5/8/13

Slave rebellion or slave master? Do you support the oppressed rising up against the oppressive system & seeking a radically different way, even with certain errors & excesses, or do you support the oppressors, & the leaders & guardians of an outmoded oppressive order, who may talk about "inalienable rights" but bring down wanton brutality & very real terror, on masses of people, to enforce & perpetuate their system of oppression? This speaks to a basic question of stand & orientation, & represents a fundamental dividing line, &, along with "setting the record straight" on the actual experience & role of socialist revolution, & refuting factual & methodological distortion involved in the attacks on socialism. This basic question as represented by Nat Turner or Thomas Jefferson? Also needs to be sharply posed in relation to the history of socialism & the present day struggle for socialist revolution, in opposition to the capitalist imperialist system which still dominates the world, with such terrible consequences for humanity & for the environment. Do you stand with this oppressive system, or with the struggle to overthrow & uproot it, & bring into being a radically different emancipating system & way of life? Nat Turner was the leader of a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, one of at least 250 slave revolts that took place in the U.S. before the Civil War. After careful preparation, Turner began the rebellion on August 21 1831 with a trusted group of six other slaves. They were armed with just a few knives, hatchets & axes at the start. Their plan was to strike hard & quick against the slave owners & march toward the county seat, rallying other slaves to their cause along the way. At one point Turner's forces grew to as many as 80. The uprising deeply shook the slave system, & there was a huge, brutal response from those in power. The rebellion was defeated after 48 hours. Turner himself went into hiding for two months before surrendering. Turner & 55 others were executed by the state. As many as 200 other slaves were killed by the slave owners, militias & vigilantes, & many were tortured. During the rebellion, Turner's forces killed all the slave owners they encountered, not only the adults but also their children. But the Nat Turner rebellion, & other slave rebellions, must be firmly upheld because, in its principal character & in essence, it was a just struggle of the oppressed rising up against their oppression.

The achievement of the necessary conditions for socialism must take place on a world scale, through a long & torturous process of revolutionary transformation in which there will be uneven development, the seizure of power in different countries at different times, & a complex dialectical interplay between the revolutionary struggle & the revolutionization of society in these different countries, a dialectical relation in which the world arena is fundamentally & ultimately decisive while the mutually interacting & mutually supporting struggles of the proletarians in different countries constitute the key link in fundamentally changing the world as a whole.

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