Rising. Shortly before his death he reconverted to Catholicism, which he had abandoned as a young man. On May 12th he was taken from a military hospital in Dublin Castle, where he was being treated for his wounds, to Kilmainham Gaol. Here, as he was unable to stand, he was tied to a chair in the prison yard and shot by British soldiers, the final leader of the rising to be executed.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=BBC|title=James Connolly|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/profiles/po04.shtml}}</ref> His last statement read in part,

"We went out to break the connection between this country and the British Empire, and to establish an Irish Republic. We believed that the call we then issued to the people of Ireland, was a nobler call, in a holier cause, than any call issued to them during this war, having any connection with the war. We succeeded in proving that Irishmen are ready to die endeavouring to win for Ireland those national rights which the British Government has been asking them to die to win for Belgium. As long as that remains the case, the cause of Irish freedom is safe.

Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence, in any one generation of Irishmen, of even a respectable minority, ready to die to affirm that truth, makes that Government for ever a usurpation and a crime against human progress.

I personally thank God that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irish men and boys, and hundreds of Irish women and girls, were ready to affirm that truth, and to attest it with their lives if need be."<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Sinn Fein|title=Last Statement of James Connolly|url=https://www.sinnfein.ie/files/2020/Last_Statement_Connolly.pdf}}</ref>

== Beliefs ==
In addition to being a Socialist Irish Republican, James Connolly held many strong beliefs. He was a staunch trade-unionist,<ref>{{Citation|author=James Connolly|year=1910|title=Industrialism and the Trade Unions|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1910/02/intrunin.htm|publisher=International Socialist Review|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1910/02/intrunin.htm}}</ref> a supporter of the universal language Esperanto,<ref>{{Web citation|author=KEN KEABLE|newspaper=An Poblacht|title=James Connolly and Esperanto|date=2001-6-28|url=https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/7600}}</ref> and a Feminist.<ref>{{Web citation|author=BERNADETTE KELLY|newspaper=Freedom Socialist Party|title=James Connolly: Irish rebel and feminist firebrand|date=2003-7|url=https://socialism.com/fs-article/james-connolly-irish-rebel-and-feminist-firebrand/}}</ref>

Connolly believed that the Irish Republican movement was inseparable from Socialism, stating, “If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle., unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain. England will still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs.”<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Goodreads|title=James Connolly Quotes|url=https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8784738-if-you-remove-the-english-army-tomorrow-and-hoist-the}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
James Connolly has become a symbol of Irish Republicanism and Socialism in Ireland. Several large murals honoring him exist in Ireland, especially in Belfast, where political murals are a common occurrence.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Virtual Belfast Mural Tour|title=James Connolly|date=2010-3-4|url=https://www.virtualbelfastmuraltour.com/james-connolly-mural.htm}}</ref> He is honored by many groups in Ireland, including the [[Connolly Youth Movement]], formerly associated with the Communist Party of Ireland.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Connolly Youth Movement|title=CYM Statement On Disaffiliation|date=2021-1-18|url=https://cym.ie/2021/01/18/cym-statement-on-disaffiliation/}}</ref> The [[Connolly Column]], a group in the International Brigades during the [[Spanish Civil War]] was named in his honor.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Michael O’Riordan|newspaper=History Ireland|title=The Connolly Column: the story of the Irishmen who fought for the Spanish Republic 1936–1939|date=2005|url=https://www.historyireland.com/the-connolly-column-the-story-of-the-irishmen-who-fought-for-the-spanish-republic-1936-1939/}}</ref>

Connolly has also been appropriated and his legacy exploited by reactionary nationalists and Social Democrats in Ireland, with these groups distorting his views, actions, and life, as well as being recognized as a national hero by the British collaborator and Capitalist Government in the Republic of Ireland.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Liam McNulty|newspaper=Workers Liberty|title=The "legacy" of James Connolly|date=2023-8-10|url=https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2023-08-10/legacy-james-connolly}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Irish Marxists]]
[[Category:Irish socialists]]
[[Category:Irish trade unionists]]
[[Category:Irish republicans]]
[[Category:Socialists]]

Pan-Arabism

2025-05-03T11:41:16Z

GrainEater: Stub

{{Message box/Stub}}

Pan-Arabism is the ideology that all Arab countries should be unified into a single nation. It seeks to abolish the borders dividing the Arab world, promoting political, cultural, and economic unity among Arab peoples.

Nikos Zachariadis

2025-05-03T11:38:31Z

GrainEater: Grammar and formatting

Nikos Zachariadis (27 April 1903 – 1 August 1973) was the general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece from 1931 to 1956. He spent the duration of WW2 in the Dachau concentration camp until May 1945. He led the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) in the Greek civil war (1946-1949). He was exiled in Siberia by Nikita Khruschchev due to his anti-revisionist stance against the anti-Stalinist Nikita. According to KGB archives, he commited suicide in 1973, at age 70. The revisionist KKE, following the Kruschchevite line, fully rehabilitated Zachariadis in 2011.{{Citation needed}}

Hadash

2025-04-28T19:58:07Z

GrainEater: Stub

{{Infobox political party|name=Hadash|native_name=חד״ש الجبهة|logo=Hadash.svg|founded=March 15, 1977|spokesperson=[[Ayman Odeh]]|political_orientation=[[Communism]] [[Marxism-Leninism]] [[Anti-Zionism]]}}{{Message box/Stub}}

'''Hadash''' is a communist party in the [[Zionist Entity]], which seeks to end the [[Gazan genocide]], and make the Entity a plurinational state.

Alternative for Germany

2025-04-18T11:11:45Z

GrainEater: Misclick: undo revision 82209 by GrainEater (talk)

{{infobox political party|name=Alternative for Germany|native_name=Alternative für Deutschland|abbreviation=AfD|logo=AfD_Logo_2021.svg.png|founded=6 February 2013|caption=Flag of the AfD|founders=[[Alexander Gauland]] [[Bernd Lucke]] [[Konrad Adam]]|split=[[Christian Democratic Union of Germany]]|predecessor=[[Electoral Alternative 2013]]|youth_wing=[[Young Alternative for Germany]]|political_orientation=[[Fascism]] [[Neoliberalism]]<ref>{{Web citation|author=Bogdan Gradinaru|newspaper=The Barricade|title=AfD is a liberal party|date=2020-02-12|archive-date=2025-03-01|url=https://thebarricade.online/afd-liberal-party/|archive-url=https://archive.today/2025.03.01-173208/https://thebarricade.online/afd-liberal-party/}}</ref> [[Racism]] [[German nationalism]]|position=[[Far-right]]}}

'''Alternative for Germany''' ('''AfD''') is a [[Far-right politics|far-right]] political party in [[Federal Republic of Germany|Germany]] known primarily for its [[Euroscepticism]], [[bigotry]], and strong stance against [[immigration]]. It was created by the [[Verfassungsschutz]], the West German secret police. In December 2022, AfD participated in a coup plot with the [[Citizens of the Reich|Reichsbürger]] movement.<ref>{{Web citation|date=2022-12-19|title=Germany’s Reichsbürger terrorist network and the fight against fascism|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/12/19/kfdn-d19.html|newspaper=[[WSWS]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220064009/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/12/19/kfdn-d19.html|archive-date=2022-12-20|retrieved=2022-12-20|author=Peter Schwarz}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Political_parties]]
[[Category:German political parties]]
[[Category:Far-right groups in Germany]]
[[Category:Far-right political parties]]

Alternative for Germany

2025-04-18T11:10:58Z

GrainEater: Reverted edits by PuzzledFox99 (talk) to last revision by CriticalResist

{{infobox political party|name=Alternative for Germany|native_name=Alternative für Deutschland|abbreviation=AfD|logo=AfD_Logo_2021.svg.png|founded=6 February 2013|caption=Flag of the AfD|founders=[[Alexander Gauland]] [[Bernd Lucke]] [[Konrad Adam]]|split=[[Christian Democratic Union of Germany]]|predecessor=[[Electoral Alternative 2013]]|youth_wing=[[Young Alternative for Germany]]|political_orientation=[[Fascism]] [[Racism]] [[German nationalism]]|position=[[Far-right]]}}

'''Alternative for Germany''' ('''AfD''') is a [[Far-right politics|far-right]] political party in [[Federal Republic of Germany|Germany]] known primarily for its [[Euroscepticism]], [[bigotry]], and strong stance against [[immigration]]. It was created by the [[Verfassungsschutz]], the West German secret police. In December 2022, AfD participated in a coup plot with the [[Citizens of the Reich|Reichsbürger]] movement.<ref>{{Web citation|date=2022-12-19|title=Germany’s Reichsbürger terrorist network and the fight against fascism|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/12/19/kfdn-d19.html|newspaper=[[WSWS]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220064009/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/12/19/kfdn-d19.html|archive-date=2022-12-20|retrieved=2022-12-20|author=Peter Schwarz}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Political_parties]]
[[Category:German political parties]]
[[Category:Far-right groups in Germany]]
[[Category:Far-right political parties]]

Library:The Wretched of the Earth

2025-04-14T07:41:45Z

GrainEater: Fix PDF URL

{{Library work|title=The Wretched of the Earth|author=Frantz Fanon|written in=1961|published_date=1963|source=[https://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf; PDF]|audiobook=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDjRF17Ea3c&list=PLLTpLv5a69exoz74C0D8Zt-yU4XO4lcK- YouTube Playlist]}}

== Preface (by Sartre) ==
Not so very long ago, the earth numbered two thousand million inhabitants: five hundred million men, and one thousand five hundred million natives. The former had the Word; the others had the use of it. Between the two there were hired kinglets, overlords, and a [[bourgeoisie]], sham from beginning to end, which served as go-betweens. In the colonies the truth stood naked, but the citizens of the mother country preferred it with clothes on: the native had to love them, something in the way mothers are loved. The European elite undertook to manufacture a native elite. They picked out promising adolescents; they branded them, as with a red-hot iron, with the principles of Western culture; they stuffed their mouths full with high-sounding phrases, grand glutinous words that stuck to the teeth. After a short stay in the mother country they were sent home, whitewashed. These walking lies had nothing left to say to their brothers; they only echoed. From Paris, from London, from Amsterdam we would utter the words "Parthenon! Brotherhood!" and somewhere in Africa or Asia lips would open "...thenon! ...therhood!" It was the golden age.

It came to an end; the mouths opened by themselves; the yellow and black voices still spoke of our humanism but only to reproach us with our inhumanity. We listened without displeasure to these polite statements of resentment, at first with proud amazement. What? They are able to talk by themselves? Just look at what we have made of them! We did not doubt but that they would accept our ideals, since they accused us of not being faithful to them. Then, indeed, Europe could believe in her mission; she had hellenized the Asians; she had created a new breed, the Greco-Latin Negroes. We might add, quite between ourselves, as men of the world: "After all, let them bawl their heads off, it relieves their feelings; dogs that bark don't bite."

A new generation came on the scene, which changed the issue. With unbelievable patience, its writers and poets tried to explain to us that our values and the true facts of their lives did not hang together, and that they could neither reject them completely nor yet assimilate them. By and large, what they were saying was this: "You are making us into monstrosities; your humanism claims we are at one with the rest of humanity but your racist methods set us apart." Very much at our ease, we listened to them all; colonial administrators are not paid to read [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]], and for that matter they do not read much of him, but they do not need a philosopher to tell them that uneasy consciences are caught up in their own contradictions. They will not get anywhere; so, let us perpetuate their discomfort; nothing will come of it but talk. If they were, the experts told us, asking for anything at all precise in their wailing, it would be integration. Of course, there is no question of granting that; the system, which depends on overexploitation, as you know, would be mined. But it's enough to hold the carrot in front of their noses, they'll gallop all right. As to a revolt, we need not worry at all; what native in his senses would go off to massacre the fair sons of Europe simply to become European as they are? In short, we encouraged these disconsolate spirits and thought it not a bad idea for once to award the Prix Goncourt to a Negro. That was before '39.

1961. Listen: "Let us waste no time in sterile litanies and nauseating mimicry. Leave this Europe where they are never done talking of Man, yet murder men everywhere they find them, at the corner of every one of their own streets, in all the corners of the globe. For centuries they have stifled almost the whole of humanity in the name of a so-called spiritual experience." The tone is new. Who dares to speak thus? It is an African, a man from the Third World, an ex-"native." He adds: " Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to keep away from it." In other words, she's done for. A truth which is not pleasant to state but of which we are all convinced, are we not, fellow-Europeans, in the marrow of our bones?

We must however make one reservation. When a Frenchman, for example, says to other Frenchmen, "The country is done for"--which has happened, I should think, almost every day since 1930--it is emotional talk; burning with love and fury, the speaker includes himself with his fellowcountrymen. And then, usually, he adds, "Unless..." His meaning is clear; no more mistakes must be made; if his instructions are not carried out to the letter, then and only then will the country go to pieces. In short, it is a threat followed by a piece of advice and these remarks are so much the less shocking in that they spring from a national intersubjectivity. But on the contrary, when Fanon says of Europe that she is rushing to her doom, far from sounding the alarm he is merely setting out a diagnosis. This doctor neither claims that she is a hopeless case -miracles have been known to exist--nor does he give her the means to cure herself. He certifies that she is dying, on external evidence, founded on symptoms that he can observe. As to curing her, no; he has other things to think about; he does not give a damn whether she lives or dies. Because of this, his book is scandalous. And if you murmur, jokingly embarrassed, "He has it in for us!" the true nature of the scandal escapes you; for Fanon has nothing in for you at all; his work--red-hot for some--in what concerns you is as cold as ice; he speaks of you often, never to you. The black Goncourts and the yellow Nobels are finished; the days of colonized laureates are over. An ex-native, French-speaking, bends that language to new requirements, makes use of it, and speaks to the colonized only: "Natives of all underdeveloped countries, unite? What a downfall! For the fathers, we alone were the speakers; the sons no longer even consider us as valid intermediaries: we are the objects of their speeches. Of course, Fanon mentions in passing our well-known crimes: Sétif, Hanoi, Madagascar: but he does not waste his time in condemning them; he uses them. If he demonstrates the tactics of colonialism, the complex play of relations which unite and oppose the colonists to the people of the mother country, it is for his brothers; his aim is to teach them to beat us at our own game.

In short, the Third World finds ''itself'' and speaks to ''itself'' through his voice. We know that it is not a homogeneous world; we know too that enslaved peoples are still to be found there, together with some who have achieved a simulacrum of phony independence, others who are still fighting to attain sovereignty and others again who have obtained complete freedom but who live under the constant menace of imperialist aggression. These differences are born of colonial history, in other words of oppression. Here, the mother country is satisfied to keep some feudal rulers in her pay; there, dividing and ruling she has created a native bourgeoisie, sham from beginning to end; elsewhere she has played a double game: the colony is planted with settlers and exploited at the same time. Thus Europe has multiplied divisions and opposing groups, has fashioned classes and sometimes even racial prejudices, and has endeavored by every means to bring about and intensify the stratification of colonized societies. Fanon hides nothing: in order to fight against us the former colony must fight against itself: or, rather, the two struggles form part of a whole. In the heat of battle, all internal barriers break down; the puppet bourgeoisie of businessmen and shopkeepers, the urban proletariat, which is always in a privileged position, the lumpenproletariat of the shanty towns--all fall into line with the stand made by the rural masses, that veritable reservoir of a national revolutionary army; for in those countries where colonialism has deliberately held up development, the peasantry, when it rises, quickly stands out as the revolutionary class. For it knows naked oppression, and suffers far more from it than the workers in the towns, and in order not to die of hunger, it demands no less than a complete demolishing of all existing structures. In order to triumph, the national revolution must be socialist; if its career is cut short, if the native bourgeoisie takes over power, the new state, in spite of its formal sovereignty, remains in the hands of the imperialists. The example of Katanga illustrates this quite well. Thus the unity of the Third World is not yet achieved. It is a work in progress, which begins by the union, in each country, after independence as before, of the whole of the colonized people under the command of the peasant class. This is what Fanon explains to his brothers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America: we must achieve revolutionary socialism all together everywhere, or else one by one we will be defeated by our former masters. He hides nothing, neither weaknesses, nor discords, nor mystification. Here, the movement gets off to a bad start; there, after a striking initial success it loses momentum; elsewhere it has come to a standstill, and if it is to start again, the peasants must throw their bourgeoisie overboard. The reader is sternly put on his guard against the most dangerous will o' the wisps: the cult of the leader and of personalities, Western culture, and what is equally to be feared, the withdrawal into the twilight of past African culture. For the only true culture is that of the revolution; that is to say, it is constantly in the making. Fanon speaks out loud; we Europeans can hear him, as the fact that you hold this book in your hand proves; is he not then afraid that the colonial powers may take advantage of his sincerity?

No; he fears nothing. Our methods are out-of-date; they can sometimes delay emancipation, but not stop it. And do not think that we can change our ways; neocolonialism, that idle dream of mother countries, is a lot of hot air; the "Third Forces" don't exist, or if they do they are only the tin-pot bourgeoisies that colonialism has already placed in the saddle. Our Machiavellianism has little purchase on this wide-awake world that has run our falsehoods to earth one after the other. The settler has only recourse of one thing: brute force, when he can command it; the native has only one choice, between servitude or supremacy. What does Fanon care whether you read his work or not? It is to his brothers that he denounces our old tricks, and he is sure we have no more up our sleeves. It is to them he says: "Europe has laid her hands on our continents, and we must slash at her fingers till she lets go. It's a good moment; nothing can happen at Bizerta, at Elizabethville or in the Algerian bled that the whole world does not hear about. The rival blocs take opposite sides, and hold each other in check; let us take advantage of this paralysis, let us burst into history, forcing it by our invasion into universality for the first time. Let us start fighting; and if we've no other arms, the waiting knife's enough."

Europeans, you must open this book and enter into it. After a few steps in the darkness you will see strangers gathered around a fire; come close, and listen, for they are talking of the destiny they will mete out to your trading centers and to the hired soldiers who defend them. They will see you, perhaps, but they will go on talking among themselves, without even lowering their voices. This indifference strikes home: their fathers, shadowy creatures, your creatures, were but dead souls; you it was who allowed them glimpses of light, to you only did they dare speak, and you did not bother to reply to such zombies.

Their sons ignore you; a fire warms them and sheds light around them, and you have not lit it. Now, at a respectful distance, it is you who will feel furtive, nightbound, and perished with cold. Turn and turn about; in these shadows from whence a new dawn will break, it is you who are the zombies.

In this case, you will say, let's throw away this book. Why read it if it is not written for us? For two reasons: the first is that Fanon explains you to his brothers and shows them the mechanism by which we are estranged from ourselves; take advantage of this, and get to know yourselves seen in the light of truth, objectively. Our victims know us by their scars and by their chains, and it is this that makes their evidence irrefutable. It is enough that they show us what we have made of them for us to realize what we have made of ourselves. But is it any use? Yes, for Europe is at death's door. But, you will say, we live in the mother country, and we disapprove of her excesses. It is true, you are not settlers, but you are no better. For the pioneers belonged to you; you sent them overseas, and it was you they enriched. You warned them that if they shed too much blood you would disown them, or say you did, in something of the same way as any state maintains abroad a mob of agitators, agents provocateurs, and spies whom it disowns when they are caught. You, who are so liberal and so humane, who have such an exaggerated adoration of culture that it verges on affectation, you pretend to forget that you own colonies and that in them men are massacred in your name. Fanon reveals to his comrades--above all to some of them who are rather too Westernized--the solidarity of the people of the mother country and of their representatives in the colonies. Have the courage to read this book, for in the first place it will make you ashamed, and shame, as Marx said, is a revolutionary sentiment. You see, I, too, am incapable of ridding myself of subjective illusions; I, too, say to you: "All is lost, unless..." As a European, I steal the enemy's book, and out of it I fashion a remedy for Europe. Make the most of it.

And here is the second reason: if you set aside Sorel's fascist utterances, you will find that Fanon is the first since Engels to bring the processes of history into the clear light of day. Moreover, you need not think that hotheadedness or an unhappy childhood has given him some uncommon taste for violence; he acts as the interpreter of the situation, that's all. But this is enough to enable him to constitute, step by step, the dialectic which liberal hypocrisy hides from you and which is as much responsible for our existence as for his.

During the last century, the middle classes looked on the workers as covetous creatures, made lawless by their greedy desires; but they took care to include these great brutes in our own species, or at least they considered that they were free men--that is to say, free to sell their labor. In France, as in England, humanism claimed to be universal.

In the case of forced labor, it is quite the contrary. There is no contract; moreover, there must be intimidation and thus oppression grows. Our soldiers overseas, rejecting the universalism of the mother country, apply the "numerus clausus" to the human race: since none may enslave, rob, or kill his fellow man without committing a crime, they lay down the principle that the native is not one of our fellow men. Our striking power has been given the mission of changing this abstract certainty into reality: the order is given to reduce the inhabitants of the annexed country to the level of superior monkeys in order to justify the settler's treatment of them as beasts of burden. Violence in the colonies does not only have for its aim the keeping of these enslaved men at arm's length; it seeks to dehumanize them. Everything will be done to wipe out their traditions, to substitute our language for theirs and to destroy their culture without giving them ours. Sheer physical fatigue will stupefy them. Starved and ill, if they have any spirit left, fear will finish the job; guns are leveled at the peasant; civilians come to take over his land and force him by dint of flogging to till the land for them. If he shows fight, the soldiers fire and he's a dead man; if he gives in, he degrades himself and he is no longer a man at all; shame and fear will split up his character and make his inmost self fall to pieces. The business is conducted with flying colors and by experts; the "psychological services" weren't established yesterday; nor was brainwashing. And yet, in spite of all these efforts, their ends are nowhere achieved: neither in the Congo, where Negroes' hands were cut off, nor in Angola, where until very recently malcontents' lips were pierced in order to shut them with padlocks. I do not say that it is impossible to change a man into an animal: I simply say that you won't get there without weakening him considerably. Blows will never suffice; you have to push the starvation further, and that's the trouble with slavery.

For when you domesticate a member of our own species, you reduce his output, and however little you may give him, a farmyard man finishes by costing more than he brings in. For this reason the settlers are obliged to stop the breaking-in halfway; the result, neither man nor animal, is the native. Beaten, undernourished, ill, terrified -but only up to a certain point--he has, whether he's black, yellow, or white, always the same traits of character: he's a sly-boots, a lazybones, and a thief, who lives on nothing, and who understands only violence.

Poor settler; here is his contradiction naked, shorn of its trappings. He ought to kill those he plunders, as they say djinns do. Now, this is not possible, because he must exploit them as well. Because he can't carry massacre on to genocide, and slavery to animal-like degradation, he loses control, the machine goes into reverse, and a relentless logic leads him on to decolonization.

But it does not happen immediately. At first the European's reign continues. He has already lost the battle, but this is not obvious; he does not yet know that the natives are only half native; to hear him talk, it would seem that he ill-treats them in order to destroy or to repress the evil that they have rooted in them; and after three generations their pernicious instincts will reappear no more. What instincts does he mean? The instincts that urge slaves on to massacre their master? Can he not here recognize his own cruelty turned against himself? In the savagery of these oppressed peasants, does he not find his own settler's savagery, which they have absorbed through every pore and for which there is no cure? The reason is simple; this imperious being, crazed by his absolute power and by the fear of losing it, no longer remembers clearly that he was once a man; he takes himself for a horsewhip or a gun; he has come to believe that the domestication of the "inferior races" will come about by the conditioning of their reflexes. But in this he leaves out of account the human memory and the ineffaceable marks left upon it; and then, above all there is something which perhaps he has never known: we only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us. Three generations did we say? Hardly has the second generation opened their eyes than from then on they've seen their fathers being flogged. In psychiatric terms, they are "traumatized" for life. But these constantly renewed aggressions, far from bringing them to submission, thrust them into an unbearable contradiction which the European will pay for sooner or later. After that, when it is their turn to be broken in, when they are taught what shame and hunger and pain are, all that is stirred up in them is a volcanic fury whose force is equal to that of the pressure put upon them. You said they understand nothing but violence? Of course; first, the only violence is the settler's; but soon they will make it their own; that is to say, the same violence is thrown back upon us as when our reflection comes forward to meet us when we go toward a mirror.

Make no mistake about it; by this mad fury, by this bitterness and spleen, by their everpresent desire to kill us, by the permanent tensing of powerful muscles which are afraid to relax, they have become men: men because of the settler, who wants to make beasts of burden of them -because of him, and against him. Hatred, blind hatred which is as yet an abstraction, is their only wealth; the Master calls it forth because he seeks to reduce them to animals, but he fails to break it down because his interests stop him halfway. Thus the "half natives" are still humans, through the power and the weakness of the oppressor which is transformed within them into a stubborn refusal of the animal condition. We realize what follows; they're lazy: of course--it's a form of sabotage. They're sly and thieving; just imagine! But their petty thefts mark the beginning of a resistance which is still unorganized. That is not enough; there are those among them who assert themselves by throwing themselves barehanded against the guns; these are their heroes. Others make men of themselves by murdering Europeans, and these are shot down; brigands or martyrs, their agony exalts the terrified masses.

Yes, terrified; at this fresh stage, colonial aggression turns inward in a current of terror among the natives. By this I do not only mean the fear that they experience when faced with our inexhaustible means of repression but also that which their own fury produces in them. They are cornered between our guns pointed at them and those terrifying compulsions, those desires for murder which spring from the depth of their spirits and which they do not always recognize; for at first it is not their violence, it is ours, which turns back on itself and rends them; and the first action of these oppressed creatures is to bury deep down that hidden anger which their and our moralities condemn and which is however only the last refuge of their humanity. Read Fanon: you will learn how, in the period of their helplessness, their mad impulse to murder is the expression of the natives' collective unconscious.

If this suppressed fury fails to find an outlet, it turns in a vacuum and devastates the oppressed creatures themselves. In order to free themselves they even massacre each other. The different tribes fight between themselves since they cannot face the real enemy--and you can count on colonial policy to keep up their rivalries; the man who raises his knife against his brother thinks that he has destroyed once and for all the detested image of their common degradation, even though these expiatory victims don't quench their thirst for blood. They can only stop themselves from marching against the machine-guns by doing our work for us; of their own accord they will speed up the dehumanization that they reject. Under the amused eye of the settler, they will take the greatest precautions against their own kind by setting up supernatural barriers, at times reviving old and terrible myths, at others binding themselves by scrupulous rites. It is in this way that an obsessed person flees from his deepest needs--by binding himself to certain observances which require his attention at every turn. They dance; that keeps them busy; it relaxes their painfully contracted muscles; and then the dance mimes secretly, often without their knowing, the refusal they cannot utter and the murders they dare not commit. In certain districts they make use of that last resort--possession by spirits. Formerly this was a religious experience in all its simplicity, a certain communion of the faithful with sacred things; now they make of it a weapon against humiliation and despair; Mumbo-Jumbo and all the idols of the tribe come down among them, rule over their violence and waste it in trances until it is exhausted. At the same time these high-placed personages protect them; in other words the colonized people protect themselves against colonial estrangement by going one better in religious estrangement, with the unique result that finally they add the two estrangements together and each reinforces the other. Thus in certain psychoses the hallucinated person, tired of always being insulted by his demon, one fine day starts hearing the voice of an angel who pays him compliments; but the jeers don't stop for all that; only from then on, they alternate with congratulations. This is a defense, but it is also the end of the story; the self is disassociated, and the patient heads for madness. Let us add, for certain other carefully selected unfortunates, that other witchery of which I have already spoken: Western culture. If I were them, you may say, I'd prefer my Mumbo-Jumbo to their Acropolis. Very good: you've grasped the situation. But not altogether, because you aren't them--or not yet. Otherwise you would know that they can't choose; they must have both. Two worlds: that makes two bewitchings; they dance all night and at dawn they crowd into the churches to hear mass; each day the split widens. Our enemy betrays his brothers and becomes our accomplice; his brothers do the same thing. The status of "native" is a nervous condition introduced and maintained by the settler among colonized people with their consent.

Laying claim to and denying the human condition at the same time: the contradiction is explosive. For that matter it does explode, you know as well as I do; and we are living at the moment when the match is put to the fuse. When the rising birth rate brings wider famine in its wake, when these newcomers have life to fear rather more than death, the torrent of violence sweeps away all barriers. In Algeria and Angola, Europeans are massacred at sight. It is the moment of the boomerang; it is the third phase of violence; it comes back on us, it strikes us, and we do not realize any more than we did the other times that it's we who have launched it. The "liberals" are stupefied; they admit that we were not polite enough to the natives, that it would have been wiser and fairer to allow them certain rights in so far as this was possible; they ask nothing better than to admit them in batches and without sponsors to that very exclusive club, our species; and now this barbarous, mad outburst doesn't spare them any more than the bad settlers. The Left at home is embarrassed; they know the true situation of the natives, the merciless oppression they are submitted to; they do not condemn their revolt, knowing full well that we have done everything to provoke it. But, all the same, they think to themselves, there are limits; these guerrillas should be bent on showing that they are chivalrous; that would be the best way of showing they are men. Sometimes the Left scolds them..."You're going too far; we won't support you any more." The natives don't give a damn about their support; for all the good it does them they might as well stuff it up their backsides. Once their war began, they saw this hard truth: that every single one of us has made his bit, has got something out of them; they don't need to call anyone to witness; they'll grant favored treatment to no one.

There is one duty to be done, one end to achieve: to thrust out colonialism by every means in their power. The more farseeing among us will be, in the last resort, ready to admit this duty and this end; but we cannot help seeing in this ordeal by force the altogether inhuman means that these less-than-men make use of to win the concession of a charter of humanity. Accord it to them at once, then, and let them endeavor by peaceful undertakings to deserve it. Our worthiest souls contain racial prejudice.

They would do well to read Fanon; for he shows clearly that this irrepressible violence is neither sound and fury, nor the resurrection of savage instincts, nor even the effect of resentment: it is man recreating himself. I think we understood this truth at one time, but we have forgotten it--that no gentleness can efface the marks of violence; only violence itself can destroy them. The native cures himself of colonial neurosis by thrusting out the settler through force of arms. When his rage boils over, he rediscovers his lost innocence and he comes to know himself in that he himself creates his self. Far removed from his war, we consider it as a triumph of barbarism; but of its own volition it achieves, slowly but surely, the emancipation of the rebel, for bit by bit it destroys in him and around him the colonial gloom. Once begun, it is a war that gives no quarter. You may fear or be feared; that is to say, abandon yourself to the disassociations of a sham existence or conquer your birthright of unity. When the peasant takes a gun in his hands, the old myths grow dim and the prohibitions are one by one forgotten. The rebel's weapon is the proof of his humanity. For in the first days of the revolt you must kill: to shoot down a European is to kill two birds with one stone, to destroy an oppressor and the man he oppresses at the same time: there remain a dead man, and a free man; the survivor, for the first time, feels a national soil under his foot. At this moment the Nation does not shrink from him; wherever he goes, wherever he may be, she is; she follows, and is never lost to view, for she is one with his liberty. But, after the first surprise, the colonial army strikes; and then all must unite or be slaughtered. Tribal dissensions weaken and tend to disappear; in the first place because they endanger the revolution, but for the more profound reason that they served no other purpose before than to divert violence against false foes. When they remain--as in the Congo-it's because they are kept up by the agents of colonialism. The Nation marches forward; for each of her children she is to be found wherever his brothers are fighting. Their feeling for each other is the reverse of the hatred they feel for you; they are brothers inasmuch as each of them has killed and may at any moment have to kill again. Fanon shows his readers the limits of "spontaneity" and the need for and dangers of "organization." But however great may be the task at each turning of the way the revolutionary consciousness deepens. The last complexes flee away; no one need come to us talking of the "dependency" complex of an [[National Liberation Army (Algeria)|ALN]] soldier.

With his blinkers off, the peasant takes account of his real needs; before they were enough to kill him, but he tried to ignore them; now he sees them as infinitely great requirements. In this violence which springs from the people, which enables them to hold out for five years-for eight years as the Algerians have done--the military, political, and social necessities cannot be separated. The war, by merely setting the question of command and responsibility, institutes new structures which will become the first institutions of peace. Here, then, is man even now established in new traditions, the future children of a horrible present; here then we see him legitimized by a law which will be born or is born each day under fire: once the last settler is killed, shipped home, or assimilated, the minority breed disappears, to be replaced by socialism. And that's not enough; the rebel does not stop there; for you can be quite sure that he is not risking his skin to find himself at the level of a former inhabitant of the old mother country. Look how patient he is! Perhaps he dreams of another [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu|Dien Bien Phu]], but don't think he's really counting on it; he's a beggar fighting, in his poverty, against rich men powerfully armed. While he is waiting for decisive victories, or even without expecting them at all, he tires out his adversaries until they are sick of him.

It will not be without fearful losses; the colonial army becomes ferocious; the country is marked out, there are mopping-up operations, transfers of population, reprisal expeditions, and they massacre women and children. He knows this; this new man begins his life as a man at the end of it; he considers himself as a potential corpse. He will be killed; not only does he accept this risk, he's sure of it. This potential dead man has lost his wife and his children; he has seen so many dying men that he prefers victory to survival; others, not he, will have the fruits of victory; he is too weary of it all. But this weariness of the heart is the root of an unbelievable courage. We find our humanity on this side of death and despair; he finds it beyond torture and death. We have sown the wind; he is the whirlwind. The child of violence, at every moment he draws from it his humanity. We were men at his expense, he makes himself man at ours: a different man; of higher quality.

Here Fanon stops. He has shown the way forward: he is the spokesman of those who are fighting and he has called for union, that is to say the unity of the African continent against all dissensions and all particularisms. He has gained his end. If he had wished to describe in all its details the historical phenomenon of decolonization he would have to have spoken of us; this is not at all his intention. But, when we have closed the book, the argument continues within us, in spite of its author; for we feel the strength of the peoples in revolt and we answer by force. Thus there is a fresh moment of violence; and this time we ourselves are involved, for by its nature this violence is changing us, accordingly as the "half native" is changed. Every one of us must think for himself--always provided that he thinks at all; for in Europe today, stunned as she is by the blows received by France, Belgium, or England, even to allow your mind to be diverted, however slightly, is as good as being the accomplice in crime of colonialism. This book had not the slightest need of a preface, all the less because it is not addressed to us. Yet I have written one, in order to bring the argument to its conclusion; for we in Europe too are being decolonized: that is to say that the settler which is in every one of us is being savagely rooted out. Let us look at ourselves, if we can bear to, and see what is becoming of us. First, we must face that unexpected revelation, the strip tease of our humanism. There you can see it, quite naked, and it's not a pretty sight. It was nothing but an ideology of lies, a perfect justification for pillage; its honeyed words, its affectation of sensibility were only alibis for our aggressions. A fine sight they are too, the believers in nonviolence, saying that they are neither executioners nor victims. Very well then; if you're not victims when the government which you've voted for, when the army in which your younger brothers are serving without hesitation or remorse have undertaken race murder, you are, without a shadow of doubt, executioners. And if you choose to be victims and to risk being put in prison for a day or two, you are simply choosing to pull your irons out of the fire. But you will not be able to pull them out; they'll have to stay there till the end. Try to understand this at any rate: if violence began this very evening and if exploitation and oppression had never existed on the earth, perhaps the slogans of non-violence might end the quarrel. But if the whole regime, even your non-violent ideas, are conditioned by a thousand-year-old oppression, your passivity serves only to place you in the ranks of the oppressors.

You know well enough that we are exploiters. You know too that we have laid hands on first the gold and metals, then the petroleum of the "new continents," and that we have brought them back to the old countries. This was not without excellent results, as witness our palaces, our cathedrals, and our great industrial cities; and then when there was the threat of a slump, the colonial markets were there to soften the blow or to divert it. Crammed with riches, Europe accorded the human status de jure to its inhabitants. With us, to be a man is to be an accomplice of colonialism, since all of us without exception have profited by colonial exploitation. This fat, pale continent ends by falling into what Fanon rightly calls narcissism. Cocteau became irritated with Paris--"that city which talks about itself the whole time." Is Europe any different?

And that super-European monstrosity, North America? Chatter, chatter: liberty, equality, fraternity, love, honor, patriotism, and what have you. All this did not prevent us from making anti-racial speeches about dirty niggers, dirty Jews, and dirty Arabs. Highminded people, liberal or just softhearted, protest that they were shocked by such inconsistency; but they were either mistaken or dishonest, for with us there is nothing more consistent than a racist humanism since the European has only been able to become a man through creating slaves and monsters. While there was a native population somewhere this imposture was not shown up; in the notion of the human race we found an abstract assumption of universality which served as cover for the most realistic practices. On the other side of the ocean there was a race of less-than-humans who, thanks to us, might reach our status a thousand years hence, perhaps; in short, we mistook the elite for the genus. Today, the native populations reveal their true nature, and at the same time our exclusive "club" reveals its weakness--that it's neither more nor less than a minority. Worse than that: since the others become men in name against us, it seems that we are the enemies of mankind; the elite shows itself in its true colors--it is nothing more than a gang. Our precious sets of values begin to molt; on closer scrutiny you won't see one that isn't stained with blood. If you are looking for an example, remember these fine words: "How generous France is!" Us, generous? What about Sétif, then? And those eight years of ferocious war which have cost the lives of over a million Algerians? And the tortures?

But let it be understood that nobody reproaches us with having been false to such-andsuch a mission--for the very good reason that we had no mission at all. It is generosity itself that's in question; this fine melodious word has only one meaning: the granting of a statutory charter. For the folk across the water, new men, freed men, no one has the power nor the right to give anything to anybody; for each of them has every right, and the right to everything. And when one day our human kind becomes full-grown, it will not define itself as the sum total of the whole world's inhabitants, but as the infinite unity of their mutual needs. Here I stop; you will have no trouble in finishing the job; all you have to do is to look our aristocratic virtues straight in the face, for the first and last time. They are cracking up; how could they survive the aristocracy of underlings who brought them into being? A few years ago, a bourgeois colonialist commentator found only this to say in defense of the West: "We aren't angels. But we, at least, feel some remorse." What a confession! Formerly our continent was buoyed up by other means: the Parthenon, Chartres, the Rights of Man, or the swastika. Now we know what these are worth; and the only chance of our being saved from shipwreck is the very Christian sentiment of guilt. You can see it's the end; Europe is springing leaks everywhere. What then has happened? It simply is that in the past we made history and now it is being made of us. The ratio of forces has been inverted; decolonization has begun; all that our hired soldiers can do is to delay its completion.

The old "mother countries" have still to go the whole hog; they still have to engage their entire forces in a battle which is lost before it has begun. At the end of the adventure we again find that colonial brutality which was Bugeaud's doubtful glory; but though it has been multiplied ten-fold, it's still not enough. The national service units are sent to Algeria, and they remain there seven years with no result. Violence has changed its direction. When we were victorious we practiced it without its seeming to alter us; it broke down the others, but for us men our humanism remained intact. United by their profits, the peoples of the mother countries baptized their commonwealth of crimes, calling them fraternity and love; today violence, blocked everywhere, comes back on us through our soldiers, comes inside and takes possession of us. Involution starts; the native recreates himself, and we, settlers and Europeans, ultras and liberals, we break up. Rage and fear are already blatant; they show themselves openly in the nigger-hunts in Algiers. Now, which side are the savages on? Where is barbarism? Nothing is missing, not even the tom-toms; the motorhorns beat out "Al-gér-ie fran-çaise" while the Europeans burn Moslems alive. Fanon reminds us that not so very long ago, a congress of psychiatrists was distressed by the criminal propensities of the native population. "Those people kill each other," they said, "that isn't normal. The Algerian's cortex must be underdeveloped." In central Africa, others have established that "the African makes very little use of his frontal lobes." These learned men would do well today to follow up their investigations in Europe, and particularly with regard to the French. For we, too, during the last few years, must be victims of "frontal sluggishness" since our patriots do quite a bit of assassinating of their fellow countrymen, and if they're not at home, they blow up their house and their concierge. This is only a beginning; civil war is forecast for the autumn, or for the spring of next year. Yet our lobes seem to be in perfect condition; is it not rather the case that, since we cannot crush the natives, violence comes back on its tracks, accumulates in the very depths of our nature and seeks a way out? The union of the Algerian people causes the disunion of the French people; throughout the whole territory of the ex-mother-country, the tribes are dancing their war dances. The terror has left Africa, and is settling here; for quite obviously there are certain furious beings who want to make us pay with our own blood for the shame of having been beaten by the native. Then too, there are the others, all the others who are equally guilty (for after Bizerta, after the lynchings of September, who among them came out into the streets to shout "We've had enough"?) but less spectacular--the liberals, and the toughs of the tender Left.

The fever is mounting amongst them too, and resentment at the same time. And they certainly have the wind up! They hide their rage in myths and complicated rites; in order to stave off the day of reckoning and the need for decision they have put at the head of our affairs a Grand Magician whose business it is to keep us all in the dark at all costs. Nothing is being done; violence, proclaimed by some, disowned by others, turns in a vacuum; one day it bursts out at Metz, the next at Bordeaux; it's here, there and everywhere, like in a game of hunt the slipper. It's our turn to tread the path, step by step, which leads down to native level. But to become natives altogether, our soil must be occupied by a formerly colonized people and we must starve of hunger. This won't happen; for it's a discredited colonialism which is taking hold of us; this is the senile, arrogant master who will straddle us; here he comes, our Mumbo-Jumbo.

And when you have read Fanon's last chapter, you will be convinced that it would be better for you to be a native at the uttermost depths of his misery than to be a former settler. It is not right for a police official to be obliged to torture for ten hours a day; at that rate, his nerves will fall to bits, unless the torturers are forbidden in their own interests to work overtime. When it is desirable that the morality of the nation and the army should be protected by the rigors of the law, it is not right that the former should systematically demoralize the latter, nor that a country with a Republican tradition should confide hundreds and thousands of its young folk to the care of putschist officers. It is not right, my fellow-countrymen, you who know very well all the crimes committed in our name, it's not at all right that you do not breathe a word about them to anyone, not even to your own soul, for fear of having to stand in judgment of yourself. I am willing to believe that at the beginning you did not realize what was happening; later, you doubted whether such things could be true; but now you know, and still you hold your tongues. Eight years of silence; what degradation! And your silence is all to no avail; today, the blinding sun of torture is at its zenith; it lights up the whole country. Under that merciless glare, there is not a laugh that does not ring false, not a face that is not painted to hide fear or anger, not a single action that does not betray our disgust, and our complicity. It is enough today for two French people to meet together for there to be a dead man between them. One dead man did I say? In other days France was the name of a country. We should take care that in 1961 it does not become the name of a nervous disease.

Will we recover? Yes. For violence, like Achilles' lance, can heal the wounds that it has inflicted. Today, we are bound hand and foot, humiliated and sick with fear; we cannot fall lower. Happily this is not yet enough for the colonialist aristocracy; it cannot complete its delaying mission in Algeria until it has first finished colonizing the French. Every day we retreat in front of the battle, but you may be sure that we will not avoid it; the killers need it; they'll go for us and hit out blindly to left and right.

Thus the day of magicians and fetishes will end; you will have to fight, or rot in concentration camps. This is the end of the dialectic; you condemn this war but do riot yet dare to declare yourselves to be on the side of the Algerian fighters; never fear, you can count on the settlers and the hired soldiers; they'll make you take the plunge. Then, perhaps, when your back is to the wall, you will let loose at last that new violence which is raised up in you by old, oft-repeated crimes. But, as they say, that's another story: the history of mankind. The time is drawing near, I am sure, when we will join the ranks of those who make it.

== Concerning Violence ==
National liberation, national renaissance, the restoration of nationhood to the people, commonwealth: whatever may be the headings used or the new formulas introduced, decolonization is always a violent phenomenon. At whatever level we study it-- relationships between individuals, new names for sports clubs, the human admixture at cocktail parties, in the police, on the directing boards of national or private banks-- decolonization is quite simply the replacing of a certain "species" of men by another "species" of men. Without any period of transition, there is a total, complete, and absolute substitution. It is true that we could equally well stress the rise of a new nation, the setting up of a new state, its diplomatic relations, and its economic and political trends. But we have precisely chosen to speak of that kind of tabula rasa which characterizes at the outset all decolonization. Its unusual importance is that it constitutes, from the very first day, the minimum demands of the colonized. To tell the truth, the proof of success lies in a whole social structure being changed from the bottom up. The extraordinary importance of this change is that it is willed, called for, demanded. The need for this change exists in its crude state, impetuous and compelling, in the consciousness and in the lives of the men and women who are colonized. But the possibility of this change is equally experienced in the form of a terrifying future in the consciousness of another "species" of men and women: the colonizers.

Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of the world, is, obviously, a program of complete disorder. But it cannot come as a result of magical practices, nor of a natural shock, nor of a friendly understanding. Decolonization, as we know, is a historical process: that is to say that it cannot be understood, it cannot become intelligible nor clear to itself except in the exact measure that we can discern the movements which give it historical form and content. Decolonization is the meeting of two forces, opposed to each other by their very nature, which in fact owe their originality to that sort of substantification which results from and is nourished by the situation in the colonies. Their first encounter was marked by violence and their existence together--that is to say the exploitation of the native by the settler--was carried on by dint of a great array of bayonets and cannons. The settler and the native are old acquaintances. In fact, the settler is right when he speaks of knowing "them" well. For it is the settler who has brought the native into existence and who perpetuates his existence. The settler owes the fact of his very existence, that is to say, his property, to the colonial system.

Decolonization never takes place unnoticed, for it influences individuals and modifies them fundamentally. It transforms spectators crushed with their inessentiality into privileged actors, with the grandiose glare of history's floodlights upon them. It brings a natural rhythm into existence, introduced by new men, and with it a new language and a new humanity. Decolonization is the veritable creation of new men. But this creation owes nothing of its legitimacy to any supernatural power; the "thing" which has been colonized becomes man during the same process by which it frees itself.

In decolonization, there is therefore the need of a complete calling in question of the colonial situation. If we wish to describe it precisely, we might find it in the well-known words: "The last shall be first and the first last." Decolonization is the putting into practice of this sentence. That is why, if we try to describe it, all decolonization is successful.

The naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets and bloodstained knives which emanate from it. For if the last shall be first, this will only come to pass after a murderous and decisive struggle between the two protagonists. That affirmed intention to place the last at the head of things, and to make them climb at a pace (too quickly, some say) the well-known steps which characterize an organized society, can only triumph if we use all means to turn the scale, including, of course, that of violence.

You do not turn any society, however primitive it may be, upside down with such a program if you have not decided from the very beginning, that is to say from the actual formulation of that program, to overcome all the obstacles that you will come across in so doing. The native who decides to put the program into practice, and to become its moving force, is ready for violence at all times. From birth it is clear to him that this narrow world, strewn with prohibitions, can only be called in question by absolute violence.

The colonial world is a world divided into compartments. It is probably unnecessary to recall the existence of native quarters and European quarters, of schools for natives and schools for Europeans; in the same way we need not recall apartheid in South Africa. Yet, if we examine closely this system of compartments, we will at least be able to reveal the lines of force it implies. This approach to the colonial world, its ordering and its geographical layout will allow us to mark out the lines on which a decolonized society will be reorganized.

The colonial world is a world cut in two. The dividing line, the frontiers are shown by barracks and police stations. In the colonies it is the policeman and the soldier who are the official, instituted go-betweens, the spokesmen of the settler and his rule of oppression. In capitalist societies the educational system, whether lay or clerical, the structure of moral reflexes handed down from father to son, the exemplary honesty of workers who are given a medal after fifty years of good and loyal service, and the affection which springs from harmonious relations and good behavior--all these aesthetic expressions of respect for the established order serve to create around the exploited person an atmosphere of submission and of inhibition which lightens the task of policing considerably. In the capitalist countries a multitude of moral teachers, counselors and "bewilderers" separate the exploited from those in power. In the colonial countries, on the contrary, the policeman and the soldier, by their immediate presence and their frequent and direct action maintain contact with the native and advise him by means of rifle butts and napalm not to budge. It is obvious here that the agents of government speak the language of pure force. The intermediary does not lighten the oppression, nor seek to hide the domination; he shows them up and puts them into practice with the clear conscience of an upholder of the peace; yet he is the bringer of violence into the home and into the mind of the native.

The zone where the natives live is not complementary to the zone inhabited by the settlers. The two zones are opposed, but not in the service of a higher unity. Obedient to the rules of pure Aristotelian logic, they both follow the principle of reciprocal exclusivity. No conciliation is possible, for of the two terms, one is superfluous. The settlers' town is a strongly built town, all made of stone and steel. It is a brightly lit town; the streets are covered with asphalt, and the garbage cans swallow all the leavings, unseen, unknown and hardly thought about. The settler's feet are never visible, except perhaps in the sea; but there you're never close enough to see them. His feet are protected by strong shoes although the streets of his town are clean and even, with no holes or stones. The settler's town is a well-fed town, an easygoing town; its belly is always full of good things. The settlers' town is a town of white people, of foreigners.

The town belonging to the colonized people, or at least the native town, the Negro village, the medina, the reservation, is a place of ill fame, peopled by men of evil repute. They are born there, it matters little where or how; they die there, it matters not where, nor how. It is a world without spaciousness; men live there on top of each other, and their huts are built one on top of the other. The native town is a hungry town, starved of bread, of meat, of shoes, of coal, of light. The native town is a crouching village, a town on its knees, a town wallowing in the mire. It is a town of niggers and dirty Arabs. The look that the native turns on the settler's town is a look of lust, a look of envy; it expresses his dreams of possession--all manner of possession: to sit at the settler's table, to sleep in the settler's bed, with his wife if possible. The colonized man is an envious man. And this the settler knows very well; when their glances meet he ascertains bitterly, always on the defensive, "They want to take our place." It is true, for there is no native who does not dream at least once a day of setting himself up in the settler's place.

This world divided into compartments, this world cut in two is inhabited by two different species. The originality of the colonial context is that economic reality, inequality, and the immense difference of ways of life never come to mask the human realities. When you examine at close quarters the colonial context, it is evident that what parcels out the world is to begin with the fact of belonging to or not belonging to a given race, a given species. In the colonies the economic substructure is also a superstructure. The cause is the consequence; you are rich because you are white, yon are white because you are rich. This is why Marxist analysis should always be slightly stretched every time we have to do with the colonial problem.

Everything up to and including the very nature of precapitalist society, so well explained by Marx, must here be thought out again. The serf is in essence different from the knight, but a reference to divine right is necessary to legitimize this statutory difference. In the colonies, the foreigner coming from another country imposed his rule by means of guns and machines. In defiance of his successful transplantation, in spite of his appropriation, the settler still remains a foreigner. It is neither the act of owning factories, nor estates, nor a bank balance which distinguishes the governing classes. The governing race is first and foremost those who come from elsewhere, those who are unlike the original inhabitants, "the others."

The violence which has ruled over the ordering of the colonial world, which has ceaselessly drummed the rhythm for the destruction of native social forms and broken up without reserve the systems of reference of the economy, the customs of dress and external life, that same violence will be claimed and taken over by the native at the moment when, deciding to embody history in his own person, he surges into the forbidden quarters. To wreck the colonial world is henceforward a mental picture of action which is very clear, very easy to understand and which may be assumed by each one of the individuals which constitute the colonized people. To break up the colonial world does not mean that after the frontiers have been abolished lines of communication will be set up between the two zones. The destruction of the colonial world is no more and no less that the abolition of one zone, its burial in the depths of the earth or its expulsion from the country.

The natives' challenge to the colonial world is not a rational confrontation of points of view. It is not a treatise on the universal, but the untidy affirmation of an original idea propounded as an absolute. The colonial world is a Manichean world. It is not enough for the settler to delimit physically, that is to say with the help of the army and the police force, the place of the native. As if to show the totalitarian character of colonial exploitation the settler paints the native as a sort of quintessence of evil. Native society is not simply described as a society lacking in values. It is not enough for the colonist to affirm that those values have disappeared from, or still better never existed in, the colonial world. The native is declared insensible to ethics; he represents not only the absence of values, but also the negation of values. He is, let us dare to admit, the enemy of values, and in this sense he is the absolute evil. He is the corrosive element, destroying all that comes near him; he is the deforming element, disfiguring all that has to do with beauty or morality; he is the depository of maleficent powers, the unconscious and irretrievable instrument of blind forces. Monsieur Meyer could thus state seriously in the French National Assembly that the Republic must not be prostituted by allowing the Algerian people to become part of it. All values, in fact, are irrevocably poisoned and diseased as soon as they are allowed in contact with the colonized race. The customs of the colonized people, their traditions, their myths -- above all, their myths--are the very sign of that poverty of spirit and of their constitutional depravity. That is why we must put the DDT which destroys parasites, the bearers of disease, on the same level as the Christian religion which wages war on embryonic heresies and instincts, and on evil as yet unborn. The recession of yellow fever and the advance of evangelization form part of the same balance sheet. But the triumphant communiqués from the missions are in fact a source of information concerning the implantation of foreign influences in the core of the colonized people. I speak of the Christian religion, and no one need be astonished. The Church in the colonies is the white people's Church, the foreigner's Church. She does not call the native to God's ways but to the ways of the white man, of the master, of the oppressor. And as we know, in this matter many are called but few chosen.

At times this Manicheism goes to its logical conclusion and dehumanizes the native, or to speak plainly, it turns him into an animal. In fact, the terms the settler uses when he mentions the native are zoological terms. He speaks of the yellow man's reptilian motions, of the stink of the native quarter, of breeding swarms, of foulness, of spawn, of gesticulations. When the settler seeks to describe the native fully in exact terms he constantly refers to the bestiary. The European rarely hits on a picturesque style; but the native, who knows what is in the mind of the settler, guesses at once what he is thinking of. Those hordes of vital statistics, those hysterical masses, those faces bereft of all humanity, those distended bodies which are like nothing on earth, that mob without beginning or end, those children who seem to belong to nobody, that laziness stretched out in the sun, that vegetative rhythm of life--all this forms part of the colonial vocabulary. General de Gaulle speaks of "the yellow multitudes" and François Mauriac of the black, brown, and yellow masses which soon will be unleashed. The native knows all this, and laughs to himself every time he spots an allusion to the animal world in the other's words. For he knows that he is not an animal; and it is precisely at the moment he realizes his humanity that he begins to sharpen the weapons with which he will secure its victory.

As soon as the native begins to pull on his moorings, and to cause anxiety to the settler, he is handed over to well-meaning souls who in cultural congresses point out to him the specificity and wealth of Western values. But every time Western values are mentioned they produce in the native a sort of stiffening or muscular lockjaw. During the period of decolonization, the natives's reason is appealed to. He is offered definite values, he is told frequently that decolonization need not mean regression, and that he must put his trust in qualities which are welltried, solid, and highly esteemed. But it so happens that when the native hears a speech about Western culture he pulls out his knife--or at least he makes sure it is within reach. The violence with which the supremacy of white values is affirmed and the aggressiveness which has permeated the victory of these values over the ways of life and of thought of the native mean that, in revenge, the native laughs in mockery when Western values are mentioned in front of him. In the colonial context the settler only ends his work of breaking in the native when the latter admits loudly and intelligibly the supremacy of the white man's values. In the period of decolonization, the colonized masses mock at these very values, insult them, and vomit them up.

This phenomenon is ordinarily masked because, during the period of decolonization, certain colonized intellectuals have begun a dialogue with the bourgeoisie of the colonialist country. During this phase, the indigenous population is discerned only as an indistinct mass. The few native personalities whom the colonialist bourgeois have come to know here and there have not sufficient influence on that immediate discernment to give rise to nuances. On the other hand, during the period of liberation, the colonialist bourgeoisie looks feverishly for contacts with the elite and it is with these elite that the familiar dialogue concerning values is carried on. The colonialist bourgeoisie, when it realizes that it is impossible for it to maintain its domination over the colonial countries, decides to carry out a rearguard action with regard to culture, values, techniques, and so on. Now what we must never forget is that the immense majority of colonized peoples is oblivious to these problems. For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity. But this dignity has nothing to do with the dignity of the human individual: for that human individual has never heard tell of it. All that the native has seen in his country is that they can freely arrest him, beat him, starve him: and no professor of ethics, no priest has ever come to be beaten in his place, nor to share their bread with him. As far as the native is concerned, morality is very concrete; it is to silence the settler's defiance, to break his flaunting violence--in a word, to put him out of the picture. The wellknown principle that all men are equal will be illustrated in the colonies from the moment that the native claims that he is the equal of the settler. One step more, and he is ready to fight to be more than the settler. In fact, he has already decided to eject him and to take his place; as we see it, it is a whole material and moral universe which is breaking up. The intellectual who for his part has followed the colonialist with regard to the universal abstract will fight in order that the settler and the native may live together in peace in a new world. But the thing he does not see, precisely because he is permeated by colonialism and all its ways of thinking, is that the settler, from the moment that the colonial context disappears, has no longer any interest in remaining or in co-existing. It is not by chance that, even before any negotiation between the Algerian and French governments has taken place, the European minority which calls itself "liberal" has already made its position clear: it demands nothing more nor less than twofold citizenship. By setting themselves apart in an abstract manner, the liberals try to force the settler into taking a very concrete jump into the unknown. Let us admit it, the settler knows perfectly well that no phraseology can be a substitute for reality.

Thus the native discovers that his life, his breath, his beating heart are the same as those of the settler. He finds out that the settler's skin is not of any more value than a native's skin; and it must be said that this discovery shakes the world in a very necessary manner. All the new, revolutionary assurance of the native stems from it. For if, in fact, my life is worth as much as the settler's, his glance no longer shrivels me up nor freezes me, and his voice no longer turns me into stone. I am no longer on tenterhooks in his presence; in fact, I don't give a damn for him. Not only does his presence no longer trouble me, but I am already preparing such efficient ambushes for him that soon there will be no way out but that of flight.

We have said that the colonial context is characterized by the dichotomy which it imposes upon the whole people. Decolonization unifies that people by the radical decision to remove from it its heterogeneity, and by unifying it on a national, sometimes a racial, basis. We know the fierce words of the Senegalese patriots, referring to the maneuvers of their president, Senghor: "We have demanded that the higher posts should be given to Africans; and now Senghor is Africanizing the Europeans." That is to say that the native can see clearly and immediately if decolonization has come to pass or not, for his minimum demands are simply that the last shall be first.

But the native intellectual brings variants to this petition, and, in fact, he seems to have good reasons: higher civil servants, technicians, specialists--all seem to be needed. Now, the ordinary native interprets these unfair promotions as so many acts of sabotage, and he is often heard to declare: "It wasn't worth while, then, our becoming independent..."

In the colonial countries where a real struggle for freedom has taken place, where the blood of the people has flowed and where the length of the period of armed warfare has favored the backward surge of intellectuals toward bases grounded in the people, we can observe a genuine eradication of the superstructure built by these intellectuals from the bourgeois colonialist environment. The colonialist bourgeoisie, in its narcissistic dialogue, expounded by the members of its universities, had in fact deeply implanted in the minds of the colonized intellectual that the essential qualities remain eternal in spite of all the blunders men may make: the essential qualities of the West, of course. The native intellectual accepted the cogency of these ideas, and deep down in his brain you could always find a vigilant sentinel ready to defend the Greco-Latin pedestal. Now it so happens that during the struggle for liberation, at the moment that the native intellectual comes into touch again with his people, this artificial sentinel is turned into dust. All the Mediterranean values--the triumph of the human individual, of clarity, and of beauty--become lifeless, colorless knickknacks. All those speeches seem like collections of dead words; those values which seemed to uplift the soul are revealed as worthless, simply because they have nothing to do with the concrete conflict in which the people is engaged.

Individualism is the first to disappear. The native intellectual had learnt from his masters that the individual ought to express himself fully. The colonialist bourgeoisie had hammered into the native's mind the idea of a society of individuals where each person shuts himself up in his own subjectivity, and whose only wealth is individual thought. Now the native who has the opportunity to return to the people during the struggle for freedom will discover the falseness of this theory. The very forms of organization of the struggle will suggest to him a different vocabulary. Brother, sister, friend--these are words outlawed by the colonialist bourgeoisie, because for them my brother is my purse, my friend is part of my scheme for getting on. The native intellectual takes part, in a sort of auto-da-fé, in the destruction of all his idols: egoism, recrimination that springs from pride, and the childish stupidity of those who always want to have the last word. Such a colonized intellectual, dusted over by colonial culture, will in the same way discover the substance of village assemblies, the cohesion of people's committees, and the extraordinary fruitfulness of local meetings and groupments. Henceforward, the interests of one will be the interests of all, for in concrete fact everyone will be discovered by the troops, everyone will be massacred—or everyone will be saved. The motto "look out for yourself," the atheist's method of salvation, is in this context forbidden.

Self-criticism has been much talked about of late, but few people realize that it is an African institution. Whether in the djemaas<ref>Village assemblies.</ref> of northern Africa or in the meetings of western Africa, tradition demands that the quarrels which occur in a village should be settled in public. It is communal self-criticism, of course, and with a note of humor, because everybody is relaxed, and because in the last resort we all want the same things. But the more the intellectual imbibes the atmosphere of the people, the more completely he abandons the habits of calculation, of unwonted silence, of mental reservations, and shakes off the spirit of concealment. And it is true that already at that level we can say that the community triumphs, and that it spreads its own light and its own reason.

But it so happens sometimes that decolonization occurs in areas which have not been sufficiently shaken by the struggle for liberation, and there may be found those same know-all, smart, wily intellectuals. We find intact in them the manners and forms of thought picked up during their association with the colonialist bourgeoisie. Spoilt children of yesterday's colonialism and of today's national governments, they organize the loot of whatever national resources exist. Without pity, they use today's national distress as a means of getting on through scheming and legal robbery, by import-export combines, limited liability companies, gambling on the stock exchange, or unfair promotion. They are insistent in their demands for the nationalization of commerce, that is to say the reservation of markets and advantageous bargains for nationals only. As far as doctrine is concerned, they proclaim the pressing necessity of nationalizing the robbery of the nation. In this arid phase of national life, the so-called period of austerity, the success of their depredations is swift to call forth the violence and anger of the people. For this same people, poverty-stricken yet independent, comes very quickly to possess a social conscience in the African and international context of today; and this the petty individualists will quickly learn.

In order to assimilate and to experience the oppressor's culture, the native has had to leave certain of his intellectual possessions in pawn. These pledges include his adoption of the forms of thought of the colonialist bourgeoisie. This is very noticeable in the inaptitude of the native intellectual to carry on a two-sided discussion; for he cannot eliminate himself when confronted with an object or an idea. On the other hand, when once he begins to militate among the people he is struck with wonder and amazement; he is literally disarmed by their good faith and honesty. The danger that will haunt him continually is that of becoming the uncritical mouthpiece of the masses; he becomes a kind of yes-man who nods assent at every word coming from the people, which he interprets as considered judgments. Now, the fellah, the unemployed man, the starving native do not lay a claim to the truth; they do not say that they represent the truth, for they are the truth.

Objectively, the intellectual behaves in this phase like a common opportunist. In fact he has not stopped maneuvering. There is never any question of his being either rejected or welcomed by the people. What they ask is simply that all resources should be pooled. The inclusion of the native intellectual in the upward surge of the masses will in this case be differentiated by a curious cult of detail. That is not to say that the people are hostile to analysis; on the contrary, they like having things explained to them, they are glad to understand a line of argument and they like to see where they are going. But at the beginning of his association with the people the native intellectual over-stresses details and thereby comes to forget that the defeat of colonialism is the real object of the struggle. Carried away by the multitudinous aspects of the fight, he tends to concentrate on local tasks, performed with enthusiasm but almost always too solemnly. He fails to see the whole of the movement all the time. He introduces the idea of special disciplines, of specialized functions, of departments within the terrible stone crusher, the fierce mixing machine which a popular revolution is. He is occupied in action on a particular front, and it so happens that he loses sight of the unity of the movement. Thus, if a local defeat is inflicted, he may well be drawn into doubt, and from thence to despair. The people, on the other hand, take their stand from the start on the broad and inclusive positions of bread and the land: how can we obtain the land, and bread to eat? And this obstinate point of view of the masses, which may seem shrunken and limited, is in the end the most worthwhile and the most efficient mode of procedure.

The problem of truth ought also to be considered. In every age, among the people, truth is the property of the national cause. No absolute verity, no discourse on the purity of the soul, can shake this position. The native replies to the living lie of the colonial situation by an equal falsehood. His dealings with his fellow-nationals are open; they are strained and incomprehensible with regard to the settlers. Truth is that which hurries on the breakup of the colonialist regime; it is that which promotes the emergence of the nation; it is all that protects the natives, and ruins the foreigners. In this colonialist context there is no truthful behavior: and the good is quite simply that which is evil for "them."

Thus we see that the primary Manicheism which governed colonial society is preserved intact during the period of decolonization; that is to say that the settler never ceases to be the enemy, the opponent, the foe that must be overthrown. The oppressor, in his own sphere, starts the process, a process of domination, of exploitation and of pillage, and in the other sphere the coiled, plundered creature which is the native provides fodder for the process as best he can, the process which moves uninterruptedly from the banks of the colonial territory to the palaces and the docks of the mother country. In this becalmed zone the sea has a smooth surface, the palm tree stirs gently in the breeze, the waves lap against the pebbles, and raw materials are ceaselessly transported, justifying the presence of the settler: and all the while the native, bent double, more dead than alive, exists interminably in an unchanging dream. The settler makes history; his life is an epoch, an Odyssey. He is the absolute beginning: "This land was created by us"; he is the unceasing cause: "If we leave, all is lost, and the country will go back to the Middle Ages." Over against him torpid creatures, wasted by fevers, obsessed by ancestral customs, form an almost inorganic background for the innovating dynamism of colonial mercantilism.

The settler makes history and is conscious of making it. And because he constantly refers to the history of his mother country, he clearly indicates that he himself is the extension of that mother country. Thus the history which he writes is not the history of the country which he plunders but the history of his own nation in regard to all that she skims off, all that she violates and starves.

The immobility to which the native is condemned can only be called in question if the native decides to put an end to the history of colonization--the history of pillage -and to bring into existence the history of the nation—the history of decolonization.

A world divided into compartments, a motionless, Manicheistic world, a world of statues: the statue of the general who carried out the conquest, the statue of the engineer who built the bridge; a world which is sure of itself, which crushes with its stones the backs flayed by whips: this is the colonial world. The native is a being hemmed in; apartheid is simply one form of the division into compartments of the colonial world. The first thing which the native learns is to stay in his place, and not to go beyond certain limits. This is why the dreams of the native are always of muscular prowess; his dreams are of action and of aggression. I dream I am jumping, swimming, running, climbing; I dream that I burst out laughing, that I span a river in one stride, or that I am followed by a flood of motorcars which never catch up with me. During the period of colonization, the native never stops achieving his freedom from nine in the evening until six in the morning.

The colonized man will first manifest this aggressiveness which has been deposited in his bones against his own people. This is the period when the niggers beat each other up, and the police and magistrates do not know which way to turn when faced with the astonishing waves of crime in North Africa. We shall see later how this phenomenon should be judged. * When the native is confronted with the colonial order of things, he finds he is in a state of permanent tension. The settler's world is a hostile world, which spurns the native, but at the same time it is a world of which he is envious. We have seen that the native never ceases to dream of putting himself in the place of the settler--not of becoming the settler but of substituting himself for the settler. This hostile world, ponderous and aggressive because it fends off the colonized masses with all the harshness it is capable of, represents not merely a hell from which the swiftest flight possible is desirable, but also a paradise close at hand which is guarded by terrible watchdogs.

The native is always on the alert, for since he can only make out with difficulty the many symbols of the colonial world, he is never sure whether or not he has crossed the frontier. Confronted with a world ruled by the settler, the native is always presumed guilty. But the native's guilt is never a guilt which he accepts; it is rather a kind of curse, a sort of sword of Damocles, for, in his innermost spirit, the native admits no accusation. He is overpowered but not tamed; he is treated as an inferior but he is not convinced of his inferiority. He is patiently waiting until the settler is off his guard to fly at him. The native's muscles are always tensed. You can't say that he is terrorized, or even apprehensive. He is in fact ready at a moment's notice to exchange the role of the quarry for that of the hunter. The native is an oppressed person whose permanent dream is to become the persecutor. The symbols of social order--the police, the bugle calls in the barracks, military parades and the waving flags--are at one and the same time inhibitory and stimulating: for they do not convey the message "Don't dare to budge"; rather, they cry out "Get ready to attack." And, in fact, if the native had any tendency to fall asleep and to forget, the settler's hauteur and the settler's anxiety to test the strength of the colonial system would remind him at every turn that the great showdown cannot be put off indefinitely. That impulse to take the settler's place implies a tonicity of muscles the whole time; and in fact we know that in certain emotional conditions the presence of an obstacle accentuates the tendency toward motion.

The settler-native relationship is a mass relationship. The settler pits brute force against the weight of numbers. He is an exhibitionist. His preoccupation with security makes him remind the native out loud that there he alone is master. The settler keeps alive in the native an anger which he deprives of outlet; the native is trapped in the tight links of the chains of colonialism. But we have seen that inwardly the settler can only achieve a pseudo petrification. The native's muscular tension finds outlet regularly in bloodthirsty explosions--in tribal warfare, in feuds between septs, and in quarrels between individuals.

Where individuals are concerned, a positive negation of common sense is evident. While the settler or the policeman has the right the livelong day to strike the native, to insult him and to make him crawl to them, you will see the native reaching for his knife at the slightest hostile or aggressive glance cast on him by another native; for the last resort of the native is to defend his personality vis-à-vis his brother. Tribal feuds only serve to perpetuate old grudges buried deep in the memory. By throwing himself with all his force into the vendetta, the native tries to persuade himself that colonialism does not exist, that everything is going on as before, that history continues. Here on the level of communal organizations we clearly discern the well-known behavior patterns of avoidance. It is as if plunging into a fraternal bloodbath allowed them to ignore the obstacle, and to put off till later the choice, nevertheless inevitable, which opens up the question of armed resistance to colonialism. Thus collective autodestruction in a very concrete form is one of the ways in which the native's muscular tension is set free. All these patterns of conduct are those of the death reflex when faced with danger, a suicidal behavior which proves to the settler (whose existence and domination is by them all the more justified) that these men are not reasonable human beings. In the same way the native manages to by-pass the settler. A belief in fatality removes all blame from the oppressor; the cause of misfortunes and of poverty is attributed to God: He is Fate. In this way the individual accepts the disintegration ordained by God, bows down before the settler and his lot, and by a kind of interior restabilization acquires a stony calm.

Meanwhile, however, life goes on, and the native will strengthen the inhibitions which contain his aggressiveness by drawing on the terrifying myths which are so frequently found in underdeveloped communities. There are maleficent spirits which intervene every time a step is taken in the wrong direction, leopard-men, serpent-men, six-legged dogs, zombies--a whole series of tiny animals or giants which create around the native a world of prohibitions, of barriers and of inhibitions far more terrifying than the world of the settler. This magical superstructure which permeates native society fulfills certain well-defined functions in the dynamism of the libido. One of the characteristics of underdeveloped societies is in fact that the libido is first and foremost the concern of a group, or of the family. The feature of communities whereby a man who dreams that he has sexual relations with a woman other than his own must confess it in public and pay a fine in kind or in working days to the injured husband or family is fully described by ethnologists. We may note in passing that this proves that the so-called prehistoric societies attach great importance to the unconscious.

The atmosphere of myth and magic frightens me and so takes on an undoubted reality. By terrifying me, it integrates me in the traditions and the history of my district or of my tribe, and at the same time it reassures me, it gives me a status, as it were an identification paper. In underdeveloped countries the occult sphere is a sphere belonging to the community which is entirely under magical jurisdiction. By entangling myself in this inextricable network where actions are repeated with crystalline inevitability, I find the everlasting world which belongs to me, and the perenniality which is thereby affirmed of the world belonging to us. Believe me, the zombies are more terrifying than the settlers; and in consequence the problem is no longer that of keeping oneself right with the colonial world and its barbed-wire entanglements, but of considering three times before urinating, spitting, or going out into the night.

The supernatural, magical powers reveal themselves as essentially personal; the settler's powers are infinitely shrunken, stamped with their alien origin. We no longer really need to fight against them since what counts is the frightening enemy created by myths. We perceive that all is settled by a permanent confrontation on the phantasmic plane.

It has always happened in the struggle for freedom that such a people, formerly lost in an imaginary maze, a prey to unspeakable terrors yet happy to lose themselves in a dreamlike torment, such a people becomes unhinged, reorganizes itself, and in blood and tears gives birth to very real and immediate action. Feeding the mujahideen, posting sentinels, coming to the help of families which lack the bare necessities, or taking the place of a husband who has been killed or imprisoned: such are the concrete tasks to which the people is called during the struggle for freedom.

In the colonial world, the emotional sensitivity of the native is kept on the surface of his skin like an open sore which flinches from the caustic agent; and the psyche shrinks back, obliterates itself and finds outlet in muscular demonstrations which have caused certain very wise men to say that the native is a hysterical type. This sensitive emotionalism, watched by invisible keepers who are how ever in unbroken contact with the core of the personality, will find its fulfillment through eroticism in the driving forces behind the crisis' dissolution.

On another level we see the native's emotional sensibility exhausting itself in dances which are more or less ecstatic. This is why any study of the colonial world should take into consideration the phenomena of the dance and of possession. The native's relaxation takes precisely the form of a muscular orgy in which the most acute aggressivity and the most impelling violence are canalized, transformed, and conjured away. The circle of the dance is a permissive circle: it protects and permits. At certain times on certain days, men and women come together at a given place, and there, under the solemn eye of the tribe, fling themselves into a seemingly unorganized pantomime, which is in reality extremely systematic, in which by various means--shakes of the head, bending of the spinal column, throwing of the whole body backward -may be deciphered as in an open book the huge effort of a community to exorcise itself, to liberate itself, to explain itself. There are no limits--inside the circle. The hillock up which you have toiled as if to be nearer to the moon; the river bank down which you slip as if to show the connection between the dance and ablutions, cleansing and purification--these are sacred places. There are no limits--for in reality your purpose in coming together is to allow the accumulated libido, the hampered aggressivity, to dissolve as in a volcanic eruption. Symbolical killings, fantastic rides, imaginary mass murders--all must be brought out. The evil humors are undammed, and flow away with a din as of molten lava.

One step further and you are completely possessed. In fact, these are actually organized séances of possession and exorcism; they include vampirism, possession by djinns, by zombies, and by Legba, the famous god of the voodoo.

This disintegrating of the personality, this splitting and dissolution, all this fulfills a primordial function in the organism of the colonial world. When they set out, the men and women were impatient, stamping their feet in a state of nervous excitement; when they return, peace has been restored to the village; it is once more calm and unmoved.

During the struggle for freedom, a marked alienation from these practices is observed. The native's back is to the wall, the knife is at his throat (or, more precisely, the electrode at his genitals): he will have no more call for his fancies. After centuries of unreality, after having wallowed in the most outlandish phantoms, at long last the native, gun in hand, stands face to face with the only forces which contend for his life--the forces of colonialism. And the youth of a colonized country, growing up in an atmosphere of shot and fire, may well make a mock of, and does not hesitate to pour scorn upon the zombies of his ancestors, the horses with two heads, the dead who rise again, and the djinns who rush into your body while you yawn. The native discovers reality and transforms it into the pattern of his customs, into the practice of violence and into his plan for freedom.

We have seen that this same violence, though kept very much on the surface all through the colonial period, yet turns in the void. We have also seen that it is canalized by the emotional outlets of dance and possession by spirits; we have seen how it is exhausted in fratricidal combats. Now the problem is to lay hold of this violence which is changing direction. When formerly it was appeased by myths and exercised its talents in finding fresh ways of committing mass suicide, now new conditions will make possible a completely new line of action.

Nowadays a theoretical problem of prime importance is being set, on the historical plane as well as on the level of political tactics, by the liberation of the colonies: when can one affirm that the situation is ripe for a movement of national liberation? In what form should it first be manifested? Because the various means whereby decolonization has been carried out have appeared in many different aspects, reason hesitates and refuses to say which is a true decolonization, and which a false. We shall see that for a man who is in the thick of the fight it is an urgent matter to decide on the means and the tactics to employ: that is to say, how to conduct and organize the movement. If this coherence is not present there is only a blind will toward freedom, with the terribly reactionary risks which it entails.

=== Violence in the International Context ===

== Spontaneity: Its Strengths and Weaknesses ==

== The Pitfalls of National Consciousness ==

== On National Culture ==

== Colonial War and Mental Disorders ==

=== Series A ===

=== Series B ===

=== Series C ===

=== Series D ===

== Conclusion ==
Come, then''',''' comrades; it would be as well to decide at once to change our ways. We must shake off the heavy darkness in which we were plunged, and leave it behind. The new day which is already at hand must find us firm, prudent and resolute.

We must leave our dreams and abandon our old beliefs and friendships of the time before life began. Let us waste no time in sterile litanies and nauseating mimicry. Leave this Europe where they are never done talking of Man, yet murder men everywhere they find them, at the corner of every one of their own streets, in all the corners of the globe. For centuries they have stifled almost the whole of humanity in the name of a so-called spiritual experience. Look at them today swaying between atomic and spiritual disintegration.

And yet it may be said that Europe has been successful in as much as everything that she has attempted has succeeded.

Europe undertook the leadership of the world with ardour, cynicism and violence. Look at how the shadow of her palaces stretches out ever farther! Every one of her movements has burst the bounds of space and thought. Europe has declined all humility and all modesty; but she has also set her face against all solicitude and all tenderness.

She has only shown herself parsimonious and niggardly where men are concerned; it is only men that she has killed and devoured.

So, my brothers, how is it that we do not understand that we have better things to do than to follow that same Europe?

That same Europe where they were never done talking of Man, and where they never stopped proclaiming that they were only anxious for the welfare of Man: today we know with what sufferings humanity has paid for every one of their triumphs of the mind.

Come, then, comrades, the European game has finally ended; we must find something different. We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe.

Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.

Yet it is very true that we need a model, and that we want blueprints and examples. For many among us the European model is the most inspiring. We have therefore seen in the preceding pages to what mortifying set-backs such an imitation has led us. European achievements, European techniques and the European style ought no longer to tempt us and to throw us off our balance.

When I search for Man in the technique and the style of Europe, I see only a succession of negations of man, and an avalanche of murders.

The human condition, plans for mankind and collaboration between men in those tasks which increase the sum total of humanity are new problems, which demand true inventions.

Let us decide not to imitate Europe; let us combine our muscles and our brains in a new direction. Let us try to create the whole man, whom Europe has been incapable of bringing to triumphant birth.

Two centuries ago, a former European colony decided to catch up with Europe. It succeeded so well that the United States of America became a monster, in which the taints, the sickness and the inhumanity of Europe have grown to appalling dimensions.

Comrades, have we not other work to do than to create a third Europe? The West saw itself as a spiritual adventure. It is in the name of the spirit, in the name of the spirit of Europe, that Europe has made her encroachments, that she has justified her crimes and legitimized the slavery in which she holds four-fifths of humanity.

Yes, the European spirit has strange roots. All European thought has unfolded in places which were increasingly more deserted and more encircled by precipices; and thus it was that the custom grew up in those places of very seldom meeting man.

A permanent dialogue with oneself and an increasingly obscene narcissism never ceased to prepare the way for a half delirious state, where intellectual work became suffering and the reality was not at all that of a living man, working and creating himself, but rather words, different combinations of words, and the tensions springing from the meanings contained in words. Yet some Europeans were found to urge the European workers to shatter this narcissism and to break with this un-reality.

But in general the workers of Europe have not replied to these calls; for the workers believe, too, that they are part of the prodigious adventure of the European spirit.

All the elements of a solution to the great problems of humanity have, at different times, existed in European thought. But Europeans have not carried out in practice the mission which fell to them, which consisted of bringing their whole weight to bear violently upon these elements, of modifying their arrangement and their nature, of changing them and, finally, of bringing the problem of mankind to an infinitely higher plane.

Today, we are present at the stasis of Europe. Comrades, let us flee from this motionless movement where gradually dialectic is changing into the logic of equilibrium. Let us reconsider the question of mankind. Let us reconsider the question of cerebral reality and of the cerebral mass of all humanity, whose connexions must be increased, whose channels must be diversified and whose messages must be re-humanized.

Come, brothers, we have far too much work to do for us to play the game of rear-guard. Europe has done what she set out to do and on the whole she has done it well; let us stop blaming her, but let us say to her firmly that she should not make such a song and dance about it. We have no more to fear; so let us stop envying her.

The Third World today faces Europe like a colossal mass whose aim should be to try to resolve the problems to which Europe has not been able to find the answers.

But let us be clear: what matters is to stop talking about output, and intensification, and the rhythm of work.

No, there is no question of a return to Nature. It is simply a very concrete question of not dragging men towards mutilation, of not imposing upon the brain rhythms which very quickly obliterate it and wreck it. The pretext of catching up must not be used to push man around, to tear him away from himself or from his privacy, to break and kill him.

No, we do not want to catch up with anyone. What we want to do is to go forward all the time, night and day, in the company of Man, in the company of all men. The caravan should not be stretched out, for in that case each line will hardly see those who precede it; and men who no longer recognize each other meet less and less together, and talk to each other less and less.

It is a question of the Third World starting a new history of Man, a history which will have regard to the sometimes prodigious theses which Europe has put forward, but which will also not forget Europe’s crimes, of which the most horrible was committed in the heart of man, and consisted of the pathological tearing apart of his functions and the crumbling away of his unity. And in the framework of the collectivity there were the differentiations, the stratification and the bloodthirsty tensions fed by classes; and finally, on the immense scale of humanity, there were racial hatreds, slavery, exploitation and above all the bloodless genocide which consisted in the setting aside of fifteen thousand millions of men.

So, comrades, let us not pay tribute to Europe by creating states, institutions and societies which draw their inspiration from her.

Humanity is waiting for something other from us than such an imitation, which would be almost an obscene caricature.

If we want to turn Africa into a new Europe, and America into a new Europe, then let us leave the destiny of our countries to Europeans. They will know how to do it better than the most gifted among us.

But if we want humanity to advance a step farther, if we want to bring it up to a different level than that which Europe has shown it, then we must invent and we must make discoveries.

If we wish to live up to our peoples’ expectations, we must seek the response elsewhere than in Europe.

Moreover, if we wish to reply to the expectations of the people of Europe, it is no good sending them back a reflection, even an ideal reflection, of their society and their thought with which from time to time they feel immeasurably sickened.

For Europe, for ourselves and for humanity, comrades, we must turn over a new leaf, we must work out new concepts, and try to set afoot a new man.

== Notes ==
<references />
[[Category:Library works by Frantz Fanon]]
[[Category:Library works about decolonisation]]

Topic:Ypfpmib4arux71zw

2025-04-13T19:50:59Z

GrainEater (talk | contribs) commented on "Citations" (In some of your recent edits (e.g. on this page), the sources are not properly formatted. ProleWiki:User guide#Adding sources describes h...)

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–1991)

2025-04-13T19:41:23Z

GrainEater: Spelling

{{Infobox country|name=Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic|native_name=Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика|image_flag=Flag of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (1953–1990).svg|image_coat=Emblem_of_the_Estonian_SSR.svg.png|capital=Tallinn|mode_of_production=Socialism|government_type=Unitary Marxist–Leninist socialist republic|life_span=1940–1991|motto=Kõigi maade proletaarlased, ühinege!|englishmotto=Workers of the world, unite!|image_map=Soviet Union - Estonian SSR.svg.png|map_width=290|common_languages=Estonian Russian|demonym=Estonian|legislature=[[Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR|Supreme Soviet]]|area_km2=45,227|population_estimate=1,565,662|population_census=1989|currency=[[Soviet ruble]]|currency_code=SUR}}

The '''Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic''' was one of thirteen [[Union republic|union republics]] of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]], established in 1940 following requests by the Communist Party of Estonia to be incorporated. Eventually, alongside various other [[Color revolution|color revolutions]] propped up by imperialist powers within the Soviet Union under [[Gorbachev]], the ESSR would effectively collapse on 8 May 1990, and a new [[Republic of Estonia|bourgeois republic]] would be propped up in its place.
[[Category:History of Estonia]]
[[Category:Republics of the Soviet Union]]

Global North and South

2025-03-20T18:27:08Z

GrainEater: Consistent capitalization

{{Message box/Missing Sources}}[[File:1920px-North South divide.svg.png|thumb|Global North countries are in blue, Global South countries are in red.<ref group="note">Map made by the ProleWiki editorial team. Some countries are contested whether they are part of the Global North or Global South, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The classification also depends on their relationship to imperialism.</ref>]]
[[File:Tricontinental Global North and South map.png|thumb|More detailed map from the [[Tricontinental]] dividing the Global North and South into subgroups]]
In [[geopolitics]], the '''Global South''' is a general term that roughly designates the economically exploited countries.<ref name=":1" /> In contrast, the '''Global North''' encompasses the [[Imperial core|most advanced capitalist countries]],<ref name=":1">IGI Global Publisher Dictionary, "[https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/global-northsouth/50101 What is Global North/South?]"</ref> whose wealth was largely stolen [[capital]] generated from [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]].<ref name=":0">LENIN; Vladimir, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism ([https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/ Read on Marxists.org])</ref> "Global South" is separate from, but not mutually exclusive, to the reality of [[settler-colonialism]] as some Global South countries can also be settler-colonial.{{Citation needed}}

To be a Global South country is to be a country whose economy is suppressed under the conditions of imperialism.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|author=Lemuel Ekedegwa Odeh|year=2010|title=A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL NORTH AND GLOBAL SOUTH ECONOMIES|title-url=https://jsd-africa.com/Jsda/V12No3_Summer2010_A/PDF/A%20Comparative%20Analysis%20of%20Global%20North%20and%20Global%20South%20Economies%20(Odeh).pdf|chapter=Abstract|quote=|city=Clarion, Pennsylvania|publisher=Clarion University of Pennsylvania}}</ref> The [[Marxism|Marxist]] usage of the "Global South" follows the line used by AES countries like [[People's Republic of China|China]] according to the Marxist understanding of global [[imperialism]].{{Citation needed}} China is considered to be part of the South,<ref name=":2" /> despite them having achieved the highest GDP in the world in purchasing power parity.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=World Economics|title=Economies by GDP Size|url=https://www.worldeconomics.com/Rankings/Economies-By-Size.aspx}}</ref> [[Israel]] is considered to be part of the Global North,<ref name=":2" /> due to its establishment by and advancing the imperial interests of the Global North.{{Citation needed}}

The term [[Third World]] is also sometimes used to talk about the Global South, but is considered to be outdated even by imperialist organizations.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=World Bank|title=Old concept of “Third World” outdated, Zoellick says|date=2010-04-14|url=https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2010/04/14/old-concept-of-third-world-outdated-zoellick-says|archive-url=https://archive.ph/wip/VAw0a}}</ref>

The term "developing countries" is misleading too, as it ignores the fact that the "developed" countries are the ones imperializing them, overexploiting and making them [[Dependency|economically dependent]] on export/imports from or to the Global North.<ref name=":0" />

In 1500, the average income in [[Europe]] was only three times higher than in [[Africa]] and [[Asia]], but that difference grew to 10 times by 1960.<ref name=":12222">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Buenos Aires|page=66|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref> In addition, in 1960, the richest 20 countries were 18 times as rich as the 20 poorest countries in terms of GDP per capita. This ratio grew to 37 times in 1995.<ref name=":1222">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Conclusion|page=277|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />

=== Notes ===
<references group="note" />
[[Category:Global south]]
[[Category:Global north]]
[[Category:Geopolitics]]

Reformism

2025-03-20T18:24:48Z

GrainEater: Spelling

'''Reformism''', or reformist socialism, is any political theory or action that centers the seeking of progressive change within the capitalist system. Reformist theory and practice is a [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] deception of the [[Proletariat|working class]] where the capitalist class retains control over the [[means of production]]. It is only possible when workers do not have a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. Reformist governments and political movements are a type of controlled opposition. That is, persons and organizations that appear to be [[Anti-capitalism|anti-capitalist]], but are in fact damaging the anti-capitalist movement. Reformists are opposed by [[Socialism|socialists]], [[Syndicalism|syndicalists]] and others.
As described by [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]:<ref>{{Citation|author=Lenin|year=1913|title=Marxism and Reformism|link=[[library:Marxism And Reformism]]}}</ref><blockquote> "Unlike the [[Anarchism|anarchists]], the [[Marxism|Marxists]] recognise struggle for reforms, i.e., for measures that improve the conditions of the working people without destroying the power of the [[ruling class]]. At the same time, however, the Marxists wage a most resolute struggle against the reformists, who, directly or indirectly, restrict the aims and activities of the working class to the winning of reforms. Reformism is bourgeois deception of the workers, who, despite individual improvements, will always remain [[Wage slavery|wage-slaves]], as long as there is the domination of capital.

The [[Liberalism|liberal]] bourgeoisie grant reforms with one hand, and with the other always take them back, reduce them to nought, use them to enslave the workers, to divide them into separate groups and perpetuate wage-slavery. For that reason reformism, even when quite sincere, in practice becomes a weapon by means of which the bourgeoisie corrupt and weaken the workers. The experience of all countries shows that the workers who put their trust in the reformists are always fooled. "</blockquote>These reformist organizations and individuals are significantly more dangerous to the [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist movement]] and to other types of [[scientific socialism]] than open opposition. Open opposition inspires [[Revolution|resistance]], while controlled opposition is designed to absorb that resistance. Once controlled opposition takes control of a movement, the only hope for the cause of that movement is for real opposition to take back the movement, expose controlled opposition for what they are, or build an alternative movement. Lenin famously did this with the [[Mensheviks]].

Reformists will typically make decisions harmful to political organization's struggle against [[capital]] and try to get others to do the same under the guise of helping them. While reformist organizations might appear to take action and even have small symbolic wins, what reformists will never do is make meaningful and decisive [[Revolution|victory]], because their goal isn’t to win. If someone on their side begins to adopt a strategy that could actually win or cause a loss for capitalism, reformists will be there to undermine that strategy and ensure the win does not occur. The [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|social democrats]] of [[German Reich (1918–1933)|Germany]] famously did this in the lead-up to [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] taking power.<ref>{{Citation|author=Michael Parenti|year=1997|title=Blackshirts & reds|title-url=https://valleysunderground.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/blackshirts-and-reds-by-michael-parenti.pdf|chapter=Chapter 1, Rational Fascism|section=Plutocrats Choose Autocrats|page=5|quote=In the December 1932 election, three candidates ran for president:
the conservative incumbent Field Marshal von Hindenburg, the Nazi candidate Adolph Hitler, and the Communist party candidate Ernst Thaelmann. In his campaign, Thaelmann argued that a vote for Hindenburg amounted to a vote for Hitler and that Hitler would lead Germany into war. The bourgeois press, including the Social Democrats, denounced this view as "Moscow inspired." Hindenburg was re-elected while the Nazis dropped approximately two million votes in the Reichstag election as compared to their peak of over 13.7 million.|publisher=CITY LIGHTS BOOKS|isbn=9780872863293|lg=https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=2A465EA2A003644077523F690545F113|trans-lang=English}}</ref>

While reformism might have secondary aims like eliminating certain activists or making [[communism]] look bad, the goal of reformism is to run the movement they claim to support on behalf of capital. If reformists can gain control of a movement, then they can ensure that anyone seeking to oppose the side they really work for will join organizations and efforts they control that are designed to fail.

Reformists can be challenging to identify for the reason that they are functionally spies, and spies try to hide their true identity. However, the easiest way to identify reformism is to judge activists by their outcomes. If you find yourself asking why an organization or activist appears to be engaging in activity harmful to their movement, consider the possibility that this harm is intentional. Only occasionally do reformists make themselves obvious, by participating in hit pieces against the movement they claim to support, promoting opposition organizations, like [[Strike breaker|strike-breakers]] or being caught in a lie intended to harm the movement they claim to support.

== Electoralism ==
Electoralism is the most common theory of reformist action. It posits that all political action and education should be directed towards seizing control of existing political systems through the legal method of elections. With a complete rejection of all other forms of legal [[Class struggle]], illegal methods such as illegal unions or illegal striking, and a refusal to acknowledge the successes of [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|proletarian dictatorships]] over [[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|bourgeois dictatorships]].

== See also ==
* [[Reform]]
* [[Revisionism]]
* [[Democratic socialism]]
* [[Eurocommunism]]
* [[Revolutionary socialism]]
* [[Quotes:Reformism]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]

Democratic Republic of the Congo

2025-02-19T22:06:59Z

GrainEater: Punctuation

{{Infobox country|name=Democratic Republic of the Congo|native_name=République démocratique du Congo Repubilika ya Kôngo ya Dimokalasi Republíki ya Kongó Demokratíki Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo Ditunga dia Kongu wa Mungalaata|image_flag=Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.png|image_coat=Coat of Arms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.png|capital=Kinshasa|mode_of_production=Semi-feudalism|government_type=Unitary semi-presidential republic under a [[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]|leader_title1=President|leader_name1=Félix Tshisekedi|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde|motto=Justice – Paix – Travail|image_map=Map of DR Congo.png|official_languages=French Kituba Lingala Swahili Luba-Kasai|established_event1=Kingdom of Kongo|established_date1=~1390 CE|established_event2=Belgian colonization begins|established_date2=17 November 1879|established_event3=Congo Free State forms|established_date3=1 July 1885|established_event4=Independence from Belgium|established_date4=30 June 1960|established_event5=Republic of Zaire forms|established_date5=27 October 1971|established_event6=Bourgeois democracy established|established_date6=30 July 2006|area_km2=2,345,409|population_estimate=108,407,721|population_estimate_year=2022|currency=Congolese franc}}{{Distinguish|the [[Republic of the Congo]], a neighbouring country}}

The '''Democratic Republic of the Congo''', colloquially known as '''Congo-Kinshasa''', '''DR Congo''', '''the DRC''', is a nation in [[Africa]]. It is the largest country in Central Africa, and the second largest in [[Africa]] in general. The DRC shares a border with the [[Republic of the Congo]], the [[Central African Republic]], [[Uganda]], [[Rwanda]], [[Burundi]], [[Tanzania]], [[Zambia]], [[Angola]], and [[South Sudan]].

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has historically been the victim of [[Europe|Western]] [[imperialism]] and [[colonialism]]. From 1885 to 1908, the area which would be the modern DRC was under the brutal and [[Genocide|genocidal]] rule of the so-called "[[Congo Free State]]", which was under the despotic absentee-control of the [[Belgian]] [[Leopold II of Belgium|Leopold II]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Adam Hochschild|year=1998|title=King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa|title-url=https://books.google.com/books/about/King_Leopold_s_Ghost.html?id=VLuKAAAAMAAJ|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=9780395759240|trans-lang=English}}</ref> In modern times, the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to suffer from economic exploitation and unequal exchange, with atleast twenty-five mining corporations, often of [[Canada|Anglo-]][[United States of America|American]] or [[European Union|European]] orgin.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is presently a member of the [[United Nations]], the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], the [[African Union]], the [[East African Community]], the [[Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa]], the [[Southern African Development Community]], and the [[Economic Community of Central African States]]. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also projected to be a part of the [[East African Federation]], should it form.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=eac.int|title=Quick Facts about EAC|url=https://www.eac.int/eac-quick-facts|retrieved=2022-7-23|quote=8 April 2022
The Democratic Republic of the Congo accedes to the EAC Treaty}}</ref>

== Nomenclature ==
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, like its neighbor, the [[Republic of the Congo]], is named after the [[Congo River]].<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Wiktionary|title=Democratic Republic of the Congo|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo#English|retrieved=2022-7-23}}</ref> Occasionally, the nation, along with the river itself, are archaically and informally called "[[Republic of Zaire|Zaire]]".

== History ==

=== Kingdom of Kongo (1390–1885) ===
Before European imperialism, from around the year 1390 CE, the region that would become the modern-Democratic Republic of the Congo was under the rule of a centralised monarchical state, known by modern historians as the Kingdom of Kongo. Based from the city of Mbanza (in what is now [[Republic of Angola|Angola]]),<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=South African History Online|title=Kingdom of Kongo 1390 – 1914|date=2016-5-18|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/kingdom-kongo-1390-1914|retrieved=2022-7-24|quote=The Kingdom of Kongo was a large kingdom in the western part of central Africa. The name comes from the fact that the founders of the kingdom were KiKongo speaking people, and the spelling of Congo with a C comes from the Portuguese translation. Kingdom was founded around 1390 CE through the political marriage of Nima a Nzima, of the Mpemba Kasi, and Luqueni Luansanze, of the Mbata, which cemented the alliance between the two KiKongo speaking peoples. The Kingdom would reach its peak in the mid 1600s. The Kingdom of Kongo would eventually fall to scheming nobles, feuding royal factions, and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, initiating its eventual decline.

The Kingdom was centered around the great city of Mbanza Kongo, located in what is now northern Angola, (location: 6°16′04″S 14°14′53″E), which was later renamed to São Salvador.}}</ref> the Kingdom of Kongo likely formed from a single, smaller realm, that later would form into a commonwealth of city-states, headed by a single centralized authority. The Kingdom of Kongo would reach its economic and political hight during the 16th century CE, gaining a large amount of economic wealth via its part in the, at the time, growing [[Transatlantic Slave Trade]].

The Kingdom of Kongo would later decline, likely do to internal instability among its [[ruling class]], and would ultimately become victim to European expansionism.<ref>{{Citation|author=John Thornton|year=2001|title=The Origins and Early History of the Kingdom of Kongo, c. 1350-1550|title-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3097288|page=89-120|publisher=Boston University African Studies Center|doi=https://doi.org/10.2307/3097288|volume=34|trans-lang=English}}</ref>

=== Congo Free State (1885–1908) ===
During the late 19th to early 20th century, the area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was under the rule of the Congo Free State. A product of the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884-1885 (in which Africans were given little-to-no representation), the Congo Free State was effectively the personal fiefdom of [[Leopold II of Belgium]] (who never even set foot in the territory, ruling from [[Europe]]).

The Congo Free State was infamous for its genocidal acts against the native populations, and brutal exploitation of the local resources, particularly ivory, rubber, and minerals. During this period, it is estimated that many millions of men, women, and children were killed.

The Congo Free State would later be directly annexed by the [[Kingdom of Belgium]] in 1908, after a large amount of international pressure following the discovery of King Leopold's crimes.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=ajuntament.barcelona.cat|title=The Free State of the Congo, a hidden history of genocide|url=https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/gabinetpostal/lestat-lliure-del-congo-un-genocidi-a-lombra/?lang=en|retrieved=2022-7-30|quote=Force Publique acted simultaneously as an army of occupation and as a police force which served the interests of the trading companies. The Force had to deal with several rebellions, which were put down with horrifying savagery. In practice, the Free State of the Congo was an enormous concentration camp.

During the 1890s, and thanks to the widespread use of slaves, a more reliable transport network was built up, thus making it possible to export even more of the Congo’s natural resources. The construction of these infrastructures, all created exclusively for personal interests, resulted in the deaths of many workers of all ages. Their working days were long and hard, and required an enormous amount of physical effort. According to historical documentation, between five and 10 million people died as a result of the colonial exploitation under the rule and administration of King Leopold II and his functionaries.}}</ref>

=== Belgian colonialism (1908–1960) ===
During the direct colonial governance of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1908 to 1960, many of the Leopold-era policies of repression and brutal exploitation were slowly eased, and some small developmental projects, mostly in the form of infrastructure, took place in the Belgian Congo. However, [[imperialism]] still continued in full-force during the Belgian rule, and oppressive systems of racial segregation remained in place for the remainder of the colonial administration.

The long-term economic development of the modern-day DRC was further stunted as a result of the Belgian education policy. The colonial government made use of [[Christianity|Christian]] clergy (which has historically been used as an instrument to uphold the existing societal order) to maintain the white-supremacist rule. The Christian clergy failed to provide meaningful education to the people of the Belgian Congo, restricting any form of higher-education to those who were already members of the church exclusively, and greatly discouraging all other natives of the Belgian-ruled Congo to find any other form of education.

Ultimately, by the end of the Belgian administration in 1960, the extreme colonial exploitation, usage of reactionary religion, and general mismanagement resulted in there being no engineers nor physicians, and only sixteen native African university graduates out of a population of more than thirteen million.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Jessica Achberger|newspaper=The Ultimate History Project|title=BELGIAN COLONIAL EDUCATION POLICY:
A POOR FOUNDATION FOR STABILITY|url=https://ultimatehistoryproject.com/belgian-congo.html|retrieved=2022-8-14|quote=Perhaps most crucially, the lack of centralized education left the new nation in a stunted state of growth. Across the African continent, educated Africans had often played a key role in the independence movements and these leaders had then stepped in to govern the new nations which emerged in the 1960s. In many of these new African states, a uniform educational system had helped to promote national unity and identity---both of which were desperately needed as the colonial map had created artificially constructed nations that had numerous different and even competing ethnic groups.}}</ref>

=== Immediate post-colonial period and the Congo Crisis (1960–1971) ===
Following a large increase in the activity of native separatist movements and militant organisations in the Belgian Congo, as well as massive pro-independence demonstrations in the capital city of the colony, Léopoldville (modern-day Kinshasa), the colonial government finally capitulated, holding talks with native figures and agreeing to allow the colony to be made independent and for a new state, known as the Republic of the Congo, to be formed, which would hold bourgeois-democratic elections. In June 1960, [[Patrice Lumumba]] became the country's first prime minister and called for political and economic liberation against imperialism.<ref name=":12">{{Citation|author=[[William Blum]]|year=2002|title=Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower|chapter=A Concise History of United States Global Interventions, 1945 to the Present|isbn=9781842772201|publisher=Zed Books Ltd|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=29EED3C6906FF165E08303B9EAF66B4F|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedas5bwprytpzcih6tof3ipede5uzmcvt47tfzwp4cptdau6vmjpy?filename=William%20Blum%20-%20Rogue%20State_%20A%20Guide%20to%20the%20World%27s%20Only%20Superpower-Zed%20Books%20Ltd%20%282002%29.pdf|page=117}}</ref>

Almost immediately after the post-colonial bourgeois democracy was created, and after the first president of the Republic of the Congo, [[Joseph Kasa-Vubu]] was elected into his office, the newly-created republic faced a political crisis, commonly known as the [[Congo Crisis]]. During this crisis, the power of local separatist movements increased, a rival government formed, and support for [[Communism|revolutionary socialists]] grew.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=François Soudan|newspaper=The Africa Report|title=DRC: How the CIA got Patrice Lumumba|date=2021-1-13|url=https://www.theafricareport.com/58653/drc-how-the-cia-got-under-patrice-lumumbas-skin/|retrieved=2022-8-15}}</ref> The mineral-rich region of Katanga, whose resources were still owned by Belgium, seceded. In September 1960, the [[United States of America|United States]] overthrew Lumumba, and he was assassinated in January 1961.<ref name=":12" />

During 1965, [[Joseph-Désiré Mobutu]], then a Lieutenant General in the national military, as well as a [[fascist]] and hardline [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]], overthrew the [[liberal]] government, creating a fascist dictatorship. This coup d'etat was greatly supported by the United States of America, whose [[Bourgeoisie|ruling class]] had an interest in creating a servile government which would repress communists and give the [[imperial core]] access to the country's vast natural resources.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Stephen R. Weissman|newspaper=Foreign Affairs|title=What Really Happened in Congo
The CIA, the Murder of Lumumba, and the Rise of Mobutu|date=2014|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/democratic-republic-congo/2014-06-16/what-really-happened-congo|retrieved=2022-8-15}}</ref> In 1971, the country was renamed to the Republic of Zaire.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Natasha Tworoski|newspaper=PASA|title=Democratic Republic Of Congo: A Brutal History of Conflict|url=https://pasa.org/awareness/drc1/|retrieved=2022-8-15|quote=In the 1950’s, protests and riots lead to the country gaining its independence from Belgium and in 1960, Patrice Lumumba was elected prime minister. It seemed like things would finally improve for the Congolese.

However, the DRC has a huge abundance of natural resources such as copper, diamonds, cobalt, gold, uranium and oil. Lumumba’s resistance to Western powers’ attempts to continue mining lead to the West backing his opponents. In 1961 he was arrested, tortured and publicly executed. After a period of uncertainty, a man named Mobutu Sese Seko emerged as the president of DRC. Friendly to western powers, he built an extravagant life for himself with the money that came from foreign mining, including building himself palaces, collecting Mercedes-Benz and taking regular shopping sprees to Europe. When the Cold War with Russia came to an end in the 90’s, the United States and other countries became less dependent on the DRC for oil and Mobutu’s wealth drastically dwindled while he simultaneously began to face health concerns.}}</ref>

=== Republic of Zaire (1971–1997) ===
The Republic of Zaire under Mobutu's regime, existing until 1997, was characterised by a highly dictatorial government, extreme anti-communism, and a rampant kleptocracy, with rates of bribery and embezzlement of government funds being particularly high.<ref>{{Citation|author=Steve Askin; Carole Collins|year=2007|title=Review of African Political Economy|title-url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056249308704005|section=External collusion with kleptocracy: can Zaïre recapture its stolen wealth?|page=72-85|quote=For 28 years, Mobutu Sese Seko has carefully and thoughtfully refined his system for transforming the public resources of Zaïre into private wealth, while using bribery, coercion and violence to thwart all movements for change. The consequences of his system, commonly known as ‘kleptocracy’ or government by theft, are well known: immiseration of the people; destruction of the nation's infrastructure; enrichment of Mobutu and his collaborators; the transformation of Zaïre into the prime staging ground for foreign intervention against other African nations. This article will focus neither on the consequences of kleptocracy nor the growing opposition which, for the past three years, has aggressively but so far unsuccessfully challenged Mobutu's rule.|publisher=Taylor & Francis Group|doi=https://doi.org/10.1080/03056249308704005|series=57|volume=20|trans-lang=English}}</ref> The fascist government was also greatly supported by the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|Western bloc]], including by United States of America,<ref name=":0" /> the [[French Republic]],<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=The New York Times|title=France Is Again Strengthening Ties With Zaire|date=1977-4-17|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/04/17/archives/france-is-again-strengthening-ties-with-zaire.html|retrieved=2022-8-17}}</ref> and the Kingdom of Belgium.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=BCC|title=Belgium link in Lumumba death|date=2001-10-16|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1660615.stm|retrieved=2022-8-17}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Eduard Bustin|year=1987|title=The Foreign Policy of the Republic of Zaire|title-url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716287489001006|doi=https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716287489001006|volume=489|trans-lang=English}}</ref> While most of the country lived in [[poverty]], Mobutu became a multibillionaire.<ref name=":12" />

In 1977, [[Jimmy Carter]] airlifted [[Kingdom of Morocco|Moroccan]] troops to Zaire to put down a rebellion.<ref name=":12" />

The fascist regime ended in the late 1990s, during the [[First Congo War]], when after a large withdrawal of NATO support, major ethnic tensions, and foreign intervention, Mobutu's dictatorship was overthrown, and the country was remained to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a bourgeois-democratic government being created.<ref>{{Citation|author=Peter Abbott|year=2014|title=Modern African Wars (4): The Congo 1960–2002|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j6ajCwAAQBAJ|quote=n the 1970s, during the ruinous 30-year dictatorship of General Mobutu, periodic rebellions required the hasty insertion once again of Belgian and French paratroops to save European lives. From the mid-1990s the country split again, becoming the battleground for the largest African war in history, as armies and rebel groups from Rwanda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Namibia and other countries crossed into the Congo to support one side or the other, or simply to loot the rich resources. Major operations ended – or paused – in 2002, but the old hatreds and constant lure of the Congo's natural resources continue to boil over into periodic outbreaks.|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781782000778|trans-lang=English}}</ref>

=== Congo Wars (1997–present) ===
Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo in 1996 with US support and pillaged its natural resources, including gold, diamonds, tantalum, and niobium. They installed [[Joseph Kabila]] as the puppet ruler of the Congo and displaced half a million people from the Ituri region. Rwanda began a second invasion in 2022 and has also supported the [[M23]] rebel group.<ref name=":02">{{Web citation|author=Maurice Carney|newspaper=[[Black Agenda Report]]|title=A Quarter Century of a Western-backed War of Aggression Against the Congolese People|date=2022-06-17|url=https://blackagendareport.com/quarter-century-western-backed-war-aggression-against-congolese-people|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822215618/https://blackagendareport.com/quarter-century-western-backed-war-aggression-against-congolese-people|archive-date=2022-08-22|retrieved=2022-09-08}}</ref><ref name=":03">{{Web citation|author=[[Jeremy Kuzmarov]]|newspaper=[[CovertAction Magazine]]|title=International Court of Justice Ruled that Uganda Must Pay $325 Million in Reparations to the Democratic Republic of Congo—But What About U.S. and UK?|date=2022-05-19|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/05/19/international-court-of-justice-ruled-that-uganda-must-pay-325-million-in-reparations-to-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-but-what-about-u-s-and-uk/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822215632/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/05/19/international-court-of-justice-ruled-that-uganda-must-pay-325-million-in-reparations-to-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-but-what-about-u-s-and-uk/|archive-date=2022-08-22|retrieved=2022-12-24}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:African countries]]
[[Category:Global south]]

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

2025-02-11T19:01:40Z

GrainEater: Spelling

<blockquote>''"Boutros-Ghali" redirects here. For his grandfather, the 20th-century prime minister of Egypt, see [[Boutros Ghali]].''</blockquote>{{Infobox politician|name=Boutros Boutros-Ghali|native_name=بطرس بطرس غالي|birth_date=14 November 1922|birth_place=[[Cairo]], [[Kingdom of Egypt]]|death_date=16 February 2016 (aged 93)|death_place=Cairo, [[Egypt]]|political_party=[[National Democratic Party (Egypt)|NDU]]|image=Boutros Boutros Ghali (1993).jpg}}
'''Boutros Boutros-Ghali''' (14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an [[Arab Republic of Egypt|Egyptian]] politician and diplomat who served as Secretary-General of the [[United Nations]] from 1992 to 1996. Previously he served as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt from 1977 to 1979 under President [[Anwar Sadat]], where he helped negotiate the [[Camp David Accords]] with [[State of Israel|Israel]], assisting in Egypt's betrayal of [[State of Palestine|Palestine]] in favour of normalization with Israel. He also served as Secretary-General of [[Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie]] from 1997 to 2002 and was director of Egypt's National Council of Human Rights from 2003 to 2012.

== United Nations Secretary-General ==
Boutros-Ghali became Secretary-General in 1992 after a vote in November 1991 of 11/15 in which he was championed by [[French Republic|France]] due to his links to the Francophone world. As Secretary-General he oversaw the UN's response to conflicts in [[Yugoslav Wars|Yugoslavia]], [[Republic of Rwanda|Rwanda]], [[Federal Republic of Somalia|Somalia]] and [[Kingdom of Cambodia|Cambodia]] among others and clashed frequently with the U.S. and its blatant [[imperialism]] in these conflicts. Boutros-Ghali aimed to revamp the UN as a stronger peacekeeping force with a standing army to deter conflicts but throughout his tenure he suffered from being ignored by member states and given false promises.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Hella Pick|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|title=Boutros Boutros-Ghali obituary|date=2016-02-16|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/16/boutros-boutros-ghali-obituary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926185058/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/16/boutros-boutros-ghali-obituary|archive-date=2024-09-26}}</ref>

To Statesian politicians Boutros-Ghali was a convenient scapegoat for the humanitarian crises raging across the world and repeatedly called for his head whenever something happened, often resorting to [[Racism|racist]] attacks. U.S. ambassador to the UN, [[Madeleine Albright]] waged a relentless campaign against Boutros-Ghali due to his resistance to the imposition of U.S. imperial hegemony in the post [[Cold War]] era and made several false accusations against him. When the vote for Boutros-Ghali's re-election came around, the security council, with the exception of the U.S., voted unanimously for his re-election but when Albright ignored [[democracy]] and cast a veto, they elected Kofi Annan to the position instead.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:Egyptian diplomats]]
[[Category:Ministers of foreign affairs of Egypt]]
[[Category:Politicians in Egypt]]
[[Category:Secretaries-general of the United Nations]]

Alfredo Stroessner

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'''Alfredo Stroessner''' (1912–2006) was a [[Republic of Paraguay|Paraguayan]] [[military officer]] and serial [[Rape|rapist]] [[pedophile]]<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=La Capital|title=Acusan a Stroessner de violar a niñas esclavas|date=2016-01-01|url=https://www.lacapital.com.ar/informacion-general/acusan-stroessner-violar-ninas-esclavas-n797279.html|retrieved=2025-01-18}}</ref> who served as the country's president from 1954 to 1989, making his [[Fascism|fascist]] [[bourgeois regime]], known as ''[[El Stronato]]'', one of the longest-lasting in Latin American history. His 35-year dictatorship was marked by strict authoritarian control, extensive violations of [[Human rights|human dignity]], widespread [[corruption]], and systemic [[inequality]]. He was re-elected seven times, initially in a one-party state and later through elections widely regarded as fraudulent.

Stroessner was a staunch [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] and a key ally of the United States during the [[Cold War]]. Stroessner's regime participated in [[Operation Condor]], a coordinated effort among [[Latin American]] dictatorships—including [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]], [[Chile]], and [[Uruguay]]—to persecute and eliminate communists and left-leaning workers and intellectuals. Documents known as the ''[[Archivos del Terror]]'', discovered in 1992 by Martín Almada and journalists, revealed the extent of Stroessner's involvement in the operation, which included torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of thousands of Paraguayans and other Latin Americans.

Public discourse often avoids confronting these atrocities, leading to a lack of collective reckoning with his atrocities in Paraguay. While some remember his era for political stability and infrastructure development, others emphasize the deep scars left by his authoritarian rule, sex crimes, and participation in transnational repression.

Second Sino-Japanese War

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{{Infobox military conflict|combatant1={{icon|ROC flag.png}} [[Republic of China|China]]
* {{icon|Danghui.svg}} [[Communist Party of China]]
* {{icon|Emblem of the Kuomintang.png}} [[Kuomintang]]
{{icon|Flag of China (1912–1928).svg.png}} [[East Hebei Autonomous Government (1935–1938)|East Hebei]] (1937)
{{icon|Mongolian People's Republic Flag.png}} [[Mongolian People's Republic (1924–1992)|Mongolia]] (1945) {{icon|Flag of the Soviet Union (1924–1955).svg}} [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]] (1945) '''Supported by''' {{icon|German Nazi Flag.png}} [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi Germany]] (1937–1938) {{icon|Flag of the Soviet Union (1924–1955).svg}} [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]] (1937–1941, 1945) {{icon|Flag of the United Kingdom.svg}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|United Kingdom]] (1941–1945) {{icon|Flag of the United States.svg}} [[United States of America|United States]] (1941–1945)|combatant2={{icon|Flag of Japan (1870–1999).svg.png}} [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japan]]
* {{icon|Flag of Manchukuo.svg}} [[Empire of (Great) Manchuria (1932–1945)|Manchukuo]]
* {{icon|Flag of China (1912–1928).svg.png}} [[East Hebei Autonomous Government (1935–1938)|East Hebei]] (1937; 1937–1938)
* {{icon|Flag of the Great Way Municipal Government of Shanghai.svg.png}} [[Great Way Municipal Government of Shanghai (1937–1938)|Great Way Government]] (1937–1938)
* {{icon|Flag of Mongol Military Government (1936-1937).svg.png}} [[Mongol United Autonomous Government (1937–1939)|Mongol United Autonomous Government]] (1937–1939)
* {{icon|Flag of Jinbei.svg.png}} [[North Shanxi Autonomous Government (1937–1939)|North Shanxi]] (1937–1939)
* {{icon|Flag of China (1912–1928).svg.png}} [[Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1937–1940)|Provisional Government of the Republic of China]] (1937–1940)
* {{icon|Flag of Chanan.svg.png}} [[South Chahar Autonomous Government (1937–1939)|South Chahar]] (1937–1939)
* {{icon|Flag of China (1912–1928).svg.png}} [[Reformed Government of the Republic of China (1938–1940)|Reformed Government of the Republic of China]] (1938–1940)
* {{icon|Flag of the Mengjiang.svg.png}} [[Mongolian United Autonomous Government (1939–1945)|Mengjiang]] (1939–1945)
* {{icon|ROC flag.png}} [[Reorganised National Government of the Republic of China (1940–1945)|Wang Jingwei regime]] (1940–1945)
* {{icon|1931 Flag of India.svg.png}} [[Provisional Government of Free India (1943–1945)|Free India]] (1943–1945)
{{icon|Flag of Thailand.svg}} [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]] (1943–1945)
'''Supported by''' {{icon|Kingdom of Italy flag.png}} [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]] (1937–1943) {{icon|German Nazi Flag.png}} [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi Germany]] (1937–1945) {{icon|Flag of Italy.svg}} [[Italian Social Republic (1943–1945)|Italian Social Republic]] (1943–1945)|date=[[Marco Polo Bridge incident|7 July 1937]] – [[Surrender ceremony of the Second Sino-Japanese War|9 September 1945]] (8 years, 1 month, 3 weeks, and 5 days)|image=Japanese_Special_Naval_Landing_Forces_in_Battle_of_Shanghai_1937.jpg|partof=the [[Pacific War|Pacific theatre]] of [[Second World War|World War II]]|place=[[Mainland China]], [[Indochinese Union (1887–1954)|Indochina]], and [[British occupation of Burma (1824–1948)|Burma]]}}

The '''Second Sino-Japanese War''', also known in [[People's Republic of China|China]] as the '''Anti-Japanese War''', the '''War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression''' ([[Simplified Chinese characters|Simplified Chinese]]: ''抗日戰爭''; [[Traditional Chinese characters|Traditional Chinese]]: ''抗日战争''; [[Pinyin]]: ''Kàngrì Zhànzhēng''), the '''Eight Years' War of Resistance''', the '''Fourteen Years' War of Resistance''', or simply the '''War of Resistance''', was a major [[war]] waged against [[Republic of China|China]] by [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japan]] from 7 July 1937 to 9 September 1945. It resulted in the deaths of around 20 million people, mostly Chinese civilians, making it the deadliest war in [[Asia]] during the [[20th century]]. The Second Sino-Japanese War is commonly viewed as part of the [[Pacific War|Pacific theatre]] of [[Second World War|World War II]], and indeed some [[History|historians]] consider the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War to be the start of World War II.

Japan had previously invaded China on numerous occasions, most notably in 1931, when [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|they occupied Manchuria]] and established a [[puppet state]] known as [[Empire of (Great) Manchuria|Manchukuo]]. Many observers consider this to be the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War; however, the situation didn't escalate into a full-scale war until 1937. Prior to then, China had been bogged down in a decade-long [[First Chinese Civil War|civil war]] between the Nationalists (led by [[Chiang Kai-shek]]) and the [[Communist Party of China|Communists]] (led by [[Mao Zedong]]), but this was interrupted by the Japanese aggression, [[Xi'an Incident|leading two Nationalist generals to place Chiang under house arrest]] and force him to form [[Second United Front|an alliance with the Communists to combat Japan]].{{Citation needed}}

On 7 July 1937, the [[Marco Polo Bridge incident]] occurred. Chinese troops exchanged fire with Japanese troops who had been conducting [[Military exercise|military exercises]] outside [[Wanping Fortress|Wanping]], and [[Shimura Kikujirō|a Japanese soldier]] went missing. The Japanese issued an ultimatum demanding to be able to search the city for the missing soldier, but the Chinese refused. The missing soldier turned up soon after, but the Japanese troops attacked the city the following day anyways, failing to cross the [[Marco Polo Bridge]]. A [[ceasefire]] agreement was reached on 9 July, but the Japanese quickly broke the conditions of the agreement by bombarding Wanping, and both sides continued to [[Mobilisation|mobilise]] troops. The Japanese Army demanded that the Chinese withdraw to the west bank of the [[Yongding River]], but the Chinese refused that ultimatum as well, [[Battle of Beiping–Tianjin|leading the Japanese to attack Beijing and Tianjin in late July]].{{Citation needed}}

The outnumbered and poorly-equipped Chinese troops were no match for the combined forces of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] and [[Imperial Japanese Navy|Navy]]. Facing heavy casualties, [[Song Zheyuan]]'s forces retreated, and the Japanese took Beijing and the Taku Forts in Tianjin on 29 and 30 July, respectively. The Japanese Army crossed the [[Yellow River]] and occupied [[Jinan]], the capital of [[Shanxi]] province, before heading west, travelling as far as [[Hohhot]] in [[Inner Mongolia]], where a Japanese [[puppet state]] called [[Mengjiang United Autonomous Government (1939–1945)|Mengjiang]] was established. Communist forces waged a [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] against Japanese and pro-Japanese forces.{{Citation needed}}

[[Konoe Fumimaro]], the [[Prime Minister of Japan|Japanese Prime Minister]], opened peace negotiations with Chiang; however, on 9 August, [[Isao Ōyama|a Japanese naval officer]] was shot to death in [[Shanghai]]. [[Ōyama incident|The incident]] resulted a breakdown of negotiations. Hoping to garner international support and open up a [[second front]], thereby slowing the Japanese advance in the north, Chiang ordered [[Zhang Zhizhong]] to [[Battle of Shanghai|attack the Japanese garrison in Shanghai]]. The Chinese troops were unable to penetrate the Japanese defences however, giving the enemy ample time to send reinforcements. 300,000 Japanese troops arrived to face an army of 700,000 Chinese troops. The Chinese were outmatched, but they nevertheless fought anyways, hoping for foreign intervention. Chiang's army was decimated in the process, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and the destruction of his elite [[German-trained divisions]]. The foreign support Chiang had hoped for never materialised. Chiang eventually had to retreat to avoid [[encirclement]], and Shanghai fell on 11 November.{{Citation needed}}

Chiang attempted to slow the Japanese advance towards the capital city of [[Nanjing]] through a policy of [[scorched earth]], but his army was devastated and could offer little resistance. [[Battle of Nanking|Nanjing fell on 13 December 1937]]. Once Japanese troops occupied the Chinese capital, they initiated the [[Nanjing massacre]], [[Rape|raping]] and [[Murder|murdering]] hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians indiscriminately. [[Oskar Trautmann]], the [[German ambassador to China]], [[Trautmann mediation|attempted to broker a peace deal between China and Japan]], but Chiang rejected the very brutal terms offered to him by Prince Konoe.{{Citation needed}}

German Reich (1933–1945)

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{{Infobox country
| name = German Reich {{small|(1933–1943)}} {{small|''Deutsches Reich''||paren=omit}}<hr>Greater German Reich {{small|(1943–1945)}} {{small|''Großdeutsches Reich''||paren=omit}}
| native_name =
| image_flag = German Nazi Flag.png
| year_start = 1933
| year_end = 1945 (official abolition in 1947)
| image_coat = German National Symbol.png
| flag_caption = Flag (1935-1945)
| symbol_type = Emblem (1935-1945)
| image_map = Nazi Map.png
| map_width = 220px
| capital = [[Berlin]]
| mode_of_production = [[Capitalism]] (decaying)
| government_type = Unitary [[National socialism|national socialist]] [[One-party system|one-party]] [[Führer principle|Führerstaat]]
| leader_title1 = [[Head of state]]|leader_name1=[[Paul von Hindenburg]] (1933–1934)<ref group="lower-alpha">As [[President of the Reich|Reich President]]</ref>
[[Adolf Hitler]] (1934–1945)<ref group="lower-alpha">As Führer and Reich Chancellor</ref>
[[Karl Dönitz]] (1945)<ref group="lower-alpha">As [[President of the Reich|Reich President]]</ref>
| leader_title2 = [[Head of government]]
| leader_name2 = [[Adolf Hitler]] (1933–1945)
[[Joseph Goebbels]] (1945)<ref group="lower-alpha">As [[Reich Chancellor|Reich Chancellor]]</ref>
[[Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk]] (1945)<ref group="lower-alpha">As [[Reich Chancellor|Leading Minister]]</ref>
| established_event1 = Hitler named Chancellor
| established_date1 = 30 January 1933
| established_event2 = Passage of the [[Enabling Act of 1933|Enabling Act]]
| established_date2 = 23 March 1933
| established_event3 = Death of Hindenburg
| established_date3 = 2 August 1934
| established_event4 = Beginning of the [[Second World War]]
| established_date4 = 1 September 1939
| established_event5 = Fall of Berlin
| established_date5 = 2 May 1945
| established_event6 = [[German Instrument of Surrender]]
| established_date6 = 8 May 1945
| population_census = 109,518,183
| population_estimate_year = 1940
| p1 = '''1933:'''
| flag_p1 =
| p2 = [[German Reich (1918–1933)| Weimar Republic]]
| flag_p2 = Flag_of_Germany.svg
| p3 = '''1938:'''
| flag_p3 =
| p4 = [[Federal State of Austria (1934-1938)| Austria]]
| flag_p4 = Flag of Austria (1934–1938).svg
| p5 = [[Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938)| First Czechoslovak Republic (portion)]]
| flag_p5 = Flag of the Czech Republic.svg
| p6 = '''1939:'''
| flag_p6 =
| p7 = [[Czechoslovak Republic (1938–1939)| Second Czechoslovak Republic (portion)]]
| flag_p7 = Flag of the Czech Republic.svg
| p8 = [[Republic of Lithuania| Lithuania (portion)]]
| flag_p8 = Flag_of_Lithuania.svg
| p9 = [[Free City of Danzig| Danzig]]
| flag_p9 = Flag of the Free City of Danzig.svg
| p10 = [[Republic of Poland (1918–1939)| Poland (portion)]]
| flag_p10 = Flag of Poland (1927–1980).svg
| p11 = '''1940:'''
| flag_p11 =
| p12 = [[Kingdom of Denmark| Denmark (portion)]]
| flag_p12 = Flag of Denmark.svg
| p13 = [[Kingdom of Norway| Norway (portion)]]
| flag_p13 = Flag_of_Norway.svg
| p14 = [[Grand Duchy of Luxembourg| Luxembourg (portion)]]
| flag_p14 = Flag of Luxembourg.svg
| p15 = [[Kingdom of the Netherlands| Netherlands (portion)]]
| flag_p15 = Flag of the Netherlands.svg
| p16 = [[Kingdom of Belgium| Belgium (portion)]]
| flag_p16 = Flag of Belgium.svg
| p17 = [[French Republic (1870–1940)| France (portion)]]
| flag_p17 = Flag_of_France.svg
| p18 = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland| United Kingdom (portion)]]
| flag_p18 = Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg
| p19 = '''1941:'''
| flag_p19 =
| p20 = [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941)| Yugoslavia (portion)]]
| flag_p20 = Flag of Yugoslavia (1918–1941).svg
| p21 = [[Hellenic Republic| Greece (portion)]]
| flag_p21 = Flag of Greece (1822-1978).svg
| p22 = [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)| Soviet Union (portion)]]
| flag_p22 = Flag of the Soviet Union (1924–1955).svg
| p23 = '''1943:'''
| flag_p23 =
| p24 = [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)| Italy (portion)]]
| flag_p24 = War flag of the Italian Social Republic.svg
| s1 = [[Allied-occupied Germany| Allied occupation of Germany]]
| flag_s1 = Merchant flag of Germany (1946–1949).svg
| s2 = [[Allied-occupied Austria| Allied occupation of Austria]]
| flag_s2 = Flag of Austria.svg
| s3 = [[Provisional Government of National Unity| Poland (portion)]]
| flag_s3 = Flag of Poland (1927–1980).svg
| s4 = [[Czechoslovak Republic (1945-1948| Third Czechoslovak Republic]]
| flag_s4 = Flag of the Czech Republic.svg
| s5 = [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)| Soviet Union (portion)]]
| flag_s5 = Flag of the Soviet Union (1924–1955).svg
| s6 = [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1992)| Yugoslavia (portion)]]
| flag_s6 = Flag of Yugoslavia (1943–1946).svg
}}

'''Nazi Germany''', officially the '''(Greater) German Reich''''',<ref group="lower-alpha">German: ''Großdeutsches Reich''</ref>'' also commonly known as the '''Third Reich'''<ref group="lower-alpha">German: ''Drittes Reich''</ref> or the '''National Socialist State''',<ref group="lower-alpha">German: ''Nationalsozialistischer Staat''; ''NS-Staat''</ref> was a period in [[History of Germany|German history]] from 1933 to 1945 when [[Federal Republic of Germany|Germany]] was ruled by the [[Nazi Party]] (NSDAP), a [[German nationalism|German ultranationalist]], [[Fascism|fascist]], and [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] [[political party|party]] led by [[Adolf Hitler]]. Nazi Germany was preceded by the [[German Reich (1918–1933)|Weimar Republic]], a [[bourgeois democracy]] which effectively ended with the passage of the [[Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich|Enabling Act]].

The period began on 30 January 1933 when Hitler was appointed [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]] (head of government) by [[President of Germany|President]] (head of state) [[Paul von Hindenburg]]. Hitler's power was initially limited by the old [[Constitution of the German Reich|Weimar Constitution]]. However, the Nazi Party had been the largest in the [[Reichstag]] (parliament) since the [[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932 election]] and, through mass [[voter suppression]], imprisonment of political opponents, the passing of the Enabling Act (which gave Hitler the ability to make decisions without the approval of the Reichstag or the President), the death of President Hindenburg, and [[Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich|the merging of the offices of President and Chancellor]], the Nazis (and Hitler in particular) established complete control over the country.

The Nazi government, over the course of its existence, aggressively expanded into neighbouring countries, ultimately culminating in the [[World War II|Second World War]] with the [[German invasion of Poland]] in September 1939. Internally, [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] were set up for the detention, forced labour, and extermination of millions of [[Judaism|Jews]], as well as [[Romani people|Roma]], [[Slavic peoples|Slavs]], [[LGBT+]] people, people with [[Disability|disabilities]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet]] prisoners of war, opponents of the Nazis, and other groups of people. The campaign of mass extermination of Jews is commonly referred to today as the [[Holocaust]] or the ''Shoah'' (שואה) in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]. The Nazis' genocidal policies were inspired primarily by the [[United States of America|United States]]' [[Native American genocide|genocide of its indigenous peoples]],<ref>{{Citation|author=Austin Murphy|year=2000|title=The Triumph of Evil|chapter=Introduction|page=38|quote=It should also be mentioned that Churchill (1994) has uncovered documents indicating the Nazis were merely following the USA's role model with respect to exterminating unwanted people.|pdf=https://mltheory.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil.pdf|publisher=European Press Academic Publishing|isbn=8883980026}}</ref> though the Nazis also drew inspiration from other [[Settler colonialism|settler colonial]] and even non-settler colonial projects.

The Nazi Party was destroyed at the end of World War II after the Soviet [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] captured [[State of Berlin|Berlin]] and Hitler committed suicide. The [[German Instrument of Surrender]], signed by [[Chief of Staff of the High Command of the Wehrmacht|Chief of Staff]] [[Wilhelm Keitel]] on 8 May 1945, legally declared the surrender and dissolution of the Third Reich, ending the [[European theatre of the Second World War]]. The succeeding [[Allied-occupied Germany (1945–1949)|Allied occupation of Germany]] and the [[Cold War]] would result in the creation of separate [[German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)|East]] and [[Federal Republic of Germany|West German]] states.

== History ==

=== Rise of fascism ===
On January 4, 1933, bankers and industrialists held a secret backroom deal with then-Chancellor [[Franz von Papen|von Papen]] to make Hitler the nation's new Chancellor:

{{quote|The negotiations took place exclusively between Hitler and Papen. […] Papen went on to say that he thought it best to form a government in which the conservative and nationalist elements that had supported him were represented together with the Nazis. He suggested that this new government should, if possible, be led by Hitler and himself together. Then Hitler made a long speech in which he said that, if he were to be elected Chancellor, Papen’s followers could participate in his (Hitler’s) Government as Ministers if they were willing to support his policy which was planning many alterations in the existing state of affairs. He outlined these alterations, including the removal of all Social Democrats, Communists and Jews from leading positions in Germany and the restoration of order in public life. Von Papen and Hitler reached agreement in principle whereby many of the disagreements between them could be removed and cooperation might be possible. It was agreed that further details could be worked out later either in Berlin or some other suitable place.|[[Kurt Baron von Schröder]]|<ref>{{safesubst:citation|editors=Geoffrey Pridham & Jeremy Noakes|title=Nazism, 1919–1945|title-url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=3941|location=Exeter|publisher=University of Exeter Press|volume=I|year=1998|page=115–16}}</ref>}}

In February 1933, Hitler [[Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933|met with the Reich's leading industrialists at Hermann Göring's home]]. There were representatives from [[IG Farben]], [[Siemens]], [[BMW]], coal mining magnates, [[Thyssen AG]], [[Friedrich Krupp AG]], as well as a crowd of bankers, investors, and other bourgeois Germans. During this meeting, Hitler said that ‘''Private enterprise cannot be maintained in the age of democracy.''<nowiki/>' Following the staged Reichstag fire, Hitler used Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution to centralize power under himself.{{Citation needed}}

In March 1933, Nazi Germany opened its first concentration camp, Dachau. This was on 22 March, and Hitler gained even more power with the Enabling Act, passed the next day on 23 March 1933.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=[[John Bellamy Foster]]|newspaper=[[Monthly Review]]|title=This Is Not Populism|date=2017-06-01|url=https://monthlyreview.org/2017/06/01/this-is-not-populism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718012353/https://monthlyreview.org/2017/06/01/this-is-not-populism/|archive-date=2023-07-18}}</ref>

To reduce regulation, the Chancellery sent its henchmen to every union headquarters on 2 May 1933. They beat the union leaders, sending them to prison or concentration camps, and their party expropriated the union money that the workers paid for their memberships. The unions were [[German Labour Front|put under the leadership of the Chancellery's anticommunists]], who helped bargain away all collective bargaining rights.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Germany 1933: from democracy to dictatorship|url=https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/germany-1933-democracy-dictatorship|date=2018-09-28}}</ref> One Fascist economist indicated that his party indeed had a thorough plan for deregulation:

{{quote|The first thing [that] German business needs is peace and quiet. It must have a feeling of absolute legal security and must know that work and its return are guaranteed. The interferences in a business which occurred at first, perhaps as a result of too much zeal, have become intolerable.|[[Gottfried Feder]]|<ref>{{safesubst:citation|editor=Briton Hadden|title=NAZIS EASE GRASP ON REICH'S BUSINESS|title-url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/07/04/105151560.html?pageNumber=5|publisher=Time Incorporated|date=1933-07-04|volume=XXII}}</ref>}}

In September 1933, the Chancellery repeatedly cut social provisions, including food rations, to the poor under the guise of combating ‘idolatry'.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|title=GERMANS TO SKIMP ON A MEAL A MONTH AND FEED JOBLESS|title-url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/09/14/105802896.html|publisher=Time Incorporated|date=1933-09-14}}</ref> In 1934, the Fascists outlined their plan to revitalize the Reich's economy by reprivatisation of significant industries: medicine,<ref name=Muehlbauer>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Muehlbauer|first=Peter|title=Obama, Hitler und die Krankenversicherung|url=https://www.heise.de/tp/news/Obama-Hitler-und-die-Krankenversicherung-1992294.html|publisher=Heise Medien|date=2009-08-28|language=German}}</ref> railways, public works,<ref>{{safesubst:citation|title=REICH WILL PUSH PRIVATE BUSINESS|title-url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/09/21/archives/germany-to-push-private-business-economic-council-decides-on-that.html|publisher=Time Incorporated|date=1933-09-21}}</ref> shipping lines,<ref>[[Germà Bel|Bel, Germà]] (2006).: ''Against the Mainstream. Nazi privatisation in 1930s Germany''. Published in [[The Economic History Review|''The Economic History Review'']] by [[Wiley-Blackwell|Wiley]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20210318191541/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00473.x?cookieSet=1 Archived] from the [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00473.x Original] on 2021-03-18. Retrieved 2022-12-01.</ref> construction, steel, and banking. Additionally, the Chancellery guaranteed profits for the private sector, thus many Statesian industrialists and bankers flocked to the Reich to invest.

On 20 January 1934, the Chancellery transferred its right to set minimum wages and working conditions over to the business owners, stating that the ‘''leader of the enterprise makes the decisions for the employees and laborers in all matters concerning the enterprise, as far as they are regulated by this law.''<nowiki/>'<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1861-ps.asp|location=Washington|publisher=Office of the United States Chief Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality|volume=IV|year=1946}}</ref> Hence, the employers lowered wages, increased hours,<ref>https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ffe67095-0f49-4b78-8a15-982b5782d8f5_562x529.jpeg</ref> eliminated other benefits, and prohibited workers from striking or engaging in other collective bargaining rights. The anticommunists eliminated reimbursements for Jewish physicians, which allowed private health insurance companies to profit.<ref name=Muehlbauer/> The anticommunists also rounded up the homeless en-masse and interned them in concentration camps.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Ayaß|first=W.|title=Vagrants and beggars in Hitler's Reich|title-url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ed34/3d9f11cc03485e7b59489ce6004b40013aa6.pdf|year=1988}}</ref>

Hitler purged many of his enemies within the party in the Night of Long Knives from 30 June to 2 July 1934.<ref name=":0" />

By the time that vice president [[Matthew Woll]] of the [[American Federation of Labor|AFL]] visited the German Reich in 1938, he likened the life of an average German worker to that of a slave.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|title=GERMAN LABORER LIKENED TO SLAVE|title-url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/11/22/98211078.html?pageNumber=5|publisher=Time Incorporated|date=1938-11-22}}</ref>

=== Expansion ===
Germany sent troops to the [[Spanish Civil War]] in 1936 to support [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]'s fascists. Later that year, Germany and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japan]] signed the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]] to oppose the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]. The Nazis annexed [[Federal State of Austria|Austria]] in March 1938 after announcing a supposed communist uprising. In May, they concentrated their troops on the [[Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938)|Czechoslovak]] border. At the Munich Conference, Britain and [[French Republic (1870–1940)|France]] divided Czechoslovakia and gave its Sudeten region to Germany. Germany annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and gave a small region to [[Republic of Poland (1918–1939)|Poland]]. Soon after, it occupied the [[Republic of Lithuania (1918–1940)|Lithuanian]] territory of Klaipėda.<ref name=":0223322">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|chapter=Stalin and the anti-fascist war|isbn=9782872620814|publisher=Editions EPO|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|page=186}}</ref>

From June to August 1939, the Nazis held secret talks with Britain and agreed not to interfere with the British Empire in exchange for Britain respecting German spheres of influence and rejecting an alliance with the Soviet Union.<ref name=":02233222">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|chapter=Stalin and the anti-fascist war|isbn=9782872620814|publisher=Editions EPO|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|page=186–187}}</ref>

=== Second World War ===

== Economy ==
{{quote|Irrespective of a quite bad overall performance, an important characteristic of the economy of the Third Reich, and a big difference from a centrally planned one, was the role private ownership of firms was playing—in practice as well as in theory. The ideal Nazi economy would liberate the creativeness of a multitude of private entrepreneurs in a predominantly competitive framework gently directed by the state to achieve the highest welfare of the Germanic people.|Christoph Buchheim and Jonas Scherner|<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last1=Buchheim|first1=Christoph|last2=Scherner|first2=Jonas|title=The Role of Private Property in the Nazi Economy: The Case of Industry|journal=Thtation of Economic History|title-url=http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capitalisback/CountryData/Germany/Other/Pre1950Series/RefsHistoricalGermanAccounts/BuchheimScherner06.pdf|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=66|number=2|year=2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910091952/http://economics.yale.edu/sites/default/
files/f
iles/Workshops-Seminars/Economic-History/buchheim-041020.pdf|archivedate=2015-09-10|page=411|acc
essdate=2020-01-18}}</ref>}}

The German Reich was the second modern nation after the [[Kingdom of Italy]] to implement a [[privatization|privatisation]] programme,<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Bel|first=Germà|title=Against the mainstream: Nazi privatization in 1930s Germany|url=http://www.ub.edu/graap/nazi.pdf|location=Barcelona|publisher=Universitat de Barcelona i ppre-IREA|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720073011/http://www.ub.edu/graap/nazi.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20|accessdate=2020-01-29}}</ref> which affected the steel, mining, banking, and shipbuilding industries.<ref name=":0" /> Indeed, the term ‘privatization' itself<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Bel|first=Germà|title=Retrospectives: The Coining of “Privatization” and Germany’s National Socialist Party|title-url=https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdf/10.1257/jep.20.3.187|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=20|number=3|year=2006|page=187–194}}</ref> was coined to refer to their economic reforms.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=The Nazi Heritage of Privatization|date=11-September-2006|url=https://wp.me/p1kjl-1d}}</ref> Capitalist economist [[Mark Thoma]] has conceded as much.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation| title = Economist's View: The Origins of the Term "Privatization"| accessdate = 2019-10-09| url = https://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/09/the_origins_of_.html}}</ref> While consumer spending in the Reich's economy did decrease from 71% in 1929 to 59% in 1938,<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Overy|first=R.J.|title=Guns or Butter? Living Standards, Finance, and Labour in Germany, 1939–1942|title-url=https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202905.001.0001/acprof-9780198202905-chapter-10|year=1994|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202905.003.0010|ISBN=9780198202905}}</ref> income from capital and business also increased from 17.4% of the national income to 26.6%,<ref>{{safesubst:citation| last = Shirer| first = William Lawrence| title = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany|title-url=https://archive.org/stream/B-001-014-606|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1960|page=264|ISBN=978-1-4516-5168-3}}</ref> and the rate of return on capital increased in the Fascists' industry.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Tooze|first=Adam|chapter=4|title=The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-h_Z_KK0MQUC|location=London|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2006|page=152|ISBN=978-1-101-56495-0}}</ref>

{{quote|In 1936/37 the capital of the ''Deutsche Bank'', ''Commerzbank'' and ''Dresdner Bank'' in the possession of the German Reich was resold to private shareholders, and consequently the state representatives withdrew from the boards of these banks. Also in 1936 the Reich sold its shares of ''Vereinigte Stahlwerke''. The war did not change anything with regard to this attitude. In 1940 the Genshagen airplane engine plant operated by ''Daimler-Benz'' was privatized; ''Daimler-Benz'' bought the majority of shares held by the Reich earlier than it wished to. But the company was urged by the Reich Aviation Ministry and was afraid that the Reich might offer the deal to another firm. Later in the war the Reich actively tried to privatize as many ''Montan GmbH'' companies as possible, but with little success.|Christoph Buchheim and Jonas Scherner|<ref name=Buchheim406>{{safesubst:citation|last1=Buchheim|first1=Christoph|last2=Scherner|first2=Jonas|title=The Role of Private Property in the Nazi Economy: The Case of Industry|journal=Thtation of Economic History|title-url=http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capitalisback/CountryData/Germany/Other/Pre1950Series/RefsHistoricalGermanAccounts/BuchheimScherner06.pdf|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=66|number=2|year=2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910091952/http://economics.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Workshops-Seminars/Economic-History/buchheim-041020.pdf|archivedate=2015-09-10|page=406|accessdate=2020-01-18}}</ref>}}

It was possible for capitalists to fund their projects without relying on any state funds. The development of the first relay computer, for example, was funded entirely through private means,<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Konrad Zuse—the first relay computer|url=https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Relays/Zuse.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105231836/https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Relays/Zuse.html|archivedate=2020-11-05}}</ref> and while the head of state was unimpressed with the invention they still used it for some minor operations such as calculating aircraft wing design.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Malcolm|first=Chris|title=Who Made the First Computer?|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923013651/http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/fcomp.shtml|archivedate=2018-09-23}}</ref> Similarly, another business, Günther & Co., designed a board game without any government input. Although the Schutzstaffel harshly criticized its theme, going so far as to call it ‘almost punishable', it nonetheless never bothered to actually prohibit it.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last1=Morris-Friedman|first1=Andrew|last2=Schädler|first2=Ulrich|title=“Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!) – History’s most infamous board game|title-url=http://www.giochidelloca.it/storia/BGS6.pdf|journal=International Journal for the Study of Board Games|location=Leiden|publisher=Research School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies|year=2003|volume=6|page=44–58|ISSN=1566-1962}}</ref> The German Air Ministry requested prototypes from six companies (Gustloff-Werke, Mauser, Johannes Großfuß Metall- und Lackierwarenfabrik, C.G. Hänel, Rheinmetall-Borsig and Heinrich Krieghoff Waffenfabrik), only two (Krieghoff and Rheinmetall) of whom answered favorably, and an irrelevant offer from Mauser was rejected. All others denied that they could even consider it since they were already working to capacity for the Heereswaffenamt and required its approval for the request.<ref name="Senich">{{citation|last=Senich|first=Peter|title=The German Assault Rifle: 1935–1945|page=239|publisher=Paladin Press|year=1987}}</ref> <ref name="Dugelby">{{citation|last=Dugelby|first=Thomas B.|title=Death from Above—The German FG42 Paratroop Rifle|page=4|publisher=Collector Grade Publications|year=2007}}</ref>

While the [[bourgeoisie]] did implement some regulations, they did this for the sake of their militarily driven economy (much like the [[U.K.]] and the [[U.S.A.]] did during wartime); their purpose was to reinforce private ownership and [[capitalism]]. Henry Spiegel noted three main characteristics of the Third Reich's economy:<ref>{{safesubst:citation
|author=Henry W. Spiegel |editor=|editors= |title=Wehrwirtschaft: Economics of the Military State |journal=The American Economic Review |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/1805064 |location= |publisher= |year=1940 |volume=30 |number=4 |page=717|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref>

# That it was an ‘economy of scarcity', that is to say, that the exploitation of ‘men and materials was pushed to the limits'.
# That the state used ‘centralized planning under maintenance of some element of the price system'.
# That the state retained the ‘profit motive' as the primary ‘economic motor'.

There is little evidence to support the interpretation that the German Reich was a ‘[[planned economy]]'.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last1=Frøland|first1=Hans|last2=Ingulstad|first2=Mats|last3=Scherner|first3=Jonas|chapter=1|editors=Hans Otto Frøland, Mats Ingulstad, & Jonas Scherner|title=Industrial Collaboration in Nazi-Occupied Europe: Norway in Context|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIMgDQAAQBAJ|location=London|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2016|page=18–9|ISBN=978-1-137-53423-1|LCCN=2016942278|DOI=10.1057/978-1-137-53423-1}}</ref> The little ‘central planning' that the bourgeoisie used was not analogous to the Soviet planning; it was more akin to strategic visions for the economy. The ''Wehrwirtschaft'' ideal held primacy in these plans, which sought to transform the economy into an ‘integrated part of the military machine', but retaining the system of private ownership.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|author=Martin Wolfe |editor=|editors= |title=The Development of Nazi Monetary Policy |journal=Thtation of Economic History |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/2114432 |location= |publisher= |year=1955 |volume=15 |number=4 |page=393|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref> For example, rather than allocating production directly according to the System of Material Balances (as the [[U.S.S.R.]] did), the Four Year Plan of 1936 merely instituted price controls, particularly to discourage consumption of goods deemed to be luxuries and to promote the ‘basic industries' that formed the Fascists' apparatus of war production.<ref>{{safesubst:citation
|author=Martin Wolfe |editor=|editors= |title=The Development of Nazi Monetary Policy |journal=Thtation of Economic History |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/2114432 |location= |publisher= |year=1955 |volume=15 |number=4 |page=394|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref> Thus food prices effectively increased between the Second Reich and the Third Reich, even despite the ‘higher' wages and anticommunist attempts at price control, and some foods such as beef, white bread, cereals, and fruits only became more difficult for the proletariat to access (though pork, rye bread, and potatoes did not).<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Winkler|first=Robin|editors=Rui Esteves, Arthur Downing|title=Feast or Famine: The Welfare Impact of Food Price Controls in Nazi Germany|title-url=https://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/13982/feast-or-famine-rm-winkler-1.pdf|journal=Discussion

Papers in Economic and Social History|publisher=University of Oxford|number=136|year=2015}}</ref> In the agricultural realm, the bourgeoisie did not undertake anything resembling Soviet collectivization, but rather instituted price controls through the ''Reichsnährstand'' (‘Reich Food Estate') to control cost of living.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|author=Martin Wolfe |editor=|editors= |title=The Development of Nazi Monetary Policy |journal=Thtation of Economic History |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/2114432 |location= |publisher= |year=1955 |volume=15 |number=4 |page=395|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref> The bourgeoisie would institute a new, hereditary law in 1933 that made it much more difficult for anybody to obtain a gentile's<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=1933: KEY DATES|url=https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007499|accessdate=2020-04-25}}</ref> farm, even through trade.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=The Hereditary Farm Law (September 29, 1933)|url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1550|accessdate=2020-04-25}}</ref>

Among the Reich's industries, the oil industry was perhaps the best example for how the Fascist bourgeoisie operated the ''Wehrwirtschaft'', as the NSDAP considered it to occupy a ‘special and irreplaceable role' within the market economy and military machine;<ref>{{safesubst:citation |author=Raymond G. Stokes |editor=|editors= |title=The Oil Industry in Nazi Germany, 1936–1945 |journal=The Business History Review |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/3114932 |location= |publisher= |year=1985 |volume=59 |number=2 |page=254|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref> thus Fascist capital's inability to steal all of the oil and steel from the U.S.S.R. would further ensure the Reich's collapse.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Tooze|first=Adam|chapter=17|title=The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-h_Z_KK0MQUC|location=London|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2006|page=686–7|ISBN=978-1-101-56495-0}}</ref> In the 1930s, Porsche quickly designed the Volkswagen Beetle because one anticommunist claimed to want a cheap and sturdy vehicle that almost everybody in the Reich would be able to drive. He lobbied for his approval, and Porsche's neoslaves soon began producing these vehicles by the thousands, to the point where they ran low on dealerships, but the project turned out to be a scam:

{{quote|Since private industry could not turn out an automobile for $396, Hitler ordered the State to build it and placed the Labor Front in charge of the project. Dr. Ley’s organization promptly set out in 1938 to build at Fallersleben, near Braunschweig, “the biggest automobile factory in the world,” with a capacity for turning out a million and a half cars a year “more than Ford,” the Nazi propagandists said. The Labor Front advanced fifty million marks in capital. But that was not the main financing. Dr. Ley’s ingenious plan was that the workers themselves should furnish the capital by means of what became known as a “pay-before-you-get-it” installment plan five marks a week, or if a worker thought he could afford it, ten or fifteen marks a week. When 750 marks had been paid in, the buyer received an order number entitling him to a car as soon as it could be turned out. Alas for the worker, not a single car was ever turned out for any customer during the Third Reich. Tens of millions of marks were paid in by the German wage earners, not a pfennig of which was ever to be refunded. By the time the war started the Volkswagen factory turned to the manufacture of goods more useful to the Army.|William Shirer|<ref name=pg267>{{safesubst:citation|last=Shirer|first=William Lawrence|chapter=8|title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany|title-url=https://archive.org/stream/B-001-014-606|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1960|page=267|ISBN=978-1-4516-5168-3}}</ref>}}

Siemens in particular was probably the most important and prolific business in the German Reich, and consequently lost most of its factories during WWII. The business was responsible for the rail infrastructure, communications, power generation, factories (including in Auschwitz and Buchenwald), firearms, execution chambers, and more, throughout the Reich, and survivors later demanded reparations from this business.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Levy|first=Stephanie|title=Holocaust litigation: asking the courts to right a historic wrong.|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Holocaust+litigation:+asking+the+courts+to+right+a+historic+wrong-a063795747|date=2000-07-01}}</ref> <ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Siemens retreats over Nazi name|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2233890.stm|date=2002-09-05}}</ref> Other businesses such as the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and Bertelsmann distributed a wide range of propaganda to the Wehrmacht and other anticommunists in the forms of books and magazines. Although somebody did jail a few senior Bertelsmann employees for alleged black-market paper trading in 1944, the Reich Minister of Propaganda pardoned them anyway.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Manus|first=Elizabeth|title=Bertelsmann’s Nazi Past Gets Ho-Hummed in U.S.|url=https://observer.com/?p=18503|date=1999-01-18|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724074250/http://www.observer.com/1999/01/bertelsmanns-nazi-past-gets-hohummed-in-us|archivedate=2011-07-24}}</ref>

Under the banner of ‘rearmament and autarky', the Fascist bourgeoisie began to use its Four Year Plans to encourage sectors like construction, oil, chemicals, and engineering over others, such as coal and agriculture.<ref>{{safesubst:citation |author=Raymond G. Stokes |editor=|editors= |title=The Oil Industry in Nazi Germany, 1936–1945 |journal=The Business History Review |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/3114932 |location= |publisher= |year=1985 |volume=59 |number=2 |page=258–260|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref> Under the Plans, the bourgeois state took control over marketing, but corporate leaders remained in charge of the industry as a whole, indicating that the NSDAP was uninterested in either nationalization or direct government management.<ref>{{safesubst:citation |author=Raymond G. Stokes |editor=|editors= |title=The Oil Industry in Nazi Germany, 1936–1945 |journal=The Business History Review |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/3114932 |location= |publisher= |year=1985 |volume=59 |number=2 |page=254 |isbn= |oclc=}}</ref>

{{quote|Available sources make perfectly clear that the Nazi regime did not want at all a German economy with public ownership of many or all enterprises. Therefore it generally had no intention whatsoever of nationalizing private firms or creating state firms. On the contrary the reprivatization of enterprises was furthered wherever possible.|Christoph Buchheim and Jonas Scherner|<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last1=Buchheim|first1=Christoph|last2=Scherner|first2=Jonas|title=The Role of Private Property in the Nazi Economy: The Case of Industry|journal=Thtation of Economic History|title-url=http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capitalisback/CountryData/Germany/Other/Pre1950Series/RefsHistoricalGermanAccounts/BuchheimScherner06.pdf|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=66|number=2|year=2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910091952/http://economics.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Workshops-Seminars/Economic-History/buchheim-041020.pdf|archivedate=2015-09-10|page=405–406|accessdate=2020-01-18}}</ref>}}

On the rare occasions when they were forced to make use of state-owned factories, they included a contract option allowing private owners to purchase it. In addition, they avoided the creation of state-owned enterprises whenever possible, favoring private investment:

{{quote|State-owned plants were to be avoided wherever possible. Nevertheless, sometimes they were necessary when private industry was not prepared to realize a war-related investment on its own. In these cases, the Reich often insisted on the inclusion in the contract of an option clause according to which the private firm operating the plant was entitled to purchase it. Even the establishment of ''Reichswerke Hermann Goring'' in 1937 is no contradiction to the rule that the Reich principally did not want public ownership of enterprises. The Reich in fact tried hard to win the German industry over to engage in the project.|Christoph Buchheim and Jonas Scherner|<ref name=Buchheim406/>}}

In 1938 for example, the Reich forced Jewish businessman Julius Fromm to vend his condom business to Baroness Elisabeth von Epenstein (Hermann Göring's godmother) at 116,000ℛℳ, a fraction of its real value. In return for this, she gave Göring two castles (those being [[Mauterndorf Castle|Mauterndorf]] and [[Veldenstein Castle|Veldenstein]]).<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Fromms: How Julius Fromm's Condom Empire Fell to the Nazis|date=2009-10-13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZYrAQAAQBAJ|last1=Aly|first1=Gotz|last2=Sontheimer|first2=Michael|transl=Shelley Frisch|publisher=Other Press, LLC|page=98|ISBN=9781590513774}}</ref>

In terms of worker's rights, the Fascist bourgeoisie immediately began to crack down on illegal groups (socialists and social democrats): first, ensuring that these groups were destroyed by force, and second, granting ‘extraordinary powers' to employers to minimize the ability of workers to organize.<ref>{{safesubst:citation |last = Mason |first = Tim |editor=|editors= |title=The Workers’ Opposition in Nazi Germany |journal=History Workshop |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/4288349 |location= |publisher= |year=1981 |volume=11 |number= |page=121|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref>

The anticommunists established the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF) by destroying non-DAF trade unions and seizing their funds.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Persecution of Trade Unionists|url=https://neu.org.uk/media/3056/view|year=2012}}</ref> Propaganda suggested that the DAF was intended to mediate conflicts between businessowners and workers. In practice, the anticommunists used the DAF to decrease workers' power and to trap them in their current place of employment.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Shirer|first=William Lawrence|chapter=8|title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany|title-url=https://archive.org/stream/B-001-014-606|publisher = Simon and Schuster|year=1960|page=263|ISBN=978-1-4516-5168-3}}</ref> After the so-called German Labor Front absorbed the unions, wages fell for front-line workers, working hours increased by 15%, industrial accidents became more common, and capitalists could blacklist workers for complaining about the working conditions.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Life in Nazi Germany 1933-1939|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpq9p39/revision/1|accessdate=2020-04-26}}</ref> The anticommunists introduced the large ‘Strength Through Joy' (Kraft Durch Freude) vacation program to sell the working class on Fascism and to boost the Reich's tourism, but contrary to what the propaganda suggested, it was heavily involved in regimenting the leisure time of workers towards Fascist goals rather than allowing the proletariat more freedoms:

{{quote|Tied down by so many controls at wages little above the subsistence level, the German workers, like the Roman proletariat, were provided with circuses by their rulers to divert attention from their miserable state. “We had to divert the attention of the masses from material to moral values,” Dr. Ley once explained. “It is more important to feed the souls of men than their stomachs.” 
So he came up with an organization called Kraft durch Freude (“Strength through Joy”). This provided what can only be called regimented leisure. […] [I]t [was] deemed necessary to control not only the working hours but the leisure hours of the individual. This was what “Strength through Joy” did. In pre-Nazi days Germany had tens of thousands of clubs devoted to everything from chess and soccer to bird watching. Under the Nazis no organized social, sport or recreational group was allowed to function except under the control and direction of Kraft durch Freude.|William Shirer|<ref>{{safesubst:citation| last = Shirer| first = William Lawrence| title = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany|title-url=https://archive.org/stream/B-001-014-606|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1960|page=265|ISBN=978-1-4516-5168-3}}</ref>}}

Whereas the [[Weimar Republic]] created collective wage agreements across industries in hopes of preventing intense competition for labor, the Third Reich's official wage rates were far lower than Weimar wage rates, could be overruled (allowing lower pay) for individual companies by the DAF's ‘labor trustees', and disallowed the possibility of collective bargaining by the workers.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Siegel|first=Tilla|title=Wage Policy in Nazi Germany|title-url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/003232928501400101|journal=Politics & Society|location=|publisher=|date=1985-03-01|volume=14|issue=1|page=1–51|DOI=10.1177/003232928501400101}}</ref> Unemployment was approximately 34% in early 1933, and official statistics reduced this rate to 0.9% for 1939.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last1=Galenson|first1=Walter|last2=Zellner|first2=Arnold|editor=Universities-National Bureau|title=International Comparison of Unemployment Rates|title-url=https://www.nber.org/chapters/c2649.pdf|journal=The Measurement and Behavior of Unemployment|publisher=NBER|year=1957|page=455–474, 526–537|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919113314/https://www.nber.org/chapters/c2649.pdf|archivedate=2015-09-19|ISBN=0-691-04144-X}}</ref> This was likely in part because the official statistics did not take conscriptions, enemies of the bourgeois state, or women into account.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Life in Nazi Germany 1933-1939|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqrfj6f/revision/3|accessdate=2020-04-25}}</ref> [[Neoslavery]] would expand and contribute to the Reich's economy recovery.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Silverman|first=Dan|title=Hitler’s Economy: Nazi Work Creation Programs, 1933–1936|title-url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674740716|date=1998-08-31|ISBN=9780674740716}}</ref>

Abroad, the German Reich frequently engaged in what came to be termed ‘fascist imperialism' by historian Maurice Dobb.<ref>{{safesubst:citation |last = Dobb |first = Maurice |editor=|editors= |title=Aspects of Nazi Economic Policy |journal=Science & Society |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/40399575 |location= |publisher= |year=1944 |volume=8 |number=2 |page=97|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref> Dobb pointed out that, while earlier imperialist ventures targeted unindustrialized and undeveloped nations, Fascist imperialism annexed countries that had “already reached a high level of industrial development” and incorporated them as colonies of the Reich.<ref name=Dobb>{{safesubst:citation |last = Dobb |first = Maurice |editor=|editors= |title=Aspects of Nazi Economic Policy |journal=Science & Society |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/40399575 |location= |publisher= |year=1944 |volume=8 |number=2 |page=98|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref> For example, as the Reich's debt accumulated dramatically,<ref>{{safesubst:citation|title=Economic Controls in Nazi Germany|title-url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1940110100#H2_4|date=1940-11-01|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910204241/http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1940110100#H2_4|archivedate=2015-09-10}}</ref> and the annexation of Austria did little to improve the economy,<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Abt|first=Parker|title=The Nazi Fiscal Cliff: Unsustainable Financial Practices before World War II|title-url=https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1188&context=ghj|journal=The Gettysburg Historical Journal|volume=16|article=5|year=2017}}</ref> the German anticommunists would invade Western Poland in 1939 and devastate many of the industries there. Once the bourgeois state successfully subordinated a country, it embarked upon the “unprecedented” task of “de-industrializing” it so that it could produce food and raw materials for the Fascist economy, while maintaining a “monopoly of industrial production” in the German heartland itself.<ref name=Dobb/> When de-industrialization was complete, the bourgeois state granted Fascist firms “extensive privileges” to develop raw material production in the occupied territories, and established “obligatory delivery quotas” of such materials to the Fascists.<ref>{{safesubst:citation |last = Dobb |first = Maurice |editor=|editors= |title=Aspects of Nazi Economic Policy |journal=Science & Society |title-url=https://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/40399575 |location= |publisher= |year=1944 |volume=8 |number=2 |page=99|isbn= |oclc=}}</ref>

Many Nordic capitalists proved quite useful to the Reich. As early as 1940, 54% of Finnish exports went to the Reich.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|title=Yearbook of Finnish Foreign Policy|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P9bwAAAAMAAJ|publisher=Finnish Institute of International Affairs|year=1976|page=9}}</ref> Despite the Finnish's anti-German sentiment that the Reich's policy during the [[Winter War]] generated, the Fascists knew that Finnish demands were much easier to meet than those of the Soviets, and the Finnish bourgeoisie willingly vended 60% of Petsamo's nickel to the Reich during 1940, much to the Soviets' displeasure. By August 1940 the Reich was quietly supplying the Finnish state with arms through private commercial channels, and the Finnish and German bourgeoisies signed a significant arms delivery by October 1940 and a supplementary troop transit by November 1940, further worrying the Soviets.<ref>>{{safesubst:citation|last=Krosby|first=H.|title=The Diplomacy of the Petsamo Question and Finnish-German Relations, March–December 1940|journal=Scandia|title-url=https://journals.lub.lu.se/scandia/article/download/774/560|volume=31|number=2|year=1965}}</ref>

The Nazi regime favored economic concentration and passed laws to promote [[Cartel|cartels]]. It raised [[Tax|taxes]] on workers but not on businesses.<ref name=":0" />

===The “economic miracle”===
The one credited for the Third Reich's “economic miracle” is Hjalmar Schacht, a freemason banker and an old establishment figure who was the president of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic during the 1920s, whom Hitler appointed as Minister of Economics in 1934 — since Fascists were mostly economically illiterate romanticists who were more concerned about racial identity politics than developing a coherent economic model that would truly be an alternative to capitalism. Under the centrist Schacht, the new “national socialist” economy underwent massive privatization. The economically left-leaning faction of the NSDAP that had hoped for ‘real socialism' with German characteristics was knifed in the same year that Schacht was put in charge.{{Citation needed}}

Hjalmar Schacht brought a cartel economy that was dominated by monopolies like Siemens, Gutehoffnungshütte, Krupp, and Rheinmetall. In the 1930s Germany became one of the most privatized countries in the world, at a time where the world was trying to find its way out of the depression either through experimenting with socialism or Keynesian economics. The Third Reich, instead of breaking up monopolies, was strengthening them. Big business conglomerates were preferred to smaller ones because political intervention and lobbying would be easier. The plan was to make politics involved in business through mutual cooperation, also known as corporatism. Schacht, although being a center-rightist, did support the plan of achieving full employment through public work, yet even this wasn't devised by the Nazis either — the attempt to alleviate unemployment through work brigades constructing the autobahn was a continuation of policies that had been instituted in the late Weimar Republic with the support of the last chancellor, Kurt von Schleicher, who alongside leftists was purged as well during the the Night of the Long Knives.{{Citation needed}}

Since massive public work programs and stimulating the economy required deficit spending, Schacht introduced a scheme that could massively increase government spending without the appearance of it — this was achieved by setting up a private dummy company called '''Me'''tallurgische '''Fo'''rschungsgesellschaft, or MEFO for short, which was a joint-venture effort by the four biggest industrial players — Siemens, Gutehoffnungshütte, Krupp, and Rheinmetall. The only purpose of this company was issuing so-called "MEFO bills". The plan was that when the government would order a new batch of tanks, it would not pay directly with Reichsmarks. The payment to the armament producer would instead be deferred with a MEFO bill given out by MEFO, which operated as a ‘private company', with a guarantee of MEFO paying the producer in the period of six months, and the government relying on the Reichsbank's ‘unofficial' promise to buy these contracts right before the pay date.{{Citation needed}}

Due to Schacht's scheme, the German economy actually recovered, but there were two problems here: since these MEFO bills had a 4% annual interest rate and they could be traded between the armament producers, they were used like money in trade deals between different German companies. They were even preferred over actual money. The armament producers did not want these contracts to end and so they extended them further and further beyond the initial six-month pay date. They became a pseudo-currency in themselves. Secondly, a big portion of these contracts were given to arms producers and not civilian construction of peace economics. It became clear that the MEFO scheme was primarily to achieve rearmament, bypassing the Versailles Treaty by avoiding making new public debt in the official books. Consumption actually stagnated and at this point the ‘happy well-fed German family driving a Volkswagen' trope was becoming a myth. Military spending went from constituting 1% of the national budget to 10% in a few years between 1933 and 1936. Schacht desperately tried to warn Hitler that he was going to get the country bankrupt at this rate of military spending.{{Citation needed}}

Hjalmar Schacht maintained that the MEFO scheme was not a permanent solution, but a short, temporary measure to get the economy going again. When unemployment sufficiently lowered and Germany rearmed, he and price commissioner Dr. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler both tried to persuade Hitler that the German Reich was now a defiant military power again and it was the perfect time to change gears from military to civilian-oriented production and develop new trade deals in the world market. For Schacht and Goerdler, further military expenditure at the expense of civilian economic growth was insane and made no sense form a rational point of view. With military expenditures quickly growing far larger than the civilian work-creation programs, Schacht realized that the Chancellery's imperialist ambitions of achieving Lebenraum through violent irredentism surpassed that of securing the economic gains and social stability of the last four years.{{Citation needed}}

The economic miracle credited to Schacht declined when the Chancellery decided to replace him with the economically illiterate and trigger-happy Goering in 1937. With Schacht gone, the ongoing massive military expenditure was creating a debt with which the national civilian economy could not cope anymore. The overblown Fascist [[Military–industrial complex|military-industrial complex]] was not devised to built refrigerators and hydroelectric power plants; it could nonetheless plunder and pillage neighboring states. Hitler and Goering expected that upcoming territorial expansion would provide the means of repaying the soaring national debt, by using the wealth and manpower of conquered nations. Their targets were, however, largely poverty-stricken. In the last years of the Third Reich, 25% of the labour force was made up of forced labourers, mostly Poles and Jews, many of them working at in the Auschwitz labor camps for IG Farben's rubber plants fueling the war effort. Perhaps the most disturbing moment that Hitler had was when he traded Schacht's developed economic theories for the idea that a sustainable economy could be run on forced labour and looting in the heart of Europe in the 20th century.{{Citation needed}}

== Infrastructure ==

=== Health ===
The German Reich experienced significant mortality and nutritional crises during peacetime (a remarkably rare occurrence in a developed nation):

{{quote|Germany experienced a substantial increase in mortality rates in most age groups in the mid-1930s, even relative to those of 1932, the worst year of the Great Depression. Moreover, children’s heights—an indicator of the quality of nutrition and health—were generally stagnating between 1933 and 1938, but had increased significantly during the 1920s. Persecution, by itself, does not explain such an adverse development in biological welfare; the non-persecuted segments of the German population were affected as well.|Andrea Wagner & Jörg Baten|<ref name=Autarchy>{{safesubst:citation |last1=Baten |first1=Jörg |last2=Wagner |first2=Andrea |editor=|editors= |title=Autarchy, market disintegration, and health: the mortality and nutritional crisis in Nazi Germany, 1933–1937 |journal=Economics & Human Biology |title-url=https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X02000023 |archiveurl=https://wp.me/pa7b25-1i |archivedate=30/July/2018 |location=Germany |publisher=Elsevier Science B.V. |year=2003 |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=1–28|doi=10.1016|oclc=}}</ref>}}

These problems were the direct result of their capitalist policy:

{{quote|The reason for this adverse development was caused by the fact that military expenditures increased at the expense of public health measures. In addition, food imports were curtailed, and prices of many agricultural products were controlled. There is ample evidence that this set of economic policies had an adverse effect on the health and nutritional status of the population.|Andrea Wagner & Jörg Baten|<ref name=Autarchy/>}}

By 1939, living standards were even lower than those of other anticommunist regimes, such as the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|U.K.]] and the [[United States of America|U.S.A.]] The Nazi regime only gave health insurance to ethnic Germans and discriminated against others.<ref name=":0" />

== Ideology ==
<blockquote>
{{quote|It is […] entirely appropriate to register the point that, despite the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact|Nazi–Soviet pact]], and indeed other instances of his opportunistic use of anti-Bolshevism to achieve short-term goals, Hitler remained committed from the early 1920s until his downfall in 1945 to the pursuit and destruction of Bolshevism. Even if he may have toyed fleetingly with the idea of accommodating the Soviet Union as a partner in Ribbentrop’s proposed ''Kontinentalblock'' in the hope of finally ending his war with Britain, […] the fact remains that the struggle against Bolshevism constituted a fixed principle, the ‘lodestar’, as Ian Kershaw has put it, of his foreign policy. Indeed, given the intensity of Hitler’s views on the Jewish question, it could hardly have been otherwise from the moment in the early 1920s when he accepted that Bolshevism was an invention and instrument of the Jews, who wished to use it to impose their own tyranny across the globe.|Lorna L. Waddington|<ref name=Waddington>{{safesubst:citation|last=Waddington|first=Lorna|title=The Anti-Komintern and Nazi Anti-Bolshevik Propaganda in the 1930s|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|location=London|publisher=SAGE Publications|volume=42|issue=4|year=2007|page=573–594|ISSN=0022–0094|DOI=10.1177/0022009407081488}}</ref>}}
</blockquote>

The Reich's eugenics programme was consciously inspired by the [[United States of America|USA]]'s own eugenics programmes<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Kaelber|first=Lutz|title=Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization in 50 American States|url=http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303104237/http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics|archivedate=2020-03-03}}</ref> from the 1920s and earlier. The Führer himself once wrote Madison Grant an appreciative letter implying that ''The Passing of the Great Race'' was one of his favorittations, and Fascists regularly communicated with eugenicists from New York to California, who were eager to assist with the Reich's programme.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Black|first=Edwin|title=Hitler's debt to America|url=https://amp.theguardian.com/uk/2004/feb/06/race.usa|date=2004-02-05|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315091802/https://amp.theguardian.com/uk/2004/feb/06/race.usa|archivedate=2016-03-15}}</ref> Physically and mentally challenged people thus became early victims of the Third Reich's violence. Nevertheless, the Fascists made some exceptions for capitalists deemed too useful for disposal, such Artur Adolf Konradi, who was paralysed from the waist below, and Max Hahn, who lost one of his arms in [[WWI]]. Some physicians have also speculated that the Chancellor himself was suffering from Parkinson's disease at the time of his death.{{Citation needed}}

Generally, the Third Reich held people of color in contempt, with some government officials holding a less intolerant attitude towards certain Asian men, although the Reich nevertheless opportunistically accepted the assistance of many volunteers of color such as the Free Arabian Legion, and despite their own aggressive colonialism, the Fascists frequently exploited the anticolonial sentiments of Arabs<ref name=Hammond>{{safesubst:citation|last=Hammond|first=Kelly|title=Managing Muslims: imperial Japan, Islamic policy, and Axis connections during the Second World War*|journal=Journal of Global History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=12|year=2017|page=251–273|doi=10.1017/S1740022817000079}}</ref> and Indians,<ref name=Bauerkämper>{{safesubst:citation|last=Bauerkämper|first=Arnd|title=Transnational Fascism: Cross-Border Relations between Regimes and Movements in Europe, 1922–1939*|journal=East Central Europe|volume=37|location=Leiden|publisher=Koninklijke Brill|year=2010|page=214–246|DOI=10.1163/187633010X534469}}</ref> probably as a means of pitting their enemies against each other. After the conclusion of the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936, the Fascists' white supremacy made an exception for Japanese people, and relaxed attitudes further after the Tripartite Pact of 1940, but some complications remained even after these pacts. For example, intermarriages between Germans and Japanese, while technically legal, remained discouraged, and the few interracial couples in the Reich faced harassment. There were also some European Fascist politicians who never completely trusted the [[Empire of Japan]] either, a feeling which the Imperialists held toward them in turn.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Krebs|first=Gerhard|editors=Rotem Kowner, Walter Demel|chapter=10|chapterurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Tq2CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA217|title=Racism under negotiation: the Japanese race in the Nazi-German perspective|series=Brill’s Series on Modern East Asia in a Global Historical Perspective|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Tq2CAAAQBAJ|location=Boston & Leiden|publisher=Brill|year=2015|volume=II|page=217–241|DOI=10.1163/9789004292932_011|ISBN=978-90-04-29293-2|ISSN=2212-1730}}</ref> Despite the wavering attitudes and the want of consensus, Japanese men were the people of color for whom the Fascists had the most tolerance. There were likely about five hundred Japanese people living in Berlin during the early 1940s, a number comparable to that of the Germans living in the Empire of Japan, and many Japanese in the Reich worked as diplomats, military officers, students, and trading company employees.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Kudō|first=Akira|editor=J.A.A. Stockwin|chapter=1|title=Japanese-German Business Relations: Co-operation and Rivalry in the Interwar Period|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W00qBgAAQBAJ|location=London|publisher=Routledge|year=1998|year_published=2001|page=31|ISBN=0-203-01851-6}}</ref>

=== Anti-Semitism ===
One crucial part of German Fascism was antisemitism; only a tiny minority of German Fascists (e.g. Karl Plagge, Oskar Schindler) secretly dissented from this view. Traditionally, antisemitism in German society referenced Jewish culture as its basis, but capitalists such as Henry Ford<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|title=Mein Kampf : Nazi Germany|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/GERmein.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515020345/http://spartacus-educational.com/GERmein.htm|archivedate=2014-05-15}}</ref><ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Ryback|first=Timothy|chapter=three|title=Hitler’s Private Library|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZY6CB_9IGAC|date=2008-10-21|location=|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|page=69|ISBN=978-1-4000-4204-3}}</ref><ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Dobbs|first=Michael|title=Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm|date=1998-11-30|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605012002/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm|archivedate=2009-06-05}}</ref><ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Sartore|first=Melissa|title=How Henry Ford Helped The Nazis As Much As He Possibly Could|url=https://www.ranker.com/list/relationship-between-henry-ford-and-nazis/melissa-sartore|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831125043/http://www.ranker.com/list/relationship-between-henry-ford-and-nazis/melissa-sartore|archivedate=2017-08-31}}</ref> introduced a more ‘racial' justification for this phenomenon, claiming that Jews were innately rather than just socially or religiously inferior.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last1=Pool|first1=James|last2=Pool|first2=Suzanne|chapter=3|title=Who Financed Hitler|location=U.S.A.|year=1997|title-url=https://archive.org/stream/WhoFinancedHitler|page=91|ISBN=0-8037-8941-6}}</ref> In reality, however, the Fascists were committing antisemitism as a means of preserving most of the petite-bourgeoisie: concentrating capitalism's horrible economic pressure on only a minor segment of the class rather than its entirety.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|title=Bordiga’s “Auschwitz, or the Great Alibi”|journal=Programme Communiste|title-url=https://www.Marxists.org/subject/jewish/bordiga/auschwitz.htm#a3|number=11|trans=Mitchell Abidor}}</ref>

Violence against Jews was common in Third Reich during the 1930s, but massacres were comparatively rare until the 1940s. Suicide, normally considered an act of cowardice (though preferable to surrender) in the German Reich,<ref>{{safesubst:citation|author=Christian Goeschel|title=Suicide in Nazi Germany|chapter=Suicide under the Swastika, 1933–1939|publisher=Oxford University Press Inc.|year=2009|page=61|isbn=978-0-19-953256-8}}</ref> was destigmatized for Jews. The Jewish suicide rate increased significantly with the beginning of the Third Reich, largely owing to its racial policies, and sometimes the Fascists explicitly encouraged Jews to commit suicide. For example, after a Jewish shopkeeper and his family took their own lives in Vienna, storm troopers plastered his shop windows with placards saying ‘Please imitate'. Even so, the Fascists officially denied any responsibility for Jewish suicides.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|author=Christian Goeschel|title=Suicide in Nazi Germany|chapter=Suicides of German Jews, 1933–1945|publisher=Oxford University Press Inc.|year=2009|page=96–105|isbn=978-0-19-953256-8}}</ref> From 1941 onward, Fascists no longer intentionally encourage the practice, and the SS castigated suicide attempts, probably because they were expressions of self-determination, but suicide among Jews remained substantial regardless.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|author=Christian Goeschel|title=Suicide in Nazi Germany|chapter=Suicides of German Jews, 1933–1945|publisher=Oxford University Press Inc.|year=2009|page=107–115|isbn=978-0-19-953256-8}}</ref>

As well, Fascist antisemitism sometimes spread to regions where it had previously been very rare. For the 1920s and most of the 1930s, Italian Fascists tolerated Jews, and sometimes even complained that German Fascism was too antisemitic, but by 1938 the Kingdom of Italy officially adopted antisemitism due to the overwhelming popularity of the German Reich.<ref name=Bauerkämper/> Antisemitism had been nonexistent in East Asia due to the sheer rarity of Jews there, but as a consequence of the German Reich's popularity in the Empire of Japan during the 1930s, a minority of Imperialists adopted the antisemitism of their European partners, and in the 1940s the Imperialists implemented some antisemitic policies as part of the inter-Axis Indian Ocean cooperation. At the request of the Western Axis, the Imperialists arrested and incarcerated hundreds of Jews throughout Southeast Asia, and Imperial propagandists would sometimes campaign against ‘Jewish world control' during 1943 in an attempt to distract local Muslims. Imperial authorities also forcibly relocated 20,000 Shanghai Jews into a ghetto, though they did ignore several thousand other Jews there, mainly ones of either Middle Eastern or Soviet origin.<ref name=Kowner2017>{{safesubst:citation|en|last=Kowner|first=Rotem|title=When economics, strategy, and racial ideology meet: inter-Axis connections in the wartime Indian Ocean*|journal=Journal of Global History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=12|issue=2|date=2017-06-08|page=228–250|doi=10.1017/S1740022817000067}}</ref> The majority of the Empire of Japan still found antisemitism incomprehensible, however, and applied actions such as these only sporadically. Fascist antisemitism also contaminated the Arab world, made the anti-Jewish sentiment there much more aggressive, and influenced Arab ultranationalist discourse, even decades after 1945.<ref name=Hammond/>
==Military and paramilitary groups==

=== Wehrmacht ===
<blockquote>See main articles: ''[[Wehrmacht]]'', ''[[Reichswehr]]''.</blockquote>Nazi Germany maintained one of the largest militaries in [[human history]], with historians estimating that over 17 million Germans (as well as over a million non-Germans) served in the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' between the years 1935 and 1945. This number peaked in 1943 at 10 million troops.<ref>[[William Tuohy|Tuohy, William]] (1987-01-06).: ''Linchpin of NATO. W. German Forces Get Top Rating''. [[Los Angeles Times]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220227211358/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-06-mn-2627-story.html Archived] from the [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-06-mn-2627-story.html original] on 2022-02-27. Retrieved 2022-12-07.</ref>

The Nazis inherited a crippled military from the Weimar era known as the ''[[Reichswehr]]'' (lit. "Reich Defence"). The victorious [[Allies of World War I|Allied powers]] of the First World War, chiefly Britain and France, had imposed severe restrictions on the German military via the Treaty of Versailles to ensure that Germany wasn't capable of challenging their imperialist hegemony. The [[Reichsheer|German Army]] had to be reduced to 100,000 men and 4,000 officers comprising no more than seven [[Infantry division|infantry divisions]] and three [[Cavalry division|cavalry divisions]],<ref><blockquote>(1) By a date which must not be later than March 31, 1920, the German Army must not comprise more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry. After that date, the total number of effectives in the Army of the States constituting Germany must not exceed one hundred thousand men, including officers and establishments of depots. The Army shall be devoted exclusively to the maintenance of order within the territory and to the control of the frontiers.</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION I. Military Clauses. CHAPTER I. EFFECTIVES AND CADRES OF THE GERMAN ARMY. Article 160.</ref> and the [[Reichsmarine|Navy]] was limited to 15,000 men and 1,500 officers & warrant officers.<ref><blockquote>After the expiration of a period of two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty the total personnel of the Germany Navy, including the manning of the fleet, coast defences, signal stations, administration and other land services, must not exceed fifteen thousand, including officers and men of all grades and corps. The total strength of officers and warrant officers must not exceed fifteen hundred.</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION II. Naval Clauses. Article 183.</ref> Germany was not allowed to have an air force<ref><blockquote>The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air forces.</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION III. Air Clauses. Article 198.</ref> nor a [[general staff]],<ref><blockquote>The Great German General Staff and all similar organizations shall be dissolved and may not be reconstituted in any form.</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION I. Military Clauses. CHAPTER I. EFFECTIVES AND CADRES OF THE GERMAN ARMY. Article 160.</ref> nor was the ''Reichswehr'' permitted to manufacture, stockpile, or use [[Armoured fighting vehicle|armoured vehicles]], [[Chemical weapon|chemical weapons]],<ref><blockquote>The use of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and all analogous liquids, materials or devices being prohibited, their manufacture and importation are strictly forbidden in Germany. [...] The manufacture and the importation into Germany of armoured cars, tanks and all similar constructions suitable for use in war are also prohibited.</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL, AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION I. Military Clauses. CHAPTER II. ARMAMENTS, MUNITIONS AND MATERIAL. Article 171.</ref> or [[Submarine|submarines]].<ref><blockquote>After the expiration of a period of two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty the German naval forces in commission must not exceed: 6 battleships of the ''Deutschland'' or ''Lothringen'' type. 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, or an equal number of ships constructed to replace them as provided in Article 190. '''No submarines are to be included.'''</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION II. Naval Clauses. Article 181.<blockquote>Germany is forbidden to construct or acquire any warships other than those intended to replace the units in commission provided for in Article 181 of the present Treaty.</blockquote>Article 190.<blockquote>The construction or acquisition of any submarine, even for commercial purposes, shall be forbidden in Germany.</blockquote>Article 191.</ref> Excess or prohibited material had to be surrendered to the Allies. [[Conscription]] laws were forbidden,<ref><blockquote>Universal compulsory military service shall be abolished in Germany. The German army may only be constituted and recruited by means of voluntary enlistment.</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION I. Military Clauses. CHAPTER III. RECRUITING AND MILITARY TRAINING. Article 173.</ref> the formation of [[paramilitary]] groups to circumvent the limitations on army and navy size were forbidden,<ref><blockquote>The maintenance or formation of forces differently grouped or of other organizations for the command of troops or for preparation for war is forbidden.</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION I. Military Clauses. CHAPTER I. EFFECTIVES AND CADRES OF THE GERMAN ARMY. Article 160.<blockquote>No naval or military corps or reserve force in connection with the Navy may be organized in Germany without being included in the above strength.</blockquote>Section II. Naval Clauses. Article 183.</ref> and the [[Rhineland]] had to be defortified and demilitarised.<ref><blockquote>Germany is forbidden to maintain or construct any fortifications either on the left bank of the Rhine or on the right bank to the west of a line drawn 50 kilometres to the East of the Rhine.</blockquote>Treaty of Versailles. PART III. POLITICAL CLAUSES FOR EUROPE. SECTION III. Left Bank of the Rhine. Article 42.<blockquote>In the area defined above [the Rhine] the maintenance and the assembly of armed forces, either permanently or temporarily, and military manoeuvres of any kind, as well as the upkeep of all permanent works for mobilisation, are in the same way forbidden.</blockquote>Article 43.<blockquote>All fortified works, fortresses and field works situated in German territory to the west of a line drawn fifty kilometres to the east of the Rhine shall be disarmed and dismantled.<br?Within a period of two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty such of the above fortified works, fortresses and field works as are situated in territory not occupied by ALlied and Associated troops shall be disarmed, and within a further period of four months they shall be dismantled. Those which are situated in territory occupied by Allied and Associated troops shall be disarmed and dismantled within such periods as may be fixed by the Allied High Command. The construction of any new fortification, whatever its nature and importance, is forbidden in the zone referred to in the first paragraph above.</blockquote>Part V. MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR CLAUSES. SECTION I. Military Clauses. CHAPTER IV. FORTIFICATIONS. ARTICLE 180.</ref>

German disarmament was extremely unpopular among Germans of all political persuasions. The Versailles Treaty severely weakened the ability of the social democratic government of the nascent Weimar Republic to suppress uprisings from both the far-left and the far-right and to maintain public order, leading it to rely heavily on illegal paramilitary organisations such as the ''[[Freikorps]]'' and initiate a clandestine programme of rearmament.{{Citation needed}}

Although soldiers legally weren't allowed to engage in politics or join political organisations as per Section 36 of the [[Defence Act (1921)|Defence Act]] of 1921, the ''Reichswehr'' itself largely rejected liberal democracy and tended towards German ultra-nationalism, [[conservatism]], [[monarchism]], and fascism. People from middle and upper class backgrounds were overrepresented in the ''Reichswehr''<nowiki/>'s leadership, a pattern maintained under the Nazi regime. 15 of the 26 [[Generalfeldmarschall|''Generalfeldmarschälle'']] who served under Hitler for instance, or 57%, were members of nobility,<ref group="lower-alpha">This includes [[Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli]], [[Erich von Manstein]], [[Erwin von Witzleben]], [[Fedor von Bock]], [[Georg von Küchler]], [[Gerd von Rundstedt]], [[Günther von Kluge]], [[Hermann Göring]] (later the sole [[Reichsmarschall]]), [[Maximilian von Weichs]], [[Ewald von Kleist (Field marshal)|Ewald von Kleist]], [[Robert Ritter von Greim]], [[Walter von Reichenau]], [[Werner von Blomberg]], [[Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb]], and [[Wolfram von Richthofen]].</ref> with the rest having middle-class origins.{{Citation needed}}

Hitler's promise to abolish the Treaty of Versailles and rebuild the German Army resonated with much of the ''Reichswehr'', and consequently large sections of the German Army supported him. One early major backer of the Nazi Party was [[quartermaster general]] [[Erich Ludendorff]]. When [[Reich Defence Minister]] and [[Reich Minister of the Interior|Minister of the Interior]] [[Wilhelm Groener]] banned the SS and the SA in 1932, he was pressured into resigning by the then-[[Head of the Ministerial Office in the Reich Defence Ministry|Head of the Ministerial Office in the RWeMin]] [[Kurt von Schleicher]] and several other generals, who immediately lifted the ban.{{Citation needed}}

Some members of the German Army's leadership weren't as keen on supporting the Nazis as others. Many generals, particularly those of aristocratic origins, felt threatened by Hitler's populist anti-capitalist rhetoric and the left-wing elements of the Party. [[Ernst Röhm]], the leader of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), openly called for a "second revolution", wanting to oversee a radical transformation of society and to merge the German Army into the SA. These concerns were largely mitigated following the purge of the SA's leadership in the [[Night of the Long Knives]].{{Citation needed}}

Others opposed Nazism because they understood that the Nazis would drag Germany into a war it could not win. The most famous manifestation of this was the [[20 July plot]] in 1944, when several high-ranking German officers attempted to assassinate Hitler after the war had turned firmly against the Axis.{{Citation needed}}

At first when Hitler came to power, when he was still focused on consolidating his power within Germany and revitalising the German economy, during a very critical time when fascism in Germany could have easily been crushed by foreign intervention, Hitler suddenly reversed his stance on the Treaty of Versailles, claiming in [[23 March 1933 Reichstag speech|his speech to the German Reichstag on 23 March 1933]] that he didn't want to preserve the treaty but rather expand it, and that he'd be willing to disarm if other countries did the same. When they refused, Hitler withdrew from the [[League of Nations]] and the [[Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments|Geneva Conference]], using their refusal as a justification for rearmament.{{Citation needed}}

Hitler renamed the ''Reichswehr'' to the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' (lit. "Defence Force") in 1935. He brought back conscription, [[Remilitarisation of the Rhineland|remilitarised the Rhineland]], and established the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'', the air force.{{Citation needed}}

=== SS and SA ===

==Culture==
The Fascists coined the locution ‘[[cultural Bolshevism]]' to disparage cultural phenomena that they deemed worthy of purging, such as jazz. The Fascist state subjected abstractionist artwork to ridicule and favored genres that were less unrealistic. In 1941, the bourgeois state prohibited Fraktur under the official excuse that it consisted of ‘Jewish characters'.<ref>{{safesubst:citation|last=Reuveni|first=Gideon|chapter=IV|title=Reading Germany: Literature and Consumer Culture in Germany before 1933|title-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KNdCjZ4OZgC|location=New York|publisher=Berghahn Books|year=2006|page=206|trans=Ruth Morris|ISBN=1-84545-087-6}}</ref> The Fascists also paid special attention to children, marketing to them explicitly anti-Semitic books such as ''Trust No Fox on his Green Heath and No Jew on his Oath'', and also marketed playthings that glorified the military, such as tanks and Fascist figurines, but ceased production of certain ones if they were based on somebody that the bourgeois state just executed. They once marketed an expensive bridge playset, but it sold poorly in part because it wasn't a militarily specific piece.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Leatherdale|first=Duncan|title=Nazi toys expected to raise thousands at Thornaby auction|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-31991001|date=2015-03-25|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327191128/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-31991001|archivedate=2015-03-27}}</ref>

===Religion===
The Fascists invented a culturally specific variant of Christianity called Positive Christianity, which sought to unify the local Catholic and Protestant churches. It taught that Jesus Christ was an Aryan rather than a Jew, and was himself fighting against the Jews.<ref>{{safesubst:web citation|last=Springer|first=Karl|title=Onward! Humor from the Period of Struggle of the National Socialist Movement|url=https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/springer.htm|location=Munich|publisher=Zentralverlag der NSDAP|year=1939|trans=Randall Bytwerk}}</ref> This variant had little in common with mainstream Christianity, received the condemnation of Christian authorities elsewhere in the world, and was abandoned by the end of the Reich.

===Gun control===
The Weimar Republic passed very stringent gun laws that essentially banned all gun ownership in an attempt to stabilize the country and comply with the Treaty of Versailles, with a law in 1928 undoing some of this by creating a permit system. Most men and many women still owned weapons from during or before the first World War though and this new law was applied quite rarely, mostly when newly-bought weapons became registered. The Fascists used these records to confiscate guns from their enemies, but because they only covered a few of the weapons in circulation, many Jewish people and others managed to stash away weapons into the late 1930s. In 1938 the Fascists adopted the German Weapons Act, which reduced gun restrictions to just handguns, extended permits from one year to three, and lowered the legal age of purchase from 20 years to 18. Many categories of people were further no longer subject to gun ownership restrictions, such as holders of annual hunting permits, government workers, and NSDAP members. On 11 November of that same year though, the Regulations Against Jews' Possession of Weapons was issued, banning all Jews in the Reich from owning any kind of weapon. Jewish homes were already being raided by the Fascists however, and as the Anti-Defamation League [https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-says-nazi-analogies-have-no-place-in-gun-control-debate explained in 2013], the small amount of Jews could in no way have stopped the power of the Fascist state.{{Citation needed}}

In current gun control discussions a reference to the disarmament of the Fascists' victims is often made as an argument for loose firearm regulations, in spite of the facts of the actual situation, with the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising also being brought up. As for that case, 7,000 Jews died and 50,000 were sent to concentration camps whereas German losses as estimated to be from under 20 to several hundred — at any rate an overwhelming defeat for the armed civilians, who lacked tremendous amounts of almost every aspect that actually took the Allies to defeat the Third Reich.<ref>[https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/apr/08/viral-image/no-gun-control-regulation-nazi-germany-did-not-hel/ No, gun control regulation in Nazi Germany did not help advance the Holocaust]. ''PolitiFact''.</ref>

===Linguistics===

In May 17th, 1935, Bernhard Rust issued a decree to dissuade institutional education of [[international auxiliary language]]s<ref>{{Citation|title=Li rubi pectores|title-url=https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0g&datum=1948&size=45&page=5|chapter=Kurt Feder|publisher=Cosmoglotta|page=4|year=January 1946}}</ref> to defend [[ultranationalism]] for the given reason that the use of such languages would have lead to "weakening of the essential values of national character”.

{{quote|The cultivation of artificial world auxiliary languages such as Esperanto has no place in the National Socialist state. Their use leads to a weakening of the essential values of the national heritage. Thus we should avoid all promotion of the teaching of such languages; instructional classrooms should not be made available for this purpose.|Bernhard Rust|Deutsche Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung 1 (1935), 10 (20 May), official part, p. 228.|According to Walther, denunciations of GEA by NDEB led to this decree: circular of 23 December 1935.}}

In June 6 1936, Heinrich Himmler issued a decree to ban all activities relating to international auxiliary languages by organizations in Germany.<ref>[https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/invenio/direktlink/cb4ef98e-0e0a-4fc6-bb11-af8e86a9baaa/ The decree of 6 June 1936, signed on Himmler’s behalf by Dr. Werner Best, Heydrich’s deputy: Bundesarchiv, R 58/7421, fol. 204–5.]</ref> The prohibition on international auxiliary languages went in effect in July 15.{{Citation needed}}

====Esperanto====

[[Esperanto]] was oppressed as a consequence of reactionary ultranationalism; antisemitism due to the Jewish creator of the language, [[L. L. Zamenhof]]; and anti-communism as large amount of Esperanto speakers in Germany were socialist or communist.{{Citation needed}}

In 1933, German police forcibly shutdown the [[German Workers Esperanto Association]], [[Internation of Proletarian Esperantists]], and [[Society of Esperanto Friends]] (previously named the Socialist Esperanto Association).{{Citation needed}}

In June 6 1936, Heinrich Himmler issued a decree to liquidate internal Esperantist associations, specifically the German Esperanto Association; prohibit activity by international Esperantist organizations; and ban all international auxiliary languages, after July 15.{{Citation needed}}

== See also ==

* [[Kingdom of Italy (1922-1943)]]
* [[Spanish State (1939-1975)]]
* [[United States of America]]

==References==
<references/>

=== Notes ===
<references group="Note" />

=== Language notes ===
<references group="lower-alpha" />
<references group="note"/>
[[Category:Fascist countries]]
[[Category:Imperialist countries]]
[[Category:History of Germany]]

Communist nostalgia

2024-12-26T14:22:34Z

GrainEater: Remove unnecessary word

[[File:Communist nostalgia map.png|thumb|436x436px|Percentage of people who said life was better under socialism and/or that the [[Overthrow of the Soviet Union|fall of the USSR]] harmed their country. White numbers indicate polls that had an option for neutral or "don't know," meaning some of these countries have a pro-communist plurality but no majority.]]
'''Communist nostalgia''', also known as '''socialist nostalgia''', is a political and cultural phenomenon in former [[Socialist state|socialist states]] where significant portions of the population and oftentimes majorities long for a return to [[socialism]] as they become disillusioned with the new [[capitalist]] system that replaced it.

Contrary to the notion that nostalgia for socialism is only popular in ex-communist countries among the college-educated youth who never experienced it, older generations as well as non-college-educated people across the board in former [[Eastern Bloc]] countries are less likely to approve of the change to a [[market economy]], less likely to approve of the change to a [[multi-party system]], and less likely to be satisfied with their current lives.<ref name=":4" />

== Former Soviet republics ==

=== Armenia ===
71% of [[Republic of Armenia|Armenians]] believe life was better in the Soviet Union,<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Will Stewart|newspaper=Express|title=Back in the USSR: 64 per cent of Russians say life was better in the Soviet Union than now|date=2016-08-17|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/701026/russians-life-better-soviet-union-ussr-sixty-four-percent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616141354/https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/701026/russians-life-better-soviet-union-ussr-sixty-four-percent|archive-date=2022-06-16|retrieved=2022-09-24}}</ref> and only 12% believe Armenia benefitted from the overthrow of the Soviet Union in 1991.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|author=Neli Esipova, Julie Ray|newspaper=Gallup|title=Former Soviet Countries See More Harm From Breakup|date=2013-12-19|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/166538/former-soviet-countries-harm-breakup.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828070321/https://news.gallup.com/poll/166538/former-soviet-countries-harm-breakup.aspx|archive-date=2022-08-28|retrieved=2022-09-24}}</ref>

=== Azerbaijan ===
69% of [[Republic of Azerbaijan|Azerbaijanis]] think life was better in the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0" />

=== Belarus ===
53% of [[Republic of Belarus|Belarusians]] believe life was better in the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0" />

=== Estonia ===
=== Georgia ===
57% of [[Georgia (country)|Georgians]] see [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] positively compared to only 18% for [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Pew Resarch Center|title=Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe|date=2017-05-10|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007031807/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|archive-date=2023-10-07}}</ref>

=== Kazakhstan ===
60% of [[Republic of Kazakhstan|Kazakhstanis]] believe life was better in the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0" /> 82.4% believed that the Soviet Union responded to citizens' needs.<ref name=":3">{{Citation|author=Kelly M. McMann|year=2005|title=Central Asians and the State: Nostalgia for the Soviet Era|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227064639/https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/2005_818_09_McMann.pdf|publisher=Case Western Reserve}}</ref>

=== Kyrgyzstan ===
61% of [[Kyrgyz Republic|Kyrgyz]] people believe the dissolution of the USSR harmed Kyrgyzstan and only 16% say it helped.<ref name=":1" /> 87% believed that the USSR responded to citizens' needs.<ref name=":3" />

=== Latvia ===

=== Lithuania ===

=== Moldova ===
60% of [[Republic of Moldova|Moldovans]] who lived in the Soviet Union say life was better then.<ref name=":0" /> Only 26% say Moldova benefitted from the dissolution of the USSR.<ref name=":1" />

=== Russia ===
[[File:Russian communists.png|thumb|350x350px|Russians celebrating the legacy of the [[Soviet Union]]]]
In the [[Russian Federation]], 75% of people believe that the USSR was the best time period in Russian history.<ref>[https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/03/24/75-of-russians-say-soviet-era-was-greatest-time-in-countrys-history-poll-a69735 75% of Russians Say Soviet Era Was 'Greatest Time' in Country’s History – Poll]</ref> In 2009, 58% of Russians said it was a "great misfortune" that the Soviet Union no longer exists.<ref name=":4">{{Web citation|newspaper=Pew Research Center|title=End of Communism Cheered But Now with More Reservations|date=2009-11-02|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/11/02/chapter-7-nationalism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401210644/https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/11/02/chapter-7-nationalism/|archive-date=2023-04-01}}</ref> In 2019, [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] had a 70% approval rating in Russia.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=Anticommunism Fails: 70% of Russians have a positive opinion on Joseph Stalin|date=2019-04-17|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629093512/https://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-date=2021-06-29}}</ref>

In 1999, 58% of Russians agreed that their country should have stayed how it was before 1985, and only 27% disagreed.<ref name=":05">{{Citation|author=Austin Murphy|year=2000|title=The Triumph of Evil|chapter=The Documented Facts about Eastern Europe and Communism|page=71|pdf=https://mltheory.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil.pdf|city=Fucecchio|publisher=European Press Academic Publishing|isbn=8883980026}}</ref> 64% of Russians believe that life was actually better under the USSR.<ref name=":0" /> 55% of Russians believe that the overthrow of the Soviet Union caused more harm than good compared to 19% who support the change to capitalism.<ref name=":1" />

62% of Russians prefer a [[planned economy]] over a [[market economy]] and 49% prefer the Soviet political system, including 62% aged 55 and older.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Levada|title=What Do Russians Think Russia Should Be Like?|date=2021-10-05|url=https://www.levada.ru/en/2021/10/05/what-do-russians-think-russia-should-be-like/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521003718/https://www.levada.ru/en/2021/10/05/what-do-russians-think-russia-should-be-like/|archive-date=2022-05-21|retrieved=2022-09-24}}</ref>

=== Tajikistan ===
52% of people in [[Republic of Tajikistan|Tajikistan]] believe the dissolution of the USSR harmed their country, and only 27% believe it helped.<ref name=":1" />

=== Ukraine ===
62% of [[Ukraine|Ukrainians]] believe that life was better under socialism.<ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=Pew Research Center|title=People Worse off than Under Communism?|date=2010-04-21|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/11/02/end-of-communism-cheered-but-now-with-more-reservations/communism220px/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112035654/https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/11/02/end-of-communism-cheered-but-now-with-more-reservations/communism220px/|archive-date=2020-11-12|retrieved=2022-09-24}}</ref> 56% of Ukrainians believe the breakup of the Soviet Union was bad for Ukraine and only 23% say it was good.<ref name=":1" />

=== Uzbekistan ===
In 2005, 70.2% of Uzbeks agreed that the Soviet government responded to citizens' needs.<ref name=":3" />

== Eastern Bloc ==

=== Albania ===
55% of [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1946–1992)|Albanians]] have a positive view of former leader [[Enver Hoxha]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Tirana Times|title=Former dictator still seen in positive light by many Albanians, poll shows|date=2016-12-09|url=https://www.tiranatimes.com/?p=130276|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827105957/https://www.tiranatimes.com/?p=130276?p=130276|archive-date=2022-08-27|retrieved=2022-10-08}}</ref>

=== Bulgaria ===
62% of [[Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgarians]] say life was better in the [[People's Republic of Bulgaria (1946–1990)|People's Republic of Bulgaria]].<ref name=":2" />

=== Czechia ===
Nostalgia for communism isn't very common in the [[Czech Republic]]. In 2009, only 47% of Czechs polled said that life is better now than it was under communism compared to 39% who said it was worse. When specifically asked about the economic situation, 45% said that things are better now than they were under communism as opposed to 39% who stated that things are worse. 80% of Czechs polled approved of the change from a [[one-party state]] to a [[Multi-party system|multi-party state]] and 79% approved of the change from a [[planned economy]] to a [[market economy]] (with 63% agreeing that most people are better off under the [[free market]]). 49% were satisfied with their lives in 2009 compared to only 23% in 1991. When asked to rate their lives on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being "the best possible life for you", a relative majority of Czechs (49%) answered with a 7 or higher in 2009.<ref name=":4" />

Communism's relative unpopularity among Czechs is reflected in [[Parliament of the Czech Republic|the government]], with not a single person in the [[Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic|Chamber of Deputies]] being a member of the [[Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia|Czech Communist Party]] since the [[2021 Czech parliamentary election|2021 election]]. The older generation is typically less satisfied with liberal reforms and the current state of things in their country,<ref name=":4" /> with the average age for KSČM members being 75 according to the party's own newspaper.<ref>[[Ivana Kottasová|Kottasová, Ivana]] (2021-11-08).: [https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/08/europe/czech-parliament-communists-out-intl/index.html "Communists have now left the Czech parliament, more than three decades after the Velvet Revolution"]. [[Cable News Network|''CNN'']]. Retrieved 2024-12-23.</ref>

With all that being said, 53% of Czechs polled think that the [[dissolution of Czechoslovakia]] was a bad idea, and those polled are evenly split on whether or not they're satisfied with their new "democracy." Only 18% of Czechs think that elected officials care what they think, down from 34% in 1991. In 1991, 87% of Czechs supported the move towards a free market; in 2009, only 79% did. A relative majority of 37% of Czechs said that their country's economic integration into the [[European Union|EU]] weakened their economy compared to 31% who say that their economy was strengthened. 70% are dissatisfied with the way things are going in their country.<ref name=":4" />

=== Germany ===
In former [[German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)|East Germany]], 57% of the population polled believes that life was better under socialist rule. 49% of former GDR residents believe that "The GDR had more good sides than bad sides. There were some problems, but life was good there."<ref>[https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/homesick-for-a-dictatorship-majority-of-eastern-germans-feel-life-better-under-communism-a-634122.html Majority of Eastern Germans Feel Life Better under Communism]</ref> Nostalgia for East Germany is so common that there's even a word for it: '''''Ostalgie''''', a [[portmanteau]] of the words ''Ost'' (meaning "east") and ''Nostalgie'' ("nostalgia"), sometimes [[Anglicisation|anglicised]] as ''Ostalgia'' or ''Eastalgia''.

=== Hungary ===
In [[Hungary]], an outstanding majority of people numbering at 72% believe that life was better in the [[Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989)|Hungarian People's Republic]].<ref name=":2" />

=== Poland ===
=== Romania ===
One 2014 survey found that 69% of [[Romania|Romanians]] believe life was better under socialism and 66% would vote for former leader [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] if he was still alive.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=El Mundo|title='Con el comunismo se vivía mejor': el 66% de los rumanos votaría al dictador Ceausescu|date=2014-04-10|url=https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2014/04/10/5346de4d268e3e8f598b458c.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115111100/https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2014/04/10/5346de4d268e3e8f598b458c.html|archive-date=2022-01-15|retrieved=2022-09-24}}</ref>

=== Slovakia ===
66% of people in [[Slovak Republic|Slovakia]] believe life was better under socialism and only 8% believe it was worse.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Robert A. Lindsay|newspaper=Beyond Highbrow|title=Nostalgia For Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe|date=2010-05-16|url=https://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/nostalgia-for-communism-in-russia-and-eastern-europe/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714235645/https://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/nostalgia-for-communism-in-russia-and-eastern-europe/}}</ref> However, a relative majority of Slovaks (49%) think that the dissolution of Czechoslovakia was a good thing.<ref name=":4" />

== Other countries ==

=== Afghanistan ===

=== Angola ===

=== Mongolia ===

=== Yugoslavia ===

==== Bosnia and Herzegovina ====

==== Croatia ====

==== Macedonia ====

==== Montenegro ====

==== Serbia ====
81% of [[Republic of Serbia|Serbians]] believe life was better under socialism.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Balkan Insight|title=Serbia Poll: Life Was Better Under Tito|date=2010-12-24|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2010/12/24/for-simon-poll-serbians-unsure-who-runs-their-country/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509215855/https://balkaninsight.com/2010/12/24/for-simon-poll-serbians-unsure-who-runs-their-country/|archive-date=2022-05-09|retrieved=2022-10-08}}</ref>

==== Slovenia ====

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Debunking myths]]

Philip Agee

2024-12-21T12:29:41Z

GrainEater: Add "citation needed"

{{Infobox person|name=Philip Agee|image_size=200|image=Philip Agee.png|birth_date=January 19, 1935|birth_place=Takoma Park, [[Maryland]], [[United States]]|death_date=January 7, 2008|death_place=[[Havana]], [[Cuba]]|nationality=Statesian}}

'''Philip Burnett Franklin Agee''' (January 19, 1935 – January 7, 2008) was [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] defector and journalist who wrote ''Inside the Company: CIA Diary'' and founded ''[[CovertAction Magazine|CovertAction Information Bulletin]]''. In 1979, after the [[United States of America|USA]] revoked his passport, [[Maurice Bishop]], the revolutionary leader of [[People's Revolutionary Government (Grenada)|Grenada]], sent him a new passport. After Bishop was overthrown and executed, [[Republic of Nicaragua|Nicaragua]] gave Agee a passport.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Julian Cola|newspaper=[[CovertAction Magazine]]|title=William Worthy May Be the Most Important Journalist You’ve Never Heard Of|date=2024-12-01|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2024/12/01/william-worthy-may-be-the-most-important-journalist-youve-never-heard-of/}}</ref>

== Life ==

=== Early life ===
In his 1987 memoir ''On The Run'', Agee describes his upbringing as privileged, and his entire background and education as [[Conservatism|conservative]] and taking place during the height of the [[Cold War]] and [[Second Red Scare|McCarthyism]]. He states that for a young man of his background, going into the CIA was "nothing unusual" and that "nothing could have been more natural than to go into the CIA to fight the holy war against [[Communism]]."<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|title-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/|city=Secaucus, New Jersey|publisher=Lyle Stuart Inc.|isbn=0-8184-0419-1}}</ref>:12 Agee notes that one of his personal reasons for joining the CIA was to avoid going into his father's business, which he describes feeling uncomfortable with partly due to the [[racism]] which Agee observed in his family and their business. By the time he was 22, the CIA had reached out to Agee for recruitment; although at first he declined, he later reconsidered when he was drafted and found out working in the CIA could count toward his military service. In addition, he was interested in travel and attracted to a "life of adventure and intellectual challenge" and felt that it would be a patriotic thing to do and "a good excuse for not entering the family business."<ref name=":0" />:14

=== CIA career ===
Agee's career with the CIA lasted from 1957 until 1968. The bulk of his work was carried out under cover as a U.S. Embassy diplomat in [[Latin America]], primarily in [[Republic of Ecuador|Ecuador]] and [[Oriental Republic of Uruguay|Uruguay]] from 1960-66, and later [[Mexican United States|Mexico]] until his resignation in 1968.<ref name=":0" />:14

From 1960-66, Agee worked in Ecuador and Uruguay for six years, with temporary assignments in other countries. The operations he worked with included recruitment of Communist Party members, liaison with Ministers of Interior and police, telephone tapping and bugging, falsification of documents and other types of propaganda, and penetrations of [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet]], [[Republic of Cuba|Cuban]] and other "enemy" diplomatic missions.<ref name=":0" />:14 As Agee describes, "we sought to divide, weaken and destroy our local 'enemies' (every group from left [[Social democracy|social democrats]] to legal communist parties to armed revolutionaries) in order to buy time for our 'friends' to make political and economic [[Reform|reforms]]."<ref name=":0" />:15 Agee writes that he participated in operations against [[Salvador Allende]] in the 1964 elections in [[Republic of Chile|Chile]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|title-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/page/25/mode/1up|chapter=S.S. Bahia de Santiago de Cuba|page=25|quote=At that time Salvador Allende was running for President of Chile, and I was certain the Nixon Administration would use the CIA to defeat him—I had participated in operations against Allende in the last Chilean elections in 1964. I suppose that if one event encouraged me on the book idea it was the Allende campaign. Everyone I knew in Mexico was for Allende, and his pro- gram for nationalizing the copper mines and improving conditions for workers and peasants seemed appropriate.}}</ref>

While the CIA justified its secret intervention with the idea that they were buying time for legal reforms to occur which would supposedly "diminish the appeal of the [[Cuban Revolution]]"<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|title-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/page/15/|chapter=S.S. Bahia de Santiago de Cuba|page=15|quote=As a counterpart to U.S. assistance, the Latin American governments were expected to enact reform programs such as redistribution of land and income to ease the extreme imbalances of wealth and opportunity. The combination of economic growth and internal reform would improve life for everyone, supposedly, and at the same time diminish the appeal of the Cuban Revolution. When John Kennedy became President in 1961 he greatly expanded the aid programs under the so-called Alliance for Progress.}}</ref> Agee observed over time that these supposed reforms never came to pass, and that the CIA's intervention was only further extending and entrenching [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] interests, and by repressing the left, was weakening the real sources of pressure for reform:<blockquote>We did our job, but what about the reform programs? By the time I returned to Washington in 1966 I had no more illusions about internal reforms. They hadn't happened. In fact, the more successful we were in our operations to promote repression of the left, the further away any possibilities for reform moved. Why? Because the pressures for reforms got correspondingly weaker. The result? The same old [[Ruling class|oligarchies]], the large [[Landlord|land owners]] and commercial interests, in other words our best "friends," continued enjoyment of their power, prestige and privilege as they always had. [...] Gradually I began to understand that all the preaching about reform was nothing more than rhetoric, both in Washington and in Latin America, where it came from the very people and groups who most benefitted from my work.<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|title-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/page/15/|page=15-16|quote=We did our job, but what about the reform programs? By the time I returned to Washington in 1966 I had no more illusions about internal reforms. They hadn't happened. In fact, the more successful we were in our operations to promote repression of the left, the further away any possibilities for reform moved. Why? Because the pressures for reforms got correspondingly weaker. The result? The same old oligarchies, the large land owners and commercial interests, in other words our best "friends, " continued enjoyment of their power, prestige and privilege as they always had.

I kept thinking about Brazil and the Dominican Republic. I knew the Agency had been working overtime in the early 1960's to undermine the reformist Goulart government and had played a key role in the 1964 Brazilian military coup. The following year Johnson sent in the Marines to prevent another well-known reformist, Juan Bosch, from returning to power. I wondered why we were so afraid of governments that put priorities on helping peasants and other poor people?

Gradually I began to understand that all the preaching about reform was nothing more than rhetoric, both in Washington and in Latin America, where it came from the very people and groups who most benefitted from my work. I saw them as no more than the current generation of a system of greed and corruption going back centuries. They weren't about to install reforms that might threaten their wealth and power. I asked myself: why should I spend a lifetime helping them? We might have the same "enemies," but without internal reforms those "enemies" would always have a cause—and not a bad one at that.}}</ref></blockquote>Agee describes in his memoir that at the time, for him, these observations were "more feelings that articulated thought".<ref name=":0" />:16 Though by 1966 he began to consider resigning, he continued on for two years due to needing income to pay child support following a divorce and because of a call by the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico seeking an attache for the preparations of the [[1968 Olympic Games]], potentially giving the CIA access to the entire Organizing Committee, where they would be able to make contact with more "people of interest" than they could under their usual Embassy cover.<ref name=":0" />:17 Although Agee intended to attain this position, with the aim of resigning after it was carried out, the position was instead filled by someone from the [[United States Department of State|State Department]]. Despite this, Agee remained with the CIA and resigned after the Games in 1968, declining a promotion. At the same time, Agee writes that he was becoming more disillusioned, commenting "I was so weary by then of anything involving politics—including the CIA—that my only conscious concern was simply to get out and start a new life."<ref name=":0" />:20

=== Post-resignation ===
Initially after resigning, Agee writes that he had no interest in any form of speaking out against the CIA, but rather to distance himself from the CIA and politics entirely. However, over time he gained interest in trying to write a book about the CIA's operations, particularly after spending time in a progressive social circle and taking university courses at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on Latin American history and culture, about which he remarked, "Time and again I thought to myself, if only I had known this, from this point of view, before I went into the CIA."<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|title-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/page/25/mode/1up?view=theater|page=25|quote=The studies at UNAM were the most stimulating experience I'd had in years. Time and again I thought to myself, if only I had known this, from this point of view, before I went into the CIA. In one of my seminars, on the history of Latin American thought, I met a Brazilian woman who had been ransomed from prison in the kidnapping of the American Ambassador in Rio de Janeiro. As she told the horror story of her ordeal as a political prisoner, torture and all, I kept quiet. But inside I was thinking of the CIA's successful campaign to subvert the elected government of Brazil and install the military dictatorship that had tormented her.}}</ref>

Agee began considering where he could live where he would have both research facilities and protection from the CIA, eventually learning that Cuba would give him a visa. Not wanting the CIA to be aware of his traveling to Cuba, he went to [[Montreal]], got a visa at the Cuban Consolate, took a train to [[New Brunswick]], and departed for Cuba on a Cuban freighter. Upon arrival in Cuba, he was met by two men from the [[Cuban Friendship Institute]] who brought him to he [[Habana Libre hotel]].<ref name=":0" />:26

=== Time in Cuba ===
In pursuit of writing a book in a safe location, Agee would travel to live for some months in Cuba to work on it. His time in Cuba would also spark his interest and curiosity about the Cuban revolution, as he directly observed the social and economic progress in revolutionary Cuba that he compared in sharp contrast to the rest of Latin America held back by the U.S.'s subversion and failed policies,<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|title-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/page/36/mode/1up?view=theater|page=36|quote=The point of the book is to make clear that we in the CIA, along with State, USIA, AID and the military missions, work to shore up the traditional power structures of those countries against the people who stand for change. You remember the Alliance for Progress and how miserably it failed? All that talk about fiscal reforms for redistribution of income and land reform to eliminate the latifundia-minifundia problems? The only place that really changed was Cuba and there it took a revolution to do it.}}</ref> commenting, "such a contrast with the other Latin America that I knew, where [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]]'s grandiose [[Alliance for Progress]] had been a near-total failure [...] revolutionary Cuba made the rest of Latin America look like it was in a political and social stone age."<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|title-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/page/29/mode/1up?view=theater|page=29|quote=My decision to leave Mexico completely, and to drop everything else to get the book done, was in large part a result of what I had seen and read of the Cuban revolution. Such a contrast with the other Latin America that I knew, where Kennedy's grandiose Alliance for Progress had been a near-total failure. In Cuba they had all but wiped out illiteracy and started enormous investments in educational programs of all kinds. Radical agrarian and urban reforms had changed forever the lot of peasants and renters. The Cubans were trying, at least, to build a new society free of corruption and exploitation. No question that they were still far from their goals, and they were quick to admit it. On balance, though, revolutionary Cuba made the rest of Latin America look like it was in a political and social stone age.}}</ref> Later, Agee lived in [[French Republic|France]] and later [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|Britain]] where he was surveilled by agents while trying to continue writing his book.{{Citation needed}}

While working on his book in Cuba, Agee avoided presenting himself as a "defector" for various reasons such as wanting to avoid any "compromise" which would suggest he wrote his book under Cuban agents' influence, to avoid any "processing" by intelligence services that would be arranged for a defector, and because he did not want to leak information to Cuban intelligence which could lead to actions which might point the CIA to Agee as the source. Though Agee describes these as practical concerns for the sake of writing the book, he also writes, "looking back, almost fifteen years later, I admit that was a stupid and contradictory attitude: quite shallow and ''petit bourgeois''. So many individuals and organizations in Latin America needed every bit of information I could have told them." Agee describes having an "insurmountable psychological block" at the time over the concept of considering himself a defector.<ref name=":0" />:29

Before departing from Cuba, Agee decided to take what he described as a step toward supporting progressive and socialist movements in Latin America, and wrote a memorandum to the Allende government in Chile and to the editor of ''[[Marcha]]'', the leading left-wing weekly in Uruguay, trying to provide both with details on how the CIA had and would continue to undermine the left in their countries, hoping to provide them with information to spot and defend themselves against typical CIA interference tactics.<ref name=":0" />:30

=== Time in France ===
In France, Agee continued working on his book, but was eventually approached by a former friend from the CIA who had been sent to question him about the letter he'd sent to Marcha in Uruguay. In their conversation, Agee revealed that he was writing a book and that he'd been to Cuba. He falsely claimed to the agent that he'd already written 700 pages and they were in "safe hands" and that he'd send his manuscript for approval to the CIA before publishing, and agreed to meet with him again soon, but after their meeting he quickly made plans to secretly leave the area, briefly visiting Spain and then changing the location he was staying in France.<ref name=":0" />:36-42

According to Agee's memoir, the CIA, following Agee's conversation with the agent, began restructuring their Latin America operations.<ref name=":0" />:42 In addition, Agee began being followed by surveillance teams in France, and a lawyer from the CIA visited Agee's father and ex-wife. The [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] started harassing his father with audits and the CIA got Agee's ex-wife to agree not to let their kids visit Agee abroad, hoping it would lure him to the U.S. to visit them.<ref name=":0" />:71 Agee was also given a bugged typewriter by an acquaintance in Paris.<ref name=":0" />:63 After discovering the bugged typewriter and realizing much of his private conversations and plans about the book had most likely been leaked and that some of his social circle were helping surveil him, Agee again went into hiding and burned and disposed many of his documents, as he had too many papers and tapes to easily move around while moving between hideouts and didn't want them to fall in others' hands.<ref name=":0" />:64

=== Time in Britain ===
Eventually, Agee made his way to take a ferry to Britain, wanting access to a particular library in [[London]]. When the British immigration officers saw his passport he was asked to take a seat and wait to be called over. Agee surreptitiously threw his remaining tapes overboard rather than have them seized. However, when called, he was not questioned as closely as he anticipated, and was granted six months in Britain.<ref name=":0" />:67 Again, Agee was surveilled during this time, and he wondered if the agents watching him were going to kidnap him and take him to a U.S. military base in Britain, "or worse".<ref name=":0" />:72 In 1974, he began working on his final manuscript.<ref name=":0" />:75

Summarizing his three and a half years of research in preparation to write the book as having the effect of "a kind of re-education program", Agee states his changes in thinking and his goals for his book:<blockquote>I didn't realize it at the time, but the three-and-a-half years I'd spent in research was a kind of re-education program. [...] I became more convinced than ever that no real structural changes in Latin America were possible without popular revolution, and almost everywhere this meant armed struggle sooner or later. [...] I would try to show how our operations help sustain favorable operating conditions for U.S.-based multi-national corporations. These conditions, together with political hegemony, were our real goals. So-called liberal democracy and pluralism were only means to those ends. "Free elections" really meant freedom for us to intervene with secret funds for ''our'' candidates. "Free trade unions" meant freedom for us to establish ''our'' unions. "Freedom of the press" meant freedom for us to pay journalists to publish ''our'' material as if it were the journalists' own. When an elected government threatened U.S. economic and political interests, it had to go. Social and economic justice were fine concepts for public relations, but only for that. [...] The Agency's operations in Latin America, as in other Third World regions, were a necessary element for the maintenance of corporate prosperity at home—as important to sustaining the U.S. power structure as, say, the police, the media, or the educational system. [...] I hoped my book would be a contribution to socialism and to revolution in Latin America and in the United States, however improbable that might seem.<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|title-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/page/75/mode/1up?view=theater|chapter=Down and Up in Paris and London|page=75-76|quote=I didn't realize it at the time, but the three-and-a-half years I'd spent in research was a kind of re-education program. First I had studied Latin American social and economic conditions using documentation from institutions like the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Inter-American Development Bank. Then I had re-lived the political events where I'd worked, and our participation in them, and I saw things quite differently now.

In hindsight our operations were far from just a holy war against communism, but part of a larger international conflict based on social and economic class. And I became more convinced than ever that no real structural changes in Latin America were possible without popular revolution, and almost everywhere this meant armed struggle sooner or later. The question was timing.

I would try to show how our operations help sustain favorable operating conditions for U. S. -based multi-national corporations. These conditions, together with political hegemony, were our real goals. So-called liberal democracy and pluralism were only means to those ends. "Free elections" really meant freedom for us to intervene with secret funds for our candidates. "Free trade unions" meant freedom for us to establish our unions. "Freedom of the press" meant freedom for us to pay journalists to publish our material as if it were the journalists' own. When an elected government threatened U.S. economic and political interests, it had to go. Social and economic justice were fine concepts for public relations, but only for that.

I would not take the line that our manipulation and secret interventions were aberrations or abuses that could be eliminated by more responsible or effective controls such as Congressional oversight. The Agency's operations in Latin America, as in other Third World regions, were a necessary element for the maintenance of corporate prosperity at home—as important to sustaining the U.S. power structure as, say, the police, the media, or the educational system.

Mine would not be a liberal approach holding out reforms as solutions. Rather, I hoped my book would be a contribution to socialism and to revolution in Latin America and in the United States, however improbable that might seem. I knew I was putting myself outside the pale of "respectable" or "realistic" critics, but I had no interest in that kind of respectability.}}</ref></blockquote>Before his book was published, the CIA went on a campaign of trying to discredit Agee in the press.<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1987|title=On The Run|chapter=Penmoor|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/onrun00agee/page/81/}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Anti-imperialist journalists]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agee, Philip}}

Bourgeoisie

2024-12-08T17:49:00Z

GrainEater: Reverted edits by Deogeo (talk) to last revision by Al-Andalusian

[[File:Porky.png|thumb|182x182px|Depiction of a capitalist as a pig from a 1920 [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|Soviet]] poster]]
The '''bourgeoisie''' is the [[ruling class]] in [[Capitalism|capitalist]] society; it owns the [[means of production]] and has a decisive influence on production. It lives off of [[surplus value]] which it obtains by exploiting the [[labour power]] of the [[proletariat]].<ref name="GSE">[http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Bourgeoisie "Bourgeoisie"]. ''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia,'' 3rd Edition (1970-1979).</ref>

(In contemporary language, "[[capitalist]]" is synonymous with "bourgeoisie", and "[[working class]]" with "proletariat".)

==History==
===Formation===
In the period of [[feudalism]] in the countries of Western [[Europe]], "bourgeois" meant the inhabitants of the cities, or ''burghs''.

At the end of the 15th century the development of the trades and of commodity production enabled the first elements of the bourgeoisie to elevate themselves above the general urban population.
{{Quote|From the serfs of the Middle Ages sprang the chartered burghers of the earliest towns. From these burgesses the first elements of the bourgeoisie were developed| K. Marx and F. Engels|Communist Manifesto, “”<ref>The reference from ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' is: “Manifest Kommunisticheskoi partii.” In K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 4, p. 425
</ref>.}}
The bourgeois class was made up of traders, usurers, the wealthiest guild masters, and some leading elements of the countryside.

As industry, trade, and navigation developed, the bourgeoisie gradually concentrated in its hands ever-increasing wealth. The rise of the bourgeoisie coincided with the era of [[Primitive accumulation of capital|primary (or "primitive") accumulation]] of [[capital]], which involved the expropriation of land and [[instruments of production]] from the broad masses of people and which relied heavily on colonial pillage and seizure. During this era, the conditions were created for the birth and development of the [[capitalist mode of production]] — a mass of wage workers free of personal dependence and means of production was created, and large sums of money capital were concentrated in the hands of the bourgeoisie.

The discovery (1492) and colonization of [[America]], the discovery of a sea route to [[India]] around Africa (1498), and the expansion of trade with the colonies created a new field of activity for the incipient bourgeoisie. Guild production could no longer satisfy the growing demand for goods. The manufactory came to replace the handicraft shops, as did large-scale machine industry later, as a result of the industrial revolution that began in [[England]] in the mid-18th century and spread to Europe and North America. A new class entered the historical arena—the proletariat, which is the antagonist and gravedigger of the bourgeois class.

===Struggle against feudalism===
The development of capitalist production made it essential for the bourgeoisie that the political domination of the feudal lords be eliminated. Striving to put an end to the feudal fragmentation that hindered the development of trade and industry, the bourgeoisie headed, in its own class interests, the movement of the masses of the people against feudalism. The bourgeoisie came to power as a result of the bourgeois and bourgeois democratic revolutions that occurred in the countries of Western Europe and North America during the 16th to 18th centuries and in a number of other countries later on.

In the struggle against feudalism, the bourgeoisie played a historically [[progressive]] role. Under its leadership the dominance of feudal relationships was liquidated by the dictates of the objective laws of the development of productive forces. The bourgeois revolutions proceeded under the banner of the ideas of the Enlightenment; they furthered the progress of science and technology. The age-old isolation of small-scale production was destroyed; there was collectivization of labor, which as a result increased in productivity. With the development of industry the bourgeoisie subordinated the countryside to the domination of the city. It created national markets and bound all the parts of the globe into one world market through economic ties.
{{Quote|The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together. Subjection of Nature’s forces to man, machinery, application of chemistry to industry and agriculture, steam-navigation, railways, electric telegraphs, clearing of whole continents for cultivation, canalization of rivers, whole populations conjured as if out of the ground—what earlier century had even a presentiment that such productive forces slumbered in the lap of social labor?|Karl Marx and Frederick Engels|Communist Manifesto}}

===Rise of capitalism===
The rates of formation of the bourgeoisie and the degree of its influence were different in different countries: “While a rich and powerful bourgeoisie was forming in England from the 17th century and in [[France]] from the 18th century, in [[Germany]] it is possible to speak of the bourgeoisie only from the beginning of the 19th century”.<ref>F. Engels, ibid., p. 48</ref>

[[Vladimir Lenin|V. I. Lenin]] distinguished three historical epochs in the development of the bourgeoisie as a class. The first (to 1871) was the epoch of the rise and formation of the bourgeoisie, “the epoch of the rise of the bourgeoisie, of its triumph”.<ref name=Poln>Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 26, p. 143</ref> The second (1871-1914) was the epoch of the complete domination and the beginning of the decline of the bourgeoisie, “the epoch of transition from its progressive character toward reactionary and even ultrareactionary finance capital”.<ref name=Poln/> The third (from 1914) was “the epoch of [[imperialism]] and imperialist upheavals as well as of upheavals stemming from the nature of imperialism, ” when the bourgeoisie, “from a rising and progressive class has turned into a declining, decadent, internally dead, and [[reactionary]] class”<ref>ibid., pp. 143, 145-46</ref>.

During the period when capitalism was on the rise, the bourgeoisie of England—“the workshop of the world”—held the leading position. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the aggressive imperialist bourgeoisie of Germany began to move into first place in Europe. However, by this time the monopolistic bourgeoisie of the [[USA]], the greatest international exploiter and chief bulwark of international reaction in the contemporary era, began to gain strength rapidly.

Competition leads to profound changes in the arrangement of forces within the bourgeois class; as a result, the highest strata of the bourgeoisie begin to play a decisive role in capitalist society. The bourgeoisie is subdivided into the industrial, commercial, banking, and rural bourgeoisies as a function of the sphere in which capital is applied. A struggle goes on between individual capitalists and layers of the bourgeoisie over the distribution of surplus value; however, the bourgeoisie acts as a single class of exploiters in opposition to the proletariat and toiling people in general.

With the development of capitalism, the contradiction between the social character of production and the private form of appropriation sharpened. The concentration of production and its growing scope was accompanied by the centralization of capital and the concentration of vast resources in the hands of, and under the control of, the ever-narrower upper strata of the bourgeois class. This process was accelerated by periodic crises of overproduction. By the early 20th century, on the basis of the processes of concentration and centralization of capital and production, free competition was becoming [[monopoly]]. The monopolistic bourgeoisie took shape as the ruling stratum of bourgeois society.

Concentration and centralization of capital ruined small, middle, and some upper capitalists. The proportion of the bourgeoisie in the gainfully employed population and the population at large of the capitalist countries decreased. In the USA, for example, in 1870 owners of enterprises and proprietors of firms (along with petit bourgeois, managers, and high officials) made up 30 percent of the employed population; by 1910 the figure was 23 percent; and in 1950 their proportion was 15.9 percent. In Great Britain, entrepreneurs made up 8.1 percent of the gainfully employed population in 1851; in 1951, they were only 2.04 percent. On the whole, the big bourgeoisie amounted to approximately 1-3 percent of the gainfully employed population in highly developed capitalist countries in the mid-20th century.

==Financial oligarchy==
Imperialism carries with it profound changes in the structure and arrangement of forces within the bourgeois class. Finance capital, a qualitatively new form of capital, becomes dominant. Finance capital is personified in the financial oligarchy, which, relying on its combined economic power, seizes the key positions in the economy and takes possession of most of the national wealth of a country.

One of the most important features of the financial oligarchy is its control over a vast mass of other people’s capital and over the monetary means of the society through the development of the joint stock form of capital and credit institutions (banks, insurance companies, and savings banks). This control brings unprecedented monopoly superprofits. The domination of the financial oligarchy becomes still stronger as monopoly capitalism develops into state monopoly capitalism. It becomes capable of controlling not only the capital of other people, accumulated in the form of shares and other securities, but also a sizable portion of the means of the state budget, through which the fulfillment of state orders is financed.

Even within the bourgeoisie itself, a financial oligarchy is an extremely narrow circle of people, a small group of millionaires and billionaires who have seized for themselves the overwhelming portion of the national wealth of the capitalist countries. In the 1960’s, 1 percent of the property owners in the USA amassed 59 percent and 1 percent of the property owners in Britain amassed 56 percent of all capital. Directly affiliated with the financial oligarchy are the leadership of the ruling government machinery, the party political elite of the bourgeois parties and sometimes the reformist parties, and the upper military caste. This is the direct consequence of the interlacing and interlocking of the monopolies and the state.

Monopoly capital engenders the specific social layer of managers of capitalist enterprises. With the increasing importance of the function of production management and its growing scale, the reinforcement of processes of specialization and collectivization of production, the development of state monopoly capitalism, and the exacerbation of competition among the monopolies, the role of the technocracy grows. A distinctive social differentiation takes place within the technocracy. Its upper stratum merges with the financial oligarchy.

Monopolies cannot reorganize the entire capitalist economy. “Pure imperialism, without the fundamental basis of capitalism has never existed, does not exist anywhere, and never will exist.”<ref>Lenin, ibid., vol. 38, p. 151.</ref> Rushing into the most profitable branches of industry, monopoly capital leaves a relatively broad field of activity for the non-monopolistic bourgeoisie in the other branches. Many of these branches are not ripe for mass standardized production because of their technical economic characteristics, and in some the creation of large enterprises is not always economically justified (trade, everyday repairs and services, maintenance, and so forth). Moreover, some branches of production that service the large monopolies are the property of the state, local authorities, and municipalities. Through the system of monopoly prices, the financial oligarchy extracts a portion of the surplus value created in these enterprises without spending its own capital.

The reactionary role of the bourgeoisie is manifested with particular clarity under the conditions of state monopoly capitalism, which “joins the power of the monopolies with the power of the state in a single mechanism for the purpose of enriching the monopolies, suppressing the workers’ movement and national liberation struggle, saving the capitalist system, and unleashing aggressive wars” (Program of the CPSU, 1969, pp. 26-27). The most aggressive groupings of the bourgeoisie attempt to find an escape from the contradictions of imperialism in the militarization of the economy. They unleashed the first and second world wars and during the [[cold war]] threatened to plunge the world into another military catastrophe, using the means of mass annihilation and destruction. The situation as of the late 1970s was that the monopolist bourgeoisie was carrying out an aggressive foreign policy directed against the socialist countries and the national liberation movement and a reactionary domestic policy aim at to suppressing the struggle through strikes of the working class and the democratic movement of the broad masses. Neofascist parties had becoming active in some imperialist countries. The main ideological and political weapon of the monopolistic bourgeoisie was and continues to be anticommunism.

==The national bourgeoisie under colonialism and neocolonialism==
In a number of countries where tribal relations and vestiges of slavery and feudalism persist, the [[national bourgeoisie]] can still play a progressive role to a certain extent. This was demonstrated by the experience of the historical development of the countries of Asia and Africa which, after World War II (1939-45), cast off their colonial fetters and embarked on the path of independent development, continuing the struggle for the consolidation of their state sovereignty and for economic self-dependence. In some of the developing countries, the national bourgeoisie became the ruling class, endowed with political power and the corresponding economic privileges. Basing itself on state power, it was able to counterpose national interests and its own class interests to international monopoly capital. But, while taking certain steps to frustrate the [[Neocolonialism|neocolonialist]] schemes of the imperialist monopolies, the national bourgeoisie simultaneously falls back on the aid of the imperialist monopolies in the area of economic development and in the struggle to strengthen its own class rule. The inconstant and contradictory nature of the class position of the national bourgeoisie is also linked to the intensifying processes of intraclass differentiation—that is, economic stratification and a change in its social aspect. As a result of external and internal influences, the development of the bourgeoisie becomes ever more complex and contradictory. In some countries, the general weakening of imperialism results in the contraction of the economic and social base of bourgeois national enterprise; in other countries, where imperialism has managed to strengthen its positions, the national bourgeoisie joins ranks with the forces of reaction.

{{Quote|Social differentiation develops in the countries that have liberated themselves. The conflict sharpens between the working class, peasantry, and other democratic forces, including patriotic-minded strata of the petit bourgeoisie, and, on the other hand, imperialism and the forces of internal reaction, and those elements of the national bourgeoisie that are inclined more and more to make a deal with imperialism|Official Soviet source|Mezhdunarodnoe Soveshchanie kommunisticheskikh i rabochikh partii: Dokumenty i materialy| Moscow, 1969, pp. 311-12.}}

==The Bourgeoisie ''circa'' 1984==
(''from'' A Dictionary of Scientific Communism)

The concentration and centralisation of production have ruined a lot of small, middle and some big capitalists, thus reducing the proportion of bourgeoisie in the gainfully employed population and the entire population in the capitalist countries. The bourgeoisie makes up less than 1 per cent of the employed population in the developed capitalist countries. Having turned from an erstwhile rather numerous class into a superconcentrated, scanty, ruling elite, bourgeoisie has strengthened its economic and political positions in society. As different forms of state-monopoly capitalism developed and the scientific and technological revolution advanced, bourgeoisie became stratified. Small capitalists constitute a stratum—the biggest in number and the smallest in power—of owners of small industrial and commercial firms and service enterprises, as well as the agricultural bourgeoisie, exploiting a small number of [[wage labour|wage-labourers]] (from 4 to 50). Some ruined small capitalists join the [[petty bourgeoisie]], who live by their own labour, or become employees. The middle bourgeoisie includes owners of bigger enterprises (employing from 50 to 500 workers). The big bourgeoisie employs thousands of wage workers, while the scanty monopoly bourgeoisie—the tycoons of trusts, corporations and banks—in fact exploit the toiling people not only of their countries, but of other countries too. The leading position within the state-monopoly bourgeoisie is held by the financial oligarchy—the proprietors of major industrial, bank, insurance, transport and commercial monopolies. This part of the bourgeoisie holds the key positions in the economic and political life of the capitalist countries. In fact, it determines the domestic and foreign policy of the capitalist states in its own interests and is mainly to blame for the social hardships of the working people. Many small, middle and some big capitalists have virtually become subcontractors of monopolies and have lost their independence. All this, coupled with the unequal distribution of profits, increases the gap between the interests of the 21 monopoly bourgeoisie and those of the non-monopoly bourgeoisie The financial oligarchy and the monopolistic top layer, which on many issues loses the support of small and middle capitalists, join ranks with, or often even include in their ranks, big landowners, latifundistas, managers, bourgeois politicians, party and trade-union bosses, high government officials, representatives of the army, police and the secret service (the military clique). A number of countries are witnessing the growth of the military-industrial complex, i. e. the alliance between military-industrial monopolies, reactionary top brass circles and the state bureaucracy. The present-day monopoly bourgeoisie makes increasingly broad use of the state in its own class interests along with the methods of programming and forecasting production, the state funding of scientific and technological progress, military production, and imperialist integration. Yet all of this does not make it possible for bourgeoisie to control the forces of anarchy on the capitalist market, or to keep the deepening contradictions at bay. The decay of bourgeoisie is manifest in the growth of [[parasitism]], [[corruption]], moral degradation, and political adventurism, bordering on [[criminality]] within its ranks. The social gulf between the monopoly bourgeoisie and the mass of the toiling people is becoming ever wider and deeper.<ref>[http://leninist.biz/en/1984/DOSC288/Bourgeoisie ''Bourgeoisie'']   [dead link] ''A Dictionary of Scientific Communism''</ref>

==Downfall of the bourgeoisie==
History has confirmed the prognosis of Marx regarding the inevitability of the degeneration and downfall of bourgeois civilization under the weight of the crimes it has committed. This follows from the economic essence of capitalism, the fundamental law of which is the production of surplus value. Marx pointed out that there is no crime capital would not commit in order to increase its profits. The most complete and villainous manifestation of the criminal nature of bourgeois rule was embodied in fascism and the system it created of the mass extermination of people, based on genocide and a revival of slavery. The most reactionary strata of monopoly capital urge the use of fascist methods. Through the creation of so-called military-industrial complexes, they strive for total militarization and the suppression of all democratic liberties. The maniacs of militarism threaten humanity with annihilation through rocket and nuclear war.

The class whose goal and calling in life is the production of profit for its own enrichment is doomed to decay. Amorality, corruption, and gangsterism flourish in the social life of the most developed capitalist countries. In the end, the material ideal of the “society of consumption” advanced by bourgeois economists and sociologists is reduced to the establishment of “satisfied slavery, ” which leads to spiritual impoverishment and the decay of morals. Contemporary bourgeois culture brings the disintegration of literature and art and the renunciation of the realistic depiction of reality; it is used to propagate hatred of mankind and immorality.

The working class and its communist vanguard emerge as the bearers of the ideas of social progress, which express the best hopes of humanity; they rally the peoples of the world in the struggle against imperialism.

{{Quote|The struggle against imperialism, ” states the Document of the International Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties (June 1969), “is a long, stubborn, and difficult one. Sharp class battles are inevitable in the future. It is necessary to intensify the offensive against the positions of imperialism and domestic reaction. The victory of the revolutionary and progressive forces is inevitable.|Official Soviet source|Mezhdunarodnoe Soveshchanie kommunisticheskikh i rabochikh partii: Dokumenty i materialy| Moscow, 1969, p. 330.}}

==Modern Examples==
The Chairman and CEO of McDonald's, as well as the board of directors and major shareholders of the company, are bourgeoisie. This is because they own the [[private property]] that is the McDonald's buildings and cooking equipment, and hire workers to produce and sell burgers for them. The workers are not bourgeoisie, as they do not own any of the buildings or equipment, even if they might have some small share of MCD stock.

A [[landlord]] using a house or land to rent to individuals or businesses is considered bourgeoisie. This is distinct from a person who owns multiple houses, but who does not give any of them out for rent. This is because the landlord extracts capital through the property - money, which can then be used to buy more houses, which will then accumulate more capital, and so-on.

A home-owner who hires a contractor to do work on their property (such as landscapers, plumbers, etc.) are '''not''' bourgeoisie. This is because they are not extracting capital from e.g. the landscaper. However, a capitalist landscaping company is - as while a person might pay the landscaper a fee, they are actually giving the money to the company, and not the worker. The owners of the company then decide how to compensate the worker, usually taking the major cut for themselves. The home-owner is simply paying for a service.

A small-time business owner, such as an individual or family that owns a business or 1 rental property are considered bourgeoisie. However, they are what is known as petite - or 'petty' - bourgeoisie. Because they generally do not posses political power on the same scale as the 'major' bourgeoisie (as e.g. shown by the contrast between the owners of ExxonMobil lobbying for war vs a small family in a local take-out place trying to make ends meet), Marxists often do not hold as major antagonisms towards them. They are, however, still often [[exploitation|exploiting]] the labor of other workers, (or potentially their own or that of their family), and as such, are welcomed to become class-traitors in order to liberate themselves and their workers.

==References==
{{reflist}}

====Bibliography from ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia''====
*Marx, K., and F. Engels. “Manifest Kommunisticheskoi partii.” In K. Marx and F. *Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 4.
*Marx, K. “Kapital, ” vols. 1, 2, and 3. Ibid., vols. 23, 24, and 25.
*Marx, K. “Naemnyi trud i kapital.” Ibid., vol. 6.
*Marx, K. “Burzhuaziia i kontrrevoliutsiia.” Ibid., vol. 6.
*Marx, K. “Klassovaia bor’ba vo Frantsii s 1848 po 1850 g.” Ibid., vol. 7.
*Engels, F. “Polozhenie rabochego klassa v Anglii.” Ibid., vol. 2.
*Engels, F. “Revoliutsiia i kontrrevoliutsiia v Germanii.” Ibid., vol. 8.
*Lenin, V. I. “Po povodu tak nazyvaemogo voprosa o rynkakh.” In Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 1.
*Lenin, V. I. “Razvitie kapitalizma v Rossii.” Ibid., vol. 3.
*Lenin, V. I. “Mezhdunarodnyi sotsialisticheskii kongress v Shtutgarte.” Ibid., vol. 16.
*Lenin, V. I. “Voinstvuiushchii militarizm i antimilitaristskaia taktika sotsial-demokratii.” Ibid., vol. 17.
*Lenin, V. I. “Imperializm, kak vysshaia stadiia kapitalizma.” Ibid., vol. 27.
*Lenin, V. I. “Imperializm i raskol sotsializma.” Ibid., vol. 30.
*Lenin, V. I. “O zadachakh proletariata v dannoi revoliutsii.” Ibid., vol. 31.
*Lenin, V. I. “Detskaia bolezn’ ‘levizny’ v kommunizme.” Ibid., vol. 41.
*Lenin, V. I. “Proletarskaia revoliutsiia i renegat Kautskii.” Ibid., vol. 37. Ch. “Chto takoe internatsionalizm?” Pages 291-305.
*Lenin, V. I. “ ‘levom’ rebiachestve i o melkoburzhuaznosti.” Ibid., vol. 36.
*Programmnye dokumenty bor’by za mir, demokratiiu i sotsializm. Moscow, 1964.
*Programma i Ustav KPSS. Moscow, 1964.
*Brezhnev, L. I. Otchetnyi doklad TsK KPSS XXIII s” ezdu Kommunisticheskoi partii Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moscow, 1966. Part 1, secs. 2 and 3.
*Mezhdunarodnoe revoliuisionnoe dvizhenie rabochego klassa, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1966. Chs. 2, 5, 8.
*Mezhdunarodnoe soveshchanie kommunisticheskikh i rabochikh partii …, Moskva, 5-17 iiunia 1969 g. Moscow, 1969.
*Gollan, J. Politicheskaia sistema Velikobritanii. Moscow, 1955. (Translated from English.)
*Gorodskie srednie sloi sovremennogo kapitalisticheskogo obshchestva. Moscow, 1963.
*Imperialisticheskoe gosudarstvo i kapitalisticheskoe khoziaistvo. Moscow, 1963.
*Politicheskaia zhizn’ SShA. Moscow, 1966.
*Stroitel’stvo kommunizma i mirovoi revoliutsionnyi protsess. Moscow, 1966.
*Guttsman, W. L. The British Political Elite. London, 1963.
*Sampson, A. Anatomy of Britain Today. London, 1965.
*[[Paul Baran| Baran, P. A.]], and [[Paul Sweezy| P. M. Sweezy]]. [[''Monopoly Capital|''Monopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order'']]. New York-London, 1966.
*Millar, R. The New Classes: The New Pattern of British Life. London, 1966.
*Galbraith, J. K. The New Industrial State. Boston, 1967.
*In Russian translation:
**Novoe industrial’noe obshchestvo. Moscow, 1970.

[[Category:Social class]] [[Category:History]]

[[es:Burguesía]]
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]
[[Category:Capitalism]]

Syrian Arab Republic (1963–2024)

2024-12-08T17:42:17Z

GrainEater: Add several "citations needed" templates

{{Infobox country|name=Syrian Arab Republic|leader_name4=Najah al-Attar|year_start=1963|year_end=2024|currency=Syrian pound|population_estimate_year=2023|population_estimate=22,933,531|motto=وَحْدَةٌ ، حُرِّيَّةٌ ، اِشْتِرَاكِيَّةٌ|englishmotto="Unity, Freedom, Socialism"|image_map=Syria map.svg|map_width=260|official_languages=Arabic|leader_name5=Hammouda Sabbagh|leader_title5=Speaker of the People's Council|leader_title4=Vice President|leader_name3=Farouk al-Sharaa|native_name=ٱلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلسُّورِيَّةُ|image_flag=Flag of Syria.svg|leader_title3=Vice President|leader_name2=Hussein Arnous|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name1=[[Bashar al-Assad]]|leader_title1=President|largest_city=Damascus|image_coat=Syria COA.svg|capital=Damascus|area_km2=185,180}}

'''T'''he '''Syrian Arab Republic''' was the former government of [[Syria]].

It was a unitary republic consisting of 14 governorates (subdivisions) and was the last country that politically espoused [[Ba'athism]], with [[Republic of Iraq|Iraq]]'s pre-[[Iraq War|intervention]] government having also been guided by the Ba'ath [[Socialism|socialist]] ideology. It was a member of one international organization other than the [[United Nations]], the [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] [[Non-Aligned Movement]].

== History ==
In 1963, a Ba'athist coup overthrew the government and established the Arab Republic.{{Citation needed}}

=== Israeli invasion of Golan Heights ===
The Syrian territory of the [[Golan Heights]] was invaded by [[State of Israel|Israel]] in 1967 and annexed in 1981. It is currently occupied by around 25,000 Israeli settlers.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=France 24|title=Israel unveils plan to double settlers in occupied Golan|date=2021-12-26|url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211226-israel-unveils-plan-to-double-settlers-in-occupied-golan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226132414/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211226-israel-unveils-plan-to-double-settlers-in-occupied-golan|archive-date=2021-12-26|retrieved=2022-05-10}}</ref>

===Syrian Civil War===
Starting in 2011 as part of the Western-supported [[Arab Spring]], Syria descended into civil war as foreign powers began supporting proxy forces to overthrow the [[Bashar al-Assad|Assad]] government.

Two years into the war, on 21, August, 2013, a chemical weapon (Sarin gas) was alleged to have been utilized by the Syrian government against rebels at Ghouta, Syria. The allegations were first made by Prince Bandar bin Sultan the then head of [[Kingdom of Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabian]] Intelligence Service<ref>{{Web citation|author=David Usborne|newspaper=The Independent|title=Syria, the Saudi connection: The Prince with close ties to Washington at the heart of the push for war|date=2013-8-27|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-the-saudi-connection-the-prince-with-close-ties-to-washington-at-the-heart-of-the-push-for-war-8785049.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902085302/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-the-saudi-connection-the-prince-with-close-ties-to-washington-at-the-heart-of-the-push-for-war-8785049.html|archive-date=2013-08-29|retrieved=2024-02-21|quote=It was Prince Bandar’s intelligence agency that first alerted Western allies to the alleged use of sarin gas by the Syrian regime in February.}}</ref> and earlier involved with both the [[Contras]] and the [[Mujahideen]]<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|author=Adam Entous, Nour Malas and and Margaret Coker|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|title=A Veteran Saudi Power Player Works To Build Support to Topple Assad|date=2013-08-25|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323423804579024452583045962|retrieved=2024-02-21|quote=Some officials said they fear it carries the same risk of spinning out of control as an earlier project in which Prince Bandar was involved—the 1980s CIA program of secretly financing the Contras in Nicaragua against a leftist government.

A generation ago, Prince Bandar, in a role foreshadowing his current one on behalf of Syrian opposition, helped the CIA arm the Afghan rebels who were resisting occupation by Soviet troops.

...

As part of that, intelligence agents from Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Jordan and other allied states are working at a secret joint operations center in Jordan to train and arm handpicked Syrian rebels, according to current and former U.S. and Middle Eastern officials.

The CIA has put unspecified limits on its arming efforts. But the agency has been helping train rebels to better fight. Earlier this year it also began making salary payments to members of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, U.S. and Arab officials said. There are now more CIA personnel at the Jordan base than Saudi personnel, according to Arab diplomats.
...

The Saudis stepped up rebel support in early 2012, at first by joining forces with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to fund what was then the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council. Saudi Arabia quickly soured on the effort because the Council wasn't buying arms with the money, diplomats said, and began to push for directly arming the insurgents. It also began to work with Qatar through a command center in Turkey to buy and distribute arms.

But tensions grew over which rebels to supply. Both Saudi and American officials worried Qatar and Turkey were directing weapons to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Qatari and Turkish officials denied they favored certain rebel groups.}}</ref>, but interviews with people at Ghouta revealed that Saudi Intelligence and Prince Bandar had been responsible for providing the chemical weapons to the rebels. With the rebels allegedly not even aware that they were in possession of chemical weapons and their improper handling leading to the detonation of the Sarin gas.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh|newspaper=Mint Press News|title=EXCLUSIVE: Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack|date=2013-08-29|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/syria-ghouta-claim-saudi-supplied-rebels-chemical-attack/168135/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207212634/https://www.mintpressnews.com/syria-ghouta-claim-saudi-supplied-rebels-chemical-attack/168135/|archive-date=2020-02-07|retrieved=2024-02-21|quote=“They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,” complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ “We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”

“When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them,” she warned. She, like other Syrians, do not want to use their full names for fear of retribution.

“We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions,” ‘J’ said.}}</ref>

Saudi Arabia and Prince Bandar trained Reactionary militias and insurgents in Syria's neighbor Jordan but their initiative was swiftly supplemented by the U.S who began to make payments to the anti-Assad forces<ref name=":1" />. In addition to Saudi Arabia; Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey were also responsible for training insurgents and terrorists, with there being a competition between them to establish leadership over the anti-government forces.<ref name=":1" />

The [[United States of America|U.S.]] has supported Islamic jihadists in their [[Operation Timber Sycamore]], not unlike [[Operation Cyclone]] in [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]].<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on-saudi-money-to-support-syrian-rebels.html |date=2016-01-26|title=U.S. Relies Heavily on Saudi Money to Support Syrian Rebels|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208111529/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on-saudi-money-to-support-syrian-rebels.html|archive-date=2023-02-08|author=Mark Mazzetti, Matt Apuzzo}}</ref> They have also killed at least 500 Syrian civilians in airstrikes throughout the war, including 30 when a school was bombed, and used chemical weapons such as white phosphorus As of 2021, the military situation is favorable to the Syrian government, which has retaken most territory thanks to the legal assistance of the [[Russian Federation|Russian]] Air Force as well as assistance from Syria's ally, the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]].<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://the-levant.com/russian-air-force-takes-rebels-syria/ |date=2020-11-21|title=Russian air force takes on rebels in Syria|newspaper=The Levant|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018064708/https://the-levant.com/russian-air-force-takes-rebels-syria/|archive-date=2021-10-18}}</ref>

On 3 February 2022, U.S. forces killed 4 women and 6 children during a raid in Idlib province.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Martin Chulov, Julian Borger|date=2022-02-04|title=Islamic State leader killed during raid by US special forces in Syria|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/03/us-special-forces-kill-suspected-jihadists-in-north-west-syria-raid|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|retrieved=2022-03-11}}</ref>

The U.S. continues to occupy the resource-rich area of Northern Syria, to control its hydrocarbons and agricultural output<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.rokfin.com/post/53265/Biden-Caught-Lying-About-Occupying-Syria |title=Biden Caught Lying About Occupying Syria |author=Jimmy Dore |newspaper=Rokfin }}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |url=https://mate.substack.com/p/to-keep-troops-in-syria-us-leaders |title=To keep troops in Syria, US leaders are lying like in Afghanistan |author=Aaron Maté |date=September 7th 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2021/07/03/661403/US-must-stop-looting-Syria-natural-resources-fight-terrorists-instead-Lavrov |title=US must stop looting Syria's natural resources, fight terrorists instead, says Lavrov |newspaper=[[PressTV]] }}</ref> and has firebombed hundreds of acres of wheat fields. The goal of the US is to prevent the reconstruction of Syria.<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-sanctions-idUSKCN1LI06Z |title=Long reach of U.S. sanctions hits Syria reconstruction |newspaper=[[Reuters]] }}</ref> U.S. and the U.N. prop up opposition forces via the Bab al-Hawa crossing – the only U.N. approved crossing for transporting international aid into Syria.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Natasha Frost, Raja Abdulrahim|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|title=The only border crossing for U.N. aid from Turkey to Syria is hobbled.|date=2023-02-07|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/world/europe/turkey-syria-quake-un-aid.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209032139/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/world/europe/turkey-syria-quake-un-aid.html|archive-date=2023-02-09|retrieved=2023-02-09}}</ref> The aid have been described by [[The New York Times]] as “…a lifeline for opposition-held areas in the north.”<ref name=":0" />

The U.S. imperialists were using economic warfare to cripple the Syrian economy.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Mimi al-Laham |newspaper=[[PressTV]] |url=https://twitter.com/PressTV/status/1481371739204591616 }}</ref> These [[Economic sanctions|sanctions]] might be soon circumvented with Syria's admission into [[People's Republic of China|China]]'s [[Belt and Road Initiative]].<ref>{{Web citation |date=2022-01-12 |title=Syria joins China’s Belt and Road Initiative|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/01/syria-joins-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative|newspaper=Al-Monitor}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |date=2022-01-12 |title=Syria, China sign MoU in framework of Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative|url=http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=260411 }}</ref>

==== Collapse ====
On 27 November 2024, the Syrian Salvation Government started an offensive towards Damascus and captured Aleppo. Some days later, Homs was captured.{{Citation needed}}

Meanwhile, the Turkish occupation forces as well as the Rojava Government and the US-blacked Syrian Free Army also started an offensive towards the Syrian capital.{{Citation needed}}

On 6 December, a revolt popped up south of Damascus.{{Citation needed}}

On 7 December, Homs was captured.{{Citation needed}}

In the early hours of 8 December, the Ba'ath government collapsed in the east. Damascus was captured soon after, with Asaad fleeing the country. Currently, whatever remains of the government holds out in most of the Mediterranean coast of Syria.{{Citation needed}}

==Foreign relations==
On 29 June 2022, Syria became the second country in the world to recognize the [[Donetsk People's Republic|Donetsk]] and [[Luhansk People's Republic|Luhansk People's Republics]].<ref>{{Web citation |newspaper=[[Reuters]]|title=Syria recognizes independence, sovereignty of Donetsk, Luhansk -state news agency|date=2022-06-29|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-recognizes-independence-sovereignty-donetsk-luhansk-state-news-agency-2022-06-29/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629140520/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-recognizes-independence-sovereignty-donetsk-luhansk-state-news-agency-2022-06-29/|archive-date=2022-06-29|retrieved=2022-06-30}}</ref>

On 7 May 2023, at the meeting of the Council of the [[Arab League]] in Cairo, it was agreed to reinstate Syria's membership,<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Alarabiya|title=Arab foreign ministers agree to readmit Syria to the Arab League|date=2023-5-7|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/05/07/Arab-foreign-ministers-to-discuss-Syria-s-return-to-Arab-League-Sudan-conflict}}</ref> after being suspended on 16 November 2011 in the aftermath of the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Aljazeera|title=Arab League decides to suspend Syria|date=2011-11-13|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/11/13/arab-league-decides-to-suspend-syria}}</ref>

===Sanctions===
''See also: [[Economic sanctions#Syria]]''

The Arab Republic suffered from heavy sanctions enforced by the United States and [[European Union]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=U.S. Department of the Treasury|title=Syria Sanctions|url=https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/syria-sanctions|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208015349/https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/syria-sanctions|archive-date=2023-02-08|retrieved=2023-02-13}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=EUR-Lex|url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?scope=EURLEX&text=Syria+sanctions&lang=en&type=quick|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213022058/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?text=Syria+sanctions&lang=en&type=quick&qid=1676254858199&scope=EURLEX|archive-date=2023-02-13|retrieved=2023-02-13}}</ref>

During the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, Syria was unable to receive direct aid due to sanctions imposed upon the country.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Aaron Maté|newspaper=[[Twitter]]|date=2023-02-08|url=https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1623000443335979009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208170406/https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1623000443335979009|archive-date=2023-02-08|retrieved=2023-02-09|quote=The New York Times makes it plain: “Syria is not able to receive direct aid from many countries because of sanctions.”

So — unless you’re a monstrous sadist — why not lift the sanctions?}}</ref> With the only U.N. approved entry into Syria from Turkey – generally used to provide aid to government opposition groups – being destroyed, the three other unapproved crossings remained empty of humanitarian convoys.<ref name=":0" /> Despite these adversities Iran was able to supply Syria with 70 tons of food, tents and medicine.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Ba'athist states]]
[[Category:Members of the Non-Aligned Movement]]
[[Category:Targets of regime change operations]]
[[Category:Countries targeted by imperialist aggression]]
[[Category:Anti-imperialist states]]

Private property

2024-12-04T11:09:28Z

GrainEater: Fix duplicate citation

'''Private property''', not to be confused with individual property or [[personal property]], describes a labor relationship to the [[means of production]]. As a concept, private ownership of property can exist only in the specific context of a political system which defines how it exists and how it can be used.

Under [[capitalism]], a right to private property is not based on one's own labor (as in one form of individual property) but appropriation of the products of the labor of others. [[Marxism]] seeks to abolish the private property of the [[bourgeoisie]]; however, it does not need to abolish the property of small [[Peasantry|peasants]] and artisans because the bourgeoisie is already expropriating them and turning them into [[Proletariat|proletarians]]. Most people in capitalist countries have no private property due to this process.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]]|year=1848|title=Communist Manifesto|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm|chapter=Proletarians and Communists|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm}}</ref>

== History ==
Bourgeois private property developed at the end of [[feudalism]] when feudal and [[guild]] labor reached their limits. A new [[Social class|class]] of industrialists developed and gradually expropriated peasants, guild members, and manufacturing workers, turning them into propertyless proletarians. The first private property was sheep-farming land in England.<ref name=":0">{{Video citation|url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Is_capitalism_devouring_democracy%3F|channel=Yanis Varoufakis|title=Is Capitalism Devouring Democracy?}}</ref> During that time the personal property of English serfs was mass privatized by an alliance of lords and capitalists. The serfs who had their property appropriated became the first proletarians.<ref name=":0" />

At the end of [[capitalism]], the proletariat overthrows the bourgeoisie and abolishes private property as the [[productive forces]] grow.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Friedrich Engels]]|year=1847|title=The Principles of Communism|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Economic concepts]]

Donald Trump

2024-12-04T11:06:18Z

GrainEater: Fix placement of citations

{{Infobox politician|image=Trump image.png|name=Donald John Trump|political_line=[[Imperialism]] [[Conservatism]] Right-wing [[populism]]|birth_date=14 June 1946|nationality=[[Statesian]]|political_party=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]|birth_place=[[Queens]], [[New York City]], [[State of New York]], [[United States of America]]}}'''Donald John Trump''' (born 14 June 1946) is a [[United States of America|Statesian]] property tycoon, [[Bourgeoisie|billionaire]], media personality, [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] politician, and serial rapist who is currently serving as [[President-elect of the United States of America|President-elect of the United States]] after winning the [[2024 United States presidential election]]. He previously served as the 45th [[President of the United States]] from 2017 to 2021. Apart from [[Grover Cleveland]], Trump is the only President in [[History of the United States|Statesian history]] who has been elected to serve two non-consecutive terms.

Trump claims to be a pro-[[Proletariat|worker]] politician despite cutting taxes on billionaires and corporations.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=PSL Statement – Workers shouldn’t be fooled: Trump is a tool of the ultra-rich|date=2022-11-15|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-workers-shouldnt-be-fooled-trump-is-a-tool-of-the-ultra-rich/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118034739/https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-workers-shouldnt-be-fooled-trump-is-a-tool-of-the-ultra-rich/|archive-date=2022-11-18|retrieved=2022-11-19}}</ref> Trump is a member of the [[America First]] movement, which believes the USA should be able to act unilaterally without limits from international law and treaties. It is not isolationist.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Bill Fletcher Jr.|newspaper=[[Monthly Review]]|title=Race Is About More Than Discrimination|date=2020-07-01|url=https://monthlyreview.org/2020/07/01/race-is-about-more-than-discrimination/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323205358/https://monthlyreview.org/2020/07/01/race-is-about-more-than-discrimination/|archive-date=2023-03-23}}</ref>

== Pre-presidency ==

In November 2015, Donald Trump mocked [[Serge Kovaleski]]'s [[disability]], arthrogryposis, in response to Serge stating that they never claimed many Muslims support the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-criticized-after-he-appears-mock-reporter-serge-kovaleski-n470016|title=Donald Trump Criticized After He Appears to Mock Reporter Serge Kovaleski}}</ref>

== First presidential term ==
In 2017, Donald Trump passed a tax cut that decreased corporate taxes to only 11.3% of profits. He also made a $45 billion cut in food stamp benefits.<ref>{{News citation|author=Robert Reich|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|title=How Trump has betrayed the working class|date=2019-12-22|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/22/trump-wants-to-be-champion-of-the-working-class-but-with-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-it-doesnt-add-up|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416230953/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/22/trump-wants-to-be-champion-of-the-working-class-but-with-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-it-doesnt-add-up|archive-date=2022-04-16|retrieved=2022-05-20}}</ref>

The first Trump administration's nationalist and populist rhetoric bore "no relation to its actual policies."<ref name=":2" /> In 2018, Trump attended the [[World Economic Forum]] in Davos and declared "America is open for business" before an audience of global elites, in stark contrast to his nominal protectionist, anti-"globalist" rhetoric.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|author=William I. Robinson|year=2019|title=Global capitalist crisis and twenty-first century fascism: beyond the Trump hype|publisher=Science & Society, 83(2), 155–183|doi=10.1521/siso.2019.83.2.155|quote=In the regard, the ideology of 21st-century fascism rests on irrationality — a promise to deliver security and restore stability that is emotive, not rational. It is a project that does not and need not distinguish between the truth and the lie. The Trump regime’s public discourse of populism and nationalism, for example, bears no relation to its actual policies. In its first year, Trumponomics involved deregulation — the virtual smashing of the regulatory state — slashing social spending, dismantling what remained of the welfare state, privatizations, tax breaks to corporations and the rich, and an expansion of state subsidies to capital — in short, neoliberalism on steroids.

This is a distinction lost on many commentators. German monopoly capitalists turned to the Nazis to crush the powerful trade unions, socialist and communist movements. But they also turned to the Nazi state to open up vast new opportunities for accumulation and to compete, including through territorial expansion, against capitalist groups from other countries. In sharp distinction to this fusion of German national capital with the fascist state, Trumpism has sought to open up vast new opportunities for profit-making inside the United States (and around the world) for transnational capital. The Trump White House has called for transnational investors from around the world to invest in the United States, enticed by a regressive tax reform, unprecedented deregulation, and some limited tariff walls that would benefit groups from anywhere in the world that establish operations behind them. “America is open for business,” Trump declared at the 2018 meeting of the global elite gathered for the 2018 annual conclave of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Now is the perfect time to bring your business, your jobs and your investments to the United States” (Bierman, 2018, A3).}}</ref>

In 2020, the United States withdrew from the [[Paris Climate Agreement]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Tyler Clevenger, Dan Lashof|newspaper=World Resources Institute|title=7 Ways the Biden Administration Can Reverse Climate Rollbacks|date=2021-01-19|url=https://www.wri.org/insights/7-ways-biden-administration-can-reverse-climate-rollbacks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309070958/https://www.wri.org/insights/7-ways-biden-administration-can-reverse-climate-rollbacks|archive-date=2022-03-09|retrieved=2022-05-20}}</ref>

Under Trump's presidency, civilian deaths caused by the U.S. military increased greatly.<ref>{{News citation|author=Murtaza Hussain|newspaper=The Intercept|title=Civilian Deaths in U.S. Wars Are Skyrocketing Under Trump. It May Not Be Impeachable, but It’s a Crime.|date=2019-10-02|url=https://theintercept.com/2019/10/02/trump-impeachment-civilian-casualties-war/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507031915/https://theintercept.com/2019/10/02/trump-impeachment-civilian-casualties-war/|archive-date=2022-05-07|retrieved=2022-05-20}}</ref>

Trump also vastly expanded concentration camps at the US-Mexico border, where asylum-seeking immigrants are kept in inhumane conditions.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Andi Zeisler|newspaper=NBC|title=AOC was right to compare Trump's border internment camps to concentration camps|date=2019-06-19|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/aoc-was-right-compare-trump-s-border-internment-camps-concentration-ncna1019381|retrieved=30/06/2024}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Ben Norton|newspaper=Geopolitical Economy Report|title=Weaponization of immigration policy: Ukrainians welcomed, refugees of US wars abused|date=2022-04-08|url=https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/04/08/immigration-policy-ukrainians-victims-us-wars/|retrieved=30/06/2024}}</ref> During his presidential term, nearly half a million children were separated from their families and kept in cages for extended periods of time.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Anna Flagg and Andrew Rodriguez Calderón|newspaper=The Marshall Project|title=500,000 Kids, 30 Million Hours: Trump’s Vast Expansion of Child Detention|date=2020-10-30|url=https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/10/30/500-000-kids-30-million-hours-trump-s-vast-expansion-of-child-detention|retrieved=30/06/2024}}</ref>

=== Involvement in the Capitol insurrection ===
{{Main article|2021 United States Capitol insurrection}}
On 6 January 2021, near the end of his presidential term, Trump rallied his supporters to [[2021 United States Capitol insurrection|storm the United States Capitol]] in an attempt to reconsolidate his power. The attack ultimately failed and Trump's term came to a close.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWJVMoe7OY0&t Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations]</ref>

According to an analysis on [[Medium]], the Capitol insurrection was a coup attempt by Trump. They argue that "6 January was an attempted coup, in the sense it was designed to trigger martial law and the suspension of the transition."<ref>[https://medium.com/mosquito-ridge/the-trump-insurrection-a-marxist-analysis-dc229c34cdc1 The Trump Insurrection: a Marxist analysis]</ref>

== Post-presidency ==
On 8 August 2022, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] raided Trump's home in the [[State of Florida]].<ref>[https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/08/09/guda-a09.html FBI raids Trump estate at Mar-a-Lago]</ref> In November 2022, Trump announced he would run for president again in 2024.<ref name=":0" />

During a rally in Butler, [[Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]] on July 13, 2024, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt by the 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot dead by Secret Service members just moments after. Having been grazed at his ear by one of the bullets, Trump bumped his fist in the air while being rushed off the stage as the crowd chanted U.S.A.<ref name=":1" /> One attendee of the rally died and two others were critically injured because of this attempted assassination.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Democracy Now!|title=Long Legacy of U.S. Political Violence: RNC Begins in Milwaukee in Wake of Trump Assassination Attempt|date=2024-07-15|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2024/7/15/trump_shot_john_nichols|retrieved=July 15, 2024}}</ref> [[President of the United States|President]] [[Joe Biden]] denounced the attack during an address to the nation on the following day.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=Democracy Now!|title=FBI Seeks Motive in Trump Assassination Attempt; President Biden Calls for “Cooling Down” Rhetoric|date=2024-07-15|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2024/7/15/headlines/fbi_seeks_motive_in_trump_assassination_attempt_president_biden_calls_for_cooling_down_rhetoric|retrieved=15.07.2024}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Politicians in the United States]]
<references />
[[Category:Reactionaries]]
[[Category:Statesians of German descent]]
[[Category:Statesians of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Donald}}
[[Category:People on Epstein flight logs]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Donald}}

British Raj (1858–1947)

2024-12-01T14:32:12Z

GrainEater: Add "citation needed"

{{Infobox country|name=British Raj|native_name=برطانوی راج|image_flag=British Raj ensign.svg|capital=New Delhi|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|government_type=Colonial occupation|flag_type=Civil ensign|image_map=British India.svg|map_width=260|official_languages=English Urdu}}

The '''British Raj''' (sometimes called the '''Indian Empire''') was the period of direct [[British]] [[Colonialism|colonial]] rule on the Indian subcontinent. It succeeded the [[British East India Company]]'s rule of India during the late [[Mughal Empire (1526–1857)|Mughal Empire]]. During this period, India spent 25% and [[tax]] revenues on the military and barely 3% on health, education, and [[Agriculture|farming]] combined. British trade destroyed native Indian industries and undeveloped India's economy, increased the amount of Indians reliant on agriculture from 50% to 75%.<ref name=":0222">{{Citation|author=Neil Faulkner|year=2013|title=A Marxist History of the World: From Neanderthals to Neoliberals|chapter=The Age of Blood and Iron|page=151–152|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedljwr5izotdclz23o3c5p4di4t3ero3ncbfytip55slhiz4otuls?filename=Neil%20Faulkner%20-%20A%20Marxist%20History%20of%20the%20World_%20From%20Neanderthals%20to%20Neoliberals-Pluto%20Press%20%282013%29.pdf|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=9781849648639|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=91CA6C708BFE15444FE27899217FBA8E}}</ref> After 200 years of British occupation, the Indian literacy rate was only 12%.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Peasant Soviets|page=59–60|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Formation ===
Following a rebellion of sepoys in 1857, the British government replaced the East India Company as the ruler of India and Queen [[Victoria Hanover]] became the Empress of India.<ref name=":0222" />

=== Geography and Division ===
The British Raj encompassed territories that today include India, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Pakistan, and Bangladesh. It also briefly included Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon), however this was for an extremely short time. Additionally, the British Raj served as the administrative center for several other British colonies, such as Aden (in present-day Yemen) and the Straits Settlements, which covered parts of modern-day Malaysia and Singapore. For a short period, it also oversaw British Somaliland (now part of Somalia). Smaller colonies in Iran were also included. <ref>{{Citation|author=Subodh Kapoor|year=2002|title=Indian Encyclopaedia}}</ref>

While most of these were separated rather early on, however Burma and Aden were separated during the late 1930s in order for the British imperialists to weaken anti colonial and international movements amongst the people of India. International and cross cultural solidarity amongst the colonial subjects was harmed by the divide and rule strategy which ensured that Indians from various cultural and religious backgrounds could not collaborate to overthrow British rule (this is best seen the original partition of Bengal as well as the later partition of India itself). The British Empire also used Caste and a racialized system to create further divisions. This eventual lead to the partition of India which divided India by Hindu and Muslim populations into two separate countries. This lead to some of the worst colonial policies and was the largest migration of human beings since the original spreading out of our species.{{Citation needed}}

Another way India was controlled via geographical and population wise divisions by the imperialists was by using the Princely State system by which the bourgeoisie and royals of India could sell their citizens out in order to be an autonomous part of the British Raj which guaranteed them a higher standard of living. <ref>{{Citation|author=John McLeod|year=1994|title=The English Honours System in Princely India, 1925-1947|title-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25182886}}</ref>

=== Famines ===
Famines killed a million Indians in the 1860s, 3.5 million in the 1870s, and 10 million in the 1890s.<ref name=":0222" />

== Government ==
Following the end of company rule, the British strengthened their connections to native Indian rulers and relied on Brahmins to collect taxes and rents.<ref name=":0222" />

== Further reading ==

* [[Library:Inglorious Empire:What the British Did to India|''Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India'']]

== References ==
[[Category:History of India]]
[[Category:Colonialism]]
[[Category:Genocide]]

Anti-Zionism

2024-12-01T14:30:25Z

GrainEater: Spelling

'''Anti-Zionism''' is the opposition to the "[[State of Israel]]" and its practices, namely the [[Nakba|genocide of Palestinians]]. Anti-Zionists usually support an one-state solution, that of a plurinational [[State of Palestine]].

Most anti-Zionists are usually also [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialists]] and many of them are [[Marxists]] as well. It is worth noting that many Jews are against Israel.

== Myths ==
[[File:Orthodox Jews hold pro-Palestinian rally in Jerusalem.jpeg|thumb|Orthodox Jews hold pro-Palestinian rally in Jerusalem]]

=== Conflation with anti-Semitism ===
This argument is, in fact, anti-Semitic itself, as firstly, it implies all Jews support the Zionist entity, which means they have no opinions on the subject. Secondly, an "Israel" for Jews implies that all Jews should go to "Israel" even if they have not been there before because it is their so-called fatherland, thus creating a "Jewish ghetto".

However, 38% of [[Statesian]] Jews are actually against "Israel".<ref>{{Web citation|author=Philip Weiss|newspaper=Mondoweiss|title=Israel heads further right: 30-40 percent of young support fascistic Jewish party|date=2022-08-10|url=https://mondoweiss.net/2022/08/israel-heads-further-right-30-40-percent-of-young-support-fascistic-jewish-party/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811065925/https://mondoweiss.net/2022/08/israel-heads-further-right-30-40-percent-of-young-support-fascistic-jewish-party/|archive-date=2022-08-11|retrieved=2022-08-12}}</ref> Additionally, ultra-Orthodox Jews are against the practices of Zionism, considering it a violation of Jewish law.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=The Government of Israel Has a Very Serious Antisemitism Problem|date=2020-02-21|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/government-israel-antisemitism-problem/265057/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912185322/https://www.mintpressnews.com/government-israel-antisemitism-problem/265057/|archive-date=2022-09-12|retrieved=2022-10-25}}</ref> Moreover, Palestinians are also a Semitic people.

== See also ==

* [[State of Palestine]]
* [[Zionism]]
* [[Anti-imperialism]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Debunking myths]]

Japanese Communist Party

2024-11-22T19:38:31Z

GrainEater: Remove summary of party program due to missing citations and some inaccurate claims (e.g. there is obviously no mention of the war in Ukraine if the last update was in 2020)

{{Infobox political party
|name=Japanese Communist Party
|native_name=日本共産党
|logo=File:Nihon Kyōsantō Logo.svg|logo_alt=Nihon Kyōsantō in Bold and Red.
|caption=''Nihon Kyōsantō''
|abbreviation=JCP
|chairperson=Tomoko Tamura|general_secretary=Akira Koike|headquarters=4-26-7 Sendagaya, Shibuya, 151-8586 Japan|newspaper=''[[Shimbun Akahata]]''
|youth_wing=Democratic Youth League of Japan|membership_year=2022
|membership=260,000<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.jcp.or.jp/english/what-jcp.html|title=A Profile of the Japanese Communist Party|date=November 1, 2022}}</ref>
|website=[https://jcp.or.jp jcp.or.jp]
|twitter=jcp_cc|youtube=https://www.youtube.com/@jcpmovie|footnotes=|seats1_title = House of Representatives
|seats1 = 10 seats out of 465 seats 
|seats2_title=House of Councilors
|seats2=11 seats out of 242 seats
|foundation={{birth date and age|1922|7|15}}
|legalized=September 2, 1945|banned=September 1929<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8IarAAAAIAAJ|title=The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945|date=November 10, 2024}}</ref>|political_orientation=[[Marxism]] (claimed) [[Social democracy]] (de facto) [[Monarchism]]
}}
{{Communist Parties}}

The '''Japanese Communist Party'''<ref group=lower-alpha>''Japanese: 日本共産党''</ref> ('''JCP''') is a self-proclaimed communist party in [[Japan]] that was founded in 1922. Currently, it's policies are more oriented towards achieving social democracy, advocating for ceremonial monarchism. It is one of the largest non-governing political parties in the world which considers itself communist.

On October 13th 2022, the JCP opposed [[Russia]] in the [[2022 Russo-Ukranian conflict|Ukraine proxy war]].<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.jcp.or.jp/english/jcpcc/blog/2022/10/UNGA-resolution-Ukraine.html|title=Responding to the UNGA resolution, Russia should stop its unlawful aggression and annexation, and immediately withdraw all of its military force. The JCP calls for maximum diplomatic efforts for a peaceful political resolution|author=Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo|date=2022-10-13}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Founding ===
The Japanese Communist Party was founded in 1922 and was soon outlawed by the imperial government's Peace Preservation Law.<ref name=":0" /> [[Fukumoto Kazuo]] advocated for "unity in separation" and ideological purity, which the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]] denounced as [[Ultra-leftism|ultra-left]] in 1927. The 1927 Comintern Theses argued that [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japan]] still needed a [[bourgeois-democratic revolution]] against the emperor and [[Landlord|landlordism]].<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|author=Gavin Walker|newspaper=[[MR Online]]|title=Marxist theory in Japan: A critical overview|date=2024-04-06|url=https://mronline.org/2024/04/06/marxist-theory-in-japan-a-critical-overview/|retrieved=2024-04-07}}</ref>

=== Fascist period ===
By the 1930s, two factions had emerged: the smaller ''Rōnō'' faction that defined the 1868 [[Meiji Restoration]] as a full bourgeois-democratic revolution and the larger ''Kōza'' faction that defined it as an incomplete [[bourgeois revolution]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1932 in [[Moscow]], [[Nosaka Sanzō]], the party's representative to the Comintern, wrote the 1932 Thesis,<ref name=":0" /> aligning with the ''Kōza'' position. Party leader [[Noro Eitarō]] completed the ''Lectures on the History of Development of Japanese Capitalism'' in 1932, aligning with the 1932 Thesis, and died in prison in 1934.<ref name=":1" />

During the [[Second World War]], Nosaka fled to [[China]] and joined the [[Chinese Red Army]] to fight against the Empire of Japan. He founded the [[Japanese People's Emancipation League]], which attracted Japanese deserters and POWs to fight for [[socialism]].<ref name=":0">{{News citation|author=Comrade Saoirse|title=The Japanese Communist Party during World War II|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dw1ZTewxhvCkO-VDBhDeYqpvdP4oittFpyu0y24ScjQ/mobilebasic|retrieved=2022-05-15}}</ref>

=== Postwar period ===
[[Tokuda Kyūichi]], who had spent 18 years in prison under the Peace Preservation Law, became leader of the party after the war. In 1946, [[Douglas MacArthur]] began the Red Purges against the party due to its popular support. The party went underground and called for armed [[national liberation]] struggle against the USA. The party incorrectly focused on the countryside and attempted to start a [[People's war|protracted people's war]] led by the [[peasantry]].<ref name=":1" />

The JCP's Sixth Congress in 1955 rejected armed struggle and considered the return to the villages to be ultra-left [[adventurism]]. Due to its [[Reformism|reformist]] deviations, it failed to lead the 1960 [[Anpo protests]] against the USA-Japan Joint Security Treaty.<ref name=":1" />

== Positions ==

=== International relations ===
The JCP, in comparison to other self-proclaimed communist parties, is very critical of [[Actually Existing Socialism|AES countries]], even going to say that the [[Communist Party of China]] does not deserve to call itself communist<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=The Japan Times|title=Japanese Communist Party slams China in first platform change since 2004|date=2020-01-18|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/18/national/politics-diplomacy/japanese-communist-party-china-platform/#.Xk0AOZ3P32c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219093018/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/18/national/politics-diplomacy/japanese-communist-party-china-platform/#.Xk0AOZ3P32c|archive-date=19 February, 2020|retrieved=10 November, 2024|quote=“The Chinese leadership’s mistake is extremely serious. That action does not deserve the name of the Communist Party,” party chief Kazuo Shii said at its convention, held for the first time in three years, referring to Beijing’s expansionary activities in the East and South China seas.}}</ref>.

It also currently maintains a position of maintaining support for the two-state solution concerning the [[2023 Israel-Gaza war and genocide]], calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza while advocating for the existence of the Zionist Entity.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Kazuo Shii|newspaper=Japanese Communist Party|title=JCP calls on governments concerned to work to stop genocide in Gaza|date=2023-11-06|url=https://www.jcp.or.jp/english/jcpcc/blog/2023/11/20231106-gaza.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207172202/https://www.jcp.or.jp/english/jcpcc/blog/2023/11/20231106-gaza.html|archive-date=2023-12-07|retrieved=2024-11-10}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />

===Notes===
<references group=lower-alpha />
[[Category:Communist parties]]
[[Category:Socialism in Japan]]

Party for Socialism and Liberation

2024-11-05T15:37:56Z

GrainEater: Removed unnecessary speculation and added link

{{Infobox political party|name=Party for Socialism and Liberation|logo=PSL.png|founded=June 2004|founders= [[Brian Becker]],<ref>https://www.liberationnews.org/global-times-interview-brian-becker-on-socialism-and-the-u-s-campaign-against-china/</ref> [[Richard Becker]], [[Gloria La Riva]],<ref>https://missionlocal.org/2019/08/local-socialists-see-the-fog-of-anti-communism-lifting/</ref> [[William Massey]],<ref>https://www.liberationnews.org/william-massey-presente-honoring-life-psl-founding-member/</ref> and others|newspaper=''[[Liberation News]]''|political_orientation=[[Marxism–Leninism]] [[Anti-imperialism]]|website=https://pslweb.org}}{{Communist parties}}
The '''Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)''' is a [[Marxist-Leninist]] political party in the [[United States of America|United States]] founded in June 2004 after a split from the [[Workers World Party]]. Their platform is closely related to the broader [[The ANSWER Coalition|ANSWER Coalition]]. The PSL has funded numerous movements within the ANSWER Coalition including the movement to liberate [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]] from [[United States imperialism|Statesian imperialism]].<ref>An article from the [https://www.answercoalition.org/actions_nationwide_to_demand_u_s_hands_off_cuba Answer Coalition] depicting their stance on Cuba, sponsored by the PSL</ref> The PSL held its first congress in February 2010 in Los Angeles, California.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ian Thompson|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=PSL’s First National Congress strengthens the struggle for socialism|date=2010-02-22|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/10-02-22-psls-first-national-congress-st-html/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714145018/https://www.liberationnews.org/10-02-22-psls-first-national-congress-st-html/|archive-date=2019-07-14|retrieved=2022-08-08}}</ref>

== History ==
At its founding in 2004, the PSL held a two-part congress to establish publications and a party structure. Between 2004 and 2010, it held regular conventions that were open to all members to elect party leadership between conventions. In 2010, the party held its first delegated congress and adopted its constitution and program. The PSL held a second congress in 2013.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Building democratic centralism: stages of Party growth and internal development|date=2014-07-31|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/building-democratic-centralism-stages-party-growth-internal-development/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116082555/https://www.liberationnews.org/building-democratic-centralism-stages-party-growth-internal-development/|archive-date=2021-01-16|retrieved=2022-12-25}}</ref>

== Program ==

=== Anti-imperialism ===
The PSL supports immediate independence and reparations for [[Puerto Rico]] with freedom of travel between Puerto Rico and the United States. It also supports self-determination and potential independence of [[American Samoa]], [[Guam]], the [[Virgin Islands of the United States|Virgin Islands]], the [[Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands|Mariana Islands]], and indigenous nations on the U.S. mainland.<ref name=":0">{{News citation|newspaper=Party for Socialism and Liberation|title=Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation|date=2010|url=https://pslweb.org/program/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615034341/https://pslweb.org/program/|archive-date=2022-06-15|retrieved=2022-06-18}}</ref>

=== Social benefits ===
The PSL advocates for a 30-hour work week, up to two years of paid parental leave, a minimum of one month of paid vacation and 12 paid holidays. It also supports universal citizenship for everyone living in the United States, free education from preschool to college, and reducing housing costs to 10% of total income or less.<ref name=":0" />

== Chapters ==
Contact information of the following PSL chapters is available on the party website.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Party for Socialism and Liberation|title=Contact us|url=https://www2.pslweb.org/contact|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707094332/https://www2.pslweb.org/contact|archive-date=2022-07-07|retrieved=2022-07-28}}</ref> This list is organized by region of the United States.

=== Midwest ===

* Champaign–Urbana
* Chicago
* Cleveland
* Detroit
* Indianapolis
* Lexington
* Miami Valley
* Milwaukee
* Springfield (MO)
* Kansas City
* St. Louis

=== Northeast ===

* Albany
* Baltimore
* Boston
* Chester County, Pennsylvania
* Finger Lakes
* Lancaster
* New Haven
* New Paltz
* New York City
* Philadelphia
* Pittsburgh
* Southern New Hampshire
* Syracuse
* Washington, D.C.

=== Plains ===

* Albuquerque
* Dallas
* Denver
* Houston
* San Antonio

=== Southeast ===

* Asheville
* Atlanta
* Birmingham
* Central Gulf Coast
* Columbia
* Gainesville
* Ocala
* Raleigh–Durham
* Sarasota
* Tampa

=== West ===

* Anchorage
* Boise/Pocatello
* Kennewick–Pasco–Richland
* Los Angeles
* Phoenix
* Portland
* Sacramento
* Salt Lake City
* San Diego
* San Francisco
* San Jose
* Seattle

== Publications ==
The party's main publication is the monthly paper ''[[Liberation News]]'',<ref>https://www.liberationnews.org</ref> which replaced a quarterly magazine, ''Socialism and Liberation''.<ref>[https://www.liberationnews.org/07-06-05-socialism-liberation-magazine-is-html/ "Socialism and Liberation magazine is changing"]. June 5, 2007. January 7, 2018.</ref> The PSL also publishes ''Breaking the Chains: A Socialist Perspective on Women's Liberation,'' a quarterly socialist and [[Feminism|feminist]] magazine,<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=|title=About Breaking the Chains|url=https://www.breakingthechainsmag.org/about/|newspaper=Breaking the Chains|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2022-01-03}}</ref> and ''Reds In Ed'', a monthly newsletter initiated by teachers who are members of the PSL.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=2020-03-13|title=Reds In Ed program|url=https://redsined.org/the-reds-in-ed-program/|newspaper=Reds in Ed|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2022-01-02}}</ref> Additionally, the PSL publishes ''Liberation School'', which publishes longer-form analysis, Party documents, interviews, and educational resources including study guides, curricula, and video and audio courses.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=2022-01-02|title=Our mission|url=https://liberationschool.org/about/|newspaper=Liberation School|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2022-01-02}}</ref>

== Controversies ==

The PSL has been accused for decades of being cult-like in its organization methods and permitting sexual harassment and protecting sexual abusers (in locations across the country including Dallas, Philadelphia, Carbondale, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Albuquerque).<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20240130021959/https://medium.com/@jacobscb/documentation-of-corruption-institutional-bigotry-and-high-control-group-cult-like-behavior-in-6afa65b8072e Medium post that is a directory of various accounts of PSL's bad behavior.]</ref><ref>[https://archive.is/yT5vp#selection-42.0-42.1 Writings of a PSL member who was allegedly abused by Steven Powers]</ref>

Some controversies have arisen in recent years regarding some of the affiliations of the PSL, as its prominence grows in the public eye. Among the more prominent examples is its association with [[Brian Becker]], who some critics allege hosted a radio show with "guests being either LaRouchite [[entryism|entryists]] or outright belonging to the [[fascism|far right]]," as well as multiple allegedly former CIA analysts.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://medium.com/@dotcommunism/psls-brian-becker-loud-clear-radio-and-right-wing-entryism-349cf6f29aa4|title=PSL’s Brian Becker, Loud & Clear Radio, and Right-Wing Entryism|author=dotcommunism|date=2018-01-05}}</ref><ref>[https://medium.com/@dotcommunism/psls-brian-becker-loud-clear-radio-and-right-wing-entryism-349cf6f29aa4 Medium Article surrounding the actions of Brian Becker (with its own citations)]</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Communist parties]]
[[Category:Statesian communist parties]]

Hammer and sickle

2024-10-30T21:51:41Z

GrainEater: Reverted edit by Tammy Tamaryn (talk) to last revision by Ledlecreeper27

<blockquote>''For the YouTube channel, see [[The Hammer and Sickle]]''</blockquote>[[File:Communist symbol stalin flag.png|213x213px|thumb|The hammer and sickle is a symbol for the international Communist movement.]]
The '''hammer and sickle''' (Unicode: "☭") is a symbol meant to represent working class [[solidarity]] – a union between the [[peasantry]] and [[proletariat]]. It was first adopted during the [[October Revolution|Russian Revolution]], the hammer representing the workers and the sickle representing the peasants.<ref>{{Citation|author=Whitney Smith|title=Encyclopedia Britannica|chapter=flag of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|chapter-url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Union-of-Soviet-Socialist-Republics}}</ref>

== Meaning ==

The meaning of the hammer and sickle has broadened to represent [[Marxism]], [[communism]], and the proletarian struggle.

== Variations ==
[[File:Hammer and sickle variants.png|thumb|Detailed list of variants of the hammer and sickle and related symbols]]
Different parties and countries have adapted the hammer and sickle to their conditions, including:

=== Hammer, compass ===

* [[German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)|German Democratic Republic]]

=== Hammer, dove ===

* [[Communist Party of Britain]]

=== Hammer, gear ===
* [[Communist Party of Turkey]]

=== Hammer, sickle, gear ===
* [[Communist Party of the United States of America|Communist Party USA]]

=== Hammer, sickle, paintbrush ===
* [[Workers' Party of Korea]]

=== Hoe, AK-47 ===

* [[People's Republic of Mozambique (1975–1990)|People's Republic of Mozambique]]

=== Machete, gear ===
* [[People's Republic of Angola (1975–1992)|People's Republic of Angola]]

=== Pickaxe, anchor ===

* [[Far Eastern Republic (1920–1922)|Far Eastern Republic]]

== References ==
[[Category:Marxist symbols]]

Revisionism

2024-10-26T21:11:01Z

GrainEater: Spelling

{{Distinguish|[[Historical revisionism]]}}

'''Revisionism''' is a fundamental alteration of a theory, essentially usurping (though taking elements of) the former theory and replacing it with a new one. While the attributes of a theory are subject to change in accordance to changing historic circumstances, changing the fundamental basis of that theory is to nullify it in place of a new one.

Revisionist theory, politics and praxis are only so when examined through the lens of [[dialectical materialism]] and found incorrect in one of two ways: either contradicting past successes, such as the [[vanguard party]], which was proven successful with the [[Bolsheviks]], [[Communist_Party_of_Vietnam|Communist Party of Vietnam]], and the [[Communist Party of China]], or by pushing errors with a history of failure and incoherence. The [[Narodniks]] were unable to cohesively grasp that the [[Feudalism|feudal]] [[landlord]] and [[Peasantry|peasant]] ends with the capital production of agriculture.

[[Eduard Bernstein]], infamously noted in [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]'s "What is to be done", was a leading theoretician of the German [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] who originated the revisionist theory of [[evolutionary socialism]]. He rejected Marxist concepts of [[class struggle]] and world revolution, liquidating [[Marxism]] and removing its revolutionary elements to focus entirely on [[reformism]].

== Left & Right Deviation ==
[[Trotskyism]] and [[Maoism]] are often described within [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism Leninism]] circles as [[Ultra-leftism|left deviations]] that do not engage in sufficient [[Criticism|criticism and self-criticism]] and thus fall off the path of [[scientific socialism]]. In parallel, reformism is a right deviation that cedes one of the fundamental aims of [[Marxism]]: the abolition of and replacement by [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|proletarian structures]] regarding the [[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|bourgeois control]] over the [[means of production]].

== Further Reading ==
* {{Citation|author=Liu Shaoqi|year=1939|title=How to Be a Good Communist|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/liu-shaoqi/1939/how-to-be/index.htm|chapter=IX Attitudes Towards Wrong Ideology in the Party and Towards Inner-Party Struggle|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/liu-shaoqi/1939/how-to-be/}}

==See Also==

*[[Anti-Revisionism|Anti-revisionism]]
*[[Reformism]]

== References ==
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]
[[Category:Revisionism]]
[[Category:Pages to be protected]]

Imperialism

2024-10-10T13:50:52Z

GrainEater: Fix titles

'''Imperialism''' is the highest stage of the [[capitalist]] [[mode of production]], in which monopolies and cartels become the prevalent economic force of society.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|chapter=Chapter 1: Concentration of production and monopolies|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/index.htm|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|quote=Thus, the principal stages in the history of monopolies are the following: (1) 1860-70, the highest stage, the apex of development of free competition; monopoly is in the barely discernible, embryonic stage. (2) After the crisis of 1873, a lengthy period of development of cartels; but they are still the exception. They are not yet durable. They are still a transitory phenomenon. (3) The boom at the end of the nineteenth century and the crisis of 1900-03. Cartels become one of the foundations of the whole of economic life. Capitalism has been transformed into imperialism.}}</ref>

[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] synthesized a Marxist analysis of imperialism with the publishing of his pamphlet ''Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism'' in 1916, most notably on the foundation of the earlier work of John A. [[J. A. Hobson|Hobson]] entitled ''Imperialism: A Study''. Beginning with the first paragraph of [[Library:Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|his pamphlet]], [[Vladimir Lenin]] wrote that rapid growth of industry and concentration of production in growing enterprises represent the key characteristic of capitalism.<ref name=":0" /> He summarized it in one phrase as "the monopoly stage of capitalism".<ref>{{Citation|title=[[Library:Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism]]|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|quote=If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism.}}
</ref>

Multiple theorists have updated, deepened, developed or critically engaged with the classical analysis of Imperialism. For example, [[Kwame Nkrumah]], who wrote [[Library:Neocolonialism,_the_Last_Stage_of_Imperialism|Neocolonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism]]. Most recently, the concept of [[neoimperialism]] has emerged in the work of [[Cheng Enfu]].

The development of imperialism in the global economy also reinforces a dialectical relationship between core-periphery countries, mainly [[dependency]] and subordination of [[Underdevelopment|underdeveloped countries]] to imperialist economies. In conjunction with these developments, new theoretical models were proposed to understand developments, such as dependency theory and world-systems theory.

== Theoretical overview ==
In [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s further analysis of imperialism, this economic stage is defined by five basic features:
* The presence of [[Monopoly|monopolies]] which play a decisive role in economic life.
* The merging of bank [[capital]] with industrial capital into finance capital controlled by a [[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|financial oligarchy]].
* The export of capital as distinguished from the simple export of [[Commodity|commodities]].
* The formation of international monopolist capitalist associations ([[Cartel|cartels]]).
* The territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|title=Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|chapter=Chapter 7: Imperialism as a special stage of capitalism|quote=But very brief definitions, although convenient, for they sum up the main points, are nevertheless inadequate, since we have to deduce from them some especially important features of the phenomenon that has to be defined. And so, without forgetting the conditional and relative value of all definitions in general, which can never embrace all the concatenations of a phenomenon in its full development, we must give a definition of imperialism that will include the following five of its basic features:

(1) the concentration of production and capital has developed to such a high stage that it has created monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life; (2) the merging of bank capital with industrial capital, and the creation, on the basis of this “finance capital”, of a financial oligarchy; (3) the export of capital as distinguished from the export of commodities acquires exceptional importance; (4) the formation of international monopolist capitalist associations which share the world among themselves, and (5) the territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers is completed. Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capital is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed.|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/index.htm}}</ref> This expansion to Marx's analysis of capitalist development was one of Lenin's most important theoretical contributions to [[political economy]].
Marx posited, according to his [[three laws of motion]], that as capitalist economies matured, they would inevitably be driven into a crisis which would result in internal class revolt and the establishment of a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] (and eventually [[socialism]]). However, according to Lenin's observations, the development of ''imperialism'' allowed capitalism to postpone this crisis through the acquisition of colonies, which served as a new outlets for capital investment and a new source of labour power to exploit.

This scramble for the expansion of capitalist empires drove the various imperialist powers into a competition with one another over the size of their imperialist spheres of influence and access to resources and labour markets, which led to destructive inter-imperialist conflicts such as the [[First World War|First World War.]] Imperialism thus stretches the inherent contradictions of capitalism to ever more extreme limits, leading [[J.V. Stalin]] to deem Leninism the "Marxism of the era of imperialism".

Imperialism as a stage of development in capitalism means that it will always develop in any sufficiently advanced capitalist mode of production. As markets become saturated within the boundaries of the individual nation (due to an influx of producers), capital must be exported elsewhere, and the main function of banks is to help with that (see [[finance capitalism]]).

Countries must eventually turn to imperialism for two main reasons:
#Capitalism requires constant consumption, which translates into constant growth (and GDP growth). Without GDP growth, capitalism stagnates and a recession occurs. However, since it is impossible to expect infinite growth with finite available resources and as markets become saturated, the bourgeoisie must seek new opportunities.
#The bourgeoisie is also in constant internal competition, and as such there is a very rational reason for a capitalist to emerge victorious over the competition; accessing untapped markets and cheaper labour will give them an edge over the competition.
However, imperialized countries will not be allowed to develop past the most primitive stage of capitalism, preventing them from developing their own imperialism. In these countries, we may see the emergence of two distinct subsections of the bourgeoisie. Firstly, a "comprador" class, i.e. the section of the national bourgeoisie which is allied with, and dependent upon, foreign imperialist investment; and second, the "national" bourgeoisie, whose class interests are, at least temporarily, aligned with the exploited working class: to achieve [[national liberation]] (so that they can become exploiters without being exploited, upon which point their tentative alignment with the national proletariat will end).

== Origins and historical development ==
[[File:Common history of imperialist countries.png|thumb|Most modern imperialist countries originated as [[Genocide|genocidal]] colonial powers]]
The development of imperialism began with the [[Long Depression|Panic of 1873]], which caused an economic depression lasting through the 1880s. When the economy recovered in 1889, [[Cartel|cartels]] took advantage of the situation and drove up prices. After another depression from 1900 to 1903, they became even stronger and controlled the coal, mining, and iron industries by 1905.<ref name=":0" />

The early 20th century was marked by several imperialist, colony-grabbing wars: the [[Spanish–Statesian War|Spanish-Statesian War]] of 1898, the [[Boer war|Boer War]] of 1899-1902, the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1905, the [[Italo-Turkish war|Italo-Turkish]] war of 1911-1912, and the [[Balkan wars]] of 1912-1913. These various conflicts between the imperialist powers of Europe reached an explosive head, culminating in the 1914 war, popularly known as [[First World War|World War I]]. It is in this historic context of the build-up to WW1, the great race by the various western powers for colonial tributaries—instigated by the burgeoning needs of [[capital]] and capital reproduction—that Lenin wrote up the foundation theory of Imperialism.

== Contemporary imperialism==

===Imperial core===
[[File:Imperial core rings.png|thumb|Diagram of the four rings of the imperial core from [[Tricontinental]]]]
Today, imperialism is still very much alive as Lenin described. The [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) and [[World Bank]] for example were institutions created for the benefit of the imperial core (the richest and oldest capitalist economies, grossly encompassing North America and Western Europe) so as to perpetually keep former colonised countries in debt that they can not repay. The IMF is known to demand specific [[free market]] policies put into place so as to facilitate movement of capital from the imperial core towards these ex-colonies, also known as the [[Global South]]. On top of having many strings attached, the IMF is allowed to seize projects when loans cannot be paid back, and they often can't due to very harsh payment plans (usually very high interest rates over a 7-year period).

This "soft" imperialism is not the only form of imperialism happening, and we can look at the [[US Invasion of Iraq]] in 2003 for a "harder" form of imperialism. In this case, the entire country of Iraq as well as the surrounding region was destabilized, which allowed U.S. oil companies to eliminate competition and seize these wells for themselves.

=== Imperialist military ===
Imperialism is enforced by military power—especially, since the early 20th century, by U.S. military power. One indication of this is the large number of military bases that the U.S. maintains in foreign countries and the large number of U.S. troops stationed around the world.

==== U.S. military personnel in Europe ====
At the end of 2021, the United States had 74,000 military personnel stationed in Europe in long-term positions (according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service).<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Reuters|title=Factbox: Where NATO forces are deployed|date=2022-01-24|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/where-nato-forces-are-deployed-2022-01-24|access-date=2022-03}}</ref> Not all are combat-ready troops. The numbers of these U.S. personnel in some particular countries is as follows:

* [[Federal Republic of Germany|Germany]]: 36,000
* [[Italian Republic|Italy]]: 12,000
* [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|Britain]]: 9,000
* [[Kingdom of Spain|Spain]]: 3,000
* [[Republic of Türkiye|Turkey]]: 1,600

Besides these personnel, the U.S. rotates 4,500 troops through [[Republic of Poland|Poland]].<ref>Reuters 2022, ''op. cit.''</ref>

== Myths ==

=== Soviet "imperialism"===
During the [[Cold War]], a rivalry between the world's two global powers at the time (the USA and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]), the CIA's [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]] cultivated a milieu of anti-Soviet leftists to advance the geopolitical line of the US. One accusation that was leveled against the Soviet Union was that it was yet another imperialist state, based on the conflicts which happened between the [[Sino-Soviet split|Soviet Union and China]]. USSR did not practice imperialism in the [[Leninism|Leninist]] sense — it did not export capital and was not under control of a financial oligarchy.

===Chinese "imperialism" ===
In modern times, some accuse China of being imperialist, mainly in [[Africa]]. These people again use the liberal definition of imperialism and can be ignored in much the same way.

With its [[Belt and Road Initiative]], China does not practice the same harsh policies as the [[IMF]] (namely, forcing austerity upon loan recipients) and that is why they are being favored by more and more countries, leading to a disinformation campaign by the imperial core to help drive popular support from the B&R and back towards the IMF. Famously, Chinese loans pay for infrastructure (needed for development), are often forgiven <ref>{{Web citation|author=Jevans Nyablage|newspaper=[[South China Morning Post]]|title=China to forgive interest-free loans to Africa that are coming due, Xi Jinping says|date=2020-06-18T03:43|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3089492/china-forgive-interest-free-loans-africa-are-coming-due-xi}}</ref>, and there are no policies required to get such a loan.

=== Russian "imperialism" ===
In certain circles, there have been attempts to paint the [[2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict|Russo-Ukrainian conflict]] as a war between two imperialist countries, the United States and [[Russian Federation|Russia]]. Similarly to the above Chinese example, this is incorrect.

Unlike the western powers, Russia does not have any capital [[Monopoly|monopolies]] that control the world market or supply chains. Russia having Gazprom and an extraction industry doesn’t mean they are imperialist. The essence of imperialism is monopolistic on a global scale, which is precisely why Russia is not imperialist, not whether they have capital generally. A perfect example of monopolies that share the world amongst themselves is the West, specifically the United States in their control of the [[World Economic Forum|WEF]], [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]], [[The World Bank|World Bank]], and [[United Nations|UN]] Security Council, allowing the western powers to enforce this dominance through jingoistic foreign policy, embargoes, and hindering the development of other countries. Neither Russia nor China has anywhere close to this level of global power through [[finance capital]].

Russia lacks finance capital and division of the world's resources. It only has 4 of the top 100 corporations in the world and 6 of the top 500. 82% of Russian exports are raw materials, including 58% oil, 11% metal, and 6% food. In 2017, Russia imported $106.2 billion worth' of machine goods and only exported $12.8 billion. Russia does not have any of the top 100 corporations in terms of [[capital]] export, and most Russian capital export is capital flight to tax havens. Russia only controls 0.7% of the world's wealth and has much less wealth per adult than the [[United States of America|United States]] ($8,843 vs $336,528). Russia has intervened militarily in other countries such as [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–2006)|Yugoslavia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], Ukraine, and [[Syrian Arab Republic|Syria]], but not to seize natural resources like imperialist countries do.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Stansfield Smith|newspaper=[[Monthly Review]]|title=Is Russia imperialist?|date=2019-01-02|url=https://mronline.org/2019/01/02/is-russia-imperialist/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315020644/https://mronline.org/2019/01/02/is-russia-imperialist/|archive-date=2023-03-15|retrieved=2023-03-22}}</ref>

== Early theoreticians (pre-1945) ==

=== Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels ===
[[Engels|Friedrich Engels]] alluded to imperialism in ''[[Library:The principles of communism|The principles of communism]]'':

{{Quote|In this way, all semi-barbarian countries, which had hitherto been more or less strangers to historical development, and whose industry had been based on manufacture, were violently forced out of their isolation. They bought the cheaper commodities of the English and allowed their own manufacturing workers to be ruined. Countries which had known no progress for thousands of years – for example, India – were thoroughly revolutionized, and even China is now on the way to a revolution.

We have come to the point where a new machine invented in England deprives millions of Chinese workers of their livelihood within a year’s time.

In this way, big industry has brought all the people of the Earth into contact with each other, has merged all local markets into one world market, has spread civilization and progress everywhere and has thus ensured that whatever happens in civilized countries will have repercussions in all other countries.|Engels|Principles of communism {{Refn|Engels. [[Library:The principles of communism|''The principles of communism'']]: [[Library:The principles of communism#What were the immediate consequences of the industrial revolution and of the division of society into bourgeoisie and proletariat?|''What were the immediate consequences of the industrial revolution and of the division of society into bourgeoisie and proletariat?'']]|name=|group=note}}}}
At the time of his writing, imperialism was not yet a word in common use (not until the 1870s) however, policies of imperialism were already happening around the world—especially at hands of the British Empire in Africa.

Given that imperialism is, (according to Lenin) the highest stage of capitalism, one tendency of imperialism is to export the class conflict of a nation to foreign lands. Thus, the British nation, in order to solve its problem of unemployment and food scarcity along a capitalist basis (without socialism; redistribution of wealth and power to the commoners through social ownership), had to find new lands to settle the unemployed.

{{Quote|"In order to save the forty million inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, our colonial statesmen must acquire new lands for settling the surplus population of this country, to provide new markets. ... The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question."|[[Cecil Rhodes]], British imperialist, as quoted in [[Lenin]]'s [[Library:Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism]]}}

=== J. A. Hobson ===

=== Rudolf Hilferding ===

=== Leon Trotsky ===

=== Rosa Luxemburg ===

=== Karl Kautsky ===

=== Nikolai Bukharin ===

=== Vladimir I. Lenin ===

== Later Theoreticians (post-1945) ==

=== W.E.B. Du Bois ===

=== Paul Sweezy ===

=== Paul A. Baran ===

=== Kwame Nkrumah ===

=== Amilcar Cabral ===

=== Andre Gunder Frank ===

=== Huey P. Newton ===

=== Arghiri Emmanuel ===

=== Immanuel Wallerstein ===

=== Walter Rodney ===

=== Immanuel Wallerstein ===

=== Samir Amin ===

=== Michael Parenti ===
[[Michael Parenti]] described several examples of imperialism in [[Library:Against Empire|Against Empire]].
{{Quote|By "imperialism" I mean the process whereby the dominant politico-economic interests of one nation expropriate for their own enrichment the land, labor, raw materials, and markets of another people.

The earliest victims of Western European imperialism were other Europeans. Some 800 years ago, Ireland became the first colony of what later became known as the British empire. A part of Ireland still remains under British occupation. Other early Caucasian victims included the Eastern Europeans. The people Charlemagne worked to death in his mines in the early part of the ninth century were Slavs. So frequent and prolonged was the enslavement of Eastern Europeans that "Slav" became synonymous with servitude. Indeed, the word "slave" derives from "Slav." Eastern Europe was an early source of capital accumulation, having become wholly dependent upon Western manufactures by the seventeenth century.

A particularly pernicious example of intra-European imperialism was the Nazi aggression during World War II, which gave the German business cartels and the Nazi state an opportunity to plunder the resources and exploit the labor of occupied Europe, including the slave labor of concentration camps.

The preponderant thrust of the European, North American, and Japanese imperial powers has been directed against Africa, Asia, and Latin America. By the nineteenth century, they saw the Third World as not only a source of raw materials and slaves but a market for manufactured goods. By the twentieth century, the industrial nations were exporting not only goods but capital, in the form of machinery, technology, investments, and loans. To say that we have entered the stage of capital export and investment is not to imply that the plunder of natural resources has ceased. If anything, the despoliation has accelerated.

[...]

Imperialism is older than capitalism. The Persian, Macedonian, Roman, and Mongol empires all existed centuries before the Rothschilds and Rockefellers. Emperors and conquistadors were interested mostly in plunder and tribute, gold and glory. Capitalist imperialism differs from these earlier forms in the way it systematically accumulates capital through the organized exploitation of labor and the penetration of overseas markets. Capitalist imperialism invests in other countries, transforming and dominating their economies, cultures, and political life, integrating their financial and productive structures into an international system of capital accumulation.

A central imperative of capitalism is expansion. Investors will not put their money into business ventures unless they can extract more than they invest. Increased earnings come only with a growth in the enterprise. The capitalist ceaselessly searches for ways of making more money in order to make still more money. One must always invest to realize profits, gathering as much strength as possible in the face of competing forces and unpredictable markets.|Michael Parenti|Against Empire. City Lights Books.|1995, p. 5}}

=== Zack Cope ===

=== Jason Hickel, Dylan Sullivan and Huzaifa Zoomkawala ===

=== Cheng Enfu and Lu Baolin ===

== Non-marxist theoreticians ==

=== Joseph Schumpeter ===

=== Thorstein Veben ===

=== Norman Angell ===

=== Edward Said ===

=== Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri ===

=== Jan Vogler ===
==Further Reading==
[[Library:Imperialism,_the_highest_stage_of_capitalism | Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism]] 
[[Library:Neocolonialism,_the_Last_Stage_of_Imperialism | Neocolonialism, the last stage of imperialism]] 
[[Library:Five_Characteristics_of_Neoimperialism | Five Characteristics of Neoimperialism]]

== Notes ==
<references group="note"/>
==References ==
<references />
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]
[[Category:Marxist theory]]
[[Category:Marxism]]
[[Category:Leninism]]
[[Category:Capitalism]]
[[Category:Debunking myths]]

Shao Hua

2024-10-10T13:35:40Z

GrainEater: Clarification

{{Message box/Stub}}{{Infobox person
|name=Shao Hua
|image=Shao Hua picture.jpg
|birth_name=Chen Anyun
|birth_date={{birth date|df=y|1938|10|30}}
|birth_place=[[Yan'an]], [[Shaanxi]], [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|Republic of China]]
|death_date={{death date and age|df=y|2008|6|24|1938|10|30}}
|death_place=Beijing, [[People's Republic of China]]
}}

'''Shao Hua''' was a [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] photographer and major military general in the [[People's Liberation Army]]. She was the wife of [[Mao Anqing]] (second son of [[Mao Zedong]]) and the mother of [[Mao Xinyu]].
[[Category:Mao Zedong Family]]
[[Category:People's Liberation Army generals]]

Brazilian National-Socialist Party

2024-10-05T10:03:19Z

GrainEater: Capitalization

{{Message box/Stub}}{{Infobox political party|name=Brazilian National-Socialist Party|native_name=Partido Nacional-Socialista Brasileiro|founded=1988|abbreviation=PNSB|leader=Armando Zanini Junior|banned=1989|membership_year=1994|membership=~1000|political_orientation=[[Nazism|Nazism]]}}

The '''Brazilian National-Socialist Party''' (Portuguese: ''Partido Nacional-Socialista Brasileiro'', PNSB), also known as the '''Brazilian Nationalist Revolutionary Party''' (Portuguese: ''Partido Nacionalista Revolucionário Brasileiro'', PNRB) is a [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] political party in [[Federative Republic of Brazil|Brazil]]. The party acts clandestinely, as Brazilian laws strictly forbid the formation of Nazi organizations and the public espousing of Nazism<ref>{{Citation|author=CALDEIRA NETO, Odilon|year=2020|title=Neofascismo, "Nova República" e a ascenção das direitas no Brasil|title-url=https://revistas.uece.br/index.php/revistaconhecer/article/download/2060/2420/10009}}</ref>.

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Brazilian political parties]]
[[Category:Far-right political parties]]

Great Soviet Encyclopedia

2024-09-10T18:33:19Z

GrainEater: Add "missing sources" box

{{Message box/Missing Sources}}
{{Infobox book
|oclc=14476314
|publication=Between years 1926–1981 by [[Great Soviet Encyclopedia (publishing house)]]
|media_type=Printed
}}

The '''''Great Soviet Encyclopedia''''' ('''GSE'''; Russian: Больша́я сове́тская энциклопе́дия, БСЭ, romanized: ''Boljšaja sovjetskaja enciklopjedija'', '''''BSE''''') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the [[Soviet Union]] from 1926 to 1990, Throughout its history, the GSE went through three editions. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya Rossiyskaya entsiklopediya'' (or ''Great Russian Encyclopedia'') in an updated and revised form. The GSE claimed to be "the first [[Marxism-leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] general-purpose encyclopedia."

==Editions==
===First edition===
The first edition of the GSE was published from 1926 to 1947. It spanned 65 volumes.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+ class="nowrap" | Contents of the volumes
! Volume !! Contents !! Year published !! Page count
|-
| 1 || А — Аколла || 1926 || 416
|-
| 2 || Аконит — Анри || 1926 || 400
|-
| 3 || Анрио — Атоксил || 1926, 1930 || 400
|-
| 4 || Атоллы — Барщина || 1926, 1930 || 386
|-
| 5 || Барыково — Бессалько || 1927 || 404
|-
| 6 || Бессарабия — Больм || 1927 || 416
|-
| 7 || Больница — Буковина || 1927 || 416
|-
| 8 || Буковые — Варле || 1927 || 408
|-
| 9 || Варлен — Венглейн || 1928 || 426
|-
| 10 || Венгрия — Вильно || 1928 || 407
|-
| 11 || Вильом — Водемон || 1928, 1930 || 416
|-
| 12 || Воден — Волховстрой || 1928 || 416
|-
| 13 || Волчанка — Высшая || 1929 || 403
|-
| 14 || Высшее — Гейлинкс || 1929 || 430
|-
| 15 || Гейльброн — Германия || 1929 || 414
|-
| 16 || Германия — Гимн || 1929 || 432
|-
| 17 || Гимназия — Горовицы || 1930 || 406
|-
| 18 || Город — Грац || 1930 || 432
|-
| 19 || Грациадеи — Гурьев || 1930 || 422
|-
| 20 || Гурьевка — Дейки || 1930 || 439
|-
| 21 || Дейли — Джут || 1931 || 424
|-
| 22 || Джуца — Договор торговый || 1935 || 420
|-
| 23 || Доде — Евразия || 1931 || 415
|-
| 24 || Евреи — Железняков || 1932 || 400
|-
| 25 || Железо — Зазор || 1932 || 400
|-
| 26 || Зазубные — Зерновые || 1933 || 408
|-
| 27 || Зерновые — Империализм || 1933 || 480
|-
| 28 || Империалистическая война — Интерполяция || 1937 || 402
|-
| 29 || Интерполяция — Историческое языковедение || 1935 || 383
|-
| 30 || История — Камбиформ || 1937 || 400
|-
| 31 || Камбоджа — Кауфмана пик || 1937 || 404
|-
| 32 || Каучук — Классон || 1936 || 432
|-
| 33 || Классы — Конкуренция || 1938 || 480
|-
| 34 || Конкурс — Крестьянская война || 1937 || 384
|-
| 35 || «Крестьянская газета» — Ларсон || 1937 || 384
|-
| 36 || Ларте — Лилло || 1938 || 416
|-
| 37 || Лилль — Маммалогия || 1938 || 420
|-
| 38 || Маммилярия — Мера стоимости || 1938 || 416
|-
| 39 || Мерави — Момоты || 1938 || 376
|-
| 40 || Монада — Нага || 1938 || 392
|-
| 41 || Наган — Нидерландское искусство || 1939 || 432
|-
| 42 || Нидерланды — Оклахома || 1939 || 416
|-
| 43 || Окладное страхование — Палиашвили || 1939 || 416
|-
| 44 || Пализа — Перемычка || 1939 || 416
|-
| 45 || Перемышль — Пол || 1940 || 440
|-
| 46 || Пола — Призмы оптические || 1940 || 408
|-
| 47 || Признаки делимости — Равенстон || 1940 || 448
|-
| 48 || Рави — Роббиа || 1941 || 440
|-
| 49 || Робер — Ручная граната || 1941 || 456
|-
| 50 || Ручное огнестрельное оружие — Серицит || 1944 || 440
|-
| 51 || Серна — Созерцание || 1945 || 424
|-
| 52 || Сознание — Стратегия || 1947 || 472
|-
| 53 || Стратиграфия — Телец || 1946 || 392
|-
| 54 || Телецкое озеро — Трихофития || 1946 || 416
|-
| 55 || Трихоцисты — Украинское искусство || 1947 || 986
|-
| 56 || Украинцев — Фаянс || 1936 || 718
|-
| 57 || Феаки — Флор || 1936 || 363
|-
| 58 || Флора — Франция || 1936 || 400
|-
| 59 || Францоз — Хокусаи || 1935 || 432
|-
| 60 || Холангит — Цянь || 1934 || 400
|-
| 61 || Ч — Шахт || 1934 || 448
|-
| 62 || Шахта — Ь || 1933 || 416
|-
| 63 || Э — Электрофон || 1933, 1935 || 776, 768
|-
| 64 || Электрофор — Эфедрин || 1933 || 400
|-
| 65 || Эфемериды — Яя || 1931 || 455
|-
| Без номера || Союз Советских Социалистических Республик || 1947 || 487
|}

===Second edition===
The second edition of the GSE was published from 1950 to 1958. It spanned 50 volumes.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+ class="nowrap" | Contents of the volumes
! Volume !! Contents !! Year published !! Page count
|-
| 1 || А — Актуализм || 1949 || 633
|-
| 2 || Акты — Ариетта || 1950 || 652
|-
| 3 || Аризона — Аяччо || 1950 || 626
|-
| 4 || Б — Березко || 1950 || 640
|-
| 5 || Березна — Ботокуды || 1950 || 644
|-
| 6 || Ботошани — Вариолит || 1951 || 643
|-
| 7 || Вариолоид — Вибратор || 1951 || 643
|-
| 8 || Вибрафон — Волово || 1951 || 645
|-
| 9 || Вологда — Газели || 1951 || 619
|-
| 10 || Газель — Германий || 1952 || 615
|-
| 11 || Германик — Голубь || 1952 || 642
|-
| 12 || Голубянки — Гродовка || 1952 || 630
|-
| 13 || Гроза — Демос || 1952 || 669
|-
| 14 || Демосфен — Докембрий || 1952 || 655
|-
| 15 || Докеры — Железняков || 1952 || 651
|-
| 16 || Железо — Земли || 1952 || 671
|-
| 17 || Земля — Индейцы || 1952 || 631
|-
| 18 || Индекс — Истон || 1953 || 619
|-
| 19 || Историзм — Канди || 1953 || 606
|-
| 20 || Кандидат — Кинескоп || 1953 || 643
|-
| 21 || Кинестезия — Коллизия || 1953 || 627
|-
| 22 || Коллиматор — Коржины || 1953 || 627
|-
| 23 || Корзинка — Кукунор || 1953 || 635
|-
| 24 || Кукуруза — Лесничество || 1953 || 618
|-
| 25 || Лесничий — Магнит || 1954 || 629
|-
| 26 || Магнитка — Медуза || 1954 || 651
|-
| 27 || Медузы — Многоножка || 1954 || 661
|-
| 28 || Многоножки — Мятлик || 1954 || 660
|-
| 29 || Н — Николаев || 1954 || 627
|-
| 30 || Николай — Олонки || 1954 || 653
|-
| 31 || Олонхо — Панино || 1955 || 645
|-
| 32 || Панипат — Печура || 1955 || 646
|-
| 33 || Печь — Польцин || 1955 || 669
|-
| 34 || Польша — Прокамбий || 1955 || 653
|-
| 35 || Прокат — Раковины || 1955 || 670
|-
| 36 || Раковник — «Ромэн» || 1955 || 670
|-
| 37 || Рона — Самойлович || 1955 || 666
|-
| 38 || Самойловка — Сигиллярии || 1955 || 665
|-
| 39 || Сигишоара — Соки || 1956 || 661
|-
| 40 || Сокирки — Стилоспоры || 1957 || 645
|-
| 41 || Стилтон — Татартуп || 1956 || 657
|-
| 42 || Татары — Топрик || 1956 || 665
|-
| 43 || Топсель — Уженье || 1956 || 669
|-
| 44 || Ужи — Фидель || 1956 || 661
|-
| 45 || Фидер — Фурьеризм || 1956 || 670
|-
| 46 || Фусе — Цуруга || 1957 || 669
|-
| 47 || Цуруока — Шербот || 1957 || 669
|-
| 48 || Шербрук — Элодея || 1957 || 669
|-
| 49 || Элоквенция — Яя || 1957 || 678
|-
| 50 || Союз Советских Социалистических Республик || 1957 || 764
|-
| 51 || А — Я (дополнения) || 1958 || 460
|-
|}

===Third edition===
The third edition of the GSE was published from 1969 to 1978. It spanned 30 volumes, the 24th of which was divided into two parts; one being a full-length book on the [[USSR]], the other a continuation of the encyclopedia as usual.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+ class="nowrap" | Contents of the volumes
! Volume !! Contents !! Year published !! Page count
|-
| 1 || А — Ангоб || 1969
|-
| 2 || Ангола — Барзас || 1970
|-
| 3 || Бари — Браслет || 1970
|-
| 4 || Брасос — Веш || 1971
|-
| 5 || Вешин — Газли || 1971
|-
| 6 || Газлифт — Гоголево || 1971
|-
| 7 || Гоголь — Дебит || 1972
|-
| 8 || Дебитор — Евкалипт || 1972
|-
| 9 || Евклид — Ибсен || 1972
|-
| 10 || Ива — Италики || 1972
|-
| 11 || Италия — Кваркуш || 1973
|-
| 12 || Кварнер — Конгур || 1973
|-
| 13 || Конда — Кун || 1973
|-
| 14 || Куна — Ломами || 1973
|-
| 15 || Ломбард — Мезитол || 1974
|-
| 16 || Мезия — Моршанск || 1974
|-
| 17 || Моршин — Никиш || 1974
|-
| 18 || Никко — Отолиты || 1974
|-
| 19 || Отоми — Пластырь || 1975
|-
| 20 || Плата — Проб || 1975
|-
| 21 || Проба — Ременсы || 1975
|-
| 22 || Ремень — Сафи || 1975
|-
| 23 || Сафлор — Соан || 1976
|-
| 24 (кн. 1) || Собаки — Струна || 1976
|-
| 24 (кн. 2) || Союз Советских Социалистических Республик || 1977
|-
| 25 || Струнино — Тихорецк || 1976
|-
| 26 || Тихоходки — Ульяново || 1977
|-
| 27 || Ульяновск — Франкфорт || 1977
|-
| 28 || Франкфурт — Чага || 1978
|-
| 29 || Чаган — Экс-ле-Бен || 1978
|-
| 30 || Экслибрис — Яя || 1978
|-
|}

===English translation===
From 1974 to 1983, an English translation of the GSE's third edition was published by Macmillan Publishers. Each volume number in the English translation corresponded to the Russian volumes, meaning that the English volumes are not in Latin alphabetical order. The article on the USSR from the Russian vol. 24 was moved to a 31st volume in English.

==See Also==

* [http://bse.sci-lib.com/ Official Website]

[[Category:Encyclopedias]]

Template:Message box/Missing Sources

2024-09-10T18:29:39Z

GrainEater: Grammar

{{Message box|text=This article is missing sources. Please do not take all information in this article uncritically, since it may be incorrect.|image=Warning icon.png}}
<includeonly>[[Category:Pages needing references]]</includeonly>

Argentine Republic

2024-09-08T07:44:40Z

GrainEater: Wording

{{Infobox country
| name = Argentine Republic
| native_name = República Argentina
| image_coat = Coat_of_arms_of_Argentina.svg
| image_flag = Flag_of_Argentina.svg
| symbol_type = Coat of Arms
| image_map = Map_of_Argentina.svg
| map_caption = Argentine territory in dark green; claimed but uncontrolled territory in light green.
| map_width = 220px
| capital = Buenos Aires
| largest_city = Buenos Aires
| mode_of_production = [[Neocolonialism|Neocolonial]] [[capitalism]]
|area_km2=2,780,400|population_census=46,044,703|population_census_year=2022| currency = Argentine peso
| official_languages = Spanish
|demonym=Argentine Argentinian| government_type = Federal presidential republic
| leader_title1 = President
| leader_name1 = [[Javier Milei]]
| leader_title2 = Vice President
| leader_name2 = [[Victoria Villarruel]]}}
'''Argentina''', officially the '''Argentine Republic''', is a country in [[Latin America]] located in the southern part of [[South America]] with a eastern coastline on the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. It is bordered to the west by [[Republic of Chile|Chile]], to the north by [[Plurinational State of Bolivia|Bolivia]] and [[Republic of Paraguay|Paraguay]], and to the northeast by [[Federative Republic of Brazil|Brazil]] and [[Oriental Republic of Uruguay|Uruguay]]. It is currently under $44 billion of [[debt]] to the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=[[Ben Norton]]|newspaper=[[Multipolarista]]|title=Judicial coup in Argentina: Corrupt judges conspire with media oligarchs to ban Cristina Kirchner from office|date=2022-12-08|url=https://multipolarista.com/2022/12/08/judicial-coup-argentina-cristina-kirchner/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209044528/https://multipolarista.com/2022/12/08/judicial-coup-argentina-cristina-kirchner/|archive-date=2022-12-09|retrieved=2022-12-10}}</ref>

== History==

=== Colonization ===
In the early 16th century the territory of Argentina was [[Colonialism|colonized]] by the [[Monarchy of Spain (1516–1700)|Spanish]] in their search for silver. The independent development of the indigenous population was disrupted and they were either [[Slavery|enslaved]] or forced from their land. [[Landlord|Landlords]] and the [[Catholicism|Catholic Church]] took over vast swathes of land with the indigenous population being sent to work in the mines and when there wasn't enough workers the Spanish imported slaves from [[Africa]].<ref>{{Citation|author=V. I. Ermolaev|year=1979|title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|title-url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Argentina|chapter=Argentina|section=The colonial period}}</ref>

=== Independence ===
[[File:Argentina indigenous map.png|thumb|Map of indigenous nations in Argentina]]
Argentina declared independence from [[Kingdom of Spain (1813–1874)|Spain]] in 1821. It took a large loan from the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] in 1824 and intended to use it to build infrastructure but spent most of it on a war with [[Empire of Brazil (1822–1889)|Brazil]] instead. The British seized two frigates from Argentina after they defaulted on their loan. Argentina finally finished repaying the loan in 1904.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Esteban Almiron|newspaper=[[Multipolarista]]|title=How Argentina has been trapped in neocolonial debt for 200 years: An economic history|date=2022-12-18|url=https://multipolarista.com/2022/12/18/argentina-neocolonial-debt-history/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219193206/https://multipolarista.com/2022/12/18/argentina-neocolonial-debt-history/|archive-date=2022-12-19|retrieved=2022-12-20}}</ref> During the early 20th century, the [[ruling class]] held its wealth in European [[Bank|banks]] and favored European currencies over the Argentine peso.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Buenos Aires|page=62–63|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref>

=== Perón era ===
Argentina refused to join the neocolonial IMF when it was founded in 1945. Its democratically elected president, [[Juan Domingo Perón]], followed a [[Progressivism|progressive]] [[Nationalism|nationalist]] program and improved industry through two five-year plans.<ref name=":0" /> He bought the British-owned railroads.<ref name=":1" /> [[Pedro Eugenio Aramburu]] overthrew Perón in a military coup in 1955 and joined the IMF.<ref name=":0" />

=== Operation Condor ===
In 1976, as part of [[Operation Condor]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] backed a [[Far-right politics|far-right]] coup in Argentina that overthrew president [[Isabel Perón]]. After the coup, a military junta led by [[Jorge Videla|Jorge Rafael Videla]] took power and killed or disappeared 30,000 left-wing dissidents.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=Uki Goñi|date=2017-04-28|title=40 years later, the mothers of Argentina’s 'disappeared' refuse to be silent|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/28/mothers-plaza-de-mayo-argentina-anniversary|newspaper=The Guardian|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2022-01-01}}</ref> Under the junta, [[Milton Friedman|Friedmanites]] from the United States controlled Argentina's central bank.<ref name=":0" /> In 1983, military rule ended, and Videla was given a life sentence for crimes against humanity in 1985.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=Rosario Gabino|date=2008-10-10|title=Argentina: Videla a la cárcel|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_7664000/7664716.stm|newspaper=BBC|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2022-01-01}}</ref>

=== Recent history ===
[[Raúl Alfonsín]] was elected in 1983 following the end of the junta. His presidency ended with a hyperinflation crisis in 1989. He was succeeded by the [[Conservatism|conservative]] [[Carlos Menem]]. Menem pardoned members of the former junta and reduced taxes and business regulations. By 1990, the inflation rate was 20,000%. He pegged the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar, oversaw mass privatization, and destroyed the country's extensive rail system.<ref name=":0" />

Between 1999 and 2001, [[Liberalism|liberal]] president [[Fernando de la Rúa]] continued to implement the IMF's austerity policies. A bank run began in November 2001, and de la Rúa limited withdrawals to $250 per person per week. Riots and a general [[Strike action|strike]] followed, leading de la Rúa to flee the country on 20 December.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of 2001, four presidents resigned within two weeks.<ref name=":2">{{Web citation|author=Janine Jackson, Mark Weisbrot|newspaper=[[FAIR]]|title=Milei Is ‘Really as Extreme as You Get in Right-Wing Libertarian Ideas’|date=2023-11-28|url=https://fair.org/home/milei-is-really-as-extreme-as-you-get-in-right-wing-libertarian-ideas/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129113432/https://fair.org/home/milei-is-really-as-extreme-as-you-get-in-right-wing-libertarian-ideas/|archive-date=2023-11-29}}</ref>

[[Néstor Kirchner]] became president in 2003. Between 2003 and 2015, Argentina reduced [[poverty]] by 71% and [[extreme poverty]] by 81% and increased GDP per capita by 42%. [[Mauricio Macri]], who came to power with [[United States of America|U.S.]] support in 2015 and ruled until 2019, took a $57 billion loan from the IMF that led to 140% [[inflation]] and a 40% increase in poverty.<ref name=":2" /> In February 2022, Argentina joined [[People's Republic of China|China]]'s infrastructure program, the [[Belt and Road Initiative]].<ref>{{News citation|date=2022-02-06|title=Argentina officially joins BRI in major boost for China-Latin America cooperation|url=https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1251555.shtml|newspaper=Global Times|retrieved=2022-02-08}}</ref> The areas of cooperation include green energy, technology, education, agriculture, communication, and nuclear energy.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=[[Benjamin Norton]]|date=2022-02-12|title=Trapped in IMF debt, Argentina turns to Russia and joins China's Belt & Road|url=https://youtu.be/NZzATH_759s|newspaper=[[Multipolarista]]}}</ref>

==== Milei presidency ====
In October 2023, the far-right [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] [[Javier Milei]] was elected as Argentina's president. He seeks to abolish Argentina's central bank and replace its currency with the U.S. dollar.<ref name=":2" />

In December 2023, Milei announced the Decree of Necessity and Urgency and the Omnibus Law, allowing him to pass decrees without approval from [[National Congress of Argentina|Congress]]. His decrees have promoted foreign investment and [[Privatization|privatize]] the economy. He cut diplomatic relations with [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]] and [[Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela|Venezuela]], refused to join [[BRICS]], and resumed talks with the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]].<ref name=":02">{{Web citation|author=Eduardo Rodriguez|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Argentina is NOT for sale! Argentinians rise up against Milei’s neoliberal plunder|date=2024-02-15|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/argentina-is-not-for-sale/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224143540/https://www.liberationnews.org/argentina-is-not-for-sale/|archive-date=2024-02-24}}</ref>

On 24 January, 1.5 million [[Proletariat|workers]] went on a [[Strike action|general strike]]. While Milei was visiting the [[State of Israel|Zionist Entity]], the courts ruled to suspend his Omnibus Law.<ref name=":02" />

== Economy ==
Argentina's debt is tied to the U.S. dollar, and it cannot print its own money.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
[[Category:Countries]]

<references />
[[Category:Latin American countries]]
[[Category:Countries targeted by CIA coups]]

Antonio Gramsci's prison notebooks

2024-08-17T18:18:30Z

GrainEater: Grammar and formatting

The '''notebooks written by Antonio Gramsci''', also known as the "'''Prison Notebooks'''," are a series of works written by the [[Italian Republic|Italian]] [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] philosopher Antonio Gramsci during his imprisonment by the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|fascist regime in Italy]]. It consists of 33 notebooks in total, of which 29 consists of Gramsci's studies and reflections on a wide range of topics, including [[philosophy]], [[history]], [[literature]], [[sociology]], and political theory.<ref>{{Citation|author=Antonion Gramsci, Anthony Buttigieg (ed.)|year=2007|title=Prison Notebooks|page=ix|quote=Antonio Gramsci's prison writings (excluding letters) comprise thirty-three notebooks, several of which are only partially filled. Twenty nine of these notebooks contain the results of Gramsci's research and reflections on a broad range of political, cultural, philosophical, historical, literary and other topics. The remaining four notebooks are devoted almost entirely to translations of German texts.|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231060820|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=4E84790CB2CB7D6274CCA65C5FB854C6|volume=1}}</ref>

The publication and dissemination of Gramsci's work faced various challenges due to political circumstances. The notebooks were initially smuggled out of prison by Gramsci's sister-in-law, Tatiana Schucht. However, the manuscripts were seized by the fascist authorities, and only a portion of them was recovered and published in the 1940s. It wasn't until the 1970s that a more complete edition of the notebooks became available, with critical editions being published in subsequent years. Scholars and editors, such as Valentino Gerratana and Joseph Buttigieg, have played significant roles in editing and translating the notebooks, making them more accessible to a wider audience.

==Further Reading==

* [[Library:Prison Notebooks In Original Italian]]

==References==

Li Keqiang

2024-08-13T20:17:14Z

GrainEater: Reverted edit by GrainEater (talk) to last revision by General-KJ

{{Message box/Stub}}{{Infobox politician|name=Li Keqiang|native_name=李克强|birth_date=3 July 1955|birth_place=Hefei, Anhui, [[China]]|death_date=27 October 2023|death_place=[[Shanghai]], China|death_cause=Heart failure|nationality=Han Chinese|image=Li Keqiang.jpg}}

'''Li Keqiang''' was a [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] politician who served as [[premier of China]] from 15 March 2013, when he replaced [[Wen Jiabao]], to 11 March 2023 when he was succeeded by [[Li Qiang]].

Li initially rose through the ranks of Chinese politics through his involvement in the [[Communist Youth League of China]] (CYLC), serving as its first secretary from 1993 to 1998. From 1998 to 2004, Li served as the governor of [[Henan]] and the province's party secretary. From 2004 to 2007 he served as the party secretary of Liaoning, the top political office in the province. From 2008 to 2013, Li served as the first-ranked vice premier under then-premier Wen Jiabao, overseeing a broad portfolio which included economic development, price controls, finance, [[climate change]], and macroeconomic management.

Initially seen as a candidate for becoming the paramount leader, Li instead assumed the post of premier in 2013, and facilitated the Chinese government's shifting of priorities from export-led growth to a greater focus on internal consumption. During his term Li headed the State Council and was one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, National Security and Deepening Reforms. Additionally, Li and his cabinet initiated the Made in China 2025 strategic plan in May 2015.
[[Category:Stubs]]
[[Category:Pages needing references]]
[[Category:Chinese politicians]]

Li Keqiang

2024-08-13T20:16:35Z

GrainEater: Reverted edit by General-KJ (talk) to last revision by ComradeSyntrofos

{{Infobox politician|name=Li Keqiang|native_name=李克强|birth_date=3 July 1955|birth_place=Hefei, Anhui, China|death_date=27 October 2023|death_place=Shanghai, China|death_cause=Heart failure|nationality=Han Chinese|image=Li Keqiang.jpg}}

'''Li Keqiang''' was a Chinese premier from 15 March 2013 to 11 March 2023.

Li initially rose through the ranks of Chinese politics through his involvement in the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), serving as its first secretary from 1993 to 1998. From 1998 to 2004, Li served as the governor of Henan and the province's party secretary. From 2004 to 2007 he served as the party secretary of Liaoning, the top political office in the province. From 2008 to 2013, Li served as the first-ranked vice premier under then-premier Wen Jiabao, overseeing a broad portfolio which included economic development, price controls, finance, climate change, and macroeconomic management.

Initially seen as a candidate for becoming the paramount leader, Li instead assumed the post of premier in 2013, and facilitated the Chinese government's shifting of priorities from export-led growth to a greater focus on internal consumption. During his term Li headed the State Council and was one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, National Security and Deepening Reforms. Additionally, Li and his cabinet initiated the Made in China 2025 strategic plan in May 2015.
[[Category:Stubs]]
[[Category:Pages needing references]]

Mikhail Tukhachevsky

2024-07-30T17:49:15Z

GrainEater: Minor changes to wording, layout and grammar

{{Infobox military person|name=Mikhail Tukhachevsky|native_name=Михаил Тухачевский|birth_date=16 February 1893|birth_place=Alexandrovskoye, Dorogobuzhsky Uyezd, Smolensk Governorate, [[Russian Empire]]|death_date=12 June 1937 (aged 44)|death_place=[[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]|image=Mikhail_Tukhachevsky_circa_1935.jpg|image_size=260px}}

'''Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky''', was a [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet]] general who served as a [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]] from November 20, 1935 until his demotion on June 11, 1937, a day before his execution on June 12. Tukhachevsky and several other generals were executed in the [[Soviet purges of 1937–1938]] due to being part of a conspiracy to assassinate [[Joseph Stalin]] and establish a military dictatorship.

== Early life ==
Tukhachevsky was born to an [[aristocratic]] family on February 16,1893 in Alexandrovskoye, Dorogobuzhsky District in the region of [[Smolensk]] of the [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]]. He graduated from the Aleksander Military School in 1914.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|year=1979|title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|title-url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Mikhail+Tukhachevsky|chapter=Tukhachevskii, Mikhail Nikolaevich}}</ref>

== Military career ==

=== First World War ===
When the [[First World War]] began in 1914, Tukhachevsky joined the Russian army and served in the Semyenovsky Guards Regiment as a first lieutenant. Tukhachevsky was taken prisoner by the [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germans]] in 1915 but escaped home to Russia in 1917.<ref name=":0" />

=== Red Army ===
Tukhachevsky joined the [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] in 1918 and became military commissar for defense of the [[Moscow]] region in the same year. During the [[Russian Civil War]] he commanded the First Army of the Eastern Front from June 1918 to January 1919 and the Eighth Army of the Southern Front from January to March 1919. From April to November 1919, Tukhachevsky commanded the Fifth Army of the Eastern Front, carrying out successful joint operations to free the [[Urals]] and [[Siberia]] from the armies of [[Alexander Kolchak]]. He commanded the troops of the Caucasian Front from February to April 1920 during the rout of [[Anton Denikin]]’s forces and commanded the troops of the Western Front from April 1920 to August 1921 in the [[Polish–Soviet War|Polish''–''Soviet War]]. Tukhachevsky was commander of the Seventh Army when the Kronstadt Anti-Soviet Rebellion was suppressed in March 1921 and commander of the forces in Tambov Region from April to May 1921, when the Antonov revolt was put down.<ref name=":0" />

After the end of the civil war, Tukhachevsky was active in reforming the Red Army and held several military positions throughout the Union, where he applied his military expertise earning him the rank of Marshal in 1935.<ref name=":0" />

== Trial ==
On the May 22, 1937 Tukhachevsky was arrested due to the discovery of a plot to assassinate Stalin and overthrow the government, placing a military dictatorship sympathetic to [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi Germany]] in its place; over the next few weeks, several more Soviet generals were arrested as well. A trial was held June 11, 1937, in which the defendants' guilt was demonstrated unquestionably and a confession retrieved from all eight of the accused. Tukhachevsky and his co-conspirators were convicted and sentenced to execution; on 12 June, 1937, they were shot.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Grover Furr]], Vladimir L. Bobrov, Sven-Eric Holmström|year=2021|title=Trotsky and the Military Conspiracy|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Trotsky_and_the_Military_Conspiracy|chapter=Introduction – The Tukhachevsky Affair|section=What Happened}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
After the ascension of the [[Revisionism|revisionist]] [[Nikita Khrushchev]] to the role of General Secretary, he enacted a policy of "[[Destalinisation]]", and as a part of this he whitewashed the reputation of Tukhachevsky, declaring him innocent (despite a lack of evidence) and restoring the rank of Marshal to him posthumously on January 31, 1957.<ref>{{Citation|author=Grover Furr, Vladimir L. Bobrov, Sven-Eric Holmström|year=2021|title=Trotsky and the Military Conspiracy|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Trotsky_and_the_Military_Conspiracy|chapter=Chapter 9. Soviet evidence – The Arao Telegramme}}</ref> Bourgeois historians, as a part of their commitment to [[anti-communism]], maintain the innocence of Tukhachevsky into the modern day, despite the overwhelming evidence that proves him guilty, preferring to ignore it in favor of choosing the convenient answer of Stalin supposedly framing Tukhachevsky for reasons unknown.<ref>{{Citation|author=Grover Furr, Vladimir L. Bobrov, Sven-Eric Holmström|year=2021|title=Trotsky and the Military Conspiracy|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Trotsky_and_the_Military_Conspiracy#Chapter_4._Western_books_that_lie_about_the_Tukhachevsky_affair_–_Stephen_Kotkin|chapter=Chapter 4. Western books that lie about the Tukhachevsky affair – Stephen Kotkin}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Marshals of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Russians]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War]]