1. WHY DID YUGOSLAVIA COLLAPSE? The conflicts in the Balkans express the class struggle. They go beyond the issues of secessionism and nationalism to which Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Macedonians, and Albanians have succumbed as a result of the decomposition of the former Yugoslavia. Imperialism (mainly Yankee and German imperialism) taking advantage of internal conditions, is driving them into wars that in reality do not concern any clear national interests or social and political vindication on the part of any of them. The war in Yugoslavia broke out in 1991. The proclamation of formal independence by most
Yugoslav republics meant the initiation of an armed conflict that had a limited character in Slovenia, was intense and bloody in Croatia, and deadly and protracted in the case of Bosnia- Herzegovina. It finally led to the splitting and liquidation of the Yugoslav federal republic.
Although the war broke out only a few years ago, the internal causes and factors that led to it preexisted and acted for decades. During the decade of the 80's, the internal contradictions social, political and national had intensified and came to a peak. Intense political and economic crisis, skyrocketing inflation, huge debt, industrial breakdowns, massive layoffs caused by the reactionary bourgeois classes led to the collapse of Yugoslavia. The crisis of the 1980's was a culmination of the social contradictions developed in Yugoslavia since the 1950's under Tito's rule, mainly due to two key factors:
- 1. The most important one was self management in the economy, namely economic decentralization of a capitalist character.
- 2. Political centralism of an undemocratic character by a ruling bourgeois clique.
Self management meant that individual enterprises became independent and responsible for their profits or losses and that economic success and profitability (or accumulation) was not measured on the national level, but on the enterprise level. Consequently, the resources on a national level were not allocated on the basis of a national plan of even and isometric development, but were proportionally higher for the more developed areas. Therefore, the development of the economy in Yugoslavia before and after the birth of the socialist federal republic in 1945, was uneven. The northern republics of Slovenia and Croatia (including Serbia) were more developed and industrialized than the others that were poorer and more backward. Macedonia was the poorest of all. The northern republics Slovenia and Croatia, economically, geographically and in some aspects culturally closer to Western Europe, became relatively richer than the others since the conditions for capital accumulation were more favorable. At the same, the bourgeois classes of Slovenia and Croatia waged a chauvinist propaganda from the early days of the republic.
Self management in the economy was combined with authoritarian centralism in politics. This was the means of the Tito ruling clique to secure the state control and preserve power. Tito, who although was Croatian himself, used and based his rule mainly on the more numerous and well- entrenched Serbian bureaucracy and the Serbian dominated army, which were the cores of the federal army of Yugoslavia. Before disintegration, about 70% of the Yugoslavian corp of officers of the Yugoslavian army were Serbs. This centralism of the state machine under Serbian hegemony gave ground for serious complaints and grievances from the other ethnic bourgeois classes and peoples. These bourgeois classes, especially the Slovenian and Croatian, denounced the Serbian bureaucratic hegemony and exploited it as a means to convince the people in their separatist drive. The character of the economy under the Tito regime was prospectively working for their sake.
There were also other factors that undoubtedly played a role. They were the national-historical traditions, the culture as a part of national identity, and religion. But certainly, they would not have played any significant role if the basic factors listed above did not exist.
The most serious national prejudice with recent historical background is that between Serbs and Croats. During the Second World War hundreds of thousands of Serbs were massacred by the fascist Croatian gangs known as Ustasi. Their tradition is alive in today's Croatia, including its government. Another focal point of national tension is that of Kosovo, inside Serbia, which is today inhabited by an overwhelming majority of Albanians, but is considered by the Serbs to be the birthplace of their nation. Religion plays a role here since the Albanians are mainly Muslim while the Serbs are Orthodox Christians. Through religion, Turkey exerts an influence there, and that helps to ignite further the existing contradictions. The communist and democratic movement in Croatia played a key role in smashing the Ustasi power, and establishing the postwar federal Yugoslavia. There is also the well-known tradition of struggles of the Serbian and Albanian peoples against their common oppressors (i.e., the Turks) and fighting for the realization of their national aspirations. Consequently, it is a mistake to attribute today's hatred and war simply to national and religious differences as bourgeois intellectuals do in the United States and Europe.
It was on the basis of the internal socioeconomic and political crisis determined by the mode of production in post war Yugoslavia, that the reactionary ethnic bourgeois classes launched a separatist drive for their own interests. This resulted in hysteria and chauvinism that uses ideological backwardness, and religious prejudices to preserve their power. Milocevich (a.k.a. Milosevic), Tutzman, lzedbegovich, and Rugova used this weapon to the best of their abilities. Yugoslavia is a fine example (in the negative sense) of how a sharpening social contradiction between antagonistic classes is transformed into a national/religious one between peoples under the hegemony of the respective reactionary bourgeois classes. Religion was also used as a weapon and plays an important role today, especially in Bosnia and Kosovo (Muslim versus Orthodox), but also in Slovenia and Croatia (Catholic versus Orthodox) where the Vatican and the Catholic church established strong links and influence, and promoted western imperialist interests at the same time.
In Bosnia, under the banner of Islamism, Slavic Bosnian Muslims encouraged and backed by imperialist powers, are waging war on other nationalities. On the other hand, playing the same game, Bosnian Serb generals and high-ranking officials state that "their war is not national but religious"(!). They also find the backing of certain forces in Orthodox (imperialist) Russia. Hence, under the disguise of God and religion, cardinals, bishops, patriarchs and other heads of the churches bless the murderous manslaughter in Yugoslavia. Here religion, as in other oppressed countries (e.g., Peru) plays a deeply reactionary role at the service of imperialist interests, which must be denounced. Bosnian Muslims, for example, use religion as the core of their identity. But religion is not a criterion for national identification. It can only be considered to be an element of culture that does not play a significant role in the life of an existing nation ??. Therefore, a united Bosnia can only exist (and it should exist) within a united Yugoslavia. The position of Yankee imperialism on the Bosnian question is irrational, narrow and reactionary because it demands a united Bosnia, while at the same time it is against a united Yugoslavia. Since Yugoslavia was divided along the lines of national origin, it was natural that in every republic, the population would be divided along the same lines. Thus, the forces (internal and external) responsible for the destruction of the Yugoslav federal republic now support the idea of a "united" (even though practically divided) independent Bosnia only to serve their imperialist interests.
2. The War in Kosovo Kosovo with an overwhelming majority of Albanians, estimated more than 80% (1,730,000) of the population is an explosive area inside the borders of the New Yugoslavia. Kosovo is the weak link of the New Yugoslavia made up by Serbia and Montenegro. The Albanian population there was subjected to stiff national oppression in the spheres of economic life, social and political rights, language, education, and culture. This situation was a significant factor of friction between Yugoslavia and the then socialist Albania. When the secessionist wars in Yugoslavia mounted (1989-1995) and the ethnic conflicts broke out, the situation was about to explode in Kosovo. The Serbian leadership of Milosevic launched a campaign of chauvinism, abolishing the status of "autonomous region" for Kosovo in 1989, threatening to use the army to smash the people's movement. Until then the leadership of the people's struggle in Kosovo was in the hands of a democratic movement. But after the collapse of the former regime in Albania, the nationalist movement was taken over by reactionary bourgeois forces acting not on behalf of the people's interests, but on behalf of their own interests, the new rulers of Albania and their imperialist masters, mainly the U.S. Ibrahim Rugova is the typical representative of the reactionary forces in Kosovo today. And Kosovo is targeted today by U.S. imperialism for the decisive blow against the New Yugoslavia. In 1991 economic sanctions were imposed on the New Yugoslavia, and in December 1992, George Bush in a letter to Serbia's President Slobodac Milosevic threatened direct U.S. military intervention (through its appendices NATO and UN) inside the territories of New Yugoslavia if a war broke out there. Clinton reaffirmed this policy in June 1998.
The main interest of Yankee imperialism and its European partners to secede Kosovo from the New Yugoslavia is economic. This region is one of the wealthiest of Yugoslavia, it produces minerals (lead, zinc, cadmium, silver and gold), and has 17 billion tons of coal reserves. The Trepca State mining complex, for example, is worth at least five billion dollars, and the Ttari Tng mine has 17 metallurgical treatment sites, smelting plants, railroad lines, a power plant and the country's largest battery plant. All this wealth was recovered by Yugoslavian patriots after they defeated the foreign plunderers in the 40's: the German Nazis and the Italian fascists.
3. THE SO-CALLED KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY (U.C.K.) After the imperialist political pressure and economic sanctions ( mainly by U.S. and Germany), on the New Yugoslavia failed, a paramilitary force known as UCK was put in motion in the Kosovo region in the late 1997. Many members of the Rugova clique (Democratic League) were enrolled in the group along with European mercenaries (mainly British and German) who fought alongside Muslim forces in Bosnia. This is what one of the mouthpieces of U.S. imperialism has to say: "the U.C.K. was organized six years ago to fight for independence and closer affiliation with Albania, these guerrillas said. During the 1992-1995 conflict in Bosnia, some of its leaders fought with the Muslim-led forces against the Serbs . . . " (The New York Times, March 2, 1998). Surprisingly, the same imperialist sewer that has been hiding the thousands of political and military attacks of the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) against the fascist regime in Peru, tell us about the supposed "victories" of the paramilitary gang known as U.C.K. in Kosovo, " . . . In the last few months the rebels have overrun more than a dozen police stations, carrying away scores of automatic weapons . . . they have attacked many police patrols and checkpoints and claim responsibility for the assassinations of more than 50 Serbian policemen and officials, as well as of ethnic Albanians suspected of collaborating with the Serbian authorities."
And more important, it reported open fund raising in imperialist countries to pay the U.C.K., this is reminiscent of the CIA- sponsored fund raising done in the U.S. in the 1980's to topple the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua: "A fund-raising event for the rebels in Brooklyn (New York) on February 11, 1998, at an Albanian American community meeting, netted $16,000 in a single night for U.C.K. representatives... The overseas fund-raising campaign is called `Homeland Calls Upon Us.'" Although the attempts of the imperialist mouthpieces to legitimize this paramilitary group as a guerrilla group fighting for national liberation, they cannot hide that it is a pressure armed group developed by imperialism inside Yugoslavia, to topple and submit this oppressed country.
With respect to the armed actions of this group, initially Yankee imperialism applied double politics and disinformation. Thus, Robert Gelbart, the U.S. envoy to the region called the UCK "terrorist," and even Yankee puppet Ibrahim Rugova called it "a creation of the Serb security services." But these adjectives were a scheme trying to show that the U.C.K. was an "independent" and "indigenous" organization. Mr. Gelbart claimed later that the U.C.K was the "new power" of Kosovo, which has replaced Rugova. Here, it is interesting to note how paramilitary groups organized and paid by U.S. imperialism are trying to duplicate and misrepresent themselves taking positions of legitimate liberation movements such as the Communist Party of Perú (PCP) . For example, Salim Suleman a leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (U.C.K.) talks about "self reliance," "war of movements," "respect for the culture, religiosity of the people," which is a gross duplication of the positions of the PCP. These positions can be only practiced in deeds by genuine revolutionary movements and not by paramilitary bands like the UCK. Obviously, the strategists of imperialism are studying the public documents of the PCP! However, the fascist nature of the U.C.K. is easily exposed when Suleman talks about "expelling the 150,000 Serbs" from Kosovo, and the preponderance of weapons over ideology to win a guerrilla war by stating that the "U.C.K. needs guns, guns and guns."
Another big propaganda tabloid of U.S. imperialism, the Washington Post reported on May 26, 1998 that most of the money comes from abroad, primarily from Germany and the United States, and the money is funneled through "established Albanian immigrant groups." This is a well-known CIA tactic to channeling funds abroad to accomplish special operations. Since March, the Washington Post has been reporting that the U.S. groups have sent four million dollars to the U.C.K. "This is a legal operation because the U.C.K. has not been classified by the U.S. government as terrorist," said the State Department spokesman John Russel. Certainly, Yankee imperialism can't label the U.C.K. "terrorist" because it is under its control. But, this is enough to unmask the farce of labeling the People's War in Perú as "terrorist," which is a revolutionary storm shaking up the old Peruvian state for the last 18 years. If this mercenary group known as U.C.K. acting under the mask of " Kosovo Liberation Army," is crushed soon, we will witness another imperialist military invasion in the heart of the New Yugoslavia. The U.C.K. is a pressure group, a tool of imperialism, to obtain political and economic concessions to U.S. and European corporations in Kosovo and Bosnia (Serb areas). The U.S. point man in the Balkans, Richard Holbrooke (the new Yankee puppeteer at the United Nations) has already stated: "...NATO is already making contingency plans if everything falls apart." (June 7, 1998. Agency France Press).
4. The Invasion of Bosnia Imperialism intervened openly in Bosnia under the pretext of "Serbian ethnic cleansing." The pro-imperialist leadership of Alia lzedbegovish has pursued western imperialist assistance. From the beginning, he begged for direct military intervention along with assistance from Islamic organizations worldwide, including the Organization of Islamic Countries (O.I.C). There were thousands of Muslims from other countries (mainly Saudi Arabia and Gulf Emirates), and European mercenaries who fought alongside Bosnian Muslims. The peculiarity of Bosnian Muslims is that they lack basic elements of separate national identity and they had to resort to using religion as the main expression of their identity and of their prospective statehood. Besides the recognition of "independence" by the European Community -EC (umbrella under which European imperialist countries operate today), Bosnian Muslims and Croats received the political and military backing of Yankee imperialism, who despite the charade of "an arms embargo," has promoted its economic interests there. Imperialist military intervention took place under the pretext of "peace keeping " and " humanitarian" mission, and soon Milosevic and the Bosnian Serbs found themselves under the bayonets of imperialism, blackmailed to sign a "peace agreement" to partition Bosnia. This is artificial "peace" imposed by imperialism, which does not meet the democratic aspirations of the people, and is keeping Bosnia as one of the most volatile and explosive areas in the Balkans.
5. The Independence of the Yugoslav Republics and the Right to Self-determination From a Marxist viewpoint, recognition to the right of self-determination of any nation whose majority wants it, is a matter of principle. We should never use violence to prevent it, even if this right does not serve the interests of the people and takes place under the hegemony of reactionary classes. However, Marxists support the right to self-determination only if it serves the interests of the proletariat and revolution.
In the case of Yugoslavia, the "Independence" of the republics should be opposed and denounced as serving imperialism and reaction and running against the interests of the proletariat and the peoples of Yugoslavia and the Balkans. A united Yugoslavia was and still remains in the best? interests of the people, even under a Capitalist regime as it was of course, in the previous one.
The disintegration of Yugoslavia took place with the active involvement and intervention of the imperialists, which was the crucial complement to the internal causes. No liquidation of Yugoslavia would have occurred should the imperialists not intervened nor encouraged "independence," which brought up an unjust war and the worst disaster in the history of Yugoslavia for the people of Yugoslavia. And of course this "independence" meant real dependence and subjugation to imperialism, in which the "independent" states are today its deformed satellites.
6. THE SHATTERED "NEW WORLD OF PEACE" OF IMPERIALISM To analyze and understand the wars that have been going on in the Balkans, Communists should examine Lenin's teachings: "Bourgeois chauvinism and proletarian internationalism are two irreconcilable hostile slogans that correspond to the two big class camps of the capitalist world and express two policies - and furthermore, they express two world outlooks on the national question" (Lenin).
National chauvinism is the principal form of bourgeois ideology, which is counterpoised by proletarian internationalism. But the concrete form of application of these ideologies as a political line depends primarily on the concrete conditions of the country in question, and then on the international situation. Therefore, a correct stand on the wars in the Balkans or any war anywhere in the world is a matter of principle, a vital question for revolutionaries.
War has been proven to be the absolute, and we could say the infallible criterion of distinction between revolutionary Marxists, and opportunist betrayers of the interests of the proletariat. While in periods of peace, things were not clear but confusing for the masses, and opportunists themselves could avoid exposure behind false declarations. War always exposed them naked in front of the whole world, and manifested what they really were, instead of what they pretended to be.
There are two kinds of wars in history: the just and the unjust wars. Communists always support the first and oppose the latter. A war can be unjust for one or both sides in conflict, but cannot be just for both sides. There is also the case that if a war is unjust for both sides and the victory of one side may be favorable to the struggle of the proletariat, then Marxists may support the victory of that side. This is because the interests of the international proletariat (and not only in one country), are the ultimate criteria for revolutionaries' to take a stand on a war. Thus, the justness of a war is ultimately judged in terms of its contribution to the world proletarian revolution.
Lenin also teaches us when to launch a war of national defense, " . . . Marxists should educate the masses in advance on this kind of war, and to instigate national hatred as Marx did in 1848 and afterwards, when he called to wage war against Russia, and as Engels instigated the national hatred of Germans against their oppressors Napoleon B. and the Russian Czarism" (Lenin).
A completely different context exists today in the Balkans where national hatred cannot be progressive, but utterly reactionary, a weapon in the hands of the ruling classes and imperialism to split and conquer the people. However, it does not mean that a possibility of a war of national defense against imperialist aggression, conquest and annexation cannot occur.
Communists are able to transform an ethnic civil war or an imperialist war of aggression into a Civil War of class content, a People's War. This is the only way to achieve long lasting and democratic peace, which requires one condition: The leadership of the Communist Party, a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Party. This is lacking today. In the meantime, there are imminent tasks associated with the danger of war. One of these is the struggle for the preservation of borders from being sliced by imperialist interests, and secondly, it is to take a stand toward the unjust wars taking place in different parts of the world today, regardless of the lack of organized forces of revolution in these countries.
Two possible types of unjust wars exist today. The first is a war of imperialist intervention to crush a war of national liberation using several pretexts such as the tale of "war on drugs" (e.g., to combat the People's War in Peru), the other is a war of national suppression, conquest and annexation waged by a reactionary ruling class of a nation colluded with imperialism against another nation and/or people, for which the pretext is "humanitarianism" (e..g, Yugoslavia).
The new period of open and ruthless imperialist interventions against oppressed countries was intensified after the collapse of Soviet social-imperialism, in which the sole world policeman (Yankee imperialism) was trying to submit these countries to the era of traditional colonialism. With the United nations (UN) as a political instrument to legitimize their aggressions, and NATO as their military wing, the imperialists, (mainly the U.S.) burned down Iraq, intervened "humanely" in Somalia slaughtering thousands of people, escalated the military intervention in the territories of the former Yugoslavia, occupied and colonized Albania, Haiti, while they planned interventions in other parts of the world where their interests have been threatened. For the people of the world under attack the task is to Resist and Combat! World People's War Against the Imperialist Aggressors! What are the tasks of the people in imperialist countries? In the countries which participate in the imperialist intervention, two basic things should be done (besides intense political propaganda). First, they should make every effort to undermine and sabotage the imperialist war machine. Second, refuse participation in the war on the side of the imperialist butchers. It is important that Communists propagate the idea of refusing to participate in an unjust war to the masses, especially the youth. They should continue to popularize the PCP slogan: Yankee Go Home! and adapt slogans according to the situation in each country. In Greece for example the slogans "Not one soldier to Yugoslavia!" Resist and Combat, Yankee Troops out of the Balkans! Defeat the Imperialists! Elections no, People's War yes! The youth's non participation in wars of imperialist interventions to suppress revolutions in the Third World, is a democratic right that must be defended. The same line must hold for the case of the second type, that is, a war of national aggression and conquest such as the one waged by Turkey in Kurdistan today, and the Israeli Zionist occupation of Palestine. The difference in this case is that it will take place under a state of general mobilization, and in conditions of rampant chauvinism and terrorism against the oppressed nation being occupied.
It was previously mentioned that the strategic goal of the communists in case of an unjust war is its conversion into a People's War, but the current conditions must be taken into account.
In Hitler's Germany tens of thousands of antifascists refused to serve in the fascist armed forces and to participate in the criminal war against other peoples and the Soviet Union. Others refused in the front to obey genocidal orders. From those, 30,000 (three divisions) were arrested and sentenced to death, 20,000 from them were executed while most of the rest died in prisons, labor camps or "death units" in the front. Even today, the reactionary German state not only refuses to recognize them as resistance fighters against fascism, but it has also deprived the rights of those who survived Nazism, keeping their "criminal" records under fascisam intact, while those that refused to serve in the East Germany armed forces, were rewarded.
In Holland, a country that waged the colonial war against Indonesia, many young people refused to participate. Organized mainly by the Communist Party, hundreds joined an underground cover network. Others went to Indonesia and joined the anti colonial movement of the people, and some deserted and fought on the side of the "Republicans" (the National Indonesian Army). Even today they are considered deserters by the Dutch state.
Before and during the Gulf War, 5000 U.S. drafted civilians and 2000 soldiers refused to go to fight, and most of them were imprisoned, maltreated and prosecuted by martial courts. The example of the anti-imperialist opposition to the war in Vietnam in the 60's and early 70's was also remarkable, and later during the contra war in Nicaragua, the solidarity movement (despite its weaknesses and ideological shortcomings ) accomplished its purpose. In Greece which offered a warship to the imperialist war, the crew in the first mission was selected to consist mostly of officers and five year military service volunteers, so that a popular reaction would be avoided.
Proletarian internationalism is a matter of principle for communists. But principle is not mainly the upholding and defense in theory of this position but its practical application in deeds.
The Balkan peninsula was considered in the past to be the "ammunition depot" of Europe because it was the region where all contradictions of the continent have converged. Recent events show that it continues to be so today. But a bad thing can turn into a good thing. And as a rule drawn from history, revolution has come through war.
At the start of the Yugoslavian crisis, all countries with the exception of one (Albania) were under imperialist dependence and control to a certain extent. Greece in the E.C. and NATO, Turkey in NATO, Romania and Bulgaria in the Warsaw Pact, and Yugoslavia herself though not belonging to any economic or military alliance, had developed strong political and economic links with Western Europe. Yugoslavia had borrowed considerable amounts of cash in the form of loans and the western industrial nations ? had investments since the early eighties in Special Economic Zones. Slovenia and Croatia, for example, had already closed links with the European imperialist powers.
After the collapse of revisionism in Eastern (1989-90), a realignment of imperialist influence took place in the Balkan countries. Bulgaria which had the status of the "most loyal satellite" of the Soviet Union turned into a puppet state of the European Community (EC). However, white Russia still has some influence there (through its contacts in the revisionist Bulgarian Socialist Party). Rumania that was not so dependent on the former Soviet Union, gradually has been establishing close ties with western economic powers. Albania, from the status of an independent country with no links at all with foreign capital, is now under the military and political control of imperialists.
In Yugoslavia, imperialism had systematically worked to undermine the unity of nationalities and liquidate it from within. All the local bourgeois classes established their own covert or semi- open links with western governments, and expected their backing for their planned separatist drive. This is even more clear in the case of Slovenia and Croatia. In the period before proclaiming their "independence" they had received substantial amounts of economic and military assistance by imperialist countries, particularly Germany. Germany and Austria provided Slovenia with anti-aircraft and antitank missiles, and trained military personnel. When the "independence" of Slovenia and then of Croatia was proclaimed, crowds of people in the streets were celebrating carrying German flags! Although the local reactionary classes had proclaimed the "independence" of their nation and the units of the Yugoslav army there had disintegrated or retreated, there was still a decisive step remaining in the process of liquidation, and it didn't happen. This step was the international recognition of their independence and status by the E.C. and the U.S., which lit up the flames of war in Yugoslavia. A decisive role was played by Germany which assertively backed Croatia. Croatia had the active support of Germany and Austria, the old friends of Croatian fascism. Even mercenaries were recruited in some countries (Germany, Great Britain), and sent to fight against the Serbs and the Yugoslavian army. Coincidentally, many of these European mercenaries are now enrolled in the U.C.K., the so-called "Kosovo Liberation Army."
Furthermore, when the ferocity of the war came to the front lines of the press, the propagandists of imperialism conducted a gross manipulation of public opinion, and shed tears about the "innocent victims" of the war, and the danger that this war represented to the "heart of Europe." War brought enormous devastation and human pain, eradicated masses of people, and created a flow of millions of refugees to Western Europe and within the former federal republics, since there was a significant degree of the population that were mixed among diffrent nationalities in prewar Yugoslavia.
Initially, the U.S. was hesitant to recognize the splinter republics, and concerned with the possibility of being outstripped by their European partners, and lose economic advantages in the Balkans, so they intervened, actively supporting the Bosnian Muslims against the Serbs. They mobilized NATO as a war instrument to take the lead from Europe and counterbalance the latter superior economic influence. The U.S. was the main promoter of the U.N. imposed embargo against the New Yugoslavia, including its expulsion from the U.N. and the main enforcer of the naval blockade.
In 1992, the U.S. played the card of building political influence and penetration inside Serbia with the appointment of the pro-imperialist (and former capitalist in the U.S.), prime minister M. Panich. When this game failed, because its front-man was defeated in the elections by Milosevic, the U.S. resorted to tighter sanctions and open military threats. They made public threats of open military intervention in the New Yugoslavia if this country crushes the Kosovo separatists working inside then country on behalf of imperialism.
There are some constraints for an imperialist military attack on the New Yugoslavia. One is the internal contradiction and conflict of interests of the imperialist powers. That is why the U.S. considers the support of its European allies absolutely necessary for such a war. The second is the danger that a military aggression represents for the stability of the Balkans, and the whole Europe (taking also into account the situation and role of Russia), and third, and more importantly, the costs and uncertain outcome of the war. Yugoslavia is not Iraq in terms of terrain, and the conditions of the war would be mostly non-tactical.
In any case, the U.S. uses military might as a basic comparative advantage toward its imperialist rivals, who may have strong political influence and higher level of economic ties, but cannot back them with a strong military force.
Since 1994 serious contradictions on policy have been raised among imperialists concerning their military response against the Serbs. This is not merely a difference in concept or tactics, but reflects the irreconcilable differences of imperialist interests in Yugoslavia, and the Balkans as a whole.
Thus, in terms of political and economic influence and control, Germany has clearly the upper hand in Slovenia and Croatia. Most of the foreign capital invested in these countries is German. Germany is also their main military equipment supplier. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, there is a contention between the U.S., and Germany and the other E.C. countries, for influence in all fields and this is also reflected in the contradictions and splits among the sections of the Bosnian (Muslim) bourgeoisie. In Macedonia, the U.S. has the basic influence and control through local puppets.
Imperialist influence is strong even inside the New Yugoslavia, especially in non Serbian nations. Imperialism funds and promotes its agents to capture key government posts, such us the appointment of M. Panich as Prime Minister, and the election of a new President of Montenegro. The former economic ties of Yugoslavia with the West, is also a rope in the neck pulled by imperialism through the IMF and the World Bank. On the other hand, there is the factor of Russia that is the big power with traditional influence in Serbia. This happens despite the Russian government's apparent approval of all measures and actions taken by Yankee imperialism against the New Yugoslavia and the Serbs. A step with political importance was the signing of the Military Cooperation Agreement between Russia and New Yugoslavia in Moscow, and this despite the fact that it will be effective after the lifting of the international sanctions.
In Albania, the role of imperialism in imposing a new order after the previous regime collapse was catalytic. First, Italy intervened in the country politically, economically and militarily. When the bourgeois class in Albania was being defeated, the Italian government intervened militarily. Albania was a former protectorate of Italy, occupied by her in 1939, before the attack against Greece was launched and was considered by Italian imperialism as a traditional sphere of influence. Many Italian companies have invested in Albania followed by the European and Yankee corporations. An important sector of investment is the tourist sector, which was previously undeveloped.
However, the U.S. quickly moved and displaced Italy in Albania, especially in terms of political and military control. The U.S. is today the basic supporter of the reactionary regime in Albania. At the same time, this regime is getting loans from various imperialist economic institutions dominated by the U.S. While imperialists are the real bandits who owe the Albanian people reparations for war crimes (Italy, Germany), and for plunder (Albanian gold taken by the British and the U.S.), the imperialists are the ones demanding reparations for nationalized property, and supposedly for the inflicted damages incurred by the People's Republic of Albania.
Referring to Italy, mention should also be made about her conflict with Slovenia. It concerns the status of the Italian minority there, the Italian capital nationalized by Slovenia as a member of the Yugoslavian Federal Republic after the war, and even territorial claims expressed mainly by Italian fascist circles that have a strong presence in today's Italian government. This clearly shows that imperialism, represented by its most reactionary factions in the E.C., uses territorial claims as a means to achieve goals, thus being the destabilizing factor of peace in the region. That was the main reason why Italy blocked Slovenian's entry into the E.C.
Finally, the role of Russia should be mentioned. Today's imperialist Russia is the successor of the Soviet Union, which after the death of Stalin became a social-imperialist superpower. Due to the collapse of the revisionist camp, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the extremely intense economic crisis that broke out, Russia has lost the dominant role that the Soviet Union used to have in the Balkans militarily through the Warsaw Pact, politically and economically through its absolute control over Bulgaria, its relative control over Romania influence inside Yugoslavia, and even in Turkey and Greece (through economic infiltration and geopolitical pressure). This role was after all, based on and enhanced by her global role as a superpower. But Russia still has strong political and economic links with Bulgaria and also with Romania. She also has a significant influence in Serbia and the New Yugoslavia. Towards Turkey, her position is strategic because of the Dardanelia Straits. Russia adopts, as in the past, a dual political tactic of pressure and approach. In doing so, Russia sold weapons to Turkey and politically supported the recent Turkish invasion in Iraq against the Kurdish people, and the guerrilla resistance inside Turkey. Imperialist Russia still remains the strongest military power in Europe. Her influence and role would be much more decisive if it did not depend so heavily on the West for economic assistance in exchange for which grants political concessions. Any way, there are social and political forces in today's Russia pressing for more active involvement in international politics, and particularly in the Balkans. These forces are comprised of ultra rightist, fascists and monarchists along with former revisionists and representatives of the so- called military-industrial complex. They label their line as "patriotic" but it is nothing more than a reborn chauvinist-imperialist line of the old Russian empire. In this context, new types of forces that have been inactive for many decades, have now been reactivated and reemerged in the pursuit of Russian imperialist interests abroad, and in the Balkans particularly. A typical and most important force of this kind is the Russian Orthodox Church. The appeal to the common racial origin expressed in the past as the theory of Pan-Slavicism has also been reactivated.
The increasing weight that Russian imperialism plays in the Balkans is demonstrated by her mediation efforts and the decisive role played in the latest "peace" plan for Bosnia, appearing as a traditional "ally" of the Serbs. In the near future, Russian imperialism's role in the Balkans will be enhanced, and this phenomenon will add another factor of inter-imperialist contention and instability to the area.
On the people's side, wars of national liberation against imperialist domination are surging ahead, and such are part of the World Proletarian Revolution, with the People's War in Peru as the vanguard front. The heroic Communist Party of Peru is leading the revolutionary masses towards the strategic counter-offensive and conquest of Power in all of Peru. This will be a great victory in the Strategic Offensive of the World Proletarian Revolution, a protracted global process that will wipe out imperialist domination out of the face of the Earth. Entering the XXI Century, the red flags of the international proletariat are full of optimism and victory!
Proletarian of All Countries, Unite!
Yankee Go Home!
Victory to the People's War in Perú!
Imperialists, get out from the Balkans!
Sources:
Anti Imperialist League of Greece.
Prensa Proletaria Internacional, Perú.
The New Flag (Vol. 2 , No. 3), December 1995.