The Chinese Balloon and America’s “Socialists”

The so-called “Squad” joins the hysterical campaign of U.S. imperialism

By Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 10 February 2023, www.thecommunists.net

 

One can hardly claim that the ruling class in the U.S. would be united on many issues. The rivalling camps accuse each other of all sorts of crimes – stealing elections, organising a coup d’état, serving foreign powers, etc. However, there are still a few issues on which each and every one of America’s political establishment is ready to join forces against the common enemy.

The most important unifier, at least at the moment, is America’s public enemy No. 1 – China. The Biden Administration, together with the Republicans – including the Trumpian imbeciles – and with the unanimous support of the capitalist media claim that “America is under attack” by China’s spy balloons.

Since the U.S. military detected such a balloon on 28 January and sent a fighter jet to shoot it down a few days later, public opinion is obsessed with the Chinese surveillance threat. [1] This also generates amusing information like, for example, that some previous incursions by Chinese spy balloons were not detected in real time. The New York Times reports that these incidents were “initially classified as ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’” and “were handed over to a Pentagon task force charged with investigating U.F.O.s and other aerial phenomena.” [2] No wonder that Hollywood’s most profitable films attracting numerous viewers are Science Fiction blockbusters! When earth is flat, the sky is full of aliens!

Anyway, the U.S. is currently inundated with a public hysteria about the “China Threat”. All this is not surprising in itself. Of course, China tries to gather information about its rival. Of course, the U.S., Russia and every other Great Power are doing the same. This was the case in the period of the Cold War with the USSR, this is the case today and so it will be in the future as long as we are living in an imperialist world order where Great Powers are contesting for global hegemony.

 

Unanimous vote of the House of Representatives

 

Reflecting the consensus of the ruling class, the House of Representatives – this is the lower chamber of the U.S. Congress with 435 members – voted yesterday unanimously for a resolution with the telling title “Condemning the Chinese Communist Party's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty”. Using the typical language of U.S. imperialism, this resolution warns, among others, that

* the “Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) intelligence collection directed against the United States poses a threat to United States interests and security”,

* that “it is in the United States national security interest to deter foreign adversaries from engaging in intelligence collection and other malign activities within United States territory and airspace”,

* that is “condemns the PRC’s brazen violation of United States sovereignty“;

* furthermore it “determines that it should be the policy of the United States to promptly and decisively act to prevent foreign aerial surveillance platforms, including those directed by or connected to the CCP, from violating United States sovereignty.[3]

Again, it is hardly surprising that one of the key institutions of U.S. imperialism votes for an imperialist resolution threatening its most important rival. Both parties which dominate the U.S. Congress since many decades – the Democrats and the Republicans – are representatives of the U.S. monopoly bourgeoisie. As such, they “naturally” rally in support of Washington’s Great Power interests.

 

The “socialists” join the reactionary anti-China campaign

 

However, it is particularly remarkable that the most prominent “socialist” figures in the U.S. have enthusiastically joined this reactionary anti-China campaign. As it is known, the so-called Squad has nine members in the House of Representatives – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Greg Casar, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Summer Lee, and Delia Ramirez. The Squad is well known for being – together with Senator Bernie Sanders – among the most progressive and left-wing members of the U.S. Congress. The first five of the above-mentioned are also members of the “Democratic Socialists of America”, a social democratic organisation with nearly 100,000 members.

However, despite their “progressive” rhetoric, all nine members of the Squad voted for the above-mentioned anti-China resolution which raises the banner of U.S. imperialism! [4]

And while we are not aware of a public statement by Bernie Sanders on this issue, there is no doubt that he will share the position of the Squad. Just remember how he wholeheartedly supported America’s trade war against China in 2019! [5]

It is well-known that the true character of people is not seen in colourful speeches during an election campaign but in periods of crisis and conflicts. In the current situation, America’s ruling class is waging a chauvinist campaign against its main rival – Chinese imperialism. It is in situation like this that socialists must stand up and resolutely oppose “to rally around the flag”!

Of course, we don’t do so because of any sympathy for China. This is an imperialist power no better and no worse than its American rival. [6] The RCIT has always argued that socialists must oppose all Great Powers (U.S., China, Russia, Western Europe and Japan). [7] They need to stand up against all forms of chauvinism, militarism, sanctions policy, “defence of the imperialist fatherland”, etc. They have to fight for the principles of international working-class solidarity and in defence of oppressed peoples (from Afghanistan and Iraq to Ukraine, Chechnya and East Turkmenistan).

Clearly, the pseudo-socialists of the Squad have nothing to do with such internationalist and anti-imperialist principles! Hence, it is the duty of socialists to sharply denounce such shameful social-chauvinists and to combat their influence within the workers and popular organisations!



[1] See on this also the article of our Argentinean comrade Damián Vekelo: Spy balloons and social networks... the drums of war between China and the US resound, 4.2.2023, https://convergenciadecombate.blogspot.com/2023/02/spy-balloons-and-social-networks-drums.html

[2] Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper and Edward Wong: Previous Chinese Balloon Incursions Initially Went Undetected, New York Times, 6 February 2023; https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/us/politics/china-spy-balloon-trump-administration.html

[3] H.Res.104 - Condemning the Chinese Communist Party's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty, 9.2.2023, https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/104/text; see also Karoun Demirjian: House Votes Unanimously to Condemn China Over Balloon. The resounding bipartisan vote came after Republican leaders rebuffed a right-wing effort to formally rebuke President Biden for the episode, part of an effort to keep partisanship out of China policy, 9 February 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/us/house-condemns-china-balloon.html  

[4] Roll Call 117 | Bill Number: H. Res. 104, https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023117

[5] See e.g. Michael Pröbsting: Michael Pröbsting: I Don't Want to Wage War, But If I Have to ... On Bernie Sanders and the liberal left in the U.S. in the current NATO-Russia conflict, 11 February 2022, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/bernie-sanders-and-the-nato-russia-conflict/; by the same author: The Next Round of Escalation in the Global Trade War. After negotiations ended without results, the U.S. imposes new tariffs on Chinese imports and Beijing retaliates, 13 May 2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/the-next-round-of-escalation-in-the-global-trade-war/

[6] The RCIT has published numerous documents about capitalism in China and its transformation into a Great Power. See on this e.g. the book by Michael Pröbsting: Anti-Imperialism in the Age of Great Power Rivalry. The Factors behind the Accelerating Rivalry between the U.S., China, Russia, EU and Japan. A Critique of the Left’s Analysis and an Outline of the Marxist Perspective, RCIT Books, Vienna 2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/anti-imperialism-in-the-age-of-great-power-rivalry/; see also by the same author: “Chinese Imperialism and the World Economy”, an essay published in the second edition of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism (edited by Immanuel Ness and Zak Cope), Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020, https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-91206-6_179-1; China: An Imperialist Power … Or Not Yet? A Theoretical Question with Very Practical Consequences! Continuing the Debate with Esteban Mercatante and the PTS/FT on China’s class character and consequences for the revolutionary strategy, 22 January 2022, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/china-imperialist-power-or-not-yet/; China‘s transformation into an imperialist power. A study of the economic, political and military aspects of China as a Great Power (2012), in: Revolutionary Communism No. 4, http://www.thecommunists.net/publications/revcom-number-4; How is it possible that some Marxists still Doubt that China has Become Capitalist? (A Critique of the PTS/FT), An analysis of the capitalist character of China’s State-Owned Enterprises and its political consequences, 18 September 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/pts-ft-and-chinese-imperialism-2/; Unable to See the Wood for the Trees (PTS/FT and China). Eclectic empiricism and the failure of the PTS/FT to recognize the imperialist character of China, 13 August 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/pts-ft-and-chinese-imperialism/; China’s Emergence as an Imperialist Power (Article in the US journal 'New Politics'), in: “New Politics”, Summer 2014 (Vol:XV-1, Whole #: 57). See many more RCIT documents at a special sub-page on the RCIT’s website: https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/china-russia-as-imperialist-powers/.

[7] RCIT: Chip Sanctions: Another Step towards War between U.S. and China. Neither Washington nor Beijing! Revolutionary defeatism against all imperialist Great Powers!, 25 October 2022, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/chip-sanctions-another-step-towards-war-between-u-s-and-china/

중국 풍선과 미국 “사회주의자들”

- 소위 스쿼드 제국주의의 反中 히스테리 캠페인에 가담하다

 

미하엘 프뢰브스팅, 혁명적 공산주의인터내셔널 동맹 (RCIT) 국제서기, 2023 2 10, www.thecommunists.net

 

 

 

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미국의 지배계급이 많은 쟁점 현안들에서 언제나 하나로 단결한다고 말할 수는 없다. 상호 경쟁하는 진영들은 상대방에 대해 온갖 범죄 혐의 선거 도둑질을 했다”, “쿠데타를 조직했다”, “국익을 외세에 팔아넘겼다 등등 씌우고 서로를 비난한다. 그러나 하나의 예외도 없이 미국의 정치권 전체가 공동의 적에 맞서 힘을 모을 태세가 되어 있는 쟁점 현안들이 가지 있다.

적어도 현재, 지배계급 정치권을 하나로 묶어주는 가장 중요한 통일단결 촉매제가 있다면, 그것은 미국의 공적 1호인 중국이다. 바이든 정부는 트럼프 얼간이들을 포함한 공화당원들과 더불어, 그리고 자본가 언론의 만장일치 지지를 받으며, "미국이 중국 스파이 풍선에 의해 공격을 받고 있다" 주장한다.

미군이 1 28 같은 풍선을 탐지하고 나서 전투기를 보내 격추한 이래로 온통 중국의 감시 위협에 여론이 몰두하고 있는 모습이다.[1] 이는 재미있는 정보를 생성하기도 하는데, 예를 들어 이전에 중국 정찰풍선이 침투한 것은 실시간으로 감지하지 못한 넘어갔다는 사실이 불거진 것이다. 뉴욕타임스는 사건들이 "처음에는 '미확인 공중현상'으로 분류됐다" "UFO 공중현상 조사를 담당하는 국방부 전담반에 이첩됐다" 보도하고 있다.[2] 수많은 관객을 끌어들이는 할리우드 최대 돈벌이 영화들이 SF 블록버스터라는 것은 놀라운 일이 아니다! 지구가 평평할 , 하늘은 외계인들로 가득하다!

어느 경우든, 미국은 현재 "중국 위협"으로 호들갑을 떠는 과잉반응 히스테리가 범람하고 있다. 모든 것은 자체로는 놀랄 없다. 물론 중국은 경쟁자에 대한 정보를 수집하려고 애쓴다. 미국, 러시아 그리고 다른 모든 강대국들도 물론 똑같이 하고 있다. 소련과의 냉전기에도 그랬고, 오늘도 그렇다. 강대국들이 세계 패권을 다투고 있는 제국주의 세계질서가 존속하는 미래에도 그럴 것이다.

 

하원의 만장일치 통과

435 의원으로 구성된 하원은 지배계급의 단결과 합의를 반영하듯 어제 전원일치로 다음과 같은 노골적인 제목을 결의안을 채택했다. “중국공산당이 미국 영공에서 고고도 정찰풍선을 사용하는 것을 미국 주권에 대한 노골적 침해로 규탄한다.” 결의안은 제국주의의 상투적인 언어를 사용하여 다음과 같이 경고하고 있다.

* "미국을 겨냥한 중국공산당의 정보 수집은 미국의 이익과 안보에 위협이 된다",

* "외국의 적들이 미국 영토 영공 내에서 정보 수집 기타 악의적인 활동을 하는 것을 막는 것은 미국의 국가안보 이익에 부합한다",

* "중국공산당이 지휘하거나 그와 연결된 플랫폼을 포함하여 외국의 공중 감시 플랫폼이 미국의 주권을 침해하는 것을 막기 위해 신속하고 단호하게 행동하는 것이 미국의 정책이어야 한다."[3]

다시 말하지만, 제국주의의 핵심 기관 하나가 최대 경쟁자에게 위협을 가하는 결의안을 채택하는 것은 놀라운 일이 아니다. 수십 년래 의회를 지배하고 있는 양대 정당 민주당과 공화당이 미국 독점 부르주아지의 대표자들이라는 것도 새삼스런 정보가 아니다. 그와 같이 자연스럽게 그들은 워싱턴의 강대국 이익을 지지하는 데서 하나로 결집한다.

 

반동적 反中 캠페인에 사회주의자들 합류하다

그러나 미국에서 가장 저명한 사회주의자 인사들이 반동적인 반중 캠페인에 열성적으로 가담한 것은 범상치 않다. 알려진 바와 같이 민주당 민주사회주의 자임하는 이른바 스쿼드 (The Squad) 하원에 오카시오코르테스, 틀라이브, 보우만, 부시, 카사르, 오마르, 프레슬리, , 라미레스 9명의 의원을 두고 있다. 스쿼드는 버니 샌더스 상원의원과 함께 의회에서 가장 진보적이고 좌파적인 의원단으로 널리 알려져 있다. 상기한 인사들 앞의 다섯 명은 10 명의 회원을 가진 사민주의 단체인 "미국 민주사회주의자" 회원이기도 하다.

하지만 그들의 "진보적" 언사에도 불구하고, 9 스쿼드 멤버 모두 제국주의의 기치를 치켜든 반중 결의안에 찬성투표 했다![4]

그리고 문제에 대한 버니 샌더스의 공개 성명이 있는지 모르겠지만, 그가 스쿼드의 입장을 공유하리라는 데는 의심의 여지가 없다. 샌더스가 2019년에 미국의 대중(對中) 무역전쟁을 전심전력으로 지지했던 것을 상기하라![5]

사람들의 진정한 성격은 선거운동 기간의 화려한 연설이 아니라 위기와 충돌의 시기에 나타난다는 것은 알려져 있다. 상황은 미국 지배계급이 경쟁상대인 중국 제국주의를 겨냥하여 배외주의 캠페인을 벌이고 있는 상황이다. 사회주의자들이라면 "국기를 중심으로 결집하는 " 일어서서 단호히 반대해야 하는 것이 바로 이런 상황이다!

물론 우리는 중국에 대한 무슨 동정심 때문에 그러는 것이 아니다. 중국은 최대 경쟁자 미국과 마찬가지로 제국주의 강대국으로 나을 것도 나쁠 것도 없다.[6] 언제나 RCIT 사회주의자들이 모든 강대국 (미국, 중국, 러시아, 서유럽, 일본) 반대해야 한다고 주장해왔다.[7] 사회주의자들은 모든 형태의 배외주의, 군국주의, 제재 정책, "제국주의 조국 방어" 반대하여 나서야 한다. 사회주의자들은 국제 노동자계급 연대의 원칙에, 그리고 피억압 인민 (아프간과 이라크에서 우크라이나와 체첸과 신장/동투르크메니스탄까지) 저항투쟁을 방어하는 원칙에 충실하게 싸워야 한다.

명백하게도, 스쿼드의 사이비 사회주의자들은 이러한 국제주의·반제국주의 원칙과 아무 관련이 없다! 그러한 수치스러운 사회배외주의자들를 준열히 규탄하고 노동자·민중 조직 그들의 영향력과 싸우는 것이 사회주의자들의 의무인 이유다!

 

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[1] 이에 대해서는 RCIT 아르헨티나 동지 Damián Vekelo 다음 기사도 보라. Spy balloons and social networks... the drums of war between China and the US resound, 4.2.2023, https://convergenciadecombate.blogspot.com/2023/02/spy-balloons-and-social-networks-drums.html

[2] Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper and Edward Wong: Previous Chinese Balloon Incursions Initially Went Undetected, New York Times, 6 February 2023; https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/us/politics/china-spy-balloon-trump-administration.html

[3] H.Res.104 - Condemning the Chinese Communist Party's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty, 9.2.2023, https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/104/text; 다음도 보라. Karoun Demirjian: House Votes Unanimously to Condemn China Over Balloon. The resounding bipartisan vote came after Republican leaders rebuffed a right-wing effort to formally rebuke President Biden for the episode, part of an effort to keep partisanship out of China policy, 9 February 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/us/house-condemns-china-balloon.html

[4] Roll Call 117 | Bill Number: H. Res. 104, https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023117

[5] 다음을 보라. 미하엘 프뢰브스팅, < 나토-러시아 분쟁에서 민주사회주의자 버니 샌더스 - 전쟁을 벌이길 원치 않지만, 그러나 해야 한다면...,>, 2022 2 11, https://blog.wrpkorea.org/2022/05/blog-post_394.html; 같은 저자, <· 무역전쟁 확전과 프롤레타리아 국제주의 임무>, 2019 5 13, https://blog.wrpkorea.org/2022/05/blog-post_79.html

[6] 우리는 중국 자본주의와 중국의 강대국 부상에 관한 많은 문서를 발표했다. 다음을 보라. 노동자혁명당() 소책자, <<레닌 제국주의론 관점에서 중국 제국주의>>, 2021 3, https://blog.wrpkorea.org/2022/06/blog-post_27.html; 미하엘 프뢰브스팅, <<강대국 패권쟁투 시대에 반제국주의>>, https://blog.wrpkorea.org/2022/06/blog-post_9.html; 같은 저자의 다음 논문들도 보라. the second edition of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism (edited by Immanuel Ness and Zak Cope), Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020, https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-91206-6_179-1; China: An Imperialist Power Or Not Yet? A Theoretical Question with Very Practical Consequences! Continuing the Debate with Esteban Mercatante and the PTS/FT on China’s class character and consequences for the revolutionary strategy, 22 January 2022, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/china-imperialist-power-or-not-yet/; China‘s transformation into an imperialist power. A study of the economic, political and military aspects of China as a Great Power (2012), in: Revolutionary Communism No. 4, http://www.thecommunists.net/publications/revcom-number-4; How is it possible that some Marxists still Doubt that China has Become Capitalist? (A Critique of the PTS/FT), An analysis of the capitalist character of China’s State-Owned Enterprises and its political consequences, 18 September 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/pts-ft-and-chinese-imperialism-2/; < 나무만 보고 숲은 보는: PTS/FT 중국 사회성격 논쟁> https://blog.wrpkorea.org/2022/05/ptsft.html; China’s Emergence as an Imperialist Power (Article in the US journal 'New Politics'), in: “New Politics”, Summer 2014 (Vol:XV-1, Whole #: 57). 다음 RCIT 웹사이트 특별 하위 페이지에 많은 관련 문서가 있다. https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/china-russia-as-imperialist-powers/.

[7] RCIT 성명, < 제재: · 전쟁으로 가는 하나의 행보>, 2022 10 25, https://blog.wrpkorea.org/2022/11/blog-post.html.

 

La izquierda demócrata yanqui y los falsos socialistas se sumaron a la campaña chovinista de Biden, con la excusa del globo espía