The extent to which the mass media both here and in the United States is controlled by the bourgeoisie can be judged by the fact that the recent offensive launched by the liberation forces in Southern Vietnam has been carefully characterised as an "invasion" by North Vietnam. The intended purpose of this piece of manipulation is to obscure the cause of the conflict (i.e. the division of Vietnam by imperialism) and to make people forget that it is the United States which is the aggressor. It is US, troops which invaded Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It is the US. planes which drop bombs on Indo-China and it is the U.S. Navy which shells North Vietnamese ports today.
For Nixon therefore to argue that it is the North Vietnamese "invasion" which has forced him to escalate the war is to show complete contempt for the American people who have made it clear on many occasions that they want all US. troops and bombers pulled out of Indo-China. The real reasons for the escalation were given by Nixon himself in the speech announcing the hlockading of North Vietnamese ports: *.. North Vietnam has met each of these offers with insolence and insult. They have flatly and arrogantly refused to negotiate an end to the war and bring peace. Their answer to every peace offer we have made has been to escalate the war. In the two weeks alone since I offered to resume negotiations, Hanoi has launched three new offensives." In other words the North Vietnamese and the NLF refused to accept any settlement which did not guarantee a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces. Given the result of the Geneva Conference in 1954 this attitute is hardly surprising. Another reason was that South Vietnam had to be saved from Communism and "An American defeat in Vietnam would encourage this kind of aggression all over the world."
In plain language this means: a Vietnamese victory in the South would be a big boost to the socialist revolution in other parts of the We are witnessing a very educative spectacle at world. This is correct, but hardly a new facfor in the situation. Nixon's decision to escalate the war reflects an extremely serious division inside the American ruling class. it appears as though the section which believed that a withdrawal would be less counter-productive than a continued military struggle has, temporarily, lost the fight. Nixon has staked his entire future on the blockade of Vietnam being successful. We are not concerned with the future of Nixon or any other bourgeois politician, but rather with the blows which could be inflicted on U.S. imperialism and its allies. A continued offensive in the South coupled with international action to defeat the blockade would represent the most serious direct defeat that U.S. imperialism has suffered in its entire history. In this fact lies the importance of the struggle which the Vietnamese comrades are waging today. It is a struggle whose success would be of immense help to the struggles of the working class in both Europe and America, not to mention Asia, Africa, and Latin America. That is why we have consistently maintained that indo-China represents the highest point of the international class struggle against the bourgeoisie. It is obvious that the Vietnamese will need help if they are to succeed in breaking the blockade. WHAT MOSCOW AND PEKING COULD DO TO HELP DEFEAT U.S. IMPERIALISM For the last seven years the Vietnamese have been appealing to their two major allies to set up a common front against imperialism. In his Testament Ho Chi Minh issued a similar appeal, but with no effect. By their sectarianism the Chinese have consist ently rejected such appeals and, indeed, only a few months ago were branding "Soviet social-imperialism" as the main threat to peace in Asia. This bizarre attitude let the Soviet bureaucracy off the hook and enabled them to put pressure on the Vietnamese to come to terms with imperialism (regardless of what the latter entailed). To their credit the Vietnamese resisted all pressures and continued the struggle which has only recently culminated in the virtual collapse of the Thier: puppet regime and compelled Nixon to escalate the war in a last desperate bid to prevent total defeat.
Given the present situation it is clear that united actions by Peking and Moscow could make the blockage redundant. Even if we accept the fact that the Soviet bureaucracy is too timid to allow its air force or navy to be used directly to help the Vietnamese, the least that can be expected is that they will mount a massive airlift to keep the North Vietnamese supplied with the latest military equipment (some of which-the rocket bazookas have been used with good effect in the latest offensive). The easiest route would be via China (this includes rail transport as well) and hence the collaboration of the Chinese would be essential, particularly if rail tracks in Vietnam were subjected to heavy bombings. This is, of course, the most limited of actions and it remains to be seen what Peking and Moscow will do. After all it was not so long ago that the same TV screens which showed Nixon announcing the blockade showed him in Peking with Mao Tse Tung and Chou en Lai exchanging banalities about world peace. It also remains to be seen whether his visit to Moscow will still take place as scheduled or whether the bureaucrats will realise that to do so would be to lend substance to the rumour that the Soviet Union was forewarned by Kissinger of the blockade. But even if Moscow and Peking decide to act it will not be enough. What is also needed is massive solidarity actions in Western Europe and more importantly in the United States itself. The latter could, of course, have a decisive impact.
IN BRITAIN We will not go into detail as to why the solidarity movement in this country collapsed soon after the gigantic protest of October 1968. Whereas in the rest of Western Europe tens of thousands of militants came out on the streets last month in solidarity with IndoChina, in Britain action was restricted to a puny meeting organised by the IMG in Lonin Britain there is a tremendous insularity and chauvinism even in the ranks of the revolutionary movement. This was rationalised by some groups arguing that marches, demonstrations on anti-imperialist issues were pointless and the only way the Vietnamese could be helped was by working towards a revolution in Britain: i.e. doing nothing. This coupled with a general belief that Nixon was ending the war because of the pressures at home made Vietnam seem irrelevant to many revolutionaries.
Today the Vietnamese offensive and Nixon's response has brought it home to everyone that the war still continues and that solidarity actions have to be organised. We would therefore urge all organisations to join in the actions which are being prepared and to help reconstruct a solidarity movement in this country. All possible aid has to be given to the Vietnamese militants to help them achieve either a military victory or a negotiated settlement. We stress the latter because contrary to widespread feeling amongst sections of the revolutionary left, peace talks and negotiations don't automatically lead to "sell-outs". If the US. can be got out via the negotiating table and even if this means the NLF accepting for tactical reasons a fake coalition government after Thieu's army has been smashed, it would be a better solution than a continuation of the military escalation which exacts a heavy toll in terms of lives of Vietnamese workers and peasants. The strategic aim is to get the Americans out of Indo-China and to destroy the puppet army they have trained. Any tactic which achieves this rapidly justifies itself.
British revolutionaries must begin to understand that it is the non-existence of a mass revolutionary International which has prevented meaningful action of solidarity (the French and Italian C.P.', have refused to organise strikes for Vir cam or to engage in any but the most toker of actions). The militants of the Fourth International have all over the world organised actions in recent months to stress the importance of the Vietnamese struggle Paris and New York are but two powerful examples. The IMG as well as holding its own rally on May 27th, will be supporting the demonstration called by the BCPV for June 4th and urges other organisations to do the same, but the situation has to be watched closely as more immediate action may soon become necessary. 10th May 1972.