The IMT about the Houthis’ struggle against Israel and Western imperialism
By Michael Pröbsting, Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 23 January 2024, www.thecommunists.net
Shortly after Israel started its genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, Ansar Allah (popularly known as the Houthis) began to launch a series of solidarity actions in order to support the victims of the Zionist aggression. They have fired drones and missiles strikes both against the territory of Israel as well as against Israel-linked cargo ships.
These actions have a major impact on Israel’s economy but also on global trade. Four of the five biggest shipping companies have decided to pause their operations through the Red Sea. An increasing number of companies have stopped doing business with Israel and many ships entering the Red Sea are using the phrase “We have no relation to Israel” on automatic identification systems to avoid attacks from the Houthis.
As a result, shipping via the Red Sea has declined from 500,000 containers per day in November to about 200,000 currently. Israel’s maritime trade in the Red Sea has substantially decreased and revenues of Israel’s port of Eilat dropped by more than 80%. Likewise, Europe also experiences major repercussions since 40% of its trade with Asia and the Middle East passes through the Red Sea.
The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) has stated since the beginning of the war that socialists cannot be neutral in this war. “The RCIT and its comrades its Occupied Palestine unconditionally support the struggle of the Palestinian resistance. In this war, socialists, democrats, all righteous people around the world, have only one side to take – the side of the oppressed. We say: victory to the Palestinian people! Defeat Israel!” [1]
Likewise, when Ansar Allah began its solidarity actions, we expressed our support. “We reiterate the RCIT’s position of unconditional support for the heroic Palestinian resistance. In any confrontation the Houthis and EU (or US/UK) naval forces, we side with the Yemeni resistance. We also fully side with all other forces fighting the Israeli or the Western imperialists. In all these conflicts we advocate the military victory of the Palestinian and pro-Palestinian forces and the defeat of the Zionist and imperialist enemies.” [2]
Against Imperialism but not with those fighting the imperialists?
In contrast to authentic socialists, a number of self-proclaimed Marxist organisation limit themselves to denounce the Israeli genocide in Gaza as well as the Western imperialist military intervention in the Red Sea but refuse to take the side of the oppressed. Unfortunately, the “International Marxist Tendency” (IMT), led by Alan Woods, belongs to this category.
After the U.S. and its allies began to launch military strikes against the Houthis, the IMT published three articles on it. [3] Surely, the comrades denounce the imperialist aggression and warn against an expansion of the war to the whole region. Woods writes: “But what effect will this raid have in practice? Will it serve to deter the Houthis from carrying out further attacks on shipping? The answer was delivered immediately in a defiant reply by the Houthi militia leader, who threatened a “strong and effective response” (…) The Houthis clearly have the support of the mass of the population. (…) The attack on Yemen has further inflamed the anger of the masses in every country of the region. This angry mood was sufficiently inflamed even before this. But now the whole region is a huge powder keg, waiting to explode.”
All this is fine but completely insufficient. In fact, all the observations about the doomed character of imperialist aggression are – as my comrade Yossi Schwartz from the RCIT’s section in Occupied Palestine aptly named – nice observations without a revolutionary program”. [4] Great that imperialism is in a mess. But what are the tasks for communists? Which side should they take?
Another leading member of the IMT, Ben Curry, formulates in his article the slogan “We say: hands off Yemen! Down with the imperialist murderers!” But in a war between the oppressors and the oppressed, this is not enough! In such a conflict, communists take a side – the camp of the oppressed. Today, this means to support the military struggle of the Palestinian as well as the Yemeni resistance.
The tactic of the anti-imperialist united front
Opposing the imperialist enemy without taking the side of the very forces which actually fight this monster – this is empty phrase mongering characteristic for centrism but not communism. As we have pointed out repeatedly, the Communist International – and later Trotsky’s Fourth International – advocated the tactic of the anti-imperialist united front.
This specific tactic is a concrete application of the united front tactic which was elaborated for situations where revolutionaries constitute a minority and where the struggle is led by non-revolutionary forces (reformists, bourgeois or petty-bourgeois nationalists and Islamists). It basically means to jointly fight with such non-revolutionary forces in order to strike against the common enemy. At the same time, communists keep their organisational independence, advocate their revolutionary program and criticise the shortcomings of their united front partners.
Such stated the Communist International in their Theses on the Eastern Question, adopted at its Fourth Congress in 1922, about the importance of the anti-imperialist united front tactic: “The expediency of this slogan follows from the prospect of a prolonged and protracted struggle with world imperialism which demands the mobilization of all revolutionary elements. This mobilization is the more necessary as the indigenous ruling classes are inclined to effect compromises with foreign capital directed against the vital interests of the masses of the people. And just as in the West the slogan of the proletarian united front has helped and is still helping to expose social-democratic betrayal of proletarian interests, so the slogan of the anti-imperialist united front will help to expose the vacillation of various bourgeois-nationalist groups. This slogan will also promote the development of the revolutionary will and the clarification of the class consciousness of the working masses and put them in the front ranks of those who are fighting not only against imperialism, but also against the survivals of feudalism.” [5]
Applying the same method to the conditions of China’s national liberation war against the Japanese invaders – which took place under the leadership of the anti-communist and bourgeois nationalist Chiang Kai-shek – Trotsky explained in 1937: “In participating in the military struggle under the orders of Chiang Kai-shek, since unfortunately it is he who has the command in the war for independence – to prepare politically the overthrow of Chiang Kai-shek … that is the only revolutionary policy.“ [6]
The IMT’s tradition of reactionary abstentionism in anti-imperialist struggles
Unfortunately, the IMT – as well as all other groups in the tradition of Ted Grant – has always opposed the communist tactic of the anti-imperialist united front. In all major conflicts between imperialist states and oppressed peoples, they refused to side with the latter but rather took a neutral position, i.e. a policy of reactionary abstentionism. [7]
In contrast, the RCIT and its predecessor organisation always sided with those forces opposing the imperialist aggressor. We did so in Argentina during the Malvinas War against Britain, despite the fact that it was led by a reactionary military regime; in Iraq in the two wars 1991 and 2003 (and the subsequent occupation) against U.S. imperialism and its allies, despite the fact that the resistance was led by (petty-)bourgeois Baathist and Islamist forces; the Taliban-led resistance in Afghanistan against the imperialist occupiers in 2001-21; the Irish resistance, led by Sinn Fein / IRA, against the British occupiers, the Palestinian resistance led by Hamas and other nationalist and Islamist organisations or the resistance of the Ukrainian people, led by the pro-Western Zelensky government, against the Russian invasion. [8]
The IMT – similar to the CWI and the ISA – has always refused to take the side of these (petty-)bourgeois forces fighting against the imperialists and oppressors. They always limited themselves to general denunciations without drawing the necessary conclusions. Trotsky once characterized such an approach as typical for centrism – in contrast to authentic Bolshevism.
„Nevertheless, Ledebour’s position even on this question does not leave the precincts of centrism. Ledebour demands that a battle be waged against colonial oppression; he is ready to vote in parliament against colonial credits; he is ready to take upon himself a fearless defense of the victims of a crushed colonial insurrection. But Ledebour will not participate in preparing a colonial insurrection. Such work he considers putschism, adventurism, Bolshevism. And therein is the whole gist of the matter.
What characterizes Bolshevism on the national question is that in its attitude toward oppressed nations, even the most backward, it considers them not only the object but also the subject of politics. Bolshevism does not confine itself to recognizing their “right” to self-determination and to parliamentary protests against the trampling upon of this right. Bolshevism penetrates into the midst of the oppressed nations; it raises them up against their oppressors; it ties up their struggle with the struggle of the proletariat in capitalist countries; it instructs the oppressed Chinese, Hindus, or Arabs in the art of insurrection and it assumes full responsibility for this work in the face of civilized executioners. Here only does Bolshevism begin, that is, revolutionary Marxism in action. Everything that does not step over this boundary remains centrism.“ [9]
We are aware that the IMT made a certain shift to left in the last period. While it traditionally adapted to the social democratic and Labour parties, it now orients more towards an independent profile and renames their sections and papers “communist”. Naturally, this is a welcome development! But it is not enough to change names – the decisive issue is to change the program and the methods. In the case of the wars in the Middle East, this means first and foremost, to support clearly and unambiguously the military struggle of the Palestinian as well as the Yemeni resistance.
The comrades of the IMT need to understand that one cannot be a communist without being an anti-imperialist with all consequences!
[1] RCIT: “This is the Time to Expel the Occupiers!” Support the Heroic Palestinian Resistance! Defeat Israel! 7 October 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/fifth-gaza-war-support-the-heroic-palestinian-resistance/. We refer readers to a special page on our website where all RCIT documents on the 2023 Gaza War are compiled, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/compilation-of-articles-on-the-gaza-uprising-2023/.
[2] The RCIT has published the following statements and articles on the Houthis solidarity actions: Imperialist EU to Send Warships to Red Sea to Fight the Houthis. US, UK and European forces – out of the Middle East! Defeat Israel! Support the Palestinian and Yemeni resistance! 18 January 2024, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/imperialist-eu-to-send-warships-to-red-sea-to-fight-the-houthis/; From Zionist War on Gaza to Israeli-American War against Arab Peoples. Stop the genocide of the Palestinian people! Defeat Israel! Kick the US/UK forces out of the Middle East! Victory to the resistance! 16 January 2024, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/from-zionist-war-on-gaza-to-israeli-american-war-against-arab-peoples/; UN Security Council Legitimizes US-Led Naval Force in Red Sea to Attack the Houthis, 10 January 2024, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/un-security-council-legitimizes-us-led-naval-force-in-red-sea-to-attack-the-houthis/; U.S & Allies Send Naval Force to Red Sea to Support Terrorist Israel against Houthis, 18 December 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/u-s-allies-send-naval-force-to-red-sea-to-support-terrorist-israel-against-houthis/; Gaza War: The Houthis Have Opened the Second Front. Major international shipping companies stop their operations through the Red Sea after a series of attacks by the Yemeni rebels, 16 December 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/gaza-war-the-houthis-have-opened-the-second-front/; Gaza War: The Houthis and the Looming Imperialist Intervention in the Red Sea, 14 December 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/the-houthis-and-the-looming-imperialist-intervention-in-the-red-sea/; Yemen’s Houthis Seize Israeli Cargo Ship: A Legitimate Act of Solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance, 20 November 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/houthis-seize-israeli-cargo-ship/
[3] Alan Woods: The Middle East on the brink: imperialists pour petrol on the flames, 15 January 2024, https://www.marxist.com/the-middle-east-on-the-brink-imperialists-pour-petrol-on-the-flames.htm; Ben Curry: Hands off Yemen! Imperialists protect profits and Israel’s right to commit genocide, 12 January 2024 https://www.marxist.com/hands-off-yemen-imperialists-protect-profits-and-israel-s-right-to-commit-genocide.htm; Joe Attard: Red Sea attacks: imperialists protect profits, and permit Israel to pulverise Palestine, 20 December 2023 https://www.marxist.com/red-sea-attacks-imperialists-protect-profits-while-israel-pulverises-palestine.htm. All quotes are from these articles if not indicated otherwise.
[4] Yossi Schwartz: The IMT centrists are nice observers without a revolutionary program, 17.01.2024, https://the-isleague.com/the-imt-centrists-are-nice-observers-without-a-revolutionary-program/
[5] Communist International: Theses on the Eastern Question, 5 December 1922, Fourth Congress of the Communist International, in: Jane Degras: The Communist International 1919-1943. Documents Volume I 1919-1922, p. 390
[6] Leon Trotsky: On the Sino-Japanese War (1937), in: Leon Trotsky on China, Pathfinder Press, New York 1976, p. 726, http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/10/sino.htm
[7] See on this e.g. the pamphlet by Michael Pröbsting: The Poverty of Neo-Imperialist Economism. Imperialism and the national question – a critique of Ted Grant and his school (CWI, ISA, IMT), January 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/grantism-imperialism-and-national-question/
[8] For an overview about our history of support for anti-imperialist struggles in the past four decades (with links to documents, pictures and videos) see e.g. an essay by Michael Pröbsting: The Struggle of Revolutionaries in Imperialist Heartlands against Wars of their “Own” Ruling Class. Examples from the history of the RCIT and its predecessor organisation in the last four decades, 2 September 2022, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/the-struggle-of-revolutionaries-in-imperialist-heartlands-against-wars-of-their-own-ruling-class/
[9] Leon Trotsky: What Next? Vital Questions for the German Proletariat (1932), in: Leon Trotsky: The Struggle against Fascism in Germany, Pathfinder Press, New York 1971, pp. 202-203, https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1932-ger/index.htm